Source: @norml @WeedConnection
Posted By: norml@weedconnection.com
media :: news - Tue, 19 Aug 2014 04:20:21 PST
Feds: Over 100 Financial Institutions Working With Marijuana-Related Businesses
Washington, DC: Over 100 US financial institutions are working directly with marijuana-related businesses in states that allow for cannabis commerce, according to public remarks made Tuesday by a US Department of Treasury representative.
Speaking this week at the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Anti-Money Laundering Conference in Washington, DC, Financial Crimes Enforcement Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery acknowledged that US financial institutions have filed over 1,000 reports with the Treasury Department in regard to servicing businesses engaged in the sale of marijuana-related goods and services. At present, "[T]here are currently 105 individual financial institutions from states in more than one third of the country engaged in banking relationships with marijuana related businesses," she stated.
In February, the Treasury Department and the Justice Department issued a pair of memos providing limited guidance to financial institutions that wish to engage in transactions with state-authorized marijuana businesses. In July, members of the US House of Representatives voted in favor of legislation restricting the Treasury Department's ability to take punitive actions against financial institutions that provide assistance to state-sanctioned, marijuana-businesses. To date, however, members of the US Senate have yet to take any action on the measure.
Washington: Retail Marijuana Sales Total Nearly $4 Million In First Month
Seattle, WA: Washington state-licensed marijuana retailers sold an estimated $3.8 million in cannabis products in July, the first month during which such sales were allowed under state law. The sales are estimated to have generated about $1 million in tax revenue.
To date, the state's Liquor Control Board has issued marijuana retail licenses to some 40 facilities. However, only 16 of these stores reported sales in the month of July, according to the Associated Press. Under state regulations, the Board may issue a total of 334 licenses to retail facilities statewide.
Similar state-licensed stores have been operating in Colorado since January 1. For the month of June, Colorado retailers sold a record $24.7 million worth of cannabis goods.
Voters in both states in 2012 approved ballot measures regulating the commercial production, retail sale, and adult use of cannabis.
Voters in Alaska and Oregon will vote on similar measures this November.
Colorado: Teen Marijuana Use, Traffic Fatalities Fall Post-LegalizationColorado: Teen Marijuana Use, Traffic Fatalities Fall Post-Legalization
Denver, CO: The percentage of high-school students consuming marijuana has fallen in the years since Colorado legalized the personal use of cannabis to adults.
State survey data released last week by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment found that fewer high-school students self-reported using cannabis in 2013 as compared to 2011. Colorado voters approved language in November 2011 permitting adults to legally grow and consume limited quantities of cannabis. The law change went into effect in 2012 although retail sales of cannabis to adults did not begin until January 1, 2014.
According to the survey, the percentage of high schoolers who reported consuming marijuana within the past 30 days fell from 22 percent in 2011 to 20 percent in 2013. High school students' lifetime use of cannabis declined from 39 percent to 37 percent during the same two years.
Overall, Colorado teens' use of marijuana has fallen steadily since the mid-1990s.
In addition, separate data assessing the prevalence of statewide traffic fatalities during the first seven-months of 2014 compared to the first seven-months of 2013 also indicates that roadway fatalities have fallen following the allowance of retail cannabis sales. According to The Washington Post: "[R]oadway fatalities this year [in Colorado] are down from last year, and down from the 13-year average. Of the seven months so far this year, five months saw a lower fatality figure this year than last, two months saw a slightly higher figure this year, and in one month the two figures were equal."
Commenting on the data, NORML Communications Director Erik Altieri said: "Colorado's cannabis regulations strike a proper balance between increased civil liberties and public safety. These common sense regulations, coupled with the encouragement of social responsibility, are certainly preferably to cannabis prohibition and criminalization."
District of Columbia: Medical Marijuana Program Expanded
Washington, DC: Members of the DC City Council and Mayor Vincent Gray have approved legislation amending the District's medical marijuana program to expand physicians' authority to recommend cannabis therapy. The Mayor signed the measure, "The Medical Marijuana Expansion Emergency Amendment Act of 2014," into law on July 29.
Under the city's existing regulations, enacted in 2010, physicians may only recommend cannabis therapy to patients diagnosed with one of a limited number of qualifying conditions, such as cancer and HIV/AIDS. As amended, DC-licensed doctors will be able to recommend cannabis therapy for any debilitating condition for which he or she believes the plant may offer therapeutic benefits.
About 700 DC residents are presently registered to participate in the program, which allows for registered patients to obtain cannabis from District-licensed dispensaries.
The new measure also expands the number of marijuana plants a licensed cultivator may grow from 95 plants to 500 plants. The measure will become effective following a 30-day Congressional review period. However, as enacted the changes to DC's medical marijuana program are only temporary and will need to be renewed by the Council later this fall.
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