Category: Business
-
Blumenauer Says ‘Strong Support’ Growing In Senate For Cannabis Banking Reforms
You may soon be able to legally use your credit card to buy cannabis. That’s because momentum is building behind a measure to allow weed businesses access to basic financial services, like accepting credit cards or even opening a company bank account. All eyes remain on the Senate, where the bipartisan and popular SAFE Banking…
-
Preliminary D.C. Budget Creates Cannabis Social Equity Fund To Boost Minority Entrepreneurs
D.C.’s preliminary budget for the upcoming fiscal year includes a provision that would redirect tax dollars from medical cannabis sales towards a new “social equity fund” to help minority entrepreneurs get weed businesses off the ground. The “Medical Cannabis Social Equity Fund” would be jointly administered by D.C.’s Department of Small and Local Business Development…
-
How A Tick Bite Turned This Maryland Native Into A Hemp Farmer
After a few weeks on antibiotics to treat a tick bite she received in 2002, Dawn Gordon assumed she would be fine. But by 2007, her Lyme disease symptoms were at times so debilitating that she was bed-bound, and eventually had to abandon her 35-year career in commercial real estate. Gordon, 59, sought a new…
-
D.C. Council Advances Bill Banning Cannabis Testing For Most Jobs
The D.C. Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to advance a bill barring most employers from testing job applicants for cannabis, except when hiring for positions that require an extra degree of safety. The measure, introduced last year by Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White, was approved by all 13 members of the council’s Committee of the…
-
Eight Ways To Celebrate 420 In The DMV
It’s that time of the year when the sun pokes its head out, flowers start to bloom and the gentle spring breeze carries a subtle, yet unmistakable odor: the sweet smell of cannabis. That’s right — the week of 420 is upon us. And this year the DMV is going all out to ring in…
-
The Sesh: Dr. Chanda Macias On Becoming An ‘OG’ Of Medical Weed
It’s been nearly a decade since D.C. opened its first medical cannabis dispensary. Since then, the District’s medical cannabis industry has gone through numerous ups and downs: from drastic regulatory changes to the rise of a parallel weed “gifting” economy that is increasingly cutting into its bottom line. And that’s not to mention regular interference…
-
Support Rises Among Marylanders For Legal Pot
Maryland voters heartily support the legalization of cannabis by a margin of nearly 2 to 1, a new poll from Goucher College found — and that popularity isn’t limited to one party, with a majority of both Republicans and independents supporting legalization. The poll found that 62% of the 635 people sampled believe in establishing…
-
At D.C.’s Capsterdam University, growing weed is on the syllabus
In the heart of Adams Morgan’s 18th Street NW, above crowds of boozy brunchers and atop a poke shop, the forty-something Frankie Adonis stands at the center of a room lined with faux grass wallpaper. Beneath a shaft of purple light, he details for a throng of rapt students how they can venture into a…
-
D.C. Council Creates Tax Holiday For Medical Weed Businesses To Counter ‘Threat’ Of Gray Market Competition
The D.C. Council on Wednesday unanimously approved an emergency bill that establishes a tax holiday week for medical weed businesses around April 20, and allows seniors to sign up for a cannabis card without a doctor’s note. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who introduced the temporary measure, said it was necessary in light of an ongoing…
-
Culta Joins Sustainable Cannabis Coalition With Goal To Eliminate Carbon Emissions
Culta, one of Maryland’s largest medical cannabis businesses, is getting on board with an emerging green movement in the weed industry. The company announced on Monday it has joined the Sustainable Cannabis Coalition, a group of weed firms that promotes more environmentally friendly practices in the industry – from the way pot is cultivated to…
-
Maryland Cannabis Commission Chair To Step Down As Dispensary Sales Poised To Surpass $600M
The chair of Maryland’s medical cannabis agency is resigning after more than four years helping to steer the direction of the state’s fast-growing industry. “I’ve decided it’s time to pass the torch,” said Brian Lopez, a real estate developer who was appointed to his chairman post by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in 2017. “It’s hard…