MJ News for 04/17/2014

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-medical-marijuana-rules-met-20140417,0,2316858.story

(Illinois) Medical marijuana entrepreneurs decry fees​

Vegetables, flowers and herbs grow in rows of green at Robert Boyce's greenhouses in Lake Zurich — but what he'd really like to grow is marijuana.

Boyce, a horticulturist and landscape design architect, has run Natural Environments Greenhouses and Nursery and a florist shop for many years. He's done work for the Chicago Botanic Garden and several Chicago-area public parks.

Yet none of that is enough to qualify for a license to grow pot under the new state law allowing medical marijuana, for which having a green thumb may not be as important as having lot of green to put up.

Under the proposed rules for the new law, Boyce and other would-be pot cultivators need a $2 million surety bond, $250,000 in liquid assets, $25,000 for an application fee, $200,000 for a permit fee and an approved site. The greenhouses he runs wouldn't qualify because they're next to a day camp for kids — one of many siting restrictions that also prohibit growing pot near schools and residential areas.

"We have the know-how. We have the manpower, the familiarity with growing herbal and medicinal plants, knowledge of building greenhouses," Boyce said. "But right now, you're looking at $3 (million) to $5 million in startup costs."

State regulators say actual initial costs could vary widely. But they said they want to ensure that those who seek to run marijuana cultivation centers or dispensaries have the sufficient money to operate, especially early on when they have to make significant investments before generating any revenue.

State agencies proposed rules for growing, selling and using medical marijuana in February and received hundreds of public comments in response. Based on the feedback, the state plans to issue revised rules Friday.

Most of the public comments complain that the rules governing medical marijuana are too restrictive, for those who want to grow, sell or consume it alike. The most common criticisms were that the $150 patient registration fee is too high, and that the requirement to fingerprint patients and investors is excessive.

Some industry operators supported the business fees, saying they would separate the real business people from the dreamers who don't have the money or know-how to start a complicated and expensive business.

The proposed rules — involving four state agencies and covering 226 pages — and the critical responses also underscore the wide range of issues that have to be addressed as the state rolls out medical pot. Though the law legalizing medical marijuana took effect this year, with the potential of more public hearings and changes to the rules, it could be 2015 before any medical pot is available to patients.

The law allows people with any of about three dozen specified medical conditions — including HIV, muscular dystrophy and complex regional pain syndrome — to get certified by a doctor to receive up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. Caregivers may also get certified to buy and deliver pot to each patient.

While Colorado, where pot is legal for medical and recreational use, has hundreds of growers and stores, the new Illinois law allows only 22 cultivation centers and 60 retail stores statewide.

That means the Illinois grow houses will be challenged not only to meet strict requirements, such as being monitored round-the-clock by remote video surveillance, but also to crank out a lot of product, while making it consistent and free from pesticides, mold and other contaminants, said Erik Williams, a consultant for Gaia Plant-Based Medicine, based in Colorado.

His company opposed fingerprint requirements for minority investors and patients who need relief.

"To have almost a presumption they're criminals I don't think is the right way to go," he said.

Potential patients and business operators have also asked the state to remove a proposal to limit patients to one dispensary, instead arguing that they should be able to choose whatever dispensary they find offers products that best fit their needs.

The proposed rules generated interest from a wide array of potential entrepreneurs and patients. A downstate farmer, an international exchange student, doctors, pharmacists, consultants and a mortgage banker, among others, all offered input.

The Illinois Hospital Association objected to the requirement that doctors must review 12 months of medical records for each patient before clearing the patient for medical marijuana use. The association recommended that be left up to the discretion of physicians.

Others wanted regulations that would be more restrictive, not less.

The Illinois Sheriffs' Association asked that state agencies be required to notify law enforcement of any fraudulent applications or violations of the law.

Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems suggested prohibiting marijuana resin from the law, warning that its concentrated form was dangerous.

And city of Chicago officials asked to change the rules so they have more discretion over where dispensaries can locate.

"The City would then be in the best position to determine, consistent with statutory and reasonable zoning restrictions, where the dispensing organization should be located," officials said, according to a letter from the city to the state.

One commenter, attorney Michael Jaskula, said he had no personal stake in the industry but suggested authorizing lots of small growers rather than a few big ones to promote small business.

"Regulators have an opportunity here to create hundreds, if not thousands, of well paying jobs for small growers rather than creating yet another giant corporate industry employing minimum wage earners," he wrote.

