President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Senator Jeff Sessions to be the next Attorney General is widely believed to be more than just an irritant to the legal marijuana industry. Sessions has been outspoken in his opposition to legal weed. In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this year, Sessions said that “good people don’t smoke marijuana.”

But will Sessions be able to stuff the genie back into the bottle? Time magazine last week cited marijuana law expert Mike Vitiello of the University of the Pacific: “It’s kind of like illegal immigration: You can’t build a wall high enough.”

The Time article includes a list of seven reasons that turning the clock back will be difficult. These really boil down to a few categories: public opinion is moving toward legalization not away from; Trump more or less supports legalization; and money.

Revenues and profits for legal marijuana sales are forecast to explode over the next several years and the federal government — particularly the business-friendly Republican variety — is unlikely to shut down new opportunities for revenues and profits. Whether pot smokers are “good people” or not, the taxes they pay are more than welcome.

Marijuana to Be Legal Thursday in Massachusetts
Tokers of the Commonwealth, rejoice.

Secretary of State William F. Galvin warned last week that the measure legalizing marijuana might have to be delayed, but now says that won’t be necessary.

Galvin’s office said Friday he will submit official results of the voter-passed legalization measure to the Governor’s Council Wednesday for certification. Barring any unforeseen snafu — or dramatic intervention by the Legislature to undo the will of the voters — possessing, using, and growing marijuana at home will become legal on Thursday.

Advocates, who were rankled by Galvin floating the possibility of a delay, exulted.

“This closes the door on an era that was marked by hysteria, by injustices, and by ineffective public policy,” said Jim Borghesani, who helped lead the legalization effort. “This opens up an era that may take a bit of getting used to, but as in many other social transformations, people will look back and say: What were we so worried about?”

Read more at the Boston Globe.

Secondhand Marijuana Metabolite in Children’s Urine
Children exposed to secondhand marijuana smoke have measurable amounts of a metabolite of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana], according to results of an investigation published online December 2 in “Pediatric Research.”

With medical marijuana now legal in 28 states plus the District of Columbia, and recreational use decriminalized in 20 states plus the District of Columbia, childhood exposure could become a public health concern. The effect of secondhand marijuana smoke on children has not been studied, although it contains particulates, toxins, and carcinogens.

…

The study demonstrates exposure to secondhand THC among the children, but does not examine health consequences. However, the well-known dangers of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke (cognitive effects and respiratory illness) suggest that increased exposure to marijuana smoke could pose problems. “In the interim, parents should be cautioned not to smoke marijuana in the presence of their children,” the researchers conclude.

Read more at medscape.com.

Industrial Real Estate Market Gets Boost with Marijuana Legalization
As marijuana legalization spreads across the country, the financial impact has extended throughout some areas of the economy. One sector seeing a big benefit is industrial warehouses.

Because large facilities are needed to grow and store marijuana — and because local laws often limit where such businesses can be located — industrial warehouse owners have seen rental rates spike in areas where medical and recreational marijuana is legal.

The burgeoning marijuana real estate market already has sent ripples through public policy in California, where voters approved legalization of recreational marijuana just last month. In early December, the Lynwood City Council voted to license up to five cannabis companies to operate in the town’s large cluster of warehouses. Lynwood is in southeast Los Angeles County.

Read more at Entrepreneur.

Startup Launches Automated System It Claims Makes It Easy to Grow Marijuana at Home
With last month’s election, the U.S. reached a tipping point in the long fight to decriminalize cannabis. More than half of states have now declared pot legal, either for medical or recreational use. Seven states plus the District of Columbia have now legalized recreational pot, and 21 others allow it to be taken as medicine.

It’s perfect timing for the appearance of a high-tech game-changer for regular marijuana users: LEAF, a smart, self-contained, single-purpose grow-chamber that enables anyone to grow cannabis (or food and herbs) in their own home.

The sleek machine the size of a smallish fridge launches today with an asking price of close to $3,000 (pre-orders being accepted with a $300 deposit). The price tag fits the sophisticated nature of this “plug-n-plant” system: LEAF has smart-phone-operated humidity and temperature controls, automatic nutrient dosing, and a smell-dampening carbon filter. It also offers a drying mode to turn fresh leaves into something … a little more useful.

Read more at Forbes.

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