All Cannabis in America coverage is written by Alexis Evans and Alec Siegel and brought to you by Law Street Media.

State of Weed: Watch

Don’t Give Up on Recreational Marijuana, Vermont!

Vermont still has a chance to become the ninth state, in addition to the District of Columbia, to legalize recreational marijuana, even after Governor Phil Scott’s down-to-the-wire veto last month. The Republican governor told the Associated Press that negotiations are currently in the works to address his concerns regarding public safety. If the governor strikes a deal with legislative leaders, he says he’ll reach out to House Republicans to encourage them not to block the passage of the bill.

California Could Become a “Sanctuary State” from Federal Pot Law

California just became that much closer to becoming a safe haven for legal marijuana users. The state assembly approved a bill Thursday that would make California a “sanctuary state,” where local and state police would be barred, without a court order, from helping federal drug agents arrest people complying with state laws. Despite some opposition from law enforcement, AB 1578 managed to narrowly pass with a majority 41-32 votes. The bill is now awaiting the Senate’s consideration.

Nevada’s Weed Launch Date in Peril Thanks to Liquor Lawsuit

If you have dreams of smoking legal marijuana in Sin City, I wouldn’t plan on booking a Las Vegas vacay anytime soon. Nevada’s July 1 recreational marijuana launch date is in jeopardy after a district judge prohibited the Department of Taxation from issuing cannabis distribution licenses under the adopted regulations. The order comes in response to a lawsuit filed by liquor wholesalers, who claim the legislative measure gives them exclusive rights to marijuana distribution licenses for the first 18 months of sales.

All links are to primary sources. For more information on state laws for possessing, selling, and cultivating marijuana, click here to read “The State of Weed: Marijuana Legalization State by State.”

Law Street Cannabis Coverage

What is a Marijuana Lawyer?

Three Questions: Exclusive Q&A

Each month, the Cannabis in America team interviews influencers in the cannabis industry and gives you an exclusive look into their work, motivations, and predictions for the marijuana marketplace.

There is no question the cannabis industry is growing rapidly, and as more states legalize marijuana, more business will crop up. For Michah Tapman, the Managing Director of Canopy, a Boulder-based venture capital firm that invests in cannabis-related technology and services, the future is here now. Law Street’s Alec Siegel spoke with Tapman about what he looks for in a potential investment, the future of the cannabis industry, and more.

AS: What do you look for in a cannabis start-up?

MT: The number one investment criteria for us is the people. Because laws and regulations are changing so quickly, people need to be flexible, very well educated, coachable, and willing to make changes. One thing we know about the industry is that it won’t look tomorrow like it does today. Like any high growth industry, you need to know how to adapt.

AS:  Have you or the companies you work with adapted in any way since the Trump Administration came into office?

MT: The Administration definitely has scared a lot of people. Personally, [Attorney General] Jeff Sessions is opposed to marijuana. But from a policy point of view, neither Trump nor Sessions has made a policy statement indicating that they’ll crack down. They have concerns about medical marijuana, but those are personal statements. That doesn’t mean my business and my policy is going to change.

AS: How do you see the cannabis industry changing over the next five to 10 years?

MT: I see a seismic shift in the level of sophistication for cultivation. Drastic price reduction both in production costs and retail pricing, consolidation, and then fragmentation. [The cannabis industry] is not going to have a lot of mid-market players in my opinion. That will be driven by efficiencies. [Cannabis] is going to legalize. The question is when. As an investor what I’m betting on is people that are able to adapt to changing environments.

Cannabis Culture

Americans Buy More Marijuana Than Ice Cream

By Alexis Evans

Believe it or not, but Americans will probably spend more money on weed this year than ice cream. A new report from Marijuana Biz Daily expects retail sales to increase by more than 30 percent, hitting somewhere from $5 billion to $6 billion in 2017. The estimated total demand, however, for marijuana in the United States, including the black market, is around $45 billion to $50 billion. Find out more here.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Cannabis in America June 2017: Check Out This Venture Capitalist’s Take on Cannabis appeared first on Law Street.

Believe it or not, but Americans will probably spend more money on weed this year than ice cream. A new report from Marijuana Biz Daily expects retail sales to increase by more than 30 percent, hitting somewhere from $5 billion to $6 billion in 2017. The estimated total demand, however, for marijuana in the United States, including the black market, is around $45 billion to $50 billion.

Exclusive: Retail sales of medical and recreational cannabis in the United States are expected to hit $5 billion-$6 billion in 2017. pic.twitter.com/jCjIdhuTZW

— Marijuana Biz Daily (@MJBizDaily) May 17, 2017

Just for comparison, total ice cream sales will likely only garner $5.1 billion, according to the trade publication’s 2017 Marijuana Business Factbook. For reference, sales for movie tickets will clock in at $11.1 billion and snacks like Doritos, Cheetos and Funyuns at $4.9 billion.

Notably, recreational sales may pass medical sales this year for the first time–recreational marijuana is poised to make $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion in sales this year versus $2.5 billion to $3.2 billion on the medical side.

The policy site attributed much of the recreational revenue bump to Nevada’s early launch of adult-use sales in July, and continued growth in existing markets in  Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. In the next three to five years, this number is estimated to grow substantially thanks to new adult use markets in California, Maine, and Massachusetts.

Legalization of medical marijuana in states like Ohio–where it will  be up and running by September 2018–is also expected to boost future sales.

In 2016, the legal marijuana industry brought in between $4 billion and $4.5 billion, outselling Viagra and Cialis, paid music streaming services, tequila, and Girl Scout cookies.

