Nick Boppe: Head Grower

Nick Boppe is the head grower at Buddy Boy Farm located about 30 miles from Spokane, Wash. Boppe, 37, is in his second year at the 600 acre organic farm. Boppe moved to Eastern Wash. to work at Buddy Boy from Calif. where he was in construction. (Jed Conklin for Leafly)

After a couple decades as an itinerant construction worker, Nick Boppe values his job as head grower for Buddy Boy Farm in eastern Washington for its steady paycheck and the chance to work outdoors.

On Monday, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and its supporters will participate in a “Day of Action” to mobilize opposition to the appointment of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as US Attorney General.

“Senator Sessions’ views are out of step with mainstream America and they are in conflict with the laws of over half of the states,” stated NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri, “We must demand that Senators ask this nominee whether he intends to respect the will of the voters in these states, and whether he truly believes no that ‘good people’ have ever smoked pot and, if he truly believes such an outrageous claim, he should not be the next Attorney General.”

Marijuana had an incredible 2016, and the fast-growing pot industry is looking to continue building on that momentum in 2017.

After beginning 2016 with cannabis legal in 23 states for medical purposes, and four states for adult use, the year closed with 28 states having legalized medical marijuana and residents in eight states having legalized recreational weed. Most notably, legislatures in Pennsylvania and Ohio passed medical marijuana laws without bringing votes to the people, while residents in California overwhelmingly passed Prop 64 (recreational legalization), which could add $1 billion, or more, in annual tax and licensing revenue to the state.

HempTech Corp., a provider of advanced Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) with sophisticated automation and analytical tools for the cultivators of legal industrial hemp and marijuana, has agreed to buildout a drug development and manufacturing facility, one of many, for Biotica Pharmaceuticals beginning second quarter 2017.

The marijuana industry is at a crossroads. Voters have approved recreational marijuana measures in eight states plus the District of Columbia. When these laws become fully implemented in the next few years, more than one in five American adults will live in places where they can walk into a store and legally purchase marijuana.

According to one estimate by ArcView Group, a marijuana industry consulting firm, the legal marijuana market rang up $6.7 billion in sales in 2016.

Willie Nelson took to social media to show off some new threads gifted to him by fellow marijuana enthusiast Snoop Dogg. The singer posted an image to Facebook of himself proudly wearing an ugly Christmas sweater emblazoned with (what else?) a pot leaf decorated like a Christmas tree and the words “Smoke Weed Everyday.” Clearly a message Nelson can get behind.

“Thank you Snoop Dogg for the Christmas sweater,” the singer wrote succinctly. Snoop then shared the image on his own Instagram page.

Coco Chanel, a smoker, made pockets popular in women’s clothing last century. She created the compartments for her cigarettes.

At the inauguration in a few weeks, not only will President-elect Donald Trump supporters be high on life, they might literally be high. According to CNN, marijuana legalization advocate Adam Eidinger will be joined by his peers on Jan. 20 in doling out 4,200 free joints to attendees. Currently, Initiative 71 means that Mary Jane is legal in Washington, DC, for anyone to carry up to two ounces. The catch? The drug can only be gifted, it can’t be sold.

The legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado has led to some interesting developments in the war on drugs. According to a video segment on Fox News, seizures of marijuana flowing out of Colorado into neighboring states has risen from 58 in 2008, to 394 in 2015. This indicates Colorado has unwittingly become an exporter of legal weed, found to be illegal in many adjoining states.

Donald Trump will be inaugurated this month, and a wide range of companies, from pharmaceuticals to health insurers to industrial manufacturers, are wondering what kind of impact the Trump administration will have on their business. In most cases, they have little to go on, since Trump has never held political office. And so they’re left to weigh scattered comments he has made on television and Twitter against his general policy views.

After conducting that sort of analysis, a leading marijuana business publication believes there’s a good chance Trump will be friendly toward the tide of marijuana legalization, or at least not stand in its way. But the same cannot be said of Trump’s choice of attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions.