Dispensary

Calls grow in Florida for special legislative session on medical marijuana

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By Joe Reedy, The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A leader behind last year’s passage of a constitutional amendment on medical marijuana in Florida has joined growing calls for Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders to hold a special session to finalize rules for its implementation.

Orlando attorney John Morgan, who lobbied for Amendment 2’s passage through the group United for Care, said it is Scott’s obligation to convene a special session so that the Legislature can finish work on a bill putting the enacting rules in place.

“Government in Florida is controlled by one party. What you’ve got to understand is medical marijuana is not an issue of party. Diseases don’t pick political parties,” Morgan said in a video . “It was all about money in the end and not about you.”

Gov. Scott’s office said through a spokesperson that it continues to review all options.

If a special session isn’t held, the Department of Health would need to come up with rules by July 3 and have them implemented by October. Amendment 2 allows higher-strength marijuana to be used for a wider list of medical ailments It was enacted on Jan. 3 after being passed by 71 percent of voters last November.

Currently, low-THC and non-smoked cannabis can be used by patients suffering from cancer, epilepsy, chronic seizures and chronic muscle spasms. The law was expanded last year to include patients with terminal conditions. It also allowed them to use more potent strains.

That bill fell apart on the final day of session when the Senate and House could not agree on how many retail dispensaries a medical marijuana treatment center could operate.

Morgan later told The Associated Press that he wanted to post the video to get his complete thoughts out there. After the bill fell short of passage, Morgan took to social media voicing his frustration over the process.

“The video was posted in order to get the focus back on the people and getting something passed,” he said. “We’ve had our food fights, now is the time to move forward. The whole thing is the people who need the marijuana don’t give a damn about the caps.”

Morgan said there were some parts of the proposed bill that he liked, but that he would have sued since the bill did not allow for smoking as one of the ways patients could use marijuana. The amendment states that the only place where smoking is not allowed is public spaces.

He also had some concerns about the definitions of chronic pain. The bill would have allowed those who suffer chronic pain related to one of 10 qualifying conditions to receive either low-THC cannabis or full strength medical marijuana.

The Department of Health continues to review public comments while coming up with proposed rules. Litigation is expected over whatever rules the department comes up with, based on its prior rulemaking history.

Senate President Joe Negron on Monday said that the Legislature does have a responsibility to be involved in rules implementation.

Sen. Rob Bradley, who was the Senate’s lead marijuana negotiator during session, also said he preferred that the Legislature get involved before next year’s session starts in January.

Follow Joe Reedy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/joereedy. Read more of his work at https://apnews.com/search/joe%20reedy

What it’s like to be a cannabis cultivation entrepreneur: Interview with Colorado’s Veritas Fine Cannabis

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By YourHub Staff

Business: Veritas Fine Cannabis
Address: Produced in Denver, sold in various dispensaries
Hours: Depending on dispensary
Founded: 2016
Contact: 303-500-6577, veritascannabis.com, @TrustVeritas
Employees: 50

Interview with Toby Ripsom and Mike Leibowitz, founding partners

Q: How did you get involved in this business?
A: Toby: I moved to the Denver area in 2012 from Idaho where I had built a career in institutional finance and real estate. I quickly realized that there was a space for entrepreneurs to transition into the cannabis industry, as much of the risk was optical — perceived risk versus actual risk. I knew that with the right partner we could mitigate any potential issues, and that the right business model could be very successful.
Mike: I worked in real estate through 2009 toward the end of the crash of the market and knew I needed to make a shift in my career. I have always been interested in the cannabis marketplace, and I began working with various cultivation warehouses and companies before settling into my current role with Veritas as a cannabis wholesale distributor.

