Hilary Bricken

The Department of Justice has yet again graced us with another memo regarding how U.S. attorneys should argue against and prosecute medical marijuana criminal defendants. More specifically, the DOJ is making clear it does not view the 2014 Cromnibus as stopping federal criminal prosecutions for medical marijuana activity legal under state laws.  The DOJ authored this particular memo back in February, but it was just released to the public this month.

As medical and recreational marijuana use becomes increasingly accepted in the United States, one Petaluma company is carving a niche as southern Sonoma County and northern Marin County’s medical marijuana provider, operating with a business model that eschews the brick-and-mortar dispensary in favor of in-home service.

Trading on the city’s name, Cannaluma Health & Wellness — the moniker is a combination of “cannabis” and “Petaluma” — has added an average of 100 clients each month since launching in early 2014, said co-founder Nicoma Campbell. The company delivers marijuana and prepared cannabis products to individuals throughout the region, all of whom join as co-owners of the company.

Ask three cannabis growers for their thoughts about nutrients, and you’re likely to get three different answers. As with green chile and grilled cheese sandwiches, everyone has their own recipes for growing pot, and everyone thinks theirs is the best. Do you go strictly organic, using tea and bat guano to naturally enrich your cannabis? Or do you pump up the nutrients every week for swollen buds and enhanced aromas?

The arguments are old, but the variables are newer. As legal marijuana advances around the country, so does the science surrounding it.

Mark Hauk, of the Saskatoon Compassion Club, is set to open up a new medical marijuana dispensary on Second Avenue.

A new medical marijuana dispensary will open its doors today on Second Avenue. The man behind the dispensary, Mark Hauk, will also be in front of council to ask for the city to regulate the industry.

Hauk is with the Saskatchewan Compassion Club, an organization that describes itself as assisting people in medical need to get a prescription for marijuana and to find a safe and quality supply of the drug.  

Hauk said the current rules on medical marijuana aren't working. 

"The federal system right now, is causing sick and dying people in our community to needlessly suffer," he saidSays wait times and prices are a factor

EUREKA- It's the first of it's kind in Humboldt County and one local insurance broker says he's already seeing customers. As cannabis talks are on the rise, so too are cannabis insurance customers.

Eureka Insurance Broker John Ford has a leg up on the market. He's the first local broker to offer insurance for indoor or outdoor grow operations, dispensaries, physicians and landlords with tenants cultivating or processing cannabis. He says he started the business because of the overwhelming demand and local regulations in the works.

Thirty out-of-towners pile into a giant limousine-like bus parked outside the downtown Cheba Hut at noon on a summer Saturday. The group includes an eclectic array of visitors who range wildly in age and socioeconomic standing, and who hail from such disparate locales as Hannibal, Missouri, New York City and Argentina. They have just one thing in common: They love weed.

The cannabis products are scheduled to launch by the end of the year in Colorado.

When I talk with Brand Leaders about their problems, one of the first things they say is they don’t have enough Marketing Budget to do things they need to do. But when I observe what they are doing, I see that they are trying to do too much with the little money that they have. No matter how much marketing spend you have, you should challenge yourself to think and act like a BLOWFISH.

Cannabis Benchmarks reports U.S. spot price index is up fractionally to $1,709 this week.  The standard deviation of the non-volume weighted prices was $317, with 68% of transactions falling in the $1,493 to $2,127 per pound range.  

Transactions were as low as $1,400 per pound in both California and Colorado, and as high as $2,700 per pound on the east coast and $2,800 in the Midwest.

December Forward –  up $35 to $1,385 per pound.

Let’s break down some myths about marijuana:

Myth 1: Marijuana use is harmless.

Today’s marijuana is far more potent than the plant of the past.

New strains are being crossbred to produce higher levels of tetrahydrocannabinol — the chemical responsible for marijuana’s effects — than ever before, with some reaching 20 to 30 percent THC (as compared with the average 1 percent THC in the 1970s).

We don’t yet know the full extent to which increased levels of THC will affect the brain and the body. However, the National Institute on Drug Abuse cautions that it could lead to higher rates of addiction and adverse health consequences.