Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what's happening in the world of legalized marijuana.
As long time readers of this blog know, banking for cannabis companies is problematic to say the least. California has decided not to pursue allowing state banks to handle the industry's money.
- California decides against state-chartered banking
for marijuana industry
(Marijuana Business Daily: News, 17 August 2018)
California lawmakers deferred a plan that would have allowed private banks to handle the money being generated by the legal cannabis industry.
In other Golden State news, revenues from marijuana sales have been disappointing.
- Tax Revenue from California's Legal Marijuana
Falls Short of Estimates
(High TImes: News, 16 August 2018)
Why is California's tax revenue from legal marijuana not meeting expectations?
Meanwhile, in Louisiana, medical marijuana planting has begun.
- After Delay, Louisiana OKs Planting of Medical
Marijuana
(Insurance Journal: News, 17 August 2018)
Louisiana's first legal crop of medical marijuana can be planted this week. Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain, whose agency regulates the burgeoning industry, loosened a regulatory logjam that created a months-long delay.
Finally, one of the more surprising additions to our list of politicians (or in this case, government entities) who have changed their mind on marijuana:
- DEA Wants More Marijuana Grown And Fewer Opioids
Produced In 2019. Really.
(Forbes, 16 August 2018)
The anti-drug agency is moving to more than quintuple the amount of cannabis that can legally be grown in the U.S. for research purposes—from roughly 1,000 pounds in 2018 to more than 5,400 pounds next year.
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