Q: What distinguishes you from other businesses in your category?
A: We do not automate any part of our grow, whereas most commercial grow operations automate the majority of the process. It’s easy to grow weed — but it’s difficult, time-consuming and much more expensive to grow quality weed. From seedlings, we nourish our plants with premium plant food and attentive care, also using proprietary genetics in order to protect our product from being emulated. Our team of experienced master growers works tirelessly to care for the plants, a meticulous process completed without any automation, resulting in buds with high density, richer flavor and more vibrant colors. The cost of growing Veritas is about three times more than the average marijuana plant in Colorado, resulting in a superior product that offers consistent effects each time for the consumer.

Q: What do you like best about your line of work?
A: Working in this industry is emotionally, physically and financially rewarding. We’re kicking open the doors of this emerging market and fighting the stigma of marijuana, which has been demonized throughout history. The industry is still very young and it’s up to entrepreneurs like ourselves to shift that perception.

Q: What is your business’ biggest challenge?
A: Because this is an emerging industry, legislation regulations and taxation are constantly changing. With a highly saturated and competitive market in Colorado, it’s also important for us to differentiate our products and distinguish them as the best. We’re constantly innovating new strains and grow techniques, focusing on separating ourselves from commodity weed. We like to make the comparison of weed to wine — there are cheap options and the quality scales up to extremely gourmet and specialty products. With this diamond market mindset, we know that we have loyal customers based on the superior quality, all-encompassing nature of our products.

Q: Something people might be surprised to learn about you or your business:
A: This line of work requires constant attention and focus, and we’re obsessed with what we do. We don’t view our positions as merely jobs, but as a way of life — something more meaningful than clocking in and out each day. Everyone employed with us has a major sense of ownership and of pride in the knowledge that we are doing something different, something better, and we believe in it.

This story was first published on DenverPost.com

What changes are coming to how California tests medical marijuana?

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By Brooke Edwards Staggs, The Cannifornian

The Bureau of Marijuana Control on Friday released a plan to make cannabis safer for patients, with rules for all medical marijuana legally sold in the state to be independently lab tested starting next year.

The 46 pages of regulations lay out everything from what clothing lab technicians can wear when collecting cannabis samples to what level of pesticides marijuana can contain.

The draft rules drew mixed reactions from industry professionals who are anxious to finally have uniform guidelines but believe the state included unnecessary testing that will drive up the price of cannabis.

“Like with any regulations, I think there’s still tons of work to do,” said Robert Martin, executive director of the Association of Commercial Cannabis Laboratories.

Martin, who runs CW Analytical lab in Oakland, said state officials visited his facility and really listened as his association members weighed in on issues such as pesticides and how to handle the plant material.

But he was disappointed to see that the proposed regulations mandate measuring heavy metals and aflatoxins, which are cancer-causing chemicals produced by certain molds.

“We’re over-testing the products,” he said.

A study by UC Davis scientists earlier this year found samples from 20 unidentified Northern California marijuana dispensaries contained bacterial and fungal pathogens that may cause serious and even fatal infections if smoked or vaped by people with impaired immune systems.

But Martin said he has 10,000 data samples showing there’s no evidence of aflatoxins in cannabis anywhere in North America.

“I think it’s going to take some real science to change opinions,” he said.

If the rules stick as proposed, Martin said labs like his will have to buy pricey new equipment to measure for heavy metals. And he said that will drive up both the cost and turnaround time for test results.

The testing regulations are part of a larger plan to finally rein in the state’s unruly cannabis industry, as California marks 20 years since medical marijuana became legal and nearly six months since residents voted to legalize recreational marijuana.

Medical marijuana regulations were mandated by a a trio of bills known as the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act, which became law in 2015.

The Bureau of Marijuana Control (formerly the Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation) was created by that act and charged with establishing and enforcing rules for cannabis retailers, distributors, transporters and testers.

On April 28, the bureau released a 58-page document with draft regulations for the first three segments of the market. Those rules would limit dispensary operating hours, dictate security plans for each shop, cap how many ounces of cannabis patients could buy each day and more.

