USA Today: “Securing something as simple as a checking account in the legal cannabis business can be nearly impossible. That’s because banks are wary that federal agencies will slap them with money-laundering charges — despite assurances to the contrary. . . . But one credit union here has broken step with the banking industry. Maps Credit Union is the only financial institution in Oregon openly serving marijuana businesses”
Associated Press: “A man accused of running a business known as ‘Kush Gods’ that openly sold marijuana brownies and other pot-laced edibles on the streets of Washington has been released from custody – and he’s anything but apologetic. District of Columbia police announced Tuesday that Nicholas Cunningham, 30, and an employee, Evonne Lidoff, 18, were facing misdemeanor charges of marijuana distribution.”
Tucson Weekly: “The state is failing to meet the requirement to allow new medical conditions. . . . In July 2015, the Arizona Cannabis Nurses Association filed for eight new conditions to be added to the program: traumatic brain injury, arthritis, Huntington’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, Parkinson’s, diabetes, autism and neuropathic pain. As predicted, the AZDHS denied all eight petitions without a second thought.
Brookings: “As states legalize marijuana, more marijuana businesses are opening across the country. An obscure 1982 brainchild of Bob Dole’s Senate Finance Committee, section 280E of the federal tax code, is hitting state-legal marijuana sellers in the pocketbook—right now. 280E, which says taxpayers cannot deduct costs of selling federally illegal drugs, is not just helping fund the federal government. It’s also hampering marijuana advertising and marketing—to the satisfaction of nervous parents, and to the consternation of profit-seeking marijuana promoters. 280E was more a political statement than a model of tax policy, and it can’t eliminate marijuana advertising. But it does discourage that advertising, so it may be one of the most useful marijuana tax laws we can imagine. And while some anti-advertising proposals run afoul of the commercial free speech doctrine, 280E is constitutional. So 280E may help slow down Big Marijuana. If so, an anti-advertising tax rule like 280E might come in handy if the public ever musters the strength to take on Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco.
Phoenix New Times: “A right-wing Sedona group advertises what promises to be the throwdown of the year: A debate on the merits of marijuana legalization between staunch pot prohibitionist Sheila Polk on one side and fellow anti-marijuana activist Seth Leibsohn on the other. Yes, you read that right: The group says Leibsohn will take a pro-legalization stance in the debate. Leibsohn, a conservative AM-radio talk-show host, is the chair ofArizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, a group formed to combat an adult-use legalization measure expected to be on the 2016 Arizona ballot. Yavapai County Attorney Polk is the group’s vice chair.”
Arizona Republic: “Arizona is the only state where medical-marijuana patients can face felony charges if they use or possess it on a college campus. An Arizona State University student is asking an appeals court to overturn the law that makes it illegal for him to have physician-recommended medical marijuana in his dorm room. Andre Maestas, 20, an ASU junior and medical-marijuana cardholder, was arrested in 2014 and charged with a felony for having 0.6 grams of weed in his room on campus, roughly the equivalent of one joint.”
Marijuana Politics: “MPP’s Arizona marijuana legalization initiative, which has banked 100,000 signatures so far, about two-thirds of the goal. The complete text with hyperlinks and my notations (as my math teacher would say, “show your work”) is available as a PDF download. Here are the highlights:
Phoenix New Times: “Arizona voters are split nearly 50-50 on adult-use marijuana legalization, according to a new poll showing the need for supporters to work together if they want to end pot prohibition next year. Overall, 49 percent of voters support and 51 percent oppose the idea of “recreational” marijuana legalization, says the poll released on Tuesday by the Morrison Institute at Arizona State University and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.”