Legalized marijuana is on fire

Jamaica is looking to install airport kiosks where tourists can obtain permits to legally purchase marijuana, in an effort to cash in on the country’s burgeoning weed industry. As The Jamaica Gleaner reports, the permits would be available to travelers with a medical marijuana prescription, and would allow them to carry up to two ounces of the drug while in Jamaica. The country’s Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) is preparing a formal proposal, which CLA medical chairman Winston De La Haye expects to take “a few weeks” to complete.

Jamaica decriminalized small amounts of marijuana in 2015, joining a wave of countries and US states that have relaxed cannabis laws. Supporters of the legislation have argued that a regulated weed industry would boost the island’s economy and medical research sectors, while cutting down on drug-related violence and arrests. Rastafarians are now free to use the drug for religious purposes, as well.

Here’s an amusing byproduct of the legalization of marijuana use in some American states: it’s putting a strain on the nation’s freight network. The Wall Street Journal reports that Denver, a central hub for transportation of goods across the country, is experiencing a shortage of warehouse space due to increased demand from marijuana producers.

Cresa Partners, a real estate brokerage firm, reports that as much as a third of new warehouse space leased in Colorado over the past 18 months has gone to marijuana growers and distributors. They need ample space to conduct their business, so they’re competing hard for it when it becomes available and raising prices as a result. The WSJ notes a 10 percent increase in warehouse rent prices and a doubling of the cost to buy warehouse space in Colorado since the start of last year. This has left local businesses frustrated, but it’s also adding to the costs of interstate traders who are finding it hard to secure storage for their goods as they pass between the US west coast and midwest.

As more and more states legalize marijuana for recreational use, edibles and infusions are becoming a massive marketplace. Yahoo Finance now reports that coffee businesses are now infusing cannabis in their brews, ready to be bought in K-cups and coffee pods.

Uncle Ike’s Pot Shop of Seattle sells pods of “premium infused” coffee, containing 10mg of THC, for $10 each. “I liken it to a Red Bull and vodka,” Uncle Ike’s sales manager Jennifer Lanzador told Yahoo. “I had more energy, but I still had the relaxation you get from cannabis.” The pods are becoming big sellers — probably because of their undeniable convenience — and now reportedly account for 60 percent of Uncle Ike’s coffee sales.

Plenty of ground has been broken since Washington and Colorado became the first states to make the sale and recreational use of marijuana legal earlier this year. We’ve seen the first medical marijuana ad on television, the first rules governing how banks handle the money coming from dispensaries, and even the first weed publishing vertical at an established newspaper. Now the world’s first international marijuana brand is being created — and it will use Bob Marley’s likeness to promote it.

According to The Guardian, Marley’s family is working with private equity firm Privateer Holdings to create a company called Marley Natural. Its focus will be on distributing “heirloom Jamaican cannabis strains” of marijuana, but will also offer other things like creams and accessories emblazoned with the company’s branding and the reggae star’s name. Though the company will be rooted in New York City — where marijuana is only decriminalized at the moment — the plan is to grow, distribute, and sell it in areas where the plant is legal by the end of 2015. The other branded products will be available worldwide.

Voters in Alaska, Oregon, and the District of Columbia voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use Tuesday, following in the footsteps of Colorado and Washington, which legalized the drug in 2012. A ballot measure to legalize marijuana for medical purposes failed in Florida, the Associated Press reports, where voters failed to meet the 60 percent threshold needed to pass a constitutional amendment.

Alaska’s measure passed by a slight majority Tuesday, with about 52 percent of the vote and 97 percent of precincts reporting. Under the initiative, adults 21 and older can have up to one ounce of marijuana and six plants, with production and sales regulated by a state commission. It won’t go into effect until 90 days after the election has been certified, and the state will then have 18 months to implement regulations.

Late last month, New York state lawmakers voted for the Compassionate Care Act — which legalizes medical marijuana — to pass into law. Today, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill, making it legal for patients with such serious diseases as cancer, HIV/AIDS, and multiple sclerosis to obtain the drug, and making New York the 23rd state to legalize it. The only caveat is that buyers won’t be able to smoke their marijuana, but can consume it in edibles, tinctures, and pills or inhale the drug using vaporizers.

Reiterating his previous statements on the issue, Governor Cuomo wrote, “The legislation I am signing today strikes the right balance between our desire to give those suffering from serious diseases access to treatment, and our obligation to guard against threats to public health and safety.” The new law goes into effect immediately, but it will be some time before it can be implemented, as the State Health Department still needs to determine how the drug will be regulated and how patients can legally obtain it.