With an Illinois legislative committee expected to take a few months before finalizing the rules, state agencies might be in a position to start taking applications for patients and businesses this fall, Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said. Consultants said it will take about three months to grow the first batch of pot.

Permits to begin growing or dispensing medical pot will be awarded based on a point system that has yet to be specified, Arnold said. Generally, each grow center must meet requirements for suitability, staffing, knowledge of laws and rules, product safety and a business plan, with an emphasis on cultivation and security.

Dispensaries must also meet requirements for suitability, business plan, knowledge and experience, with the tie-breaking factors being security and record keeping.

As the restrictions and fees stand, businesses should expect to lose money in the first two years because of significant required investment, said consultant Silvia Orizaba. Though Orizaba previously worked in the fitness industry, last year she founded the Medical Marijuana Institute. Despite the hurdles, she said she knows of proposals for dispensaries throughout the suburbs, including in Evanston, Deerfield, Downers Grove, Naperville, Niles and Skokie.

After initial losses, she predicted, those in on the ground floor stand to make millions of dollars.

"People that put in the money are going to make a lot of money," she said. "We'll have to make it work with what they give us."

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/04/feds_allege_medical_marijuana.html

Feds allege medical marijuana law used as ruse, 37 indicted in West Michigan operation
​

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Thirty-seven people have been indicted as part of an alleged multi-county marijuana grow operation.

The government says the defendants used the state’s medical marijuana law as a cover for the alleged operation.

In October, 27 people were arrested as part of the alleged grow operation, but the government dropped charges to continue the investigation that now has resulted in charges against 10 additional suspects.

More than 160 police officers – from Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Grand Traverse and Oceana counties – were involved in the investigation.

Police said Shawn Taylor led the grow and distribution operation – called Medical Marijuana Team, or MMT - using Michigan’s medical marijuana law as a cover. Taylor allegedly planned to harvest $3 million of marijuana.

He and his wife, Molly, had a store, In Do Grow, in Muskegon, with equipment for indoor hydroponic growing and other supplies to grow marijuana, police said in court records.

Those indicted included husbands and wives and a father and son.

“The conspirators were not attempting to alleviate the suffering of ‘patients’ assigned to them; rather, they were attempting to profit from the sale of the marijuana they produced,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Courtade wrote in a 44-page indictment unsealed on Wednesday, April 16.

He said that members of MMT took pride in the high-grade marijuana they produced and sold for $180 to $220 an ounce. Many wore clothing with a distinctive logo featuring marijuana leaves, he said.

“MMT members provided direct sales of marijuana to customers and actively recruited people to become ‘patients’ and to name MMT members as ‘caregivers’ so that the MMT could grow more marijuana. MMT members sold marijuana to other distributors as well as social users in amounts ranging from ounces and partial ounces to tens of pounds,” Courtade wrote.

He said participants visited “a select number of ‘marijuana doctors’” who often certified a claimed and often bogus medical need without physical examination or an existing physician-patient relationship.”

He said MMT held “clinics” at hotels where people could become patients, then named MMT members as caregivers.

The government said it identified 22 grow operations in cities including Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Norton Shores, Grand Haven, Spring Lake and Wyoming. Authorities have filed papers to have the properties forfeited.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-shot-death-husband-ate-pot-edibles-report-article-1.1758667

Denver mom shot to death after husband allegedly consumed marijuana edibles, began hallucinating: report ​

A Denver woman was allegedly shot to death by her own husband while on the phone with police after she reportedly said he consumed marijuana edibles and began hallucinating.

Kristine A. Kirk clung to her phone with a 911 dispatcher for nearly 15 minutes before her final scream was accompanied by a piercing gunshot late Monday night, NBC reported.

When officers arrived at the 44-year-old's home they reported finding the mother of three dead at the scene after suffering a gunshot wound to the head.

Her husband, Richard Kirk, 47, was taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree murder.

Richard Kirk had allegedly been "talking about the end of the world and [saying] he wanted her to shoot him," moments before she was killed, 9News reported.

Kristine Kirk allegedly told dispatch that her husband had consumed marijuana and was hallucinating while scaring their young children whom police confirmed to the Daily News were at the scene.

As she remained on the line with police her husband reportedly fetched a gun from a gun safe.

