Sep 10, 2016 | California Marijuana Laws, Marijuana Legalization, Proposed MMJ Law Changes
When Nevada medical marijuana patient S. Rowan Wilson stopped by a gun seller in late 2011, he thought his license would be a cakewalk of the non-edible kind. Unfortunately for him, the merchant was aware of an open letter the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives posted to federal firearms licensees on September 2011 that year. He refused the purchase because Wilson was a marijuana user which he technically was at the time. It would take another two years for the Silver State to regulate medical marijuana.
The gist of the ATFE open letter reads:
“[A]ny person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her State has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes, is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, and is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition.
Such persons should answer “yes” to question 11.e. on ATF Form 4473 . . . and you may not transfer firearms or ammunition to them. Further, if you are aware that the potential transferee is in possession of a card authorizing the possession and use of marijuana under State law, then you have “reasonable cause to believe” that the person is an unlawful user of a controlled substance.
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Aug 31, 2016 | Marijuana Legalization
Now that the marijuana biscuit is out the closet, and the smoke can waft up freely the question arises who is going to dare, and who is going to hold back? This is heady stuff. Fortunes could hang on targeted advertising and the right locations for dispensaries.
The Cannabis Market Intelligence Platform Headset decided to find out. A key discovery was ‘the male-female ratio among buyers of legal marijuana is still well over 2:1 … while the customer base skews young with an average of 37.6 years’. Debra Borchardt writing in Forbes quite correctly wants to know where the hippies have gone. How come the over sixty-fives make up a scant 5% of customers.
Debra poses an interesting question. A large portion of the Woodstock Generation must still be alive, judging by the weight of baby boomers in healthcare. Many early dope heads went on to fill important positions in commerce and government. Perhaps they changed their habits in favor of corporate lunches. Could it perhaps be down to the more rebellious nature of youth? Certainly, many older American citizens are still not in favor of the marijuana mutiny.
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Aug 12, 2016 | Marijuana Legalization
According to the data collected by Gallup, 1 in 8 Americans over the age of 18 participate in “smoking marijuana.” The number is even higher for adults aged 18 to 30, with 1 in 5 taking part.
Though it was just denied rescheduling as a Schedule 1 substance by the DEA, there seems to be no signs of slowing as the numbers steadily increase. This could be due in part to the state’s willingness to legalize weed regardless of Federal restrictions.
The most interesting part of this data is how it correlates with states that have recently legalized recreational marijuana for adults. It is found that participates from the west coast were more likely to acknowledge their use of the popular plant. Washington and Oregon have passed recreational usage and California is set to vote on it’s own legalization in November.
Participants who live within states that have already legalized marijuana had less of a problem admitting that they smoke.
4 in 10 Americans say they have tried Marijuana
43% of American adults say that they have tried marijuana in their lifetime. Though this is not much of a change from last year’s 44%, it is up slightly from 38% reported in 2013. This overall percentage started at a meager 4% in 1969 and has been on the rise since.
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Aug 12, 2016 | Marijuana Legalization
The English poet Hilaire Belloc wrote, ‘The flightless Dodo used to walk around, and take the sun and air. The sun yet warms his native ground. The Dodo is not there!’ The DEA seems equally unable to adapt, but it did skip and hop across a marijuana field the other day in a fruitless attempt to take to the air. They stubbornly rejecting calls to reschedule marijuana. However, it did make a decision and this may prove its undoing in the end.
Probably the biggest challenge the marijuana lobby faces, is the inability to do decent research and prove its point. The only federally legal marijuana farm is on the grounds of the University of Mississippi, and it does not produce sufficient legal samples to go around.
This leaves researchers with two choices. Do they hold back, or risk ending up in the slammer for the night, for having an ounce of what could better a patient’s life in their possession?
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Jul 30, 2016 | Marijuana Legalization
You could be doing that real soon on the north coast of California, in Mendicino County where rivers meet, and redwood forests, vineyards, and marijuana plantations bloom. The noble weed contributes one-third of the economy thanks to the Mediterranean climate, and it is generally a good place to be.
The locals have been protecting wine brands with appellations like Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon for decades. Stop the Drug War just let slip that you could be savoring the likes of a nice 2014 South Mendocino County Sour Diesel in your pipe up there too. No. this is not a joke, this is for real.
The country with the famous ‘Skunk Train’ steam loco connecting Willits and Fort Bragg through forests alongside Pudding Creek and the Noyo River, has hit on the idea of preserving its marijuana brand in likewise fashion. It plans on designating denominations of origin, and policing these to preserve famous cannabis brands that have been the delight of pot epicureans for decades.
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Jul 18, 2016 | Marijuana Legalization
As Colorado marijuana providers come to terms with supplying adults 21 years of age or older with their daily ounce, inevitably they have occasional administrative brushes with a system they do not know well. Marijuana Business Daily reports another instance where the federal government (via the Internal Revenue Service) is causing problems for the marijuana industry. Specifically, the spat is over the administration’s Form 8300 governing reporting single cash receipts of over $10,000 within 15 days of the event.
The wording of the regulation is a little vague where it says ‘Generally, any person in a trade or business who receives more than $10,000 in cash in a single transaction or in related transactions must file Form 8300. A “person” includes an individual, a company, a corporation, a partnership, an association, a trust, or an estate’. To my mind, ‘General’ introduces the possibility of exceptions.
If we are to take what providers have been telling John Schroyer who wrote the Marijuana Business Daily article at face value, some Colorado marijuana companies have not concerned themselves about Form 8300 until now, and they have had no complaints from IRS on the matter either. This situation changed radically following a spate of audits about non-submission of the forms.
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