Dispensary

Florida Health Dept. bans sale of whole-flower vaporizer cup

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By Joe Reedy, The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s Department of Health on Monday ordered a Quincy-based dispensary to quit selling a medical cannabis product that could potentially be broken down and made into pot that can be smoked.

Related: Florida dispensary says new flower product doesn’t violate smoking ban

Trulieve began selling its first whole-flower cannabis product meant for vaping last week at five retail dispensaries and through home delivery. The buds in the Entourage Multi Indica vaporizer cup, however, could also be used in joints, pipes or bongs.

The Department of Health authorized Trulieve to sell sealed vaporizer cups containing marijuana. However, Office of Compassionate Use Director Christian Bax said in a cease and desist letter to Trulieve that the mesh caps can be removed with minimal effort and cannot be reattached.

Vaping is allowed under state law, but smoking is prohibited. Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said the company had issued warnings to patients that the product should only be used for vaping.

The department also found in a tour of one of Trulieve’s retail facilities that a vaporizer it advertises for use with the product is sold only online. Trulieve also was not able to show how to use the product with the vaporizer.

Currently, low-THC cannabis can be used by patients suffering from cancer, epilepsy, chronic seizures and chronic muscle spasms. The law was expanded last year to include patients with terminal conditions. It also allowed them to use more potent strains.

The rules from a medical marijuana constitutional amendment passed last November, which will expand the list of conditions for which patients can receive pot, must be in place by July and enacted by October.

New Mexico medical marijuana balloons in just a year, now has 40,000 patients

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By The Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The medical marijuana industry in New Mexico has grown substantially since being organized in 2007.

About 8,000 New Mexico residents have obtained a medical marijuana license since Jan. 1, which brings the statewide total to more than 40,000 patients, the Albuquerque Journal reported. The amount of patients has increased by 84 percent since March 2016.

The number of dispensaries has also increased. The statewide total is at 56 after being at just 36 in January 2016.

In 2015, none of New Mexico’s cannabis producers had total receipts that exceeded $1 million. This year, five growers topped $1 million in sales from January through March, alone.

First-quarter sales this year topped $19 million, up 91 percent throughout the same period in 2016, New Mexico Department of Health data shows.

However, some think the industry’s growth is a cause for concern. State Rep. Bill Rehm thinks the system is being abused.

“I think there are a bunch of people who are obtaining marijuana cards, not for a true medical reason, but for justification for them to smoke marijuana legally,” Rehm said.

But R. Greenleaf & Associates Director Willie Ford says while that might be true, most people are using the system for legitimate medical conditions.

“I have put my full faith in the Department of Health,” Ford said. “They have a good system for determining and confirming a person’s eligibility.”

The health department’s application process requires patients to provide documentation from a physician supporting a medical diagnosis for a qualifying condition.

Information from: Albuquerque Journal

Is GMO weed inevitable, given Big Ag’s entry into the cannabis industry?

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By Will Houston, Eureka Times-Standard

Genetically modified marijuana is a term that may strike fear into the cannabis farms in the hills of Humboldt County, conjuring visions of large agricultural companies like Monsanto entering the commercial market with enhanced strains.

While these genetically altered strains have yet to find their way into the marketplace, according to agricultural officials, some who study the cannabis genome such as Dr. Reggie Gaudino of the Berkeley-based Steep Hill cannabis laboratory say it’s only a matter of time before they do.

“The cannabis industry should be aware that sooner rather than later, there will be big ag at play in this industry,” Gaudino said Friday. “And big ag uses exactly these techniques. We’re working to help the current population of farmers and breeders retain relevance when big ag comes knocking on the door.”

After the passage of Proposition 64, local farmers have two years to press their advantage before companies outside the state can enter the cannabis market and until 2022 before grow sizes can reach above an acre.

Other researchers like Phylos Bioscience’s CEO Mowgli Holmes in Oregon disagree with Gaudino, stating that the industry and consumers are not as willing to accept or would even want to associate genetically modified organisms, known also as GMOs, with cannabis.

“I don’t think there is any thing that GMOs could do for cannabis that we need that couldn’t be done by advanced plant breeding techniques,” Holmes said. “GMOs can make cannabis that glows in the dark, but we don’t need that.”