The report estimates that for every $1 consumers spend at dispensaries, another $3 in economic benefits are created in cities, states, and nationwide. Marijuana tax revenue, for instance, contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to state and local municipalities, which is used to help balance budgets and fund local projects and government programs.

According to these projections, by 2021, annual retail marijuana sales in the United States could top $17 billion–a 300 percent increase from 2016. In other words, it appears that this so called “green rush” shows no signs of slowing down.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Americans Buy More Marijuana than Ice Cream appeared first on Law Street.

Everyone’s favorite ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s released a statement expressing its support for the Black Lives Matter movement last week. Now a group of police officers are calling for a boycott of the ice cream.

Last Thursday, Ben & Jerry’s wrote in a statement:

Systemic and institutionalized racism are the defining civil rights and social justice issues of our time. We’ve come to understand that to be silent about the violence and threats to the lives and well-being of Black people is to be complicit in that violence and those threats.

Most social media users greeted the news with joy.

Why Ben and Jerrys woke af

⚡️ “Ben and Jerry’s release statement in support of Black Lives Matter”https://t.co/N75HRmAv4B

— Chocolate Metaphor (@_MikePearson) October 7, 2016

But the police organization Blue Lives Matter, which was created after the killings of two NYPD officers in Brooklyn in December of 2014, released a statement on Monday urging “all Americans” to boycott the ice cream brand. It said:

Ben & Jerry’s just recently announced their support for Black Lives Matter along with a misinformation campaign accusing law enforcement of widespread systemic and institutionalized racism. Many companies have offered misguided statements of support for Black Lives Matter in the past, with the false belief that they are expressing support for civil rights.

The event gave birth to the hashtag #BenAndJerrysNewFlavor and a bunch of suggestions for new flavors in honor of the company’s statement.

He Was Unarmed Dough #BenAndJerrysNewFlavor

— NUFF$AID (@nuffsaidNY) October 7, 2016

Fudge The Police #BenAndJerrysNewFlavor

— W.E.B. Dem Boyz (@Kevunn) October 7, 2016

#BenAndJerrysNewFlavor New Cone, Who Dis?

— Taco Bout It (@Anthoneezuss) October 7, 2016

Blue Lives Matter claims in the statement that Ben & Jerry’s endorsement of Black Lives Matter is anti-police and dangerous, because it inspires people to kill police officers by spreading false and misleading information about the police being racist. It said that BLM is not a civil rights group, but a political one, fighting for its own goals such as a disruption of the Western nuclear family structure and tax-paid damages for harms inflicted on black people. They wrote:

By not only attacking law enforcement, but openly supporting Black Lives Matter, Ben & Jerry’s is sure to anger most Americans who do not agree with the political causes that they are supporting.

Ben & Jerry’s is used to speaking up when it comes to supporting causes it cares about. The founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, have previously supported the World Wildlife Fund and Occupy Wall Street. They also supported Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign and even honored him by creating a special ice cream flavor for him; chocolate mint with the name ”Bernie’s Yearning.”

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Police Group Demands Boycott of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream appeared first on Law Street.

The cofounders of Ben & Jerry’s, aptly named Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, were arrested at the U.S. Capitol building on Monday. Cohen and Greenfield were participating in continued protests advocating for campaign finance reform, voting reform, action on climate change, remedies to systemic inequalities, fair pay, immigration reform, pushing the Senate to consider President Obama’s nomination to the Supreme Court and a whole host of other progressive issues.

The movement that Cohen and Greenfield were participating in is called “Democracy Awakening” and is closely affiliated with the similar “Democracy Spring” movement. Protests at the Capitol have been waging on for the last few weeks, and more than 1,000 protestors have already been arrested; Cohen and Greenfield were just the latest to join the list.

A post on Ben & Jerry’s website explained the cofounders’ motivations for joining the protests.

It all comes down to a simple idea that we believe in whole-heartedly: if you care about something, you have to be willing to risk it all—your reputation, your values, your business—for the greater good.

The post continues:

Protesting injustice has been on the agenda all weekend. We’ve been in Washington, D.C. with Democracy Awakening, a remarkable event that brought together hundreds of groups and thousands of people in an effort to fix our broken democracy. There are two trends that everyone from Greenpeace to the NAACP has realized are making it impossible for much good work to get done. The first is the flood of unregulated cash flowing into campaigns and elections. And the second is the wave of attacks in many states on citizens’ right to vote.

Cohen and Greenville are certainly no strangers to getting involved in the political arena. Cohen in particular has been a very outspoken advocate for fellow Vermonter Bernie Sanders. In an interview outside a Donald Trump rally that Cohen was protesting, he explained that he had come up with the perfect Bernie-themed ice cream flavor–“Bernie’s Yearning.” According to Cohen’s explanation:

When you open up the pint, there’s this big disc of chocolate covering the entire top, and below it is just plain mint ice cream.The disc of chocolate represents the 90 percent of the wealth that has gone to the top 10 percent over the last 10 years.

The way you eat it, you take your spoon, you whack that big chocolate disc into a bunch of little pieces, you mix it around, and there you have it: Bernie’s Yearning.

According to the statement on Ben & Jerry’s website regarding their arrests, they won’t be slowing down any soon when it comes to their activism.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Ben & Jerry’s Cofounders Arrested Protesting at Capitol appeared first on Law Street.

This week’s weird arrests involve some misbehaving adults, and a few misbehaving young people as well. Check out the slideshow below:

[SlideDeck2 id=37708 ress=1]

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Weird Arrests of the Week appeared first on Law Street.