The same day, the Department of Public Health published detailed rules for cannabis manufacturers. And the Department of Food and Agriculture released proposed rules for cultivators.

The bureau’s new draft regulations for testing are 46 pages long.

The testing regulations were the most challenging to develop, Lori Ajax, chief of the state’s marijuana bureau, said during a presentation Friday evening at UC Irvine.

Here are some key details in the proposed rules released Friday:

  • Labs will have to test for homogeneity; the presence or absence of various analytes, including cannabinoids, residual solvents, micro-organisms, pesticides, heavy metals, and mycotoxins; water activity and moisture content; and filth and foreign material.
  • Labs can also test for terpenes.
  • They must report in milligrams the concentration of THC, THCA, CBD, CBDA, CBG and CBN. Samples “pass” if they don’t vary from the stated THC or CBD levels by more than 15 percent.
  • Labs must report whether samples have more than allowed amounts of pesticides such as acephate, residual solvents such as butane, impurities such as Salmonella, heavy metals such as arsenic, mold that averages 5 percent of the sample by weight and more.
  • To get a full annual license, labs will need to be accredited by the International Organization for Standardization. But the state will offer 180-day provisional licenses to labs that meet all other qualifications while they work on their ISO accreditation.
  • Lab techs have to wear safety goggles, hair nets and other sanitary gear plus use sanitized tools when collecting samples for testing.
  • Labs have to collect 0.5 percent of the total cannabis batch for testing. Batches must be under 10 pounds.
  • Labs have to maintain detailed plans for chain of custody for samples, employee training, storage and more. And they have to make those plans available to the bureau if asked.

All of the draft medical marijuana regulations — which now total 257 pages — are open for public comment.

The state plans to take feedback in writing and through a series of public hearings over the next several weeks before getting a final set of rules in place in time to start issuing licenses to testing labs, cultivators, retailers and all other cannabis businesses by Jan. 1, 2018.

“We want to hear from you,” Ajax said. “We’re OK with you not agreeing with us. … Tell us what we did wrong and then tell us how we can make it better.”

Martin said his association plans to take advantage of that public comment period to present the bureau with solid science that he hopes will shape the final regulations into something that’s more logical and fiscally sound.

California expects to release draft regulations this fall for the recreational cannabis industry, created when voters passed Proposition 64 on Nov. 8. Those rules must also be in place by the start of the new year.

Meanwhile, the legislature is grappling with how to rectify differences between the medical and recreational marijuana laws.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s office pitched its plan for reconciling the two systems in a 92-page budget trailer bill released in April. He largely recommends that California go with the more market-friendly plans included in voter-approved Prop. 64.

Lawmakers are holding hearings on that plan. And the independent Legislative Analyst’s Office on Thursday published an overview that praises parts of Brown’s proposal — such as allowing vertical integration — while urging caution on his recommendations to not start reporting on key aspects of the industry until 2023 and to limit the number of medium-sized farms allowed in the state.

If that budget trailer bill passes, the bureau said it will withdraw all of its proposed regulations and propose a new set that’s consistent with any changes in the law.

Get involved

The public can submit written comments on the draft testing regulations for the next 45 days. They can also attend public hearings that will be held throughout the state in coming weeks.

  • 1 to 3 p.m. June 1 at the Adorni Center, 1011 Waterfront Drive in Eureka
  • 1 to 3 p.m. June 8 in the Junipero Serra Building at 320 W. Fourth Street, Los Angeles
  • 4 to 6 p.m. June 13 in the King Library at 150 E. San Fernando Street in San Jose
  • 10 a.m. to noon June 20 in the Department of Consumer Affairs hearing room S-102 at 1625 North Market Boulevard, Sacramento

This story was first published on TheCannifornian.com

California Rep. Rohrabacher says he’ll take medical marijuana fight to Supreme Court if need be

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By Brooke Edwards Staggs, The Cannifornian

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said he hopes to convince Attorney General Jeff Sessions that good people do indeed sometimes smoke pot. But if he can’t, the Republican congressman from Costa Mesa said he’ll see his longtime friend in court.

