Monday, October 31, 2016
Alaska Celebrates First Retail Sale(s) Two Years After Legalization
Industry Cannabis industry information for businesses including tips, news, and advice for dispensaries.
Alaska Celebrates First Retail Sale(s) Two Years After Legalization
It took nearly two full years, but Alaska recorded its first legal sale from a state-licensed cannabis store in Fairbanks on Friday, Oct. 28. One day later, the first retail store officially opened in Valdez.
Fairbanks’ Pakalolo Supply Co. made a ceremonial legal sale on Friday, the night before Herbal Outfitters opened its doors in Valdez, making it the state’s first retail store to open.
More than 250 people lined up on Saturday at Herbal Outfitters, with customers coming from as far away as Fairbanks, more than 360 miles to the north of Valdez. The grand opening marked the start of Alaska’s adult-use cannabis industry, which was approved by voters in November 2014.
CannTest, the state’s first testing lab in Anchorage, opened its doors Monday after clearing final regulatory hurdles. The lab will test a wide range of cannabis products, including flowers, edibles, and concentrates.
Derek Morris, the general manager at Herbal Outfitters, said the store will initially carry only dried cannabis flower. According to Morris, manufactures of edibles and concentrates are still in various stages of the permitting process.
Meanwhile, the night before in Fairbanks, Pakalolo Supply Co. posted their first sale in a Facebook Live video. In the video, co-owner Keenan Hollister is seen ringing up the product as a photographer takes pictures.
The store was not open to public, so the sale was purely ceremonial. Pakalolo passed its final state inspection early Friday, and got its first testing results for flower back Friday afternoon, clearing the way for the legal sale.
Dispensary in Anchorage Denied Due to Concerns of Outside Interests
In other Alaska news: The license for a potential cannabis shop in Anchorage was rejected by state officials due to concerns over an outside company’s stake in the business. It was the first such rejection in Alaska.
Wild Flowers Holdings, LLC, was unanimously denied by the Marijuana Control Board on Friday, a day when 21 other licenses were approved. The board has been reviewing and approving licenses since June of this year.
According to reports, board members questioned discrepancies in both the application and in licensee Andrea Gribbin’s answers about the role that Happiedaze LLC, a cannabis consulting firm in Arizona, was playing in the business endeavor.
Tiffany Young, co-owner of Happiedaze, is also Gribbin’s niece. She took issue with the board’s actions, saying that she did not believe there were any laws that supported the decision.
Under Alaska state regulations, all cannabis licensees must be Alaska residents. No other person from outside the state can have a direct or indirect financial interest in the business. There are two exceptions – rental property charges and consulting fees.
The post Alaska Celebrates First Retail Sale(s) Two Years After Legalization appeared first on Leafly.
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by Gage Peake at Leafly
Everything You Need to Know About Grow Lights: LED vs. HID
This post is sponsored by Supercloset.
Using a light source that consumes less electricity and puts out less heat can mean a lot for someone growing indoors in small places. High intensity discharge lights work great, but they come with a hidden price. Find out why many growers are switching over to LED in their gardens.
LED technology has advanced considerably in recent times. While they were once just little lights on electronics, they’re now found in streetlights, flashlights and even in lamps growing vegetable in space. A couple years ago research indicated that LED and HID had similar efficiencies, but times have even changed since then. Light-emitting diode lamps for growing plants are more efficient then ever and will save you tons on electricity and heating.
LED lighting is also a greener option than HID’s, in particular metal halides that contain mercury. Don’t pollute the environment with toxic lamps! Go green and save the earth, use LED’s.
Cannabis thrives under LED lighting, there’s no doubt about it these days. Not only that, but setting up indoor grow spaces with LED’s comes much simpler than with high intensity discharge lamps. You won’t have to worry as much about putting the lights too close to the tops of the plants, a major concern for the hot light under HID bulbs.
Targeted delivery of photons to the plants allows you to get the most out of just one small LED setup. With the precision delivery of light, these lamps are highly adaptable to advanced, space-saving, yield-increasing techniques like Screen of Green.
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Head on over to Supercloset.com to take a look at the latest technology in indoor growing and lighting. Supercloset is putting together an LED alliance and has revolutionized the industry of green growing since their inception in 2002. Don’t miss out on the LED revolution, start growing green!
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by HT Sponsor at High Times
Maryland Wants to Hire Police That Have Smoked Marijuana
Law enforcement hopefuls all across Maryland who may have consumed marijuana in the past, could soon have the unique opportunity to protect and serve the good people of the Old Line state.
A special commission charged with hiring the state’s police force has recommended a change to a policy that disqualifies recruits with a history of marijuana use, according to a report from the Baltimore Sun.
