Featured guests: Colorado Cannabis Tours partner Heidi Keyes and Ean Seeb, Denver Relief Consulting founding partner.
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LOTS TO TALK ABOUT
• The challenges of expanding a federally illegal business across state lines.
• A historically black university in Louisiana is growing cannabis for the state’s medical marijuana program.
• Puffing, passing and making… broadening the creativity and cannabis game.
TOP MARIJUANA NEWS
Cyber attack cited by MJ Freeway after system failure stymies marijuana shops: A “targeted” cyber attack on a marijuana software company triggered an outage that hobbled point-of-sales and inventory systems for dispensaries scattered across the United States. Denver-based MJ Freeway tweeted Jan. 8 it was experiencing an outage of its inventory system and was unable to process transactions. The cause of the “system interruption” was believed to be a cyber attack on its main databases and back-ups, officials told Marijuana Business Daily, which first reported on the outage: “Our initial analysis indicates that this was a direct attack on MJ Freeway’s infrastructure,” said Jeannette Ward, the company’s director of data and marketing. — Report by The Cannabist’s Alicia Wallace
Trump inauguration marijuana protest arrests unlikely: Washington’s mayor says police won’t be looking to arrest people for smoking marijuana in public on Inauguration Day. Pro-pot activists are planning to give away 4,200 free joints during the inauguration, which is legal in the District of Columbia. They’ve also pledged to light up during President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural address, which is not. Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser said police and city leaders want to see people peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights. Bowser says arrests for smoking pot “wouldn’t be our first priority.” — Report by The Associate Press’ Ben Nuckols
Are shops already – illegally – selling recreational marijuana in California? The online ad for Green Light District – a pot shop in a brick office building five miles from Disneyland – was clear: Anyone 21 years and older was welcome to buy weed with only a “valid ID.” During a recent visit to the unlicensed Anaheim dispensary, a worker behind tinted glass in the lobby did ask to see a doctor’s recommendation for medical marijuana. But when I told him I didn’t have one, he said my drivers license verifying I was over 21 was fine so long as I still signed a form stating “under penalty of perjury” that I was a legitimate medical marijuana patient. I declined, reminding him I was not in fact a patient. So he declined to let me into the locked shop, where a steady stream of visitors were greeted by dance music and a distinct herbal smell. — Report by The Orange County Register’s Brooke Edwards Staggs
QUICK HIT
Colorado’s marijuana czar and fellow top regulator make leap into consulting: Colorado’s marijuana czar and one of its top enforcement chiefs are jumping to the private sector to advise local and state governments hashing out cannabis regulations. Andrew Freedman, the state’s director of marijuana coordination, Lewis Koski, Colorado Department of Revenue deputy senior director of enforcement, and John Hudak, drug policy expert and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, formed Freedman & Koski LLC. — Report by The Cannabist’s Alicia Wallace
POT QUIZ
Test your current-events knowledge about the reboot of the “HOLLYWeeD” prank, a medical marijuana state doubling its grow limits, one states push to become a hemp leader and more.