Areas like Humboldt County have already worked to distance themselves from any GMO cannabis market that may arise and are instead working to embrace a regulated industry of environmentally conscious and organic farming practices.

Chromosomes of cannabis

Within marijuana’s 20 chromosomes are what some researchers say is the future of cannabis breeding waiting to be unlocked through the field of genomics.


Dr. Reggie Gaudino, foreground, of the Berkeley-based Steep Hill commercial cannabis laboratory stands next to his PacBio DNA sequencer. (Photo by Elizabeth Peace; Contributed by Steep Hill)

Labs like Phylos Bioscience and Steep Hill formed within the past decade are now using DNA sequencing techniques on various strains of cannabis to begin to unlock what makes marijuana tick. Labs are able to tests for different markers in marijuana’s DNA that coincide with the number of terpenes or the non-psychoactive cannabinoid, known as CBD.

“We have a big map of all the varieties that we’ve ever sequenced,” Holmes said. “It positions the sample on that so it’s near other things it’s genetically related to. Then there is a back report page that gives information on what population may have contributed genes to it. In the future we’ll have genetic tests that will tell people what traits the plant will have as it gets older.”

Gaudino said the work to map the marijuana genome is just in its nascent stages, but that its relevance in the modern market is already at work.

“Using the human genome as an example, that took 13 years, $3 billion and 11,500 sequences to arrive at what we call the human genome,” Gaudino said. “This is just starting for cannabis. There is no quote-unquote cannabis genome yet. In order to develop that you have to sequence lots of different strains.”

While marijuana has grown more potent than strains smoked at 1960s music festivals, these stronger strains are not the result of genetic modification — to most people’s knowledge — but rather tried and true traditional breeding techniques such as hybridization and cross-breeding.

Marijuana farmers like Mom and Pop Gardens co-owner Nicholas — who declined to give his last name — in northeastern Humboldt County states he is a proponent of naturally grown cannabis, stating that breeding has diluted the resiliency of certain types of strains. Even so, Nicholas said he is not entirely against a genetically-modified product.

“If the people that did GMO put the 20 to 40 years of research into this and verified their products were OK, that it didn’t harm people or animals, they might be OK,” he said.

While cloning may seem like a type of genetic modification, it does not fall under that category as it does not involve direct manipulation of the plant’s DNA. Even so, these techniques come with their own issues.

“Some people in the industry believe that cloning has been responsible for perpetuating a lot of the disease issues that you see in the cannabis industry,” Humboldt and Trinity counties’ Agricultural Commissioner Jeff Dolf said.

Future of GMO cannabis

Enzymes are what ultimately work to form marijuana’s aromatic and flavorful terpenes and cannabinoid components like CBD and the psychoactive THC. But some cannabinoids, like the lesser known non-psychoactive CBG, are harder to come by.

“Generally speaking, you can only get elevated amounts of CBG if there is something wrong with the enzymes that make THC or CBD or they are missing,” President and chief scientist Samantha Miller of the Santa Rosa-based Pure Analytics laboratory said.


A medical marijuana farm in Mendocino County in 2010. (Dan Rosenstrauch/Staff)

Miller said genetic modification technology like the CRISPR-Cas9 could certainly be used on cannabis to obtain different levels of cannabinoids and terpenes.

Whether farmers like it or not, Gaudino says genetic modification is coming and if utilized correctly, will work to benefit the industry in the long run. But Gaudino also said what matters is how genetic modification is used, and that he would be wary of creating more drought resistant strains or causing the plant to produce more sugar or proteins.

“The future is not necessarily a bad thing in respect to genetics of cannabis. It’s a matter of understanding what you can do with it,” he said. “I think a lot of people are afraid of it because of genetics. Really it’s something that all agriculture does because it makes sense, because we have the tools and the technology and can do things in a more cost effective, intelligent manner. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re giving up the farm.”

Holmes is on the opposite end of the spectrum and said he has no interest in genetically modifying marijuana. He argues that increased understanding of marijuana’s genome can work to improve plant breeding techniques.

“People have been doing cross breeding and hybridization, but they haven’t been doing it in a scientific way,” he said. “It needs a lot of rapid evolution to be commercially viable as the industry gets more crowded.”

