News 
Market Data 
Discover
Replies to post #91667 on Rightsmile, Inc. (RIGH)
01/18/19 10:49 PM
Now You Can Get Weed Delivered To You Anywhere In California, Even In Cities That Ban Pot
January 17, 2019 ..... by Amy DiPierro ..... "Palm Springs Desert Sun"
Until now, companies trying to deliver weed to doorsteps around the state – the companies trying to follow the letter of the law, anyway – have faced a daunting patchwork of local regulations.
Buying cannabis is legal in California, but cities and counties can still choose to regulate or ban the trade as they please. As a result, neighbors on opposite sides of the same street might not have the same legal access to cannabis deliveries.
The system has forced delivery companies trying to stay compliant with local laws to draw up elaborate maps to tell drivers where they can legally go, said Ian Stewart, who practices cannabis law at the Los Angeles firm Wilson Elser.
“In the past, delivery services have really had a hard time,” said Stewart, who estimates only about 30 percent of local jurisdictions in the state have regulated pot.
But state rules approved by the Office of Administrative Law on Jan. 16 give licensed cannabis delivery operations free rein to deliver pot almost anywhere in California, even into cities and counties that have barred it.
The new regulations went into effect on Jan. 16, meaning millions of Californians who were previously prohibited from ordering weed to their homes now can, at least in the eyes of the state.
Cannabis business advocates welcome the opportunity to expand further into the state and say the move will help deter black-market marijuana sales. But critics have said the more permissive delivery rule amounts to state overreach into an area that should be subject to local control.
The delivery issue is particularly relevant in places like Indian Wells, a city of 5,267 located in the heart of the Coachella Valley. It’s bordered on one side by a city that has legalized weed businesses in general and on the other by a city that permits medical cannabis deliveries specifically. Indio, the largest nearby city, also bans all cannabis businesses, including delivery.
“It’s an affront to local control and, basically, what we interpreted as the intent of the voters,” said David Gassaway, Indian Wells community development director. “It’s more of a local control issue than specifically a marijuana topic, the state slowly creeping into local affairs more and more.”
The League of California Cities has also deplored the delivery regulations as “extremely troubling.”
State rules approved by the Office of Administrative Law on Jan. 16 give licensed cannabis delivery operations free rein to deliver pot almost anywhere in California, even into cities and counties that have barred it.
State rules approved by the Office of Administrative Law on Jan. 16 give licensed cannabis delivery operations free rein to deliver pot almost anywhere in California, even into cities and counties that have barred it. (Photo: Getty Images file)
But the timing couldn’t be better for The Green Team, a 15-employee delivery service in the Bay Area that got a temporary state license in December. Co-owner Ali Cooper said the possibility of delivering statewide will make it much easier for companies like his to expand to more people faster.
“It gives delivery services the ability to really quickly scale up,” he said, “and reach a larger consumer base.”
Granted, companies like Cooper’s can’t go everywhere in the state. Delivery employees are not allowed to trade weed on public land, including property held in trust by the federal government for a tribe or a tribal member. And they have to steer clear of schools and day care centers.
The new delivery regulation also leaves some questions unanswered, said Simone Sandoval, director of licensing compliance at Highroad Consulting Group.
“I definitely think that the state’s going to need to clarify," she said, "or there’s going to be a lot of lawsuits."
Stewart, the cannabis attorney, predicted the most likely route to court is a legal challenge from a city or county with a local weed prohibition. But he also said municipalities could try a different tactic: Pulling over delivery drivers, a confrontation that could also provoke a court challenge.
01/30/19 4:11 AM
Cannabis Comes To Davos, Sharing Spotlight With Global Elites
January 27, 2019 ..... by Kristine Owram ..... Bloomberg News
If more proof was needed that cannabis is becoming accepted by the world’s financial and political elite, what better place to find it than at the Swiss ski resort of Davos?
While the usual cadre of billionaires, politicians and bankers debated the hot topics of the day (China, Brexit, trade), there was Bruce Linton of Canopy Growth Inc. extolling the virtues of legal pot with a Congolese Queen.
And over at the Canada Cannabis House Pavilion -- a rented bar in Davos -- Anthony Scaramucci (best known for his 11-day stint as White House communications director) interviewed former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Barak, chairman of medical marijuana company InterCure Ltd., was speaking a week before Israel’s cabinet is expected to approve medical cannabis exports.
In an era when everyone from former Speaker of the House John Boehner to ex-Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and former Mexican President Vicente Fox sit on the boards of pot firms, such a match up no longer seems bizarre. But if you had told someone at Davos two years ago that a former White House communications director would be interviewing a former Israeli prime minister about the benefits of medical marijuana, they might have thought you were smoking too much of the product.
Davos is all about serendipitous meetings, and so it was for Linton, chief executive officer of Canopy Growth. As a Bloomberg reporter tried to interview him, Queen Diambi Kabatusuila Tshiyoyo Muata of the Bakwa Indu people of the Democratic Republic of Congo introduced herself, and the two chatted about the economic and social benefits of legalization.
Linton, who heads the largest pot company by market value -- worth twice as much as retailer Macy’s Inc. -- said he met former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the president of Kosovo. He also attended an exclusive interview with Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.
Linton’s advice for meeting the right people and getting invited to the right parties? “You’ve got to hustle.”
The hustle seems to be paying off for Canopy’s stock, which has soared this year.
Still, even with all the glad-handing at Davos, there are plenty of obstacles to full acceptance of cannabis. Earlier this week, CBS rejected a Super Bowl ad that called for the legalization of medical marijuana, according to Acreage Holdings Inc. (which counts Boehner and Mulroney as directors). You can see the ad here.
