Mr. Nice, a modern headshop named for hash smuggler and folk hero Howard Marks opened in London. Marks’ book Mr. Nice:An autobiography is essential reading.
Guardian
Following the vote in Denver to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, there’s a lot of talk about what comes next.
Wired reports on the first placebo-controlled studies into microdosing LSD.
Cannabis Now looks into the case of Alkiviades “Alki” David, who was arrested on the island of St. Kitts after authorities found about 5,000 plants and cuttings on his private jet. David is the founder of SwissX hemp products and an heir to a European Coke bottling fortune.
The nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis appears to be in the process of reforming its cannabis laws. David, who claims the cargo is all hemp, says he and a business partner were arrested after talks with the prime minister about creating a local hemp industry broke down.
While it remains unclear if they have a chance to pass, cannabis reform bills keep piling up in Washington D.C.:
Joe Biden, frontrunner for the Democrats’ 2020 nomination, endorsed cannabis decriminalization, but not legalization.
CNN
The New York Times Magazine has a fascinating piece by Moises Velasquez-Manoff on the history, hype and promise of CBD as a medicine:
“Why plants produce molecules that seem perfectly designed to manipulate human biochemical circuitry is a mystery. It could be a kind of molecular coincidence. But many plants, including cannabis, might make these molecules to defend themselves from other organisms.”
Taking CBD could cause you to fail a drug test, Consumer Reports says.
The N.Y. Times‘ women’s health columnist says it’s unknown whether CBD can help with the pelvic pain disorder vaginismus.
Brendan Kennedy, CEO of Canadian MED company Tilray, and Seattle-based investment vehicle Privateer Holdings was the second highest paid CEO of companies traded on U.S. exchanges in 2018. He made just over $256M.
Bloomberg
Massachusetts regulators gave a “preliminary OK” to a social consumption pilot program, though any businesses offering it could be a long way off.
Boston Globe
Las Vegas looks likely to be among the first significant social use markets, and businesses want to make Sin City into the “New Amsterdam.”
Reason
A bill to allow consumption lounges in Oregon is “100% dead.”
Salem Statesman-Journal
In Sacramento, a bill to cut pot taxes as a way to help licensed businesses, failed to advance, likely dooming it for the year.
AP
Nonetheless, the state industry keeps attracting investment:
KPBS takes a closer look at the San Diego market.
MJBiz meets HdL Cos., a little known auditing firm with significant influence in California. ????WW California has more.
Using Nevada’s new transparency law, Cannabis Wire learns who are the major players in Nevada.
WeedWeek is launching a new reported business column.
This week, I learned publicly-traded MJardin is under investigation in Colorado. The column adds to the Boston Globe‘s coverage of MSO Acreage Holdings and the Denver Post‘s reporting on MJardin.
Got tips for future columns? Email me securely: alexhalperin@protonmail.com
Separately, Green Market Report‘s Debra Borchardt writes Acreage is selling its real estate assets to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) called GreenAcreage Real Estate Corp. (GARE) which will lease the assets back to Acreage. Acreage CEO Kevin Murphy has invested in GARE.
Harvest Public Media asks whether states can ensure cannabis product safety without help from the feds.
Despite hopes from N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, REC legalization looks unlikely in either state this year, the N.Y. Times reports.
