(This post is the first in a series providing insights into the legal marijuana industry. It is a guest post from the staff at MedMen.)

While ultimately an exciting endeavor, opening a marijuana business can be a tedious process involving a multitude of legal and monetary procedures. A close eye for detail is required. Dealing with rules and regulations and licensing applications, meeting zoning requirements, preparing concise and detailed business plans and operational protocols, attending local and state meetings, planning to manage operations once certified, and so much more are big tasks. Think: 24-hour notaries, multi-disciplined organizational issues and consensuses, leaps of faith toward the long-term investment, preparing management deals, and accountability — and it does not stop there.

Starting a successful medical and/or recreational marijuana business typically requires commitments of hundreds of thousands — and at times even millions — of investment dollars. Some states are moving in the direction of merit-based oligopolies that require substantial liquidity in order to succeed and multi-million dollar bonds to further show financial security. Marijuana has graduated to a big-business process.

Securing real estate and building a qualified team for any marijuana industry venture are two of the earliest and most fundamental aspects of obtaining a license. Locking down locations that make sense demographically while still satisfying strict locational regulations is not cheap. Landlords realize the tight supply, so favorable terms are hard to come by, meaning substantial capital is necessary. The applying team must also be comprehensive. Building a solid team, not only financially but resourcefully, is crucial in legitimizing marijuana businesses. Solid teams include healthcare to business management professionals, legal experts to accountants, horticulturalists to those experienced in law enforcement and security, and beyond. Not to mention experts to manage the marijuana-specific aspects of the operation. This range of experience is hard to come by for a mom-and-pop operation.

The complications do not end once a license is secured. Banking in the marijuana industry is currently in flux. Many banks refuse to deal with marijuana-related businesses; however, recent federal protocols have safeguarded banks willing to commit to these businesses. Still, banks are looking into the financial histories of those applying for accounts. A mom-and-pop operation is at a disadvantage to a big-business operation whose members can show ties to multi-million dollar companies operating their finances spotlessly. Accountability is crucial, and past business practices are just about the only way to show it in the emerging marijuana industry.

Ultimately, every state is going to have different marijuana laws, just as every state has different alcohol laws. Some will be more conducive (or even limit) the marketplace to bigger businesses. Others will foster an environment that ensures smaller businesses can compete. There could even be some where marijuana sales are limited to state-run stores.

States are going to experiment, learn from their experiences, and learn from each other, just as we have seen take place with alcohol in the 80 years following the end of prohibition. In any case, it will be fascinating to watch it unfold.

[caption id="attachment_8446" align="alignright" width="138"] Rep. Mark Cardenas[/caption]

MPP believes legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana for adults 21 and over is a more sensible approach than continuing failed prohibition policies, and so does Arizona state Rep. Mark Cardenas. He recently introduced HB 2007, a bill that would treat marijuana like alcohol, similar to the laws of Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and Oregon. If you are an Arizona resident, please take a moment to contact your state senator and representative and voice your support.

Marijuana prohibition has been just as ineffective, inefficient, and problematic as alcohol prohibition, and both national and Arizona polls now regularly show support for a better approach. Marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. Regulating it would replace the underground market, and law enforcement officials’ time could be more effectively directed to addressing serious crime.

Rep. Cardenas has also introduced HB 2006, which would establish a $100 civil penalty for the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana. In addition to the four states that have legalized marijuana for adults, well over a dozen states have lowered criminal penalties with sensible alternatives to putting people in jail for choosing a substance that is safer than alcohol.

Please support these important bills, and pass this message on to friends, family, and supporters in Arizona!

[caption id="attachment_8443" align="alignright" width="300"] Speaker Greg Stumbo[/caption]

The medical marijuana issue got a big boost in Kentucky this week when a bill was introduced by House Speaker Greg Stumbo (D-Prestonsburg). The bill, HB 3, would make medical marijuana legal for Kentucky patients who are certified by a physician. It would task the Department of Public Health with establishing a patient registry, issuing ID cards to patients who qualify, and licensing and regulating dispensaries that would produce and sell medical marijuana for patients’ use.

