Forget stars’ homes. These tours visit pot growers and bong makers
In Napa and Sonoma, tour bus operators ferry oenophiles between tasting rooms and vineyards. In Hollywood and environs, they shepherd the starstruck past the homes of the rich and famous.
Now they’re giving customers a mind-expanding look at one of Los Angeles’ burgeoning industries: pot.
Since recreational use of marijuana became legal a year ago, a pot tourism business has emerged, taking visitors behind the scenes of California’s estimated $7-billion cannabis industry.
Plans for a state-backed pot bank aren’t feasible, a study says
Hopes that California might create a public bank to serve the state’s legal marijuana industry are nothing but a pipe dream, the authors of a new feasibility study told state officials Thursday.
“In the end we were not able to find any approach to doing this that makes any sense whatsoever,” said William Roetzheim, founder and chief executive of Level 4 Ventures, the consulting firm hired to carry out the study for the State Treasurer’s Cannabis Banking Working Group.
California voters approved Proposition 64 in 2016 to legalize growing, possessing and selling marijuana for recreational use. But since cannabis remains illegal under federal law, most banks— which are federally chartered and insured by the FDIC — refuse to hold weed money.
Santa Cruz marijuana company fined $50,000 for explosion that badly burned employee
A Santa Cruz-based marijuana manufacturing company is being fined more than $50,000 by state regulators for safety violations after an employee was severely burned in a propane explosion, officials have announced.
An employee at Future2 Labs Health Services was working alone inside a 128-square-foot portable storage container in Watsonville on June 19, extracting oil from cannabis leaves with propane, when a spark ignited the tank and it exploded. The worker was hospitalized with severe burns, according to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
“The process of using a highly flammable gas to extract oil from cannabis leaves is dangerous,” Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum said Thursday in a prepared statement.
FDA casts shadow on hemp win, calling CBD products illegal
The hemp industry still has work ahead to win legal status for hemp-derived cannabidiol, or CBD oil, as an ingredient in food or dietary supplements despite the big farm bill President Trump signed this week designating hemp as an agricultural crop.
CBD oils have become increasingly popular in lotions, tinctures and foods, but their legal status has been murky and the Food and Drug Administration has sent warning letters to some companies making health claims for CBD.
In a statement following Thursday’s bill signing in Washington, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb restated his agency’s stance that CBD is a drug ingredient and therefore illegal to add to food or health products without approval from his agency.
One year of legal pot sales and California doesn’t have the bustling industry it expected. Here’s why
When Californians voted in 2016 to allow the sale of recreational marijuana, advocates of the move envisioned thousands of pot shops and cannabis farms obtaining state licenses, making the drug easily available to all adults within a short drive.
But as the first year of licensed sales comes to a close, California’s legal market hasn’t performed as state officials and the cannabis industry had hoped. Retailers and growers say they’ve been stunted by complex regulations, high taxes and decisions by most cities to ban cannabis shops. At the same time, many residents are going to city halls and courts to fight pot businesses they see as nuisances, and police chiefs are raising concerns about crime triggered by the marijuana trade.
Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, who played a large role in the legalization of cannabis, will inherit the numerous challenges when he takes office in January as legislators hope to send him a raft of bills next year to provide banking for the pot industry, ease the tax burden on retailers and crack down on sales to minors.
Hemp is about to be legal under the 2018 farm bill. You can’t get high from it — but you can wear it
Hemp — a close relative of marijuana that can be used to make textiles and other products — has long been classified as a Schedule I drug by the federal government. That’s set to change.
President Trump is soon expected to sign a farm bill that includes a section that legalizes the commercial cultivation of hemp nationwide.
The bill, years in the making, comes as public support for cannabis legalization has increased over the years, offering a cover of sorts to politicians who see the potential for boosting state tax revenue.
Students sent home after Marysville middle schooler brings pot brownies for class to eat
Several students at a middle school in Marysville, Calif., were sent home this week after eating marijuana-laced brownies, officials said.