“Marijuana laws in this country have violated every basic principle this country stands for over the last 75 years. It’s time to stop,” Rohrabacher said during a roundtable talk on cannabis at UC Irvine on Friday.

“If we have to take it all the way to the Supreme Court, we will win on this.”

Though 29 states have legalized medical marijuana and eight, including California, allow recreational cannabis, the drug remains illegal at the federal level.


Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, left, gets a tour of Bud and Bloom dispensary from Kyle Kazan, a partner and board member, in Santa Ana on Friday, May 5, 2017 during a “meet and greet” and Cinco de Mayo celebration at the dispensary. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Rohrabacher — who has used cannabis himself to ease arthritis and visited the Bud and Bloom dispensary in Santa Ana on Friday night after his talk — has unexpectedly become a leading figure in the fight to change that.

He co-authored the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which has blocked the Department of Justice since 2014 from spending money on medical marijuana prosecutions in states where cannabis is legal. That amendment became even more crucial once President Donald Trump appointed Sessions, who has said “good people don’t smoke marijuana,” sparking concerns of a renewed federal crackdown on state-legal dispensaries.

The Rohrabacher-Farr amendment was set to expire but was included in an omnibus spending bill approved Thursday to fund the federal government through September.

“I had to work really hard to make sure it was in the omnibus bill,” Rohrabacher said. “I had to run around and talk to people and twist arms.”

He was celebrating the win Thursday. But as Trump signed that omnibus bill Friday, he indicated that he might ignore Congress and instead interfere with state medical marijuana programs after all.

“It is nebulous, but nebulous doesn’t mean we’ve lost,” Rohrabacher said. “We have other forces at play — legal forces.”

He said he’s known Sessions since they were teenagers involved in conservative organizations. He said the attorney general is “an honest man and person who has got a good heart.” But he said Sessions is someone who “thinks he can help you along by telling you what to do with your personal life.”

Rohrabacher spoke with Sessions at the Capitol on Thursday, he said, and they made plans for an in-depth meeting on the cannabis issue.

He wouldn’t predict which way those talks will go. But he said if Sessions doesn’t come around and instead manages to convince Trump to go back on his campaign pledge to support medical marijuana and let state rights stand, then Rohrabacher is confident the courts will continue to back Congress’ right to determine how federal funds are spent.

“It would be a huge waste of his time and money, and why would he do that?” the congressman said.

This story was first published on TheCannifornian.com

Florida legislature fails to come to medical marijuana agreement, leaves rules to Dept. of Health

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By Joe Reedy, The associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Rules to enact Florida’s medical marijuana amendment went up in smoke on Friday after the Legislature failed to pass a bill.

The House and Senate agreed on most key parts of a bill putting rules in place for Amendment 2. But it collapsed on Friday when the chambers could not agree on the number of retail dispensaries that a medical marijuana treatment center can operate

The House voted 99-16 on a bill with the amended language (HB 1397) that put the limit at 100 per treatment center but the Senate, which limited it to five per treatment center, did not take it up.

It will now be up to the Department of Health to come up with rules for patients, caregivers, doctors and treatment centers by July 3 and have them implemented by October.

House Speaker Richard Corcoran blamed the Senate for the failure of legislation, complaining that they wanted to tax medical marijuana and that the Senate proposal would have forced patients to drive hours in order to get cannabis.

“To pass what they wanted had nothing to do with the will of the voters,” Corcoran said.
Senate President Joe Negron said that the chambers had different approaches on licenses and dispensaries that they were not able to reach middle ground.

Michael Bowen, who is on the Board of Directors for the Florida Epilepsy Foundation, suffered a grand mal seizure during a Senate committee hearing on April 18. He said Friday that with the legislature’s inaction those who suffer epileptic seizures are at greater risk due to lack of access to cannabis.