The article suggests that the Police Training and Standards Commission, which was put into place last year to keep a watchful eye on the state’s cops, wants to do away with a decades old rule that makes it impossible for applicants who have smoked marijuana five times since turning 21 years old, or 20 times in their lifetime, to become a uniformed police officer. The 24-member commission recently voted to change the policy to only apply to those who have consumed the herb within the past three years.
“Everyone has their own particular views of marijuana use, but this isn’t about anyone’s personal views,” said Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, who believes this action is necessary to lure in new recruits. “We have to do what’s right for the profession and what’s going on in America in 2016.”
The recommendation, which Davis says has the support of an “overwhelming majority” of the commission, will now be tossed into the ring for a series of public forums to gauge the overall interest of the average citizen. If all goes well, the proposal would then need to be reviewed by state officials before the policy could be amended.
As it stands, Davis says marijuana consumption is “the No. 1 disqualifier for police applicants in Baltimore.”
Needless to say, some law enforcement groups have some reservations about loosening the restrictions surrounding police officers and their pasts with pot. The Fraternal Order of Police, the Sun reports, is not at all in favor of making it easier for former stoners to become police officers.
But Davis says that since over half the nation has legalized the leaf for medicinal and recreational purposes, it has become necessary to change some of the anti-pot policies of the past.
“One of the points that I made to people is that we are losing some really good people from our profession because we are clinging to this defense that makes no sense,” he said.
Once the public has given its opinion on the matter, the proposal will then be forwarded to the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. The new rule will only be implemented as long as it receives the support of the agency’s secretary, Steve Moyer.
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by Mike Adams at High Times
Anti-Medical Marijuana Campaign Screws up Bigtime in Florida
In a last ditch effort to try to persuade the Florida voters to go against the state’s medical marijuana initiative (Amendment 2) in the upcoming election, Drug Free Florida set up a last-minute robocall program last weekend to round up opposition.
Things didn’t go as planned.
According to a report from Sunshine State News, Drug Free Florida’s “Vote No on 2” campaign began calling voters during the wee hours of Sunday morning. Some people complained of receiving calls as early as 3am, while others said the phone was ringing off the hook until sunrise.
“We were not amused,” said Pensacola resident Judy Druener, who told SSN that the No on 2 campaign awakened her household at 4:38 a.m. “I’m sure there are rules for when political calls can and can’t be made, but even if there aren’t, who in their right mind would pay a firm to manage a PR campaign that thinks making oh-dark thirty robo-calls are a good idea?”
It wasn’t long after residents started receiving the early morning anti-marijuana wake-up call that the No on 2 Facebook page lit up with a legion of angry people, who seemed prepared to drag whoever was responsible for cramping the style of their Sunday slumber out into the streets of the state’s 67 counties and flog them with a wet rubber hose.
“Who in the world authorized robo calls this morning at 5am in Tallahassee? I am very upset,” one person wrote. “I take care of my elderly parents and unfortunately, when I receive a call at 5 am I immediately think something is wrong with their health. Surprisingly at church today others shared the same concern that had received the same early call. I would like an explanation!”
One woman even suggested the early morning call might cause some No on 2 supporters to switch sides and stand in support for medical marijuana.
“A call at 5 a.m. Might cause a YES vote from some folks. Know it upset me. Very thoughtless move,” she wrote.
After catching a lot of heat from a mob of miffed Floridians, the No on 2 campaign took to its Facebook page to offer an apology.
“Our sincerest apologies to those voters who inadvertently received a recorded call during the early morning hours on Sunday,” the Vote No on 2 campaign said in a statement. “It was not our intention to have those calls made at that hour. These calls were supposed to be made starting in the early PM and were mistakenly sent in the early AM. We are very sorry for the inconvenience.”
A spokesperson for the No on 2 campaign told SSN the calls were supposed to be made between noon and 7 p.m.
There is only about a week left before the Florida voters hit the polls to decide whether the state should legalize a comprehensive medical marijuana program through Amendment 2. So far, the majority of the polls show more than 70 percent support on the issue. This is good news considering that Florida law forces ballot measure to receive 60 percent support. Incidentally, Amendment 2 failed back in 2014 by a measly two points.
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by Mike Adams at High Times
Alaska’s First Pot Shop Opens to a Long Line of Customers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s first marijuana retail outlet opened to a throng of customers, two years after voters approved allowing people 21 and older to recreationally use pot.
More than 250 people lined up Saturday outside Herbal Outfitters in Valdez, store owner Richard Ballow said. Customers came from as far away as Anchorage and Fairbanks, more than 350 miles to the north.
