HempTalk - Business Blogs and Press Releases

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a potential 2020 White House contender, is joining Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who is also speculated to be a possible presidential candidate, in the fight to legalize marijuana under federal law.

Harris announced Thursday that she will be co-sponsoring the Marijuana Justice Act, which Booker introduced in August.

The legislation would eliminate marijuana's status as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substance Act. 

Click here to read the complete article

Aris Folley ~ TheHill.com ~ 

India’s medical marijuana industry will blossom if companies use science to convince regulators that MMJ is an effective medicine. That’s the view of the country’s only licensed medical cannabis cultivator. Avnish Pandya, co-founder of Bombay Hemp Company, said the best way to develop India’s medical marijuana industry is for companies to work with regulators to […]

How India can become a global cannabis leader: Q&A with Bombay Hemp’s Avnish Pandya is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Marijuana cuisine has come a long way since the pot brownies of a generation or two past, when home cooks tossed butter melted with weed (sometimes including stems and seeds) into a recipe.

In the spring of 2014, Dave Weiner was a food judge for High Times magazine's Cannabis Cup in Denver.

Weiner, who lives near Stratton Mountain, received a kit with about 45 edible products containing cannabis and an app for recording his scores.

He had a week to judge the food — from sour gummies to pizza sauce, from Thai iced tea push-up pops to beef jerky — in categories including effect, flavor, packaging and product originality.

Click here to read the complete article

Retail sales of medical and recreational cannabis in the United States are expected to hit $8 billion-$10 billion this year – a nearly 50% increase from 2017 – and rise as high as $22 billion by 2022.

That’s according to exclusive projections from the 2018 edition of the Marijuana Business Factbook released Wednesday at the start of MJBizConNEXT in New Orleans.

The anticipated explosive industry growth is a backdrop for MJBizConNEXT, which is hosted by Marijuana Business Daily. The industry conference is expected to draw 3,000 marijuana professionals and 280-plus exhibitors from around the globe.

Click here to read the complete article

Eli McVey, John Schroyer and Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier ~ MJBizDaily.com ~

The acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was put through the wringer by lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, pressed repeatedly to answer questions about the federal agency’s outdated marijuana policy.

Here’s a roundup of exchanges between DEA Acting Administrator Robert Patterson and members of the House Judiciary Committee during a hearing on the opioid epidemic.

Click here to read the complete article

Kyle Jaeger ~ MarijuanaMoment.net ~ 

Countries in the Danube Region have put hemp at the center of a roadmap for the EU’s DanuBioValNet project that aims to develop a sustainable growth policy for bio-based value chains.

“Without significant acceleration of the bioeconomy in the Danube Region, the ambitious goals of the European Commission Bioeconomical Strategy will not be met in the foreseeable time horizon,” the group said in a statement. “Hemp has the best prerequisites to become the crop for the future.”

Good climate for hemp

Citing a 400% increase in EU farmland under hemp in recent years led by France, Ukraine, Hungary and Romania, the group noted that the Danube Region’s climate in the southern half of the North Temperate Zone is ideal for hemp cultivation.

The group recommended formation of hemp sector clusters in Slovakia and Czech Republic, increased efforts at education, knowledge sharing and research on hemp across the entire Danube Region, and harmonization of regulations governing the crop.

Addressing EU bio-goals

The recommendations came out of a recent meeting held in Prague to roadmap the DanuBioValNet initiative, which aims to help meet goals of The European Commission Bioeconomical Strategy. Representatives from Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Slovakia were hosted by the Czech Republic’s National Cluster Association, a partner in DanuBioValNet, a cross-clustering partnership looking at innovative ways to develop a bio-based network for the Danube Region, which stretches from the Black Forest in Germany to Romania, Ukraine and Moldova on the Black Sea. The effort seeks to support regional development by diversifying the local economy through bio-based value chains to replace non-renewable resources, especially crude oil.

Medical marijuana can be used by Georgians suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and intractable pain, according to a bill signed by Gov. Nathan Deal on Monday.

The legislation, House Bill 65, adds PTSD and intractable pain to the list of conditions eligible for treatment by cannabis oil.

Georgia’s medical marijuana law, first passed in 2015, now covers more than a dozen conditions, including late-stage cancer and seizure disorders. The law allows patients approved by a physician to possess small amounts of cannabis oil.

Click here to read the complete article

Mark Niesse ~ Politics.myajc.com ~

The largest growth is in states that legalized in 2016 and have had time to build up to the latest hiring sprees, but there are a few budding markets, too.

In the next 10 years, cannabis is estimated to be a $57 billion industry.

While there are currently only a quarter of a million Americans who hold part- or full-time jobs in the cannabis sector, employment opportunities will grow as the market continues to expand.

Click here to read the complete article

Sara Gullickson ~ Leafly.com ~ 

So Mitch is in the driver’s seat and Chuck is riding shotgun, leading us down that Great American Hemp Highway. Buddies, you know, like Butch & Sundance; Lefty & Pancho. It’s Mitch & Chuck!

In American political parlance, it’s hemp that’s brought us to “a rare moment of bipartisan harmony” because Mitch (Sen. McConnell, Republican, Kentucky), and Chuck (Sen. Schumer, Democrat, New York) spend most of their time in bitter cat fights and do nothing about the little things that matter in America: The tax system, health care, immigration.

