$100K of Weed, Inventory Stolen at Gunpoint From Oakland Dispensary

Suspects are still at-large after C.R.A.F.T. Cannabis in Oakland in California was robbed at gunpoint and about $100,000 in product was stolen. Making things worse, eyewitnesses say it took hours for police to arrive at the scene—once everything was taken and the damage had already been done.

In the early hours of August 6, officers responded to reports of a burglary near the 2500 block of Willow Street in Oakland. Police say that around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, three vehicles and three unknown individuals parked on the 2400 block of Willow Street, then broke into the business and cut the power.

KTVU Fox 2 reports that Alan Sorrentino, owner of C.R.A.F.T. (Citizens Research Alliance for Therapeutics) Cannabis was notified by his alarm company of the burglary early Saturday morning. The Oakland police were called multiple times. So Sorrentino checked out the situation but was forced to leave when a suspect pointed a gun at him. He continued to watch them from afar, looting the building, via surveillance camera.

“Like about 2:50 a.m. they cut the power to the whole building,” Sorrentino, owner of Craft Cannabis in Oakland, told KTVU Fox 2.  

According to Sorrentino, the intruders appeared to execute an elaborate plan in steps.

“Unfortunately they were able to get away with all of our inventory basically, so we’ve had to shut down,” Sorrentino said. Police were able to identify some of the vehicles from surveillance video.

“A white Toyota pickup truck, a small black sedan, possibly a Mazda or Toyota. Then there were a couple of other vehicles involved once they had made it into the vault area to help them unload,” said Sorrentino. 

Over the course of the next few hours, the suspects busted walls, broke door locks, and broke stair steps. Oakland police say they got to the location about 7:30 a.m. and explained they were unable to respond immediately because they simply didn’t have any officers available at the time.

C.R.A.F.T. Cannabis won numerous awards with offerings such as Dimepiece, winning High Times’ 2019 Bay Area Cannabis Cup 1st Place for Indica Flower, or perhaps the 2016 NorCal Medical Cannabis Cup First Place for CBD Flower.

C.R.A.F.T., as a processor, and Keepers of the Craft Gardens, as cultivators, boast Clean Green Certification since 2012.

No arrests have been made in this incident. Anyone that has information about the incident is encouraged to contact the Oakland Police Department’s Burglary Unit at (510) 238-3951.

Crime Waves in Oakland Dispensaries

It’s just the latest in a recent wave of crime. A man was shot at the Oakanna dispensary last February. Oakanna dispensary owner Joshua Chase was shot in the foot after a group of burglars tripped an alarm in the early morning hours at his relatively new retail facility.

The cannabis delivery industry in the area has also been hit hard.

Cannabis dispensaries a target? One reason in particular is due to the lack of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which would protect dispensaries from carrying large amounts of cash.

Politico reported that the crime spree in Oakland—and the West Coast as a whole—caused enough commotion to trigger support for banking reform on Capitol Hill with bills such as the SAFE Banking Act.

Access to banking services could solve many of those problems and make dispensaries safer for the people who work in them.

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Rejected Cannabis Ballot Initiative in Arkansas Taken to Supreme Court

The ballot initiative submitted by the Responsible Growth Arkansas, a cannabis advocacy group, was recently rejected on Aug. 3 by Board of Election Commissioners for its name and title. On Aug. 4, the group filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court to challenge the decision.

As of July 29, Responsible Growth Arkansas provided at least 90,000 valid signatures needed to qualify for the ballot (the group provided more than was necessary). However, once the Commissioners reviewed the submission, they claimed that the ballot title did not fully explain the amendment description to voters, and specifically stated that the current language would alter Arkansas’s current THC edible restrictions. The proposal in question, called “An amendment to authorize the possession, personal use, and consumption of cannabis by adults, to authorize the cultivation and sale of cannabis by licensed commercial facilities, and to provide for the regulation of those facilities,” would allow possession of up to one ounce of cannabis for adults over 21 years, and would permit state-licensed dispensaries to sell recreational cannabis, if passed.

Commissioner J. Harmon Smith focused on the THC limits for edibles. “If I’m a voter I might be all for this but I’d like to safeguard that edible limit,” Smith said.

Responsible Growth Arkansas’s attorney, Steven Lancaster, explained that this is an unreasonable request. “The type of detail that the board expected, or demanded in this case, would make our ballot title thousands and thousands of words long,” said Lancaster. “That just simply is not workable for a ballot.”