The opening Saturday at “high noon” marks the first time it’s legal to buy pot under a voter initiative approved in November 2014. Voter approval made it legal under state law to possess up to an ounce of marijuana outside of a home.
“It’s a historic moment,” Ballow said. “I feel like I am blessed and honored to be a part of this.”
The state’s first testing lab, CannTest, opened in Anchorage Monday after clearing regulatory hurdles. It will test cannabis flowers, edibles and concentrates.
Herbal Outfitters’ general manager, Derek Morris, said the store will initially carry only dried cannabis flowers. He said manufacturers of edibles and concentrates are still in various stages of the permitting process.
In Fairbanks, two marijuana retail stores are planning to open next week after final inspections are completed, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. A third Fairbanks store plans to open in about one month.
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by Associated Press at High Times
Pot Legalization Movement Seeks First Foothold in Northeast
BY BOB SALSBERG
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON (AP) — Having proven they can win in the West, advocates for recreational marijuana hope the Nov. 8 election brings their first significant electoral victories in the densely populated Northeast, where voters in Massachusetts and Maine will consider making pot legal for all adults.
Supporters believe “yes” votes in New England would add geographical diversity to the legalization map, encourage other East Coast states to move in the same direction and perhaps build momentum toward ending federal prohibitions on the drug.
“We have to get to a point where we can win legalization voter initiatives in other parts of the country,” said Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, a leading group in the legalization movement.
Three other states – California, Arizona and Nevada – are also voting on recreational pot. If the California initiative passes, marijuana will be legal along the entire West Coast. Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Alaska have already voted to permit it. The District of Columbia also passed a legalization measure in 2014, but it has no regulatory framework for retail sales and possession remains illegal on federal property.
Several Eastern states are among the 25 that already allow some form of medicinal marijuana, but none in the region has approved recreational pot.
Big money is at stake, which helps explain why marijuana supporters have raised more than $6 million in Massachusetts and about $1.3 million in Maine, most from outside those states.
Analysts from Cowen and Co. issued a report last month forecasting a $50 billion legal cannabis market in the U.S. by 2026, a nearly tenfold increase over today. But such growth would be predicated on federal legalization. Passage of the November state referendums would be a “key catalyst” toward that end, analysts wrote.
Higher marijuana usage in the West may help explain why the region has been a more fertile ground for legalization, said Matt Simon, New England director for the Marijuana Policy Project, another major pro-legalization group.
“More people have direct experience with marijuana or know someone who has, and that leads to it being demystified,” Simon said.
Recent polls on the New England ballot questions, which propose significantly lower tax rates than those in Colorado and Washington, indicate the “yes” sides trending ahead in both states. Still, passage is far from guaranteed.
In Massachusetts, a socially liberal state, voters previously decriminalized small amounts of marijuana and approved it for medicinal use. This year’s initiative has met formidable opposition from politicians, business leaders, clergy and even billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who recently donated $1 million to opposing groups.
The state’s popular Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston’s Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh are among many elected officials fighting the idea. Their arguments include concerns that edible pot products resembling candy or other treats could fall into the hands of children, and that marijuana can be a “gateway” to far more dangerous drugs.
“The availability of marijuana for adolescent users already constitutes an environmental factor for the later use of other illicit drugs,” the state’s four Roman Catholic bishops said in a recent statement. “Its legalization will only serve to worsen this problem.”
A TV ad urging a “no” vote imagines a neighborhood overrun by pot shops and a mother shocked to see her own son emerge from one of the stores. Legalization proponents dismissed the ad as a “smear-and-fear” tactic.
“There is a puritanical streak that runs through New Englanders,” said NORML’s Stroup, a onetime Boston resident.
The Puritans lost their influence centuries ago, and the phrase “banned in Boston” is an anachronism. Yet uneasiness persists when it comes to issues that would have once been considered sinful. Massachusetts, for example, only recently authorized casino gambling and did so in a limited and highly regulated form.
In Maine, critics worry about disrupting the state’s well-established medical marijuana program.
“We want to make sure patients don’t lose access and that small growers will still be able to flourish,” said Catherine Lewis, director of education for Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine.
Portland, the state’s largest city, legalized possession of up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana in 2013, but the statewide prohibition still makes buying and selling the drug illegal.
Marijuana companies that have focused largely on Western states are watching developments closely, sensing new regional opportunities for investment and growth.
“The Northeast specifically is going to be a very powerful market because of the population density,” said Derek Peterson, chief executive of Terra Tech Corp., which operates cannabis cultivation, production and retail facilities.
Marc Harvill, client services and training manager for Denver-based Medicine Man Technologies, said the firm has already fielded inquires for consulting services from potential retail operators in New England should the ballot questions pass.
“The sky’s the limit,” he said.
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by Associated Press at High Times