Organicannabis

Under the current federal prohibition of cannabis, consumers are not going to be seeing any certified organic strains on the shelves of dispensaries any time soon.

But there are other types of certifications that mimic federal organic standards, such as the Clean Green, Global Culture and the Eugene, Oregon-based Certified Kind.


Marijuana samples on display during Emerald Exchange in Malibu on March 18. The all-day cannabis event emphasizes organic, sun-grown cannabis. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Marijuana growers seeking these certifications must prove they follow rigorous environmental standards such as refraining from using pesticides and herbicides, generators, illegal diversions and certain types of soils to name a few.

So far only 24 farms are certified. Certified Kind’s founder and certification Director Andrew Black admits the standard is high, but for good reason.

“Part of what we’re doing is trying to build a movement to promote true organic cannabis farmers to protect small organic family farmers and create a marketplace for them in which they can compete and they can call the shots,” Black said. “I see organic cannabis as part of the resistance to big farm and big pharma.”

California’s own medical marijuana regulations also call for the creation of an organic certification program by 2020, but only if the federal government permits it.

In the meantime, Humboldt County created its own organic-equivalent called “Humboldt Artisinal Branding.”

To qualify, growers must have both state and local cultivation permits, only grow 3,000 square feet or less of plant canopy, grow exclusively with natural light and meet all federal organic certification standards.

“It’s not difficult to take what we do for all the other organic commodities and apply them to cannabis,” Dolf said. “We can’t call it organic because it’s a federal term. We already have a pretty good understanding of the principles that need to be followed for the principles to be considered organic.”

This story was first published on TheCannifornian.com

Florida dispensary says new flower product doesn’t violate smoking ban

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By Joe Reedy, The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida medical marijuana dispensary says it is not violating state law by selling cannabis that could potentially be broken down and made into pot that can be smoked.

Trulieve began selling its first whole-flower cannabis product earlier this week that is meant for vaping. The buds in the vaporizer cup, however, could be also be used in joints, pipes or bongs.

Vaping is allowed under state law but smoking is prohibited. Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said the company has issued warnings to patients that the product should only be used for vaping.

Department of Health spokeswoman Mara Gambinieri said the product was approved by the Office of Compassionate Use but that they are keeping a close eye on this one. Gambinieri added that dispensaries are held to the product descriptions made in applications.

All six of Florida’s distributing organizations that are authorized to sell cannabis have vaping products. Trulieve is the first that is selling a whole-flower product. Other vaping products use cannabis that is ground up.

According to the Department of Health, 80 percent of cannabis sales are vaping.

Medical marijuana supporters have advocated for whole-flower use because of what is called the entourage effect, which means all the various compounds are working together instead of separately.

With two months remaining until rules for medical marijuana Amendment 2 are supposed to be enacted, whether or not smoking will be permitted remains one of many issues that needs to be sorted out by the Legislature or Department of Health.

The Legislature wants to ban smoking but John Morgan, the Orlando attorney who was one of the key figures in getting the amendment passed last November, said he would sue if the new rules did not allow smoking. The rules are supposed to be in place in July and implemented in October.

“For them not to allow smoking, that is the opposite of what the amendment says. The only place where it says it can’t be smoked is public places,” he said.

Sen. Rob Bradley, a Republican from Orange Park, said the Legislature opposes smoking because it is an unhealthy act.

The Legislature is considering holding a special session to complete work on a rules bill that collapsed the last week of session. If they don’t, the Department of Health would write the rules.

Sessions’ war on drugs has medical marijuana advocates worried

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By John Wagner and Matt Zapotosky, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON – A little-noticed document issued by President Donald Trump has put advocates of medical marijuana on edge, raising questions about the long-term security of programs now authorized in 29 states and the District that have broad public backing.

In a “signing statement” that accompanied Trump’s signature on the bill passed this month to keep the government open, the president noted a handful of objections on legal grounds, including to a provision that prohibits his administration from interfering with state-run medical marijuana programs.

White House aides indicated that none of Trump’s objections to Congress’s work signaled immediate policy changes. But given how vocal Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been toward relaxing marijuana restrictions, those who support the burgeoning industry are worried about what could come next.