Unfortunately, the bill is very restrictive in many respects. Although it covers a broad range of medical conditions, it does not allow patients to cultivate their own plants, and it only allows medical marijuana to be used in a non-smoked form. However, HB 3 is a much better bill than the very limited CBD-only bill that passed in 2014, and if implemented, it would bring great relief to many patients who are suffering needlessly.

Stumbo said he does not expect the bill to become law this year, but he told reporters that he sees the issue gaining support in Frankfort. "I think it's one of those issues ... that the more people learn about it, the less they fear it," he said.

Back in December, the attorneys general for Nebraska and Oklahoma filed suit in federal court against the state of Colorado, claiming that the law making marijuana legal for adults there was causing problems for law enforcement in their states.

Now, a group of prominent Oklahoma Republicans is urging their attorney general to drop the suit, according to the Washington Post:

[caption id="attachment_8440" align="alignright" width="200"] AG Scott Pruitt[/caption]

In a Wednesday letter to Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R), who along with the Nebraska attorney general filed suit in December against Colorado, the group of Republicans argue the suit poses a risk to state’s 10th amendment rights.

“[W]e share your concerns about the growing amounts of marijuana apparently coming into our state from Colorado,” the letter reads. “However, we believe this lawsuit against Colorado is the wrong way to deal with the issue, for a number of reasons.”

In the suit, Pruitt said Colorado’s legalization of recreational marijuana injured the ability of Oklahoma and other bordering states to enforce their marijuana laws and violates the supremacy clause of the Constitution giving federal law precedence over state ones.

But the group of Republicans think if the lawsuit was successful at the Supreme Court, it could “undermine all of those efforts to protect our own state’s right to govern itself.”

“We think the best move at this point would be to quietly drop the action against Colorado, and if necessary, defend the state’s right to set its own policies, as we would hope other states would defend our right to govern ourselves within constitutional confines,” the letter reads. “We also do not feel that attempting to undermine the sovereignty of a neighboring state using the federal courts, even if inadvertently, is a wise use of Oklahoma’s limited state resources.”

The letter was signed by Reps. Mike Ritze, Lewis Moore, John Bennett Mike Christian, Dan Fisher, and Sens. Ralph Shortey and Nathan Dahm.

Please sign our petition calling on Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to withdraw the lawsuit and end their crusade to maintain marijuana prohibition.

With the Vermont General Assembly set to convene this week, a group of citizens, organizations, and businesses from around the state is officially launching a coalition to support legislation that would end marijuana prohibition in Vermont and replace it with a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol.

From the Washington Times:

“Regulating marijuana will take sales out of the underground market and allow for it to be controlled like other products that are legal for adults,” said Matt Simon of the Marijuana Policy Project, a coalition member. “Along with improving public safety, it will generate significant new tax revenue and create good jobs for our communities.”

Coalition member Joseph McSherry, a neurophysiologist at the University of Vermont Medical Center, said that many young people report that it’s easier to acquire marijuana than alcohol. Changing marijuana from an illegal to a legal market could reduce its availability to teenagers, he argued.

“If you want to make marijuana harder to get for kids, especially the risk takers and sensation seekers, you need to legalize it and regulate it,” McSherry said. “The people who deal in illegal drugs aren’t selective” about their customers.

State legislators in Maine are planning to introduce at least four marijuana-related bills in the upcoming session.

From the Portland Press Herald:

The marijuana OUI bill is being proposed by the Department of Public Safety, which wants to set a limit that will allow police officers to determine when a driver is too stoned behind the wheel.

[caption id="attachment_8429" align="alignright" width="152"] Rep. Diane Russell[/caption]

Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, said she will introduce her fourth bill to tax and regulate the use of recreational marijuana. She said this bill will be the Legislature’s last chance to get out in front of two competing citizen initiatives that are likely to end up on the 2016 ballot. Two groups – the Marijuana Policy Project and Legalize Maine – plan to launch petition drives to collect signatures for 2016 referendums to legalize recreational drug use, as the states of Colorado and Washington have both done. The two proposals differ in approach and details, such as whether marijuana use should be limited to private homes or allowed in social clubs.