Staff at Anna McKenney Intermediate School called police Wednesday morning after learning that a 13-year-old girl had passed out the brownies to her classmates, said Marysville Police Sgt. Jason Garringer.
Nine students were sent home, Garringer said, but no one who ate the brownies showed obvious signs of being under the influence.
Mistletoke, luxe vape cases and other gift suggestions for the cannabis enthusiast on your nice list
Now that some form of cannabis use is legal in 33 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and California’s era of legal adult-use weed is almost a year old (though it remains illegal under federal law), it’s easier than ever to find a little something special for the cannabis consumer on your nice list. Below are a few items that — with the exception of the first item which is available in L.A. only — are legal, widely available and, if ordered soon, can still be under the tree in the U.S. by Christmas Day.
For those who want to do good while feeling good — and score a little holiday decor at the same time — L.A.-based Zoma Cannabis is prepared to send some lucky L.A. residents a limited-edition floral-meets-cannabis Mistletoke arrangement that intertwines sprigs of mistletoe with three trimmed buds (roughly five grams total) of its Santa Cruz-grown True OG and/or Gelato strain cannabis flower all tied up in a big red Santa-worthy bow. No purchase is necessary, but recipients are highly encouraged to make a donation to the charity reforestation group One Tree Planted to aid in the recovery efforts from the 2017 and 2018 California fires. Zoma will match donations dollar for dollar. Each dollar donated means one tree gets planted, and that means the green you donate for its green means a greener Golden State moving forward.
Zoma is set to deliver the decor right to your door if you live in L.A., are over the age of 21 and are one of the first 50 folks to fire off an email to info@zomacannabis.com with the word “Mistletoke” in the subject line. Supplies willing, orders placed as late as Dec. 20 will arrive in time to make your Christmas very merry indeed.
An Idyllwild ‘bud and breakfast’ and a San Francisco grande dame are the only California hotels to make Fodor’s list of world’s 100 best
Two hotels that couldn’t be more different — a self-described “bud and breakfast” in Idyllwild and a Gilded Age grande dame in San Francisco — made 2019’s “Fodor’s Finest: The 100 Most Incredible Hotels in the World.”
The recently released list is divided by regions of the world. Hicksville Pines, a motel in the mountain town of Idyllwild, about 37 miles east of Hemet, was one of 15 in the U.S. that was selected for its “immaculate and wildly creative” digs.
You can choose your favorite themed room among 10 A-frame cabins, such as one that honors the old “Twin Peaks” TV show (the Great Northern room, $250 to $300) or the Dolly Parton room ($125 to $175). There’s also a 420 Room for marijuana users 21 and older. Info: Hicksville Pines, 23481 California 243, Idyllwild
3 marijuana businesses win OK in Costa Mesa as another is put on hold
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission this week approved three new marijuana facilities but postponed a decision on a fourth due to the absence of one commissioner, whose vote likely will decide the fate of the business.
After two commissioners expressed support and two expressed opposition for Triiad’s proposal for a marijuana distribution facility, the panel voted 3-1 on Monday night, with Commissioner Jeffrey Harlan absent, to hold a special meeting Monday to reexamine the matter. Commissioner Carla Navarro Woods dissented.
The proposed location at 3525 Hyland Ave., Suite 265, is in Hyland Plaza, north of South Coast Collection in an area identified under city law as permissible for marijuana uses.
Marlboro cigarette maker places a $2.4-billion bet on marijuana
Altria Group Inc., one of the world’s biggest tobacco companies, is diving into the cannabis market with a $2.4 billion buy-in.
The Marlboro cigarette maker is taking a 45% stake in Cronos Group Inc., the Canadian medical and recreational marijuana provider said Friday.
Altria will pay an additional $1.4 billion for warrants that, if exercised, would give Altria a 55% ownership stake in the Toronto company.