Authorities are now investigating whether Richard Kirk had indeed consumed some kind of drug, such as marijuana, prior to Monday night's shooting. They are also reportedly reviewing the length of time it took to respond to her 911 call.

9News reported that Richard Kirk has one prior arrest in Douglas County for driving under the influence and careless driving.

While in the backseat of a patrol car he allegedly confessed to shooting his wife.

He made his first court appearance Wednesday and is being held without bond.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2014/04/marijuana

Baked brains​

LATER this month, Washington will hold an unusual lottery: it will select 334 lucky winners of licences to sell recreational marijuana in the Pacific-Northwestern state. If all goes to plan, some of those pot shops will be serving stoners (who in Washington can already possess small recreational quantities of the drug) by early summer. Colorado permitted existing medical-marijuana outlets to start selling recreational pot on January 1st, although brand new recreational retailers will not open until October; so far the state has issued some 194 licences. And even though marijuana is still technically illegal nationwide under the Federal 1970 Controlled Substances Act, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recently said he is monitoring Washington’s and Colorado’s experiences, and “would be glad to work with Congress” to re-categorise marijuana as less dangerous on the Controlled Substances List.

Hans Breiter, a professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Chicago’s Northwestern University, worries that the rush to promote recreational use is reckless, and that not enough thought is being given to the balance between costs and benefits. In a study published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, Dr Breiter and a group of researchers from Northwestern, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that the size, shape and structure of parts of the brain are changed in teens and young adults who smoke weed as little as once a week. Earlier studies have focused only on tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the main psychoactive component of pot) affects the brains of animals or intensive, dependent human users—and found evidence of impaired learning, memory, attention and decision-making. But those studies did not consider the effects of casual use.

Those effects appear to be significant. Dr Breiter and his team used high-resolution MRI scans to examine the brains of 20 young people aged 18 to 25 years old who smoked pot recreationally—but who were not, according to psychiatric testing, addicted to it. Twenty pot-free controls in the same age range were also studied, and all participants were closely matched in terms of age, sex (nine males and 11 females in each group), race and years of education. Each pot user was asked to estimate how much, and how often, they used the drug over a three-month period. And everyone was rated for cigarette and alcohol use—pot smokers drunk more—and the study controlled for these.

Although THC takes its toll on several parts of the brain, animal studies of prolonged exposure to the compound have shown that two regions—the amygdala and nucleus accumbens—are especially likely to be affected. The amygdala helps regulate and process emotions (such as craving) and emotional memories. The nucleus accumbens helps assess what is bad or good (such as a drug-induced “high”) in a person’s environment, and makes decisions based on that. Physiological changes to these regions could therefore mean that an individual’s ability to make pleasure-related decisions—such as deciding to stop smoking pot—may be impaired.

The researchers’ MRI scans showed a number of such physiological changes. It found structural abnormalities in the density of grey-matter (which constitutes most of the brain’s neuronal cell bodies), in both the amygdala and nucleus accumbens, along with changes in their volume and shape. In addition, their analysis of marijuana users showed reduced grey-matter density in other regions of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex. Numerous previous studies have shown that dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex is associated with decision-making abnormalities in addiction. And other functional-MRI and magnetic-resonance-spectroscopy studies have confirmed that marijuana use may affect how this region functions.

All this matters because both scientists and policymakers continue to distinguish between “heavy, addictive use” and “recreational use” among the 19m Americans who, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Mental Health, report recent marijuana consumption. A similar distinction is made by other countries too. The new research suggests that this is at least a shaky line to draw, as even modest recreational pot-smoking seems to set the brain on a path to addiction—and perhaps to other types of cognitive impairment found in earlier studies. The same, of course, goes for alcohol and tobacco, but the risks there are widely advertised. Time, perhaps, for a similar marijuana-related educational campaign before more states go to pot.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/04/no_joke_ncaa_approves_unlimite.html

NCAA Council approves unlimited snacks - and reduces penalty for marijuana use​

This just in: The NCAA Legislative Council on Tuesday approved unlimited meals and snacks for student-athletes. In a related story, the Council also cut the penalty for marijuana use in half.

Happy National Student-Athlete Day!

OK, technically National Student-Athlete Day was April 6, but it's celebrated all month. Who says the NCAA doesn't have a sense of humor?

The all-you-can-eat legislation got most of the headlines, especially coming so soon after Shabazz Napier, the UConn guard and Final Four Most Outstanding Player, told the world that he and his teammates sometimes went to bed hungry.

