Marijuana Business News

In Colorado, our legal industry has produced a certain intellectual elitism when it comes to good weed. In other words, the state is crawling with cannabis snobs and marijuana know-it-alls.

Hemp, however, is another issue. Though marijuana’s cannabis cousin also enjoys protections in our state, most of us don’t know quite as much about this miracle plant, beyond the fact that hemp hearts are delicious and CBD from hemp is widespread. So, before you dig into the rest of this issue, here’s a quick explainer, brought to you through the expertise of Duane Sinning, assistant director of the Division of Plant Industry for the Colorado Department of Agriculture.  

What is hemp? Can it get you high?

In a world where legal cannabis is rapidly becoming more mainstream, a vexing financial issue continues to haunt the businesses and consumers taking part in this multibillion-dollar industry; namely, what to do with all that cash when federally chartered banks can't accept it and credit card companies won't touch it.

Marijuana is still a federally prohibited substance, after all, which makes businesses that handle the highly regulated plant outcasts when it comes to traditional banking methods. This aversion to risk, as defined by the banking sector, is actually a welcome opportunity for companies that cater to "high-risk" industries, such as the rapidly expanding and lucrative legal cannabis market.

Four months after California become the ninth US stateto allow for recreational cannabis consumption, cities are viewing consumption lounges as a way to increase cannabis tourism.

One research scientist speculated the ban could mean the government wishes to avoid commercial production of highly-caffeinated energy drinks laced with THC, the psychoactive compound found in cannabis.

A government prohibition against mixing cannabis and caffeine makes little sense, say some research scientists. There is only speculation that the combination might pose a risk.

Smiling millennials, sleek packaging, talk of personal journeys: Canadian pot companies are revving up the marketing.

Aphria Inc., the country’s third-largest pot producer with a market value of C$2.5 billion ($2 billion), unveiled its first recreational brand Tuesday ahead of legalization of marijuana later this year. Called Solei Sungrown Cannabis, the brand “demystifies cannabis and allows current and novice users alike to enrich their cannabis journey,” Megan McCrae, Aphria’s vice president of marketing, said in a presentation at a Toronto restaurant.

As Louisiana's pharmacy board Tuesday started awarding the licenses to dispense medical marijuana, a handful of state lawmakers slammed the process as unfair to small, locally-owned pharmacists.

Three Democrats on the House health committee — Reps. Marcus Hunter, Katrina Jackson and Dustin Miller — raised concerns that the application and evaluation method used to award the potentially lucrative permits wasn't truly competitive. The lawmakers grilled Joe Fontenot, assistant executive director of the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy, saying the panel whose members are appointed by the governor should have stalled its selection while the Legislature considered changing some rules governing the dispensing pharmacies.

The FDA is looking for public input on pot to report back to the UN’s World Health Organization.

With the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) launching a reevaluation of cannabis' international scheduling, member nations — including the United States — are reaching out to their own constituencies for public comment.

If the move to make it legal succeeds, entire industries could be revolutionized.

Today, the U.S. is the world’s largest consumer of hemp products. But because of the federal prohibition imposed on cannabis and hemp, the U.S. is importing an estimated $100 million of hemp products each year.

That $100 million could soon be going back to American farmers and businesses, thanks to the recent introduction of the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The bill, announced by McConnell and supported by a bipartisan group of senators, would “legalize hemp as an agricultural commodity and remove it from the list of controlled substances.”

Civilized Worldwide Inc. is pleased to announce that it has executed a strategic investment and collaboration agreement with Canopy Rivers Corporation, an affiliated strategic investment partner of Canopy Growth Corporation.

Pursuant to the agreement, Canopy Rivers will invest CAD $5 million in Civilized via a convertible debenture and the companies will work together on various online, media and event mandates relating to the cannabis industry.

There's still legal uncertainty surrounding the marijuana business in the U.S. But that is not stopping Wall Street from dipping into the market, now that nine states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational use.

Green Table, a networking business, has been bringing together investors and marijuana entrepreneurs who are looking for funding.

Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd speaks with Green Table partner Bill Marcus, about how he got into the pot business, which last year was worth $7 billion. “We're talking last year I believe it was close to $7 billion, and the growth rate is about 29 percent a year,” he says. “It's one of the fastest growing industries in America.”