With hemp, they’re on the same page.

True friends

As the main sponsor of The Hemp Farming Act of 2018, McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, sees hemp as a way to revive the fortunes of farmers in his home state of Kentucky, which has seen massive attrition in the tobacco markets over the past 2 decades.

Schumer has signed onto McConnell’s Act, saying it “makes no sense that the DEA is the primary regulator, and that they stop farmers and investors from growing hemp.” (The Act, by the way, will also be good for New York farmers.)

When it comes to cannabis legalization, local politics matter.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) has released it’s 2018 Gubernatorial Scorecard ahead of November’s election when many governors will face voters at the ballot box.

The scorecard is similar to NORML’s Congressional grading system which assigns a letter grade from A to F based on a politician’s cannabis-related remarks and legislative action.

Click here to read the complete article

Miroslav Tomoski ~ Herb.co ~ 

Creating dishes and culinary experiences that are as fun as they are unique, Chef Luke Reyes makes the art of the cannabis edible look easy.

Reyes—along with business partners and friends Ryan Hope and Ben Gilovitz— recently founded La Hoja in Southern California, a cannabis catering and events company devoted to bringing the low-dose cannabis experience to dinner parties and events.

For instance, they served their special “potsickles” at recent Coachella parties.

Click here to read the complete article

Trina Calderón ~ Leafly.com ~

While the state of California legalized recreational marijuana earlier this year, cities and towns were still allowed to ban sales of the drug in their jurisdictions. But a new bill could get around some of those local bans.

A new bill in front of the California Senate would allow marijuana companies to deliver their products anywhere in the state, including cities where legal sales are still banned.

According to one analysis, around 40 percent of California residents live 60 miles or more from a legal marijuana dispensary thanks to cities and towns that have banned recreational sales.

Click here to read the complete article

Joseph Misulonas ~ Civilized.Life ~ 

The U.S. Small Business Administration bars banks from issuing SBA-backed loans to marijuana- and hemp-related companies, Maine lawmakers override a veto of key adult-use legislation, and Scotts Miracle-Gro consolidates its MJ operations. Here’s a closer look at some notable developments in the cannabis industry over the past week. SBA shuts off the spigot Small businesses […]

Week in Review: SBA says no to cannabis, Maine advances rec MJ & Scotts Miracle-Gro shrinks is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

The Svans, from Georgia’s Caucasus region, had their weed culture (and plants) uprooted.

Khachapuri, the cheese bread native to Georgia, is a regional staple. But a local rumor holds that the Svans—an ancient community living in the highest settlements of the Caucasus—eat a fragrant, weed-filled iteration.

From the moment a Georgian friend told me about this elusive dish, I couldn’t stop thinking about it—I wondered what it tasted like, whether anyone still made it—and, naturally, whether or not it would get me stoned.

Click here to read the complete article

Benjamin Kemper ~ AtlasObscura.com ~

The Maine House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to override Gov. Paul LePage's (R) veto of a measure to allow the commercial sale of marijuana in the state.

The House overrode the veto with a 109-39 vote, according to The Portland Press Herald.

The bill now heads to the state Senate, where lawmakers must vote by a two-thirds margin to overturn LePage's veto.

The newspaper previously reported that senators believe they have the support to overturn a veto. 

Click here to read the complete article

Marijuana testing — a fixture at large American employers for at least 30 years — excludes too many potential workers, experts say, at a time when filling jobs is more challenging than it’s been in nearly two decades.

FPI Management, a property company in California, wants to hire dozens of people. Factories from New Hampshire to Michigan need workers. Hotels in Las Vegas are desperate to fill jobs.

Those employers and many others are quietly taking what once would have been a radical step: They’re dropping marijuana from the drug tests they require of prospective employees.

Click here to read the complete article

Christopher Rugaber  ~ Associated Press ~

The Missouri House of Representatives voted 112-44 Tuesday to legalize medical marijuana for people with several health conditions, sending the measure to the Missouri Senate.

If enacted, House Bill 1554 would allow people with terminal illnesses verified by doctors to request a registration card from the state that would allow them to possess and use smokeless marijuana.

An amendment attached to the bill expanded access to people with other conditions, including cancer, Parkinson's and epilepsy, even if they're not considered terminal.

Click here to read the complete article

Andy Marso ~ KansasCity.com ~ 

There are two ways to begin growing a cannabis plant. The first is from seed and the second is from a clone.

As my Green Thumb gardening project unfolds — growing marijuana for the first time, in my East Bay backyard — I’ll start in here with the lessons I’ve been learning about seeds.

(Clones, in non-cannabis lingo called a vegetative cutting, don’t go into the garden until May or June. Stay tuned for that lesson.)

Click here to read the complete article

Johanna Silver ~ GreenState.com ~ 

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a longtime opponent of legalizing recreational marijuana, now says the federal government should not interfere in California's legal marijuana market.

In comments to McClatchy Tuesday — in the middle of a 2018 campaign for her seat in a state that has settled into the legal pot market — the California Democrat said she was open to considering federal protection for state-legalized marijuana.

Feinstein's office said her views changed after meetings with constituents, particularly those with young children who have benefited from medical marijuana use.

Click here to read the complete article

Kate Irby ~ McClatchyDC.com ~