Featured guests: NoCo Hemp Expo founder Morris Beegle and Cannabist national policy and business reporter Alicia Wallace.
LOTS TO TALK ABOUT
• The definitive guide on which states will be voting on medical or recreational marijuana legalization in November.
• Pot shop design trends: The industry is spending millions on storefronts.
• Hemp is hitting its stride.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
TOP MARIJUANA NEWS
Democratic Party makes waves with marijuana platform: The Democratic Party endorsed a “reasoned pathway to future legalization” of marijuana and called for the drug to be downgraded in the Controlled Substances Act, in a tense and unexpected victory for supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Going into the platform committee meeting, Sanders’s campaign had no new language about marijuana. The senator from Vermont had favored state-to-state legalization efforts, and the language approved by the drafting committee called for “policies that will allow more research on marijuana, as well as reforming our laws to allow legal marijuana businesses to exist without uncertainty.” But then the committee brought up an amendment that would have removed marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act. The amendment, however, was headed for defeat, with some committee members worrying that it went too far and undermined state-by-state efforts to study decriminalization. And then came a compromise. –Report by The Washington Post’s David Weigel
Activists behind THC-limiting initiative to withdraw controversial Amendment 139: The activists aiming to implement sstrict THC limits on Colorado’s recreational marijuana industry are withdrawing the controversial Amendment 139, their attorney told The Cannabist. “139 is done,” said attorney Frank McNulty, Colorado’s former Speaker of the House and the lawyer representing the Healthy Colorado Coalition, made up of citizens pushing for tighter controls on the cannabis industry. “This is something I spent a great deal of time on in my last two years in the legislature, and my interest in protecting our state and our kids hasn’t waned since then.” –Report by The Cannabist’s Ricardo Baca
POT QUIZ
Test your current-events knowledge about medical marijuana fees for patients, former NFL players and their marijuana woes, a millionaire who set up a trust fund for legalization and more.