“It just creates a lot of uncertainty, and that uncertainty is deeply concerning for patients and providers,” said Michael Collins, deputy director of the Drug Policy Alliance, an organization that has sought to roll back the nation’s war on drugs. “We had thought medical marijuana wasn’t really in play in terms of a crackdown.”

Such concerns are being voiced more broadly about the direction of marijuana policy under the new leadership at the Justice Department.

Sessions last week directed federal prosecutors to get significantly tougher on drug defendants than under the Obama administration. And a task force launched by Sessions is looking at changes in enforcement particularly regarding marijuana, a drug that remains illegal on the federal level despite significant movement in numerous states in recent years to loosen restrictions.

The eight states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use could be at greater risk for federal intervention than those that have only approved dispensing medical cannabis or cannabis-infused products to patients with a doctor’s recommendation.

As a candidate for president, Trump repeatedly voiced support for medical marijuana, a concept that has been increasingly embraced by fellow Republicans at the state level. Of the 29 states that have authorized programs, Trump prevailed in last year’s election over Democrat Hillary Clinton in nine of them.

Meanwhile, a Quinnipiac poll last month found that 94 percent of Americans – including 90 percent of Republicans – supported allowing adults to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if their doctors prescribe it.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said earlier this year that he expects states to be subject to “greater enforcement” of federal laws against marijuana use, though he also said Trump sees “a big difference” between use of marijuana for medical purposes and for recreational purposes.

Sessions, however, said at an appearance in Richmond, earlier this year, that medical marijuana “has been hyped, maybe too much.”

A Justice Department spokesman declined to discuss what future steps might be taken related to medical marijuana but said the provision in the spending bill is of concern to officials.

“The Department of Justice must be in a position to use all laws available to combat the transnational drug organizations and dangerous drug traffickers who threaten American lives,” said spokesman Ian Prior, who wouldn’t discuss the issue further.

Justin Strekal, political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the May 5 signing statement is troubling, even if a federal crackdown is not in the offing, because it could have “a chilling effect on a nascent industry.”

Of particular concern, he said, is the impact it could have on investors in dispensaries in states where programs are just coming on line. A prosecution of a single business in one state could have a devastating impact in that regard, he added.

The provision in question, which has been part of federal law since late 2014, prohibits the Justice Department from spending money to interfere with state medical marijuana programs. It was co-authored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., who, by his own description, is “a very strong supporter” of Trump.

“I will treat this provision consistently with my constitutional responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” Trump wrote in the signing statement.

Signing statements became prevalent under President George W. Bush and have often been used to preserve objections rather than to signal new action.

President Barack Obama continued the practice, routinely citing provisions in spending bills that he said conflicted with authority granted to him under the constitution.

Trump also objected on constitutional grounds to several other sections of the first spending bill he signed, including one related to a program that helps historically black colleges and universities get low-cost construction loans. That prompted an outcry from African American lawmakers, prompting Trump to release a statement about his commitment to HBCUs.

Tom Angell, founder of Marijuana Majority, said comments from Trump and the Justice Department on medical marijuana “doesn’t necessarily mean a crackdown is coming, but it’s a concerning signal.”

“Essentially [Trump is] saying he reserves the right to ignore this congressionally approved provision,” Angell said.

If the administration moves in that direction, it won’t be without a fight, Rohrabacher said.

The congressman, who has used cannabis himself to ease pain from severe arthritis in his shoulders caused by years of surfing, said he’s confident his side would prevail in court because Congress clearly has “the power of the purse.”

Rohrabacher said it appears that members of Trump’s administration are working to “reposition” him on the issue of medical marijuana.

“I think there are a lot of people running around trying to paint the president into a corner on this,” Rohrabacher said, adding that he is eager to talk to Trump about it directly.

In August 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled a similar provision passed by Congress prevented the Justice Department from spending money on prosecutions in states where medical marijuana was legal – so long as those being prosecuted abided by state law.

More broadly, James Cole, a deputy attorney general in the Obama administration, had directed prosecutors to enforce all federal drug laws – even in places that had legalized marijuana – but said they should look to states’ regulatory systems to determine whether their intervention was necessary.

Cole wrote that federal authorities should essentially stay out of states that had robust regulatory systems in place.

Cole’s memo is among the policies now being actively reviewed by the new leadership at the Justice Department.

The issue of medical marijuana will need to be revisited again by Congress in coming months. The provision sponsored by Rohrabacher expires on Sept. 30, at the end of the federal fiscal year, and would have to be adopted again to stay on the books.

Iowa considers sourcing medical marijuana from Minnesota

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By Kyle Potter and Linley Sanders, The Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Top state lawmakers are trying to work out a system allowing Iowa residents to start buying medical marijuana oils and pills in Minnesota, a novel arrangement that could raise issues with the federal government.

Iowa could join more than two dozen states with medical marijuana programs under a bill awaiting Gov. Terry Branstad’s signature. That legislation would expand a limited 2014 law, allowing more patients to buy the low-dose medication from in-state dispensaries by December 2018.

But in the meantime, Iowa residents could look to Minnesota. A provision of the bill specifically references that state as a potential source of medication and directs Iowa regulators to contract with Minnesota’s two manufacturers of medical marijuana.

It’s the first half of an arrangement being worked out between Iowa House Speaker Linda Upmeyer and Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt, friends who first explored the idea last year until the push to expand Iowa’s medical marijuana law fizzled out. Both lawmakers confirmed their discussions to The Associated Press this week.

Upmeyer said Minnesota could offer immediate relief to sick Iowans while the state works to set up its program over the next 18 months. Minnesota may even serve as a permanent back-up in case the state can’t secure its own manufacturer, a prospect she and others have feared.

“It’s providing access to Iowans and doing it as quickly as we can,” Upmeyer said. “I just want to be sure if we have a tough time finding a grower, we have another source available. It all just fits together.”

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has been noncommittal on the legislation since it hit his desk earlier this month. He is expected to act on the bill before leaving office to become President Donald Trump’s ambassador to China, pending the U.S. Senate’s confirmation.

While several states with medical marijuana laws recognize cardholders from other states, sending residents across the border to buy their supply would be a new arrangement if both sides move ahead. The nearest of Minnesota’s eight dispensaries to Iowa is in Rochester, a roughly three-hour drive from Des Moines.

That arrangement could raise federal concerns. Despite its legal status in nearly 30 states, the federal government still considers medical marijuana a Schedule I drug that can’t be moved across state lines. And fears of a federal crackdown on states with medical marijuana laws have increased under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has repeatedly expressed his disapproval of the drug.

Upmeyer said she’s trying to meet with Sessions’ office to get greater clarity on how the federal government might treat Iowa’s arrangement.

Medical marijuana sales began in Minnesota in July 2015. If Branstad signs the bill, Iowa patients with a doctor’s certification could start registering immediately.

Both states would have restrictive programs that ban the use of the plant form and limit the availability of marijuana oils and pills to patients with just a handful of severe conditions. Iowa’s law goes farther by limiting the potency of the oils that can be sold.

It’s unclear how many Iowa patients might take advantage of being able to buy their supply in Minnesota, but Daudt said any patients from Iowa could help manufacturers in Minnesota, where the tight restrictions have led to lackluster patient enrollment, high medication costs and huge financial losses for both companies. Though Daudt voted against the 2014 legislation that created Minnesota’s program, he said he’s open to the arrangement.

“One of the problems that we have had here is that the manufacturers … have a limited number of customers, and it may become difficult to sustain their business,” Daudt said Thursday. “It may be helpful to our manufactures and ultimately to our jobs and economy here in Minnesota. I think it could be a mutually beneficial thing.”

It would require specific legislation allowing out-of-state residents to buy their medication in Minnesota, a measure that could be tucked into the massive budget lawmakers are working to finalize. Daudt said lobbyists for Minnesota’s two manufacturers, Minnesota Medical Solutions and LeafLine Labs, and medical marijuana advocacy groups have been working on crafting the language.

Minnesota’s regulators haven’t been involved in the discussions, nor has Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton, who was never a strong backer of Minnesota’s law. Michelle Larson, who runs Minnesota’s Office of Medical Cannabis, said they would need to figure out how to handle a new crop of patients from a different state in their patient registry system. And the prospect of Iowa residents facing problems for bringing Schedule I medication across state lines worried her.

“We’d certainly want to make sure people were aware of the risk,” Larson said.
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Sanders reported from Des Moines.