Cannabis companies should remain mindful of the importance of creating and maintaining a comprehensive written data security program. No cannabis company should aspire to being subject to response costs, regulatory fines, and potential lawsuits that follow the theft or inadvertent disclosures of legally protected or commercially sensitive data or, even worse, harming customers by enabling […]
Compliance and Regulations
Unique Program to Track and Trace Dollars in CA Could Pave the Way for a Banking Solution in the US
State and local governments vary greatly in their ability to attract and compensate regulatory personnel that bring institutional knowledge and experience to regulate the nascent Cannabis Industry in their respective spheres of influence. Think about it, the challenge for any state or local government is to find and afford people with the experience and the […]
Mandatory Testing Costly For Colorado Marijuana Growers
New mandatory marijuana pesticide testing in Colorado is putting a financial squeeze on local cultivators to the tune of thousands of dollars in increased costs. The added expense is the latest financial blow to hit the state’s cultivators, which are already struggling with falling wholesale prices and a glut of product. Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division […]
ASTM Announces New International Standard Projects to Help Reduce Hazards in Cannabis Processing and Cannabis Sampling Procedures
PRESS RELEASES Two Proposed ASTM International Standards Underway to Support Cannabis Sampling Procedures W. CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., August 23, 2018 – Members of the ASTM International cannabis committee (D37) are proposing two guides for cannabis sampling procedures in an effort to ultimately improve consumer safety. The guides cover concentrates, extracts, and other cannabis-infused products (WK64646) as […]
The Whole Gamet: Packaging Made Perfect
The big challenge for most companies in the emerging cannabis industry is how to package and label their product to be compliant with state regulations while still having it look great and carry the brand’s message to the end-user. Because of all the requirements, this is not an easy task. This article is not going to list […]
6 Essential Items to Include on Your Cannabis Label
The more useful information you list, the more you empower the consumer and earn their trust. One of the most challenging and thrilling facts about branding cannabis is that there is no clearly established standard. It was just a couple years ago now that packaging even became a relevant thought to a manufacturer. Before then, […]
The Whole Gamet: Compliance Tips
Welcome to The Whole Gamet. This column is designed to provide cannabis entrepreneurs, executives, and those thinking about getting into the business, with real-world advice from someone who has been on the front lines. I am your host, Greg Gamet, and I have founded, operated, or been involved with a wide variety of businesses in […]
DripDripDrip – What is AG Jeff Sessions Up To Now?
What is U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions working on today that affects the cannabis industry, and who is he working on it with? If the most recent meeting held just two weeks ago is any indication, he’s digging in deeper in his quest to stop legalization, and calling in bigger policy and researcher guns to […]
Another Shot in the Arm for Legalization? New Laws Expanding Hemp Production Stepping Up the Discussion
What’s that? Hemp making a comeback? An illegal Substance 1 drug? Has the Drug Enforcement Administration gone soft on cannabis crime? No, that’s not likely. But when it comes to hemp, and medicinal CBD derived from hemp, all of which is treated as a Substance 1 drug by the DEA, recent legislature moves on hemp […]
Are We Getting Closer to a ‘Supreme’ Moment in the Cannabis Industry?
For years, thought leaders in the cannabis business have spoken about the possibility that the issue of cannabis prohibition would some day find its way into the Supreme Court. That day was just pushed a little closer to reality by one of the staunchest opponents of the cannabis industry – outgoing New Jersey Governor Chris […]
Questionable Licensing Issues Now Cropping Up In Ohio – ‘The Process Is Severely Broken’
As the regulatory process plays out across various states in the country – most importantly, in California where regulations and rules are coming right down to the wire (and maybe a little beyond) for the January 1, 2018 start of recreational – more and more issues are cropping up about the licensing process itself and […]
Look, But Don’t Touch: Big Box Stores And ‘Hemp CBD’
Media recently reported on Target’s short-lived effort at selling cannabis-based CBD products online. By the end of the day on which the reporting was made, the major retailer had already removed the product from its website. The Phoenix New Times quoted Target spokesperson Kate Decker as saying, “We started carrying Charlotte’s Web hemp extract items last week on Target.com. After […]
D.C. Policy Summit – Researchers Working on First-Ever Federally-Approved Medical Marijuana Study Fighting to Overcome Significant DEA, NIDA Obstacles
The 10th Annual DuPont Summit on Science, Technology and Environment Policy held in Washington, D.C. on December 1 is usually reserved for issues like equitable access to broadband technology or building sustainability in policy or cybersecurity risk management. This year, the summit also included a session on cannabis, “Medical Marijuana-Miracle or Madness?” – a title […]
Seven 2017 Cannabis Legalization Bills in Play and What That Means for the Industry
There is now a wide assortment of bills in Congress related to cannabis (and hemp) legalization and use. And while most of these bills have not seen movement in 2017, the sheer number of them introduced in 2017 are creating a perfect storm for attention from Congress and more active committee discussion in 2018. Here […]
Sessions Hints at Shift in Federal Marijuana Enforcement
Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday gave his strongest signal yet that the Justice Department’s more hands-off approach to marijuana enforcement may soon be changing. Sessions said that the department is looking “very hard right now” at a directive carried over from the Obama administration that effectively encourages federal prosecutors to generally defer to state […]
#MeToo And The Marijuana Industry: Ignore Harassment Policies At Your Own Peril
Over the past few weeks, story after story has come to light of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the entertainment industry. But though high-profile actors, directors, and producers are getting most of the press attention right now, the vast majority of workplace sexual harassment is experienced by low-wage hourly employees, often in small businesses. […]
Tiptoeing Tentatively Toward December 8th Showdown
One of the most anticipated presentations at the 2017 Marijuana Business Conference in Las Vegas earlier this month happened on the last day, Friday, November 17. This was a federal policy update, scheduled to feature Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, who would be discussing the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment which was coming […]
ICYMI: California Drops Emergency Cannabis Licensing Rules
California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control (along with its Departments of Public Health and Food and Agriculture) dropped their much-anticipated emergency rules (see here, here, and here) to fully implement the Medical and Adult Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) in California. The agencies kept a lot of what we saw from the withdrawn rules under the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety […]