“I am 100 percent disgusted. They needed to get something passed. They can hammer out the finer points in future sessions,” he said.

Currently, low-THC and non-smoked cannabis can be used by patients suffering from cancer, epilepsy, chronic seizures and chronic muscle spasms. The law was expanded last year to include patients with terminal conditions and allowed them to use higher strains.

The bill would have allowed those who suffer chronic pain related to one of 10 qualifying conditions to receive either low-THC cannabis or full strength medical marijuana.

Patients could have received an order for three 70-day supplies during a doctor’s visit that they could then take to a medical marijuana treatment center. Besides oils and sprays, those centers would have been allowed to expand sales to edibles and vaping products but smoking would still be banned. It also would have added 10 more medical marijuana treatment centers by July 1, 2018.

The Department of Health held five workshops throughout the state in early February to take input on rules.
Department of Health spokeswoman Mara Gambineri said they still continue to review public comments while coming up with proposed rules. Litigation is expected over whatever rules the department comes up with, based on its prior rulemaking history.

“The legislature chose political gamesmanship over the will of 71 percent of voters,” said Florida for Care Executive Director Ben Pollara. “The House got to poke the Senate in the eye one last time, but the real losers are sick and suffering Floridians.”

Associated Press reporter Gary Fineout contributed.

Follow Joe Reedy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/joereedy. Read more of his work at https://apnews.com/search/joe%20reedy

California marijuana farmer talks legalization challenges, dispensary pricing and more

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By Will Houston, Eureka Times-Standard

Sunshine Johnston is the owner and lead farmer of Sunboldt Grown located on the banks of the Eel River in southern Humboldt County, where she has lived and farmed since the 1980s. Johnston is also member of the Southern Humboldt Community Alliance and hosts a monthly talk show on KMUD community radio where she covers all things cannabis.

Q: What have been the most difficult steps for you while trying to become legalized?

A: I don’t have enough capital starting out, faced with needing investors and no longer having complete ownership of my farm. I find it difficult to give up the freedom I have had as a farmer up til now and be accountable, answer to authorities and be regulated, and take ownership and be responsibility for my company. I only recently started production farming.

Q: What are your views on automation of bud trimming and automation of the industry in general? Do you think that trimming jobs will be mostly defunct in the near future? Would you ever use a trimming machine?


Humboldt County farmer Sunshine Johnston grew up in the area and now hosts a monthly radio show about cannabis. (Courtesy of Sunshine Johnston)

A: I do not compromise quality for quantity, great care is taken on my farm to preserve resin heads and I do not foresee the use of a trim machine. I do however welcome the use of automation for packaging.

Q: Do you have any issues with the current legalization laws in place in California? What would you want changed about the laws?

A: How the state regulates licensing and in particular distribution, will determine the economic landscape. The State and Proposition 64 are very divided in their licensing structures. I believe that market accessibility with many points of entry will provide a diverse and robust industry.

Q: Are there any benefits to growing marijuana in Humboldt compared to the Central Valley or other areas of the state or is it just because it’s been happening there for so long?

A: Both the State and Prop 64 protect county of origin. This encourages cannabis to be sold like wine, based on the region, and can make opportunities for all scale of farms. It can be argued that the quality in Humboldt has gone down over the years as farms have scaled up but we do have consistency that lends well to marketing a region.

Q: How did you get into growing pot for a living?

A: Grew up in Southern Humboldt. Enough said.

Q: How much control do dispensaries have on the price of your weed?

A: Someone else has to take my herb to a dispensary. It is treated as a commodity and there is a glass ceiling on the price for outdoor because our premium outdoor has been sold as indoor and outdoor sold as a value buy that puts me at a disadvantage. Dispensaries work a margin of 50 percent and higher and now farmers have similar expenses going into regulation and we have a smaller margin to share with distributors and transporters.

This story was first published on TheCannifornian.com