The state of Washington this week handed out its first licenses to approved marijuana vendors, nearly two years after voters decriminalized the drug for recreational use. As the Associated Press reports, the state sent emails to the first wave of applicants early Monday morning, telling them they can open for business as early as Tuesday, though the rollout will be limited. A spokesman for Washington’s regulatory agency told the New York Times that only about 20 licenses will be issued during the first phase, including just one store in Seattle, Washington’s largest city.

Voters in both Washington and Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in November 2012, but the states have implemented their policies in very different ways. While Colorado moved swiftly to open retail weed operations — stores opened for business in January — Washington has proceeded more slowly, due in part to still-heated opposition from some local governments. Dozens of municipalities enacted bans and strict zoning rules on marijuana sales this year, amid fears that the industry may lead to higher drug use rates among children and higher costs for taxpayers.

Apple has removed a chart-topping game that let you “become the biggest weed dealer in town” from the App Store. Manitoba Games’ Weed Firm, which follows the drug-dealing career of burnout Ted Growing, is no longer available for download, in an incident that the developer says is “entirely Apple’s decision, not ours.”

Weed Firm occupied the top spot on the overall App Store download charts for several days before its removal, according to data from analytics firm App Annie. By its final day, its revenue had grown to become the 13th top grossing app.

The Colorado Symphony Orchestra is planning a series of fundraising concerts tailor-made for the state’s burgeoning legal cannabis industry. The Associated Press reports that local weed businesses have come together to sponsor what will be called Classically Cannabis: The High Note Series, comprised of four concerts culminating in a final show at Colorado’s famous Red Rocks Amphitheater.

According to the Symphony’s website, the concerts will figure prominently in the group’s summer series. In addition to alcohol being served at the event, patrons over the age of 21 will be allowed to bring edibles, joints, and marijuana tinctures to aid in their enjoyment of the performances. However, the shows are strictly “BYOC” or bring your own cannabis, and the Red Rocks has an official ban on drugs (though that has hardly stopped people in the past).

Public opinion is quickly shifting in support of marijuana legalization of one form or another, and even one retired Supreme Court justice agrees that it’s time to legalize. When asked by NPR whether it should be legalized at a federal level, retired justice John Paul Stevens — a Republican appointee who’s leaned increasingly liberal — answered quickly, “Yes.”

“I really think that that’s another instance of public opinion [that’s] changed,” he told NPR. “And recognize that the distinction between marijuana and alcoholic beverages is really not much of a distinction. Alcohol, the prohibition against selling and dispensing alcoholic beverages has I think been generally, there’s a general consensus that it was not worth the cost. And I think really in time that will be the general consensus with respect to this particular drug.”

It seems the United States is inching ever closer to decriminalizing marijuana, following the passage of new laws in Colorado and Washington, but on the seemingly weed-friendly shores of Jamaica — birthplace of reggae music and the Rastafari — pot remains as illegal as it’s been for more than a century. It’s a paradox for an island nation that has become synonymous with names like Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, but Jamaican politicians and legalization advocates say change is coming soon — perhaps as soon as this year.

Earlier this month, about 300 people gathered in the Jamaican capital of Kingston to launch the Ganja Future Growers and Producers Association, the country’s first lobby group of marijuana cultivators. The new organization will push for the creation of a regulated weed industry in Jamaica, which it says will boost the country’s economy and spur medical research. As more countries look to liberalize their drug policies, the hope is that decriminalization will allow Jamaica to become something of a pot powerhouse.

Here’s a fact: humans love to get wasted. Long before there were laws, long before there was beer, there was marijuana — a drug that had fallen out of legal favor in America completely by the 1930s. Alcohol had a similar falling-out with the Federal Government in 1920, but by 1933 legislators realized that the benefits of legalization and taxation would far outweigh the consequences of continued prohibition. It’s taking America much longer to make the same realization about marijuana. But it is happening, and as it does the country is realizing that a raging stoner is far more tolerable — and maybe more commercially exploitable — than a raging drunk.