People were quick to jump to the conclusion that when Shabazz speaks, the kinder, gentler NCAA listens, but this legislation was in the pipeline long before the Final Four.

If, as required and expected, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors gives the final approval April 24, student-athletes on scholarship and walk-ons alike will never go hungry again. Because sometimes three meals a day or a food stipend, which a scholarship has covered, just isn't enough.

Sometimes, or so some ad wizard for Taco Bell wants you to think, you need a FourthMeal. So the kinder, gentler Legislative Council said, "Let them eat cake. It's on us."

Makes sense. Fill their stomachs to distract them from the emptiness of their wallets.

But the NCAA Legislative Council didn't stop there as it approved a number of what it called "student-athlete well-being rules." One of them is an attempt to shift the focus on the use of street drugs from punishment to rehabilitation, which should earn plenty of applause.

At the moment, if the NCAA drug-tests you at a bowl game or NCAA Championship and you test positive for any of its banned substances, you're suspended from your sport for a full season. That's especially harsh when you consider that some schools don't suspended their athletes for a single game for a first positive test for, say, marijuana.

Under the proposal the Council approved and the Board of Directors must ratify, a positive NCAA-administered test for a street drug such as marijuana will get you suspended from your sport for only half a season. The full-season penalty will remain if you test positive for performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids.

"Street drugs are not performance-enhancing in nature, and this change will encourage schools to provide student-athletes the necessary rehabilitation," an NCAA news release said.

Half a season is still terribly punitive, but it's a positive move, especially considering the NCAA last year lowered the threshold for a positive test for marijuana. Could this be the first baby step toward the NCAA eventually taking marijuana off its banned-substance list as more states legalize its recreational use?

Maybe, but don't expect that kind of radical change anytime soon. Look how long it took the NCAA to give its athletes all the Snickers they can eat.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2014/04/17/get-ready-for-the-inaugural-cannabis-awards-tonight/

Get Ready for the Inaugural Cannabis Awards Tonight​

Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells will take home a Vanguard award tonight—surely a worthy consolation prize for a man who just lost the mayoral race and is out a D.C Council seat.

The award will be presented at the inaugural DMV Cannabis Awards Event, which celebrates people who have worked to reform marijuana laws in the region. The actual award is a plaque, and there is no cash prize.

The event is intended to bring together leaders in the marijuana reform movement from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia and it was organized by the DC Cannabis Campaign, Virginia NORML, and Maryland NORML—groups that lobby to reform marijuana laws. Together, the groups formed the new DMV Cannabis Coalition.

"We wanted to do 4/20 event, but we didn't want to do it on Easter, so we're doing it on 4/17," says Adam Eidinger, the chair of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign, the group pushing to legalize marijuana in D.C. through a November ballot initiative.

Eidinger says honoring Wells was an obvious choice. Wells has long been a proponent for marijuana reform and pushed the recent—albeit ultimately diluted—marijuana decriminalization bill through the council.

"If it were up to me, we could probably name the award for him at some point in the future," says Eidinger, adding that the audience will probably start a "Run, Tommy, Run" chant at some point tonight. Wells recently announced that he is mulling an at-large council run. (Eidinger recently told Washington City Paper that while he is a big Wells supporter, he ultimately ended up voting for Muriel Bowser in the mayoral primary.)

For Virginia, the Vanguard is going to Del. Patrick Hope, an Arlington Democrat serving in the state house who wants to get a decriminalization bill through the Virginia state legislature. The Maryland award will be presented to Candace Junkin, the ‎co-founder at International Women's Cannabis Coalition. She was an instrumental lobbyist, according to Eidinger, in helping to push through Maryland's recent decriminalization bill.

Doug Fine, a journalist and the author of Too High to Fail: Cannabis and the New Green Economic Revolution, is the keynote speaker and has a "lively Powerpoint" presentation.

The awards start at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Busboys and Poets on K and 5th streets NW. Tickets are $20 and money goes to the DMV Cannabis Coalition. All are welcome, but don't wear a suit, Eidinger says.

