Although the legal framework of the marijuana industry in Los Angeles is strictly medicinal for the time being, it is still one of the largest marijuana markets in the United States. This creates a complex web of marijuana vendors, buyers, workers, and employers that needs to be navigated to most effectively meet their cannabis needs, especially when looking at the plethora of delivery services and small storefronts vying for competition.

In 2014, you could walk into a medical marijuana dispensary in Seattle and pick up a gram of cannabis. Then, you could walk a few blocks and get the same product for half the price.

To Daniel Nelson, founder and CEO of Wikileaf, shopping in the medical marijuana marketplace was frustrating.

“I originally built Wikileaf for myself back in 2014, really to find transparency in a marketplace that was so in the shadows,” said Nelson, who uses medical marijuana to manage lower back pain.

His vision for Wikileaf was a site that emphasizes price transparency and allows marijuana users to easily get their money’s worth.

An alert store manager, watching his employees close shop via a live video feed, sent two armed robbers straight into the arms of the Seattle police Sunday night. The incident happened around 10:30 p.m. at the Have a Heart cannabis store in North Seattle’s sleepy Greenwood neighborhood. As employees were closing up for the night, two masked gunmen held the store’s security guard at gunpoint and forced their way into the store. The gunmen then used zip ties to restrain the two female employees before raiding the safe. 

Le Herbe – the premium brand behind lines of cannabis green tea, iced coffee and water – has expanded its ready-to-drink range with the launch of new cannabis cocktail mixers.

The new range of beverages will feature local organic ingredients combined with sun-grown cannabis, distributed in in legalised states across the US. Le Herbe cannabis cocktail mixers can be simply poured on the rocks, served as shooters and shots, or mixed with spirits for the perfect cocktail, the brand said.

One billion dollars.

If current trends keep up, that will be the value of marijuana retail and producer/processor sales in Washington state on a yearly basis. With few exceptions, state marijuana sales have risen every month since the first recreational stores opened two years ago, bringing millions in state taxes and thousands of jobs.

That’s the good news.

“The picture thus far is a curate’s egg — good in parts,” writes University of Washington professor emeritus Roger Roffman. “No policy change of this magnitude will go precisely according to plan.”

So what still needs fixing?

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is taking steps to grow medical marijuana on tribal land.

The News Tribune reported that tribal leaders have amended a compact with the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board and Gov. Jay Inslee to allow production and sales of marijuana. Earlier this year, the tribe opened a marijuana testing laboratory as part of the original agreement.

Tribal chairman Bill Sterud says the marijuana growing operation would be aimed at improving quality of life for tribal members with cancer. The tribe might explore recreational sales in the future, but Sterud says currently the focus is on marijuana’s medical benefits.

Study from: 

Projectknow.com (http://www.projectknow.com/)

original study here :

http://www.projectknow.com/discover/high-school-drug-use/

American teenagers are more likely to smoke marijuana than binge drink, a new report reveals.

Meanwhile in Europe, marijuana consumption is minimal while drinking levels are far higher than in the United States.

The data, published in a recent report by addiction-awareness firm Project Know, will reignite the national debate on marijuana legalization as the election approaches.

Owners of medical marijuana* dispensaries cannot obtain federal trademark protection on marks used in connection with marijuana sales — even if their home state’s laws have legalized marijuana businesses — because marijuana is an illegal substance under federal law, and therefore encompasses a use that is unlawful, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has ruled.

In its July 14 decision in In re Morgan Brown, the TTAB upheld the decision of a trademark examiner at the U.S. Trademark Office who denied protection of a marijuana dispensary’s mark citing federal anti-drug laws.

The Internal Revenue Service is after cannabis companies in Colorado, sparking uncertainty and unease among cannabis businesses. The newest audits are focusing on Form 8300, which is the form used to report cash transactions of $10,000 or more. The IRS is investigating large cash transactions which have been processed by these businesses for evidence of money laundering and underreporting of business income. While some marijuana-related businesses in Colorado have already been able to settle their Form 8300 audits, other business owners are dealing with audits from the IRS regarding Section 280E.

Colorado and Washington were the first U.S. states to vote for recreational marijuana, but the Centennial State was the first out of the gate.

“Day 1, Colorado definitely was in a great spot because of your regulated medical market,” says Cy Scott, a founder of dispensary review and news site Leafly and founder of startup Headset. “You guys were able to flip a switch, essentially, and start the recreational sales, where Washington took a long time after I-502 passed. And I think it was a bit of a struggle in the beginning.”

Scott, who hails from Washington, joins The Cannabist Show to talk about the differences between the marijuana industries in Colorado and his home state.

“Washington’s catching up,” he says.