In Amsterdam in 1988, High Times magazine staged the first-ever Cannabis Cup, a sort of combined trade show and Olympics for stoners. In 2010, the first-ever Medical Cannabis Cup came to San Francisco under the auspices of California’s Proposition 215 and Senate Bill 420. Like alcohol during prohibition, the law clearly states that marijuana is to be consumed for medical purposes only. But like posted speed limits, the law is in effect merely a suggestion. While there are clearly a lot of folks who do derive a tangible medical benefit from cannabinoids, my guess is that 90 percent of people with medical marijuana prescriptions are using their doses for the same reason 90 percent of people have been ingesting weed for thousands of years: to get high! Anyone who says otherwise is probably a lawyer, a NORML representative, or in possession of some very potent medicine. In February, I drank deeply from the cup, and I remain haunted more than two months later. And when I say haunted I really mean super duper stoned.

RiverRock is a marijuana company in Denver, CO, that was founded in 2009 by an enterprising medical malpractice attorney some four years before recreational weed become legal in the state. Today, RiverRock operates two dispensaries, grows its own, and makes edibles, extracts, and concentrates. It used to cultivate all its cannabis indoors — a quantity John Kocer, RiverRock’s CEO, wouldn’t specify, but says comprises between 3 percent to 5 percent of the state’s $14 million monthly weed market.

A year and a half ago, the company shifted a large portion of its grow operations to a 27,000-square-foot greenhouse. In simple terms, a greenhouse is an outdoor, semipermanent structure with translucent ceilings and walls, through which light can filter. It’s the same kind of thing that conventional farmers use to grow flowers and vegetables. RiverRock’s is particularly state-of-the-art, with automated humidity and temperature controls and a special blackout system that can create pitch-dark conditions in the middle of a summer evening.

Vending machines that serve up pot have existed for some time, but up until now have only lived behind counters at medical marijuana dispensaries. Now, the very first weed vending machine that customers can access has finally made its debut in Avon, Colorado. Herbal Elements, a local medical cannabis collective, today received a ZaZZZ vending machine manufactured by American Green. The dispensary made its excited announcement this afternoon:

Maryland is set to become the 17th state to decriminalize marijuana. Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley released a statement on Monday, saying he intended to sign legislation that would mean those found in possession of small amounts of the drug would not face jail time. Governor O’Malley said that the decriminalization bill had majority support in the state, and that under current state laws, few defendants in marijuana cases go to prison as a matter of “judicial economy and prosecutorial discretion.”

Violent crime is at its lowest in Maryland in 30 years, and the governor said the new law would allow law enforcement officials to keep their focus on more serious crimes. “I now think that decriminalizing possession of marijuana is an acknowledgement of the low priority that our courts, our prosecutors, our police, and the vast majority of citizens already attach to this transgression of public order and public health,” he said in the statement. “Such an acknowledgment in law might even lead to a greater focus on far more serious threats to public safety and the lives of our citizens.”

How Americans think about weed is changing. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 75 percent of Americans believe selling and using marijuana will eventually be legalized. Of the people surveyed, both the majority of people for and against legalized weed agree that it is coming.

The decriminalization effort has been controversial since the beginning of the year when Colorado sold the first legal marijuana in the state to a war veteran with PTSD. Currently 17 states have laws decriminalizing the sale and use of marijuana, or laws that lessen restrictions for institutions like hospitals. Washington, DC was the most recent place to become significantly more lenient with marijuana punishments, lowering the penalty for possession to a $25 fine, down from a $1,000 fine or a six-month prison sentence.

Medical weed growers probably aren’t the first people you think of when discussing those who are unhappy with the the legalization of recreational marijuana. Yet, as The New York Times reports, many medical marijuana dispensers in Washington are calling the advent of recreational pot “disastrous.” Indeed, the legalization of recreational pot is likely to come at a huge cost for those who pioneered the sale of medical weed in the state 16 years ago. Notably, the Washington state legislature will soon debate a bill that might eliminate the collective gardens used by most dispensaries and instate new licenses that could cause any remaining dispensaries to shut down. For a more extensive rundown of the plight of Washington’s medical marijuana dispensaries, head over to The New York Times’ website.

Washington, DC’s city council voted today to significantly ease marijuana laws in the district. By a near unanimous vote, the council ruled that possession and private consumption of the drug in small amounts would be decriminalized. Mayor Vincent Gray is expected to sign the bill into law. The District of Columbia will soon join 17 states that have decriminalization laws on the books and becomes one of the most lenient cities in the country with regard to weed.