Following the rejection, the group filed a lawsuit to appeal the decision “to challenge the State Board of Election Commissioners’ thwarting of the will of the people and their right to adopt laws by initiative,” the filing states, according to KNWA. “The Board has attacked that heart through its incorrect rejection of the ballot title.” The filing includes a complaint against Secretary of State and Commissioner Chair John Thurston, who had certified that the initiative did receive enough signatures to be placed on the ballot on Aug. 2.

The filing claims that Thurston is required to certify the popular name and ballot title if they “are not misleading.” “The popular name and ballot title are legally sufficient under this Court’s precedent because they give voters an impartial summary of the Amendment that provides a fair understanding of the issues presented and of the scope and significance of the proposed changes to the law,” the filing continues. “Nothing is omitted that would give voters serious grounds for reflection, and nothing in the popular name and ballot title is misleading in any way. The Board thus erred in denying certification.”

Ultimately, the lawsuit claims that the rejection was unconstitutional, and asks for a preliminary injunction from the Supreme Court to include the ballot initiative, “because it is unlikely that the Court will decide this action before the August 25 deadline for certification for the Amendment to appear on the November 2022 ballot.”

Just before the initiative was rejected by Commissioners, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson expressed his opposition to the recreational cannabis initiative while speaking at the Arkansas Municipal Police Association on Aug. 3. “And the reason I oppose it is simply this: that it will increase the usage of marijuana,” Hutchinson said. “I believe that marijuana is a harmful drug. It is as simple as that. I look back to Alaska. In the 70s, they decriminalized marijuana. Marijuana use went up dramatically, particularly among their teens, and Alaska reversed courses and re-criminalized marijuana.”

Hutchinson claimed that cannabis is “harmful.” “Now, they’re going to sell this as something that’s going to help law enforcement. Fifteen percent of the revenue from the taxes on the sales of marijuana will go to a fund to support law enforcement stipends, 10% of it will go to UAMS in Little Rock, and 5% will go to drug courts,” Hutchinson continued. “And so, once again, they’re selling a harmful drug to the citizens of Arkansas based upon promises that look good. Now, those promises might be a reality, but I think you’ve got to be prepared for this debate.”

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Missouri will vote on marijuana legalization in November

It was a nailbiter, but advocates found enough signatures in six of the state's congressional districts to qualify.

The post Missouri will vote on marijuana legalization in November appeared first on Leafly.

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NFL Says Aaron Rodgers’ Ayahuasca Trip Didn’t Violate Drug Policy

The NFL says that Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers did not violate league rules when he previously consumed the psychoactive beverage ayahuasca.

Via ESPN, “NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Monday that it wouldn’t have triggered a positive test result on either the substance abuse or performance-enhancing substance policies collectively bargained by the NFL and its players’ association.”

Rodgers, who is currently preparing for his 18th season in the league, has created quite a stir during training camp with his revelation that he consumed ayahuasca in Peru prior to the previous two seasons. In each of those seasons, Rodgers was named the league’s most valuable player, his third and fourth time winning the award respectively.

Rodgers said he doesn’t “think it’s a coincidence” that he claimed the top individual honor after those experiences in South America.

“I really don’t. I don’t really believe in coincidences at this point. It’s the universe bringing things to happen when they’re supposed to happen,” Rodgers said on an episode of the Aubrey Marcus Podcast last week.

Rodgers said on the podcast that the experience left him forever changed.

“For me, I didn’t do that and think ‘oh, I’m never playing football again,’” Rodgers said, as quoted by USA Today. “No, it gave me a deep and meaningful appreciation for life. My intention the first night going in was ‘I want to feel what pure love feels like.’ That was my intention. And I did. I really did. I had a magical experience with the sensation of feeling a hundred different hands on my body imparting a blessing of love and forgiveness for myself and gratitude for this life from what seemed to be my ancestors.”

Rodgers, who has spent the entirety of his career with the Packers, went deeper on the subject in an interview with longtime football writer Peter King that was published on Monday, explaining how the experience in Peru came together.

“I have a dear friend that I’ve known for 25 years that went on an ayahuasca journey in 2019. He came back, and we played golf one day and he told me all about it. I said, okay, I think it’s time that I do it. So we put together a trip to Peru [in 2020] and had a great experience. Then I went again this offseason and had another beautiful experience. Different, very different. Different size group, different amount of days,” Rodgers told King.

“We sat three different nights with the medicine. I came in with an intention of doing a lot of healing of other relationships and bringing in certain people to have conversations with. Most of the work was around myself and figuring out what unconditional love of myself looks like…,” Rodgers continued. “In doing that, allowing me to understand how to unconditionally love other people but first realizing it’s gotta start with myself. I’ve got to be a little more gentle with myself and compassionate and forgiving because I’ve had some negative voices, negative self-talk, for a long time. A lot of healing went on. There’s things—images from the nights, the journeys—that will come up in dreams or during the day I’ll think about something that happened or something that I thought about. It’s constantly trying to integrate those lessons into everyday life.”

For years, the NFL took a hardline on recreational drug use among its players, routinely handing down lengthy suspensions for mere cannabis use.

But in recent years, the league has relaxed its drug policy. During the 2021 offseason, with a new collective bargaining agreement taking effect, the NFL did not conduct random drug tests for marijuana, marking a sea change in the league’s rulebook.

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Interstate Cannabis Agreements in California

I get asked a lot of questions about what California cannabis licensees can and cannot do under the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (“MAUCRSA”). California is actually business friendly once operations get going with a license– despite its many issues with the cannabis industry. For example, vertical integration is allowed. There’s no license cap, and you can apply for a license year-round. We allow for cannabis delivery apps. And California permits consumption lounges in line with local law.

So what’s next? Well, at this point California is also going to try to allow for interstate cannabis agreements, similar to what Oregon did back in 2019 under its Senate Bill 582. In California, the proposal up for discussion is SB 1326.

Interstate cannabis agreements

According to AB 1326:

MAUCRSA specifies that its provisions shall not be construed to authorize or permit a licensee to transport or distribute, or cause to be transported or distributed, cannabis or cannabis products outside the state, unless authorized by federal law. This bill would make an exception to the above-described prohibition and would authorize the Governor to enter into an agreement with another state or states authorizing medicinal or adult-use commercial cannabis activity, or both, between entities licensed under the laws of the other state or states and entities operating with a state license pursuant to MAUCRSA, provided that the commercial cannabis activities are lawful and subject to licensure under the laws of the other state or states.

How interstate cannabis agreements would work

Interestingly, these interstate cannabis agreements would be between states. Not licensees. Licensees would still need to engage in contracts with each other for the actual import, export, and distribution of cannabis across state borders. The governor of California would be able to enter into these interstate agreements with governors from other states so long as:

1. The commercial cannabis activities are lawful and subject to licensure under the laws of the contracting state.
2. With respect to the interstate transportation of cannabis or cannabis products, the agreement prohibits both of the following: (a) The transportation of cannabis and cannabis products by any means other than those authorized under both the laws of the contracting state and the regulations of the [California Department of Cannabis Control]. (b) The transportation of cannabis and cannabis products through the jurisdiction of a state, district, commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States that does not authorize that transportation.

Contracting state

The interstate agreement between the states would require that the contracting state agree that its cannabis licensees be bound by California’s requirements around public health and safety, track and trace, testing, inspection, packaging and labeling, and adulterated and misbranded cannabis. The contracting state must also impose “restrictions upon advertising, marketing, labeling, or sale within the contracting state that meet or exceed the restrictions” in California for the same. And all California taxes apply, too. See here for more on California’s recent cannabis tax reform.

Foreign licensees

A “foreign licensee” is a cannabis licensed and based in a state other than California. A foreign licensee cannot engage in commercial cannabis activity in California “without a state license, or engage in commercial cannabis activity within a local jurisdiction without a license, permit, or other authorization issued by the local jurisdiction.” So, foreign licensees will also be plagued by California’s local control issues if they seek to do business in one of our cities or counties that allows for commercial cannabis activity.

The catch

While it would be truly amazing to have interstate cannabis movement between licensees from San Diego up to Bellingham, Washington, there’s one massive catch here. The Feds. SB 1326 really won’t do anything unless and until one of the following four events occurs:

1. Federal law changes to allow for the interstate transfer of cannabis or cannabis products between authorized commercial cannabis businesses, i.e., legalization. (There have been recent efforts at the federal level to allow interstate transfer, even without changes as to the federal prohibition of cannabis.)
2. Federal law is enacted that specifically prohibits the expenditure of federal funds to prevent the interstate transfer of cannabis or cannabis products between authorized commercial cannabis businesses.
3. The Department of Justice issues an opinion or memorandum allowing or tolerating the interstate transfer of cannabis or cannabis products between authorized commercial cannabis businesses.
4. The Attorney General issues a written opinion through the process . . . that implementation of interstate cannabis agreements will not result in “significant legal risk” to the State of California based on review of federal judicial decisions and administrative actions.

Number four is very interesting. Basically, if the California Attorney General releases a legal opinion that interstate cannabis agreements will not put California at risk of lawsuits or arrests and prosecutions by the Feds, then these agreements will be effective. Not sure if the California A/G’s office will stick its neck out like that, but it may if the political climate is ripe.

The bill is currently in the Senate appropriations committee heading for a suspense file hearing. It’s chances of passing probably aren’t that great, but the fact that it’s even being considered is really a huge step forward for the maturation of the industry.

Be sure to stay tuned as we keep an eye on interstate cannabis agreements. In the meantime, check out the following related posts, especially if you are interested in the Constitutional viability of an export regime, and issues around federal consent if AB 1326 ultimately passes.

• Dreaming of a California-Oregon Cannabis Exchange
• Oregon’s New Cannabis Laws: The Definitive List (2019)

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Remembering Olivia Newton-John’s courageous medical marijuana advocacy

The 'Grease' actress and Grammy-winning singer became a vocal advocate for medical marijuana late in life. Here's why it mattered.

The post Remembering Olivia Newton-John’s courageous medical marijuana advocacy appeared first on Leafly.

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Oregon Law Enforcement Seizes Illegal Cannabis Plants, Leaves Four Plants Behind

The Josephine Marijuana Enforcement Team (JMET) worked with Josephine County Code Enforcement to raid the grow on Aug. 4 in Selma, located in the southwestern region of Oregon. In addition to seizing over 140 plants, 200 pounds of illegal cannabis were also seized and destroyed.

According to the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, the size of the grow wasn’t a big deal. “Although the size of this grow operation was not large in comparison to others we have seen this year, it was well beyond the legal limit of four plants allowed per Oregon State Law,” the department wrote in a Marijuana Search Warrant document. Just a few days before this raid occurred, JMET conducted four other search warrants and found over 12,000 plants, and over 4,535 kilograms of processed cannabis.

However the report did briefly address why they left four plants behind. “JMET always leaves four legal marijuana plants when we dismantle each grow operation,” the report continued.

One person was arrested on site of the most recent raid, a 51-year-old man charged with unlawful manufacturing and possession of cannabis. Due to other violations on site, including “multiple electrical and solid waste code violations,” this could also result in “civil forfeiture of the property.” It was not specified who would care for the four remaining cannabis plants while the arrested individual is absent.

According to NORML, cultivating four to eight plants in Oregon is considered a misdemeanor, with the possibility of six months jail time and a fine of up to $2,500. Cultivation of more than eight plants is a felony, which could lead to up to 5 years in prison and up to $125,000 in fines.

In October 2021, the Jackson County Board of Supervisors called a State of Emergency regarding the influx of illegal cultivation, and petitioned Gov. Kate Brown for assistance. “Since recreational marijuana was legalized by the voters of Oregon in the November 2014 general election, the illegal and unlawful production of marijuana in our county has overwhelmed the ability of our county and state regulators to enforce relevant laws in our community,” said Jackson County Commissioner Rick Dyer.

Gov. Brown’s spokesperson, Charles Boyle, echoed the support of the governor regarding the need for assistance. “The message is clear—Oregon is not open for business to illegal cannabis grows,” said Boyle. “These are criminal enterprises that deplete water resources while our state is in drought, hold their workforce in inhumane conditions and severely harm our legal cannabis marketplace.”

In December 2021, Gov. Brown passed Senate Bill 893, which provided $25 million to help fund state law enforcement and local community organizations fight against illegal cultivation. Sen. Jeff Golden, who supported the measure, explained the harms of illegal cannabis cultivation both for the environment, as well as legal growers. “Illegal cannabis operations in southern Oregon have been using our limited water supply, abusing local workers, threatening neighbors and negatively impacting businesses run by legal marijuana growers,” Golden said last year.

Oregon has also become home to legislation that will soon allow legal psilocybin therapy programs. The first set of rules will take effect in January 2023, with the rest being finalized by Dec. 31, 2023. However, a few regions of Oregon, such as Linn County, have approved or are considering banning psilocybin treatment centers. Individuals such as Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist expressed concerns of potential harm. “My fear is of young people taking mushrooms and going out and doing things that may cost them their life,” Nyquist said. “I just think it’s appropriate to refer this measure to the voters in Linn County and allow them to have a say in this, particularly because they did not vote to support this measure in the first place.”

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