Business
Colorado marijuana sales eclipse $200 million (again) in August
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Maine joins Massachusetts, opening doors to recreational pot sales
Published: Oct 11, 2020, 2:31 pm • Updated: Oct 11, 2020, 2:32 pm By Associated Press SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Mainers got their first opportunity to legally buy marijuana for recreational use, but a supply shortage was a potential buzzkill. Retailers blame the pandemic and a limited number of licensed manufacturers for reducing the variety of products available. Licenses were issued only a month ago, causing retailers to scramble to stock their shelves. That didn’t deter shoppers. Read the rest of this story on BostonHerald.com.
Largest California wildfire threatens marijuana growing area
SAN FRANCISCO — California’s largest wildfire is threatening a marijuana growing enclave, and authorities said many of the locals have refused to evacuate and abandon their maturing crops even as weather forecasters predict more hot, dry and windy conditions that could fan flames. The wildfire called the August Complex is nearing the small communities of Post Mountain and Trinity Pines, about 200 miles northwest of Sacramento, the Los Angeles Times reported. Law enforcement officers went door to door warning of the encroaching fire danger but could not force residents to evacuate, Trinity County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Nate Trujillo said. Read the rest of this story on BostonHerald.com.
Reaction mixed to pot shop proposed in Roxbury’s Nubian Square
Many people in Roxbury on Tuesday said they would welcome a proposed recreational marijuana dispensary in Nubian Square, even as the head of a neighborhood group said a “drug den” would not help to revitalize the community. Rooted in Roxbury, a Black-owned business, wants to open its store in the predominantly Black neighborhood, where several store fronts stand empty. “Before cannabis was legalized in Massachusetts, it was here, and it was unsafe because you didn’t know what it was laced with when you were buying it on the street,” Brian Keith, one of the company’s four owners, said. “We’re offering a safe alternative.” Read the rest of this story on BostonHerald.com.
Colorado marijuana sales blow past $200 million in July
Colorado cannabis sales set a record yet again in July, eclipsing $200 million in a single month for the first time. Dispensaries sold $183,106,003 in recreational marijuana and $43,268,565 in medical marijuana in July, for a combined $226,374,568 in revenue, according to data from the Colorado Department of Revenue. That’s up 13.8% from June, another record-setting month when the industry raked in nearly $199 million. So far in 2020, consumers have purchased more than $1.2 billion worth of cannabis products and the state has collected $203 million in taxes. Read the rest of this story on DenverPost.com.
Illegal marijuana farms are risky for workers who don’t make much, California sheriff says
Workers on large, illegal marijuana farms in Riverside County such as the one in Aguanga where seven people were slain early Labor Day often live in plywood shacks as they tend the leaves that bring someone else millions of dollars – a lifestyle that could cost them their lives, Sheriff Chad Bianco said. There have been eight incidents with 14 homicides in Riverside County this year alone that authorities have linked to illegal marijuana-growing operations. “The amount of money that we know is being generated by this – they are certainly not making it,” Bianco said of the workers in an interview Wednesday. Read the rest of this story on MercuryNews.com.
Colorado cold snap destroys millions of dollars worth of marijuana plants, could disrupt industry
Published: Sep 11, 2020, 6:15 am • Updated: Sep 11, 2020, 6:15 am By The Associated Press DENVER — Early cold temperatures and snow in Colorado may have destroyed millions of dollars worth of outdoor plants, cannabis and hemp companies said. The drop of about 70 degrees Fahrenheit occurred too early in the growing season for farmers to harvest the plants, Marijuana Business Daily reports. Related Articles Read the rest of this story on DenverPost.com.
With 7 dead, large-scale California marijuana operation is tied to organized crime
By ELLIOT SPAGAT and MICHAEL R. BLOOD | The Associated Press AGUANGA — An illegal marijuana growing operation where seven people were fatally shot in a small, rural Southern California town had the markings of organized crime, authorities said Tuesday. More than 20 people lived on the property, which had several makeshift dwellings, a nursery and vehicles used in production, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said. Marijuana was processed to honey oil, a highly potent concentrate made by extracting the high-inducing chemical THC from cannabis. Read the rest of this story on MercuryNews.com.
Guest Commentary: The use of cannabis in the United States should be decriminalized
Amid the long-overdue national conversation about achieving true social justice, one key element is being largely overlooked: The need to end decades of misguided drug policy that has disproportionately taken a toll on minority communities. An issue certain to arise in the presidential campaign is whether the use of cannabis should be decriminalized, or whether it should remain illegal under federal law. I believe the current federal prohibition must be repealed. First, the grim truth is that America’s war on drugs, coupled with decades of disinvestment, has contributed to a cycle of poverty, violence and incarceration and contributed to the societal injustice we are working to unravel. Read the rest of this story on DenverPost.com.
June was Colorado’s biggest marijuana sales month ever. July was likely bigger.
June marks the first month in Colorado history that recreational marijuana shops sold more than $150 million worth of products as cannabis consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic continues to set industry records. Recreational marijuana consumers spent $158,102,628 at Colorado shops in June, according to data from the Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division. It’s a 6% increase of the previous single-month recreational sales record of $149,186,615 that was set in May, state data shows. Last June, rec shops sold roughly $122.4 million in products. Before this year, monthly recreational sales had only eclipsed $140 million one time, in August 2019, state data shows. That month, dispensaries combined to sell $173,219,859 worth of products. Read the rest of this story on DenverP...
Monterey revisiting legalizing cannabis dispensaries
MONTEREY — Elected officials in Monterey will revisit the debate over joining most of the rest of the Peninsula in allowing cannabis dispensaries in the city. Citing sales-tax revenue being siphoned off to other cities, council members this week voted 4-1 to place it on a meeting agenda as soon as September. Councilman Alan Haffa, who requested that the council consider the topic, said that roughly seven in 10 voters in Monterey supported the legalization of cannabis for recreational use in 2016. In the past, Haffa said, the council has taken a wait-and-see approach. “In the interim, we’ve seen Del Rey Oaks open a successful dispensary; Seaside opened a number of dispensaries; we’ve seen a dispensary in The Barnyard in Carmel and recently Marina has moved forward,” he said. Read the rest o...
Ticker: Pot grower fined, fishing gets relief
After imposing a cumulative $800,000 in fines last month, the Cannabis Control Commission slapped a $120,000 fine Thursday on a cultivator and manufacturer that sold vaporizer cartridges that exceeded allowed state limits for ethanol. The commission unanimously approved the fine and a four-month probation period for Revolutionary Clinics, which grows marijuana and manufactures marijuana products in Fitchburg, after the two sides reached a settlement. The company said one of its lab technicians, who has since been fired, did not read the complete test results showing that the cartridges exceeded the state’s ethanol limit and therefore could not be sold. “In September 2019, we participated in a voluntary dispute resolution conference with the CCC and subsequently provided a full account of t...
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