Previously, public consumption and possession of an ounce or less of marijuana were both criminal offenses that carried hefty fines of $1,000 or six-month prison sentences. Advocates stated that these penalties fell disproportionately on African Americans in the capital, with a 2013 study by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee stating that “nine out of 10” arrests for possession involved African American residents. When the bill goes into effect this summer, possession will be deemed a civil offense with a light fine of $25. Public consumption is still considered a misdemeanor, though, with a maximum fine of $500 or 60 days in jail.

The ad riffs on buying marijuana from a drug dealer by placing an eccentric man beside a dumpster and having him talk about his fine sushi offerings. “This area’s dry, man. You know that. I know that. Ain’t nobody selling but me,” the dealer says. “I got tuna, I got salmon, I got sweet shrimp. I got the finest sashimi this area has seen in years.” The commercial tells viewers that instead of buying marijuana from a dealer like him, they can instead be matched with a doctor who legally prescribes the drug to patients.

“Securing the airtime for our commercial on a major network was extremely difficult and at the same time, extremely satisfying,” MarijuanaDoctors.com CEO Jason Draizin says in a statement. “We recognize that the sale and use of marijuana is still considered very controversial and we are pleased that Comcast understands that there are legitimate businesses providing legitimate and legal services to people who have legitimate needs.”

Attorney General Eric Holder made an appearance at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center yesterday to discuss such topics as prison reform, Edward Snowden, and the Obama administration’s stance on marijuana. During the talk, Holder went on to state that the federal government is preparing “regulations” that will make it easier for banks to do business with legal pot sellers. The promised new rules may pave the way for future state initiatives on weed that mirror those in Colorado and Washington.

According to Holder, the Justice and Treasury Departments are collaborating on the regulations to ease the anxiety of banks unwilling to work with weed merchants for fear of being prosecuted. As a result, the money such businesses make would end up “lying around.”

Bill Gates wants to see Washington state experiment with legal pot. According to BuzzFeed, Gates voted in favor of his state’s 2012 referendum to legalize marijuana, feeling that some states should assess the policy before a similar plan is implemented at a federal level. “It’s an experiment, and it’s probably good to have a couple states try it out to see before you make that national policy,” Gates tells BuzzFeed. Though Gates didn’t actually think that the 2012 referendum would pass, he’s interested to see what happens now that its full effects are approaching.

Always the philanthropist, Gates is mainly curious as to whether it’ll have a detrimental or a positive effect on the community and how well Washington will be able to enforce usage restrictions. Gates poses to BuzzFeed, “Can they keep it out of minors’ hands? Will it reduce alcohol consumption? Are there some people who use it at levels you might think of as inappropriate? Will drug gangs make less money?” He suspects that latter point will come to pass, cutting down on drug traffickers’ profits and damping some nasty effects of the illegal drug trade.

New York may soon join the ranks of states that allow medical marijuana. Following the first legal sale of recreational marijuana in the United States in over a century, governor Andrew Cuomo is set to announce an executive action that will loosen restrictions on marijuana, according to The New York Times. According to the report, the policy will be very strict: only 20 hospitals across the state will be granted permission to prescribe marijuana to those with cancer, glaucoma, or any other disease explicitly approved by the state’s Department of Health.

The state currently has some of the tightest policies regarding weed — according to the Marijuana Policy Project the state has the second highest number of arrests per capita for charges related to the substance. While possession below 25 grams is not a criminal offense, if it’s burned or otherwise viewable in public it’s an arrestable offense. It’s a shift for Governor Cuomo, who’s been opposed to medical marijuana, though he’s said before that he has an open mind on the matter. The issue has come to the fore recently with both Colorado and Washington legalizing recreational use of weed, and subsequent research showing that an estimated 58 percent of Americans support legalization.

Colorado’s marijuana dispensaries opened their doors to recreational users this morning, but their first customer was far from someone just looking to have a good time: Sean Azzariti, a Denver-area veteran of the Iraq war who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), instead purchased weed to help alleviate symptoms of his illness.

Azzariti’s purchase was largely a symbolic one, orchestrated by activists who led the charge to pass Amendment 64 — the initiative that made marijuana legal in Colorado — following a press conference. Azzariti, who bought an eighth of an ounce of Bubba Kush and an edible truffle, earlier this year appeared in a TV campaign ad to tout the benefits of marijuana for PTSD. Despite repeated efforts by advocacy groups, only seven states currently recognize PTSD as a condition that would qualify patients like Azzariti to purchase medical marijuana. Colorado isn’t one of them — though advocates say that the state’s groundbreaking new laws mean that patients with various conditions won’t need to push for medical access.