"That's not just not our scene, that's not who we are yet," he says.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Cape-Town-Global-Cannabis-March-2014-20140417

(South Africa) Cape Town Global Cannabis March 2014​

The issue of cannabis law reform, particularly with regard to the medical uses thereof, has been making big headlines in the South African media in recent weeks. A number of local radio stations including Voice of Wits, Talk Radio 702, Radio Sonder Grense (RSG), Jacaranda FM and Lotus FM have all given air time to the subject. Cannabis has not escaped the attention of television either with M-NET’s flagship investigative journalism program Carte Blanche having showcased a segment on the medical uses of the plant in their March 16 feature. This was followed by SABC3’s Special Assignment airing an investigation titled “Dagga: Clearing the Smoke” last Sunday.

Despite the Dagga Party not having made the cut to appear on the ballot for the 2014 General Elections owing to an inability to secure the R200 000 registration fee the political leaders of parties as diverse as the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Democratic Alliance continue to be dogged by questions from prospective supporters asking for them to clarify their position on cannabis.

As part of a continued and concerted effort to ramp up support for this cause and increase pressure on our political leaders a group of people are busy organising this year's incarnation of the Cape Town Global Cannabis March.

Imiël Visser, the community outreach director for NORML ZA (the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in South Africa), has dedicated much of his time over the last few years to advancing cannabis reform and is also the leading organiser of this year's march. We caught up with him to ask some questions about the forthcoming cannabis march in the Cape Town city bowl on Saturday 3 May 2014 and the South African cannabis legalisation movement in general.


1) Given IFP MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini's recent introduction of a private member's bill to South Africa's parliament, which seeks to legalise cannabis for medical and industrial uses, what do you foresee is likely to be in store in the coming months and years for the cannabis legalisation movement in our country?

Imiel Visser: The Medical Innovation Bill is based on Lord Saatchi’s in the UK after his wife’s passing due to cancer and does not necessarily seek an originally localised approach. Furthermore the bill seeks to legalise cannabinoids and not the actual cannabis plant itself. The bill is more geared towards giving doctors limited liability when dealing explicitly with cannabinoids and cancer patients in designated pilot research hospitals. More of a doctor’s career insurance, than actual therapeutic value towards medical patients. SANCWG has submitted their public response to the bill and can be found at www . cannabis.reforms.co.za

South Africa’s uptake on some internationally relating policy matters is slow, like our internet. But we are busy catching up with the rest of the world and the truth can not be hidden much longer. This year has already seen serious public debate and trustfully some corrective legislative action will come to play as well. The time has never been greater for public participation to ensue.


2) You prefer not to call the plant by its widely used South African name “dagga”, is that because you find the name to be pejorative in some way? What name would you suggest South Africans use instead and why?

IV: South Africans also call it umya, matekwane, instangu, mbanje & ntunzi we nkuku.

Cannabis though, is the taxonomically correct term to use when dealing with an evidence based approach. Any other uneducated approaches towards this debate will be centered around belief, politics and government propaganda. Historically, when it comes to derogatory terms, we have swept them under the carpet. There is very very little science backing up dagga, yet globally, the cannabis science debate rages on with current research expanding everyday. Behind dagga’s curtains, you will find propaganda and misleadings away from the truth.

There are many people that never heard of the terminology ‘cannabis’. For them it’s just a substance that is banned and has no scientific data attached behind it. The flood gates of relevant information sits behind the correct definition of the cannabis plant. Anything else is a distraction from the truth.


3) Can you give us a brief history of the Cape Town Global Cannabis March (from a South African perspective) and explain why it is an important event on the cannabis calendar?

Since 1999 marchers have been uniting globally in over 800 cities to date to express solidarity and support for the cannabis plant to be legalised. This public participation event is a reflection on the collective efforts of those that seek to review and reform cannabis. It’s all a volunteer effort and we work with what we got. Once a year, we get to come together en masse and grow our collective presence to show Cape Town that we are here, cheering and supporting a peaceful cause with smiles all round.


4) What are some of the surprises in store for those people who are considering attending the march?

It wouldn’t be a surprise if I gave it all away now? You will have to attend and find out yourself..


5) Will people be smoking cannabis at the event given that it is still illegal? Has anyone ever been arrested by the police on any of the previous marches?

No one has been arrested at previous cannabis marches in Cape Town, however this is not a smoking protest, we do not advocate cannabis consumption at the march. This is more than just smoking. It’s about the plant in its entirety. We do however like to show media and general public that we are normal responsible citizens and making smoking at the event your main focus takes away from that. The police will be there again and I cannot guarantee arrest free attendance based on other people’s actions.