...

Russell also will sponsor a bill to remove the list of qualifying conditions for which patients can be approved to use medical marijuana. That would effectively leave it to patients and doctors to determine when the drug might help with a medical condition. Previous bills have been introduced to expand the number of approved conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Hillary Lister, director of Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine, anticipates legislation specifying that the state cannot collect identifying information about medical marijuana patients. She said patients and caregivers are concerned about a recent rule change that requires medical providers to give patients a certification card that is generated through an online portal.

The Department of Health and Human Services also will propose amendments to the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act, but details of those amendments will not be released until the bill is finalized and the language becomes public, said department spokesman David Sorensen.

We are down to the final two days of the 2014 legislative session in Michigan, and this is the last opportunity to pass two critically important bills. HB 5104 would protect patients who consume non-smoked forms of marijuana, while HB 4271 would create clear legal protections for medical marijuana provisioning centers (dispensaries) to ensure patients have safe and regular access to medical marijuana.

Both bills must pass out of the Senate committee and receive a vote on the floor before time runs out on Thursday. Law enforcement has been lobbying hard against these compassionate measures, and it’s crucial your senator hears from you. If you are a Michigan resident, please ask your senator to support these bills and demand that the Senate take up both measures today.

Then, please ask the governor to support these critical measures for the good of all Michiganders!

Currently, non-smoked forms of marijuana are not considered “usable marijuana,” and therefore can’t be legally consumed by those who prefer not to smoke –- sometimes leading to tragic consequences. At the same time, provisioning centers do not have clear protections under Michigan law, which harms patients who should have safe, regulated access to medicine. These bills both make huge improvements for patients. Both passed by wide margins in the House, and now we are down to the final steps in the Senate.

Help spread the word by passing this message to friends, relatives and supporters in Michigan.

A national survey released Tuesday found teen marijuana usage rates decreased from 2013 to 2014 — a period marked by heightened national debate regarding marijuana policy and implementation of the nation’s first marijuana legalization laws.

According to the annual Monitoring the Future Survey, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), rates of annual, monthly, and daily marijuana use dropped among 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders. More details are available in the researchers’ press release.

Teens’ perception of ‘great risk’ in marijuana use also decreased among students in all three grades, contradicting the often-heard claim that public dialogue about the benefits of ending marijuana prohibition — including discussion of the relative safety of marijuana compared to alcohol and other substances — will result in more teens using marijuana.

In August, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported that rates of current and lifetime marijuana use among the state’s high school students has dropped since marijuana became legal for adults. More information is available here.

There has been more public dialogue about marijuana over the past year than any 12-month period in history. States around the country are making marijuana legal for adults, establishing medical marijuana programs, and decriminalizing marijuana possession, and the sky is not falling. The debate is not resulting in more marijuana use among young people, but it is resulting in more sensible marijuana laws.

When the Virginia Legislature convenes in January, a bill to stop criminalizing those who simply possess marijuana will be awaiting consideration.

Today, an individual convicted of marijuana possession in Virginia can be thrown in jail for up to thirty days, fined up to $500, or both! This overly punitive approach can destroy dreams — a criminal conviction makes it harder to get a job, housing, and education. Criminalizing marijuana possession also wastes vast amounts of resources. In 2012, there were more than 20,000 arrests made in Virginia for marijuana possession. It takes time for police to book marijuana users, prosecutors to try cases, and labs to test marijuana. Meanwhile, more than half of all reported rapes and 80% of all burglaries went unsolved.

SB 686 takes a more sensible and humane approach by replacing the criminal penalties with a civil penalty of up to $100. Punishing marijuana possession with a civil citation recognizes that no one should be denied housing or a job because they possessed a substance safer than alcohol. It also allows Virginia’s law enforcement to quickly issue a ticket and move on to police more serious matters.

If you are a Virginia resident, please email your state delegate and senator today and ask them to support this sensible and long overdue reform — SB 686.