6) The Cape Town leg of the Global Cannabis March has yielded good results in terms of growth over the past couple of years, is this evidence of its growing popularity and how many people are expected at the 2014 event?

Year on year, the collective spirit, emotions and efforts has been compounding and gaining momentum with this year’s event being no different. We can’t expect those that are in charge to change the laws without any external public influence, and the public is realising this. We have done a considerable bit more marketing this year and look to attract up to 5,000 supporters. The public discourse is reflecting in the recent uptake of the media’s interest in this topic.


7) The City of Cape Town has to give the ‘green light’ for the march to take place, what route through the city bowl has been designated for this year’s event?

We met with City Council and negotiated a longer walk for this year. The march starts where all protests starts, at the Corner of Keizergracht / Chapel. Volunteers and Marshals will be assembling from 8AM, the public will be gathering at 10AM. After consultation with the authorities we will make our way down Darling St. left into Adderley St, passing The Company Gardens entrance at the Chapel, up Wale St. and left into Long St. We will make our way past The Labia Theatre and will turn left into Government Avenue, making our way through the scenic and green Company Gardens. We make it back on Adderley St, continuing onto Darling and then Keizersgracht st. where the march will disperse for after-march proceedings.


8) A number of would-be attendees have expressed dismay that the cannabis march clashes with the wildly popular AfrikaBurn, why have you chosen to hold the event at the same time?

This is a yearly global event held on the 1st weekend of May and we can’t move dates. Just more reason to attend if you are not going to AfricaBurn.


9) Why do you personally feel that it is of such importance to promote the use of cannabis in this country?

I’ve never really been a big proponent of promoting cannabis use. Responsible cannabis use would be the correct way to put it. We are advocating for the adult use of cannabis, which includes a regulated and controlled market, akin to tobacco and alcohol. The cannabis apartheid has come to an end, we need to endeavour that this self determination will not pass South Africa, we need to continue to push to claim cannabis liberty.


10) Where can curious and interested people find out more details about the march?

Interested parties can visit www . cannabis . reforms.co.za and on Facebook, search for event: “Cape Town, Global Cannabis March”

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/finance_etc/2014/04/learn-about-marijuana-investing-at-cannabis.html

(CO) Learn about marijuana investing at Cannabis Capital Summit​

Got a marijuana product pitch, or want to invest in a pot-related business?

The Rockies Venture Club is hosting its first-ever Cannabis Capital Summit in Denver on May 29, bringing together cannabis industry leaders, venture capitalists, angel investors, banking and legal experts, and entrepreneurs to address potential risks, opportunities and the future of this controversial and exciting new industry.

“Investing in cannabis has an entirely different set of risks than we’re used to seeing,” said Peter Adams, RVC’s executive director. “Serious investors are beginning to express intense interest in the industry. But there’s a lot of confusion and questions from both investors and entrepreneurs. Our goal is to help change that.”

The conference will include four panel discussions, pitches from investable marijuana-related companies and an expo featuring the latest products and services in the market.

A follow-up forum for accredited investors to invest in cannabis business deals will be held the next day.

Cannabis Capital Summit will focus on four issues:

Investing in Cannabis: What should investors look for in cannabis businesses to get good returns while minimizing risks? How can cannabis companies best position themselves for investment and where can they find qualified, interested investors?

Banking and cannabis business: What are the implications of banking regulations on the cannabis business? What do recent federal guidelines aimed at making it easier for state-legalized marijuana businesses to have access to financial institutions mean for cannabis retailers?

Pandora’s box (future of legalization): First medical marijuana, then Colorado and Washington legalize recreational use. Will other states follow suit? What are the opportunities for cannabis businesses to take advantage of this sea change? And what are the pitfalls?

Picks and shovels: In the 19th century gold rush, the people who made the most money were the ones who supplied picks and shovels to the miners. What are the non-grow/non-retail opportunities for businesses in the cannabis industry? Discussion will include experts in packaging, consumables, legal and accounting services, marketing, real estate, banking, technology and other opportunities to serve this rapidly growing market.

The summit will be at Mile High Station, 2027 Old West Colfax Ave. in Denver. The cost is $229 for the public, $199 for basic members of the Rockies Venture Club and $159 for full members.

> Click here to learn more or to register online.

Companies interested in making pitches or participating in the expo can contact Rockies Venture Club at info @ rockiesventureclub.org.