Compared to ginning up a new arms race, President-elect Donald Trump’s position on state laws legalizing marijuana barely seems relevant. Trump himself has, as usual, been difficult to pin down on the issue of state legalization laws.

However his nominee for Attorney General, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, has taken a firm and consistent stand against legalization. If confirmed by the Senate (a cinch, really), Sessions is widely thought to be likely to dump the Obama administration’s “look the other way” policy on state laws on marijuana. What would that mean?

One thing it could mean is a veritable flood of lawsuits that would cost the Justice Department (and taxpayers) millions of dollars. It’s a distraction and though a few million to defend against lawsuits is small change in the federal budget, the optics are poor.

For Trump, it’s a political calculation: how does he receive more favorable press coverage? Essentially he can’t lose. If Sessions leaves enforcement as it has been for the past several years, Trump can take credit. If he allows Sessions to return to the good/bad old days, and it results in massive bad press, Trump can step in and say it was all a misunderstanding and there won’t be any change.

Sessions would be forced to take the same line as Newt Gingrich did last week regarding his comment that draining the swamp was no longer a priority. Trump set Gingrich straight and Gingrich had to eat his words the next day. Or Sessions could resign, but that’s highly unlikely. He has other fish to fry and no better stove than the Justice Department to fry them on.

Licensing Medical Marijuana Stirs Up Trouble for States
The seven lucky balls that popped out of the Arizona Department of Health Services lottery machine in October produced big winners — not in the state’s Powerball game, but in the competition to make money in the medical marijuana industry.

The prize winners were granted licenses to open a medical marijuana dispensary in a state where patients with prescriptions to treat conditions such as glaucoma and cancer spent $215 million last year on marijuana products. Arizona’s public health officials awarded most licenses based on rules designed to place new dispensaries within range of the greatest number of medical-marijuana patients. But when it wasn’t clear which applicant was in the most patient-dense area, they used a lottery to randomly select the winners, hoping to sidestep conflict.

States have struggled with how to give out potentially lucrative medical marijuana licenses — trying to balance public health concerns against an entrepreneurial spirit and avoid a bevy of lawsuits. Many want to ensure the businesses are well run and are supplying quality products. But even in states like Arizona where dispensaries are required to be nonprofits, competition for licenses can lead to a gold rush mentality and lawsuits as entrepreneurs eye a medical marijuana industry with $4.2 billion in sales in 2014.

Read more at National Public Radio.

The New Luxury Marijuana Marketplace Targets Big Spenders
There is a high-end luxury marijuana market that caters to people willing to spend almost $3,000 for a joint and hundreds for luxury subscription boxes.

While many people may think of recreational marijuana smokers as grungy stoners, a new study from Miner and Co. Studio has uncovered an upscale cannabis consumer. These are not lazy, couch melters with low paying jobs. It turns out that 84% of these cannabis consumers are employed full-time and 65% have a household income of $75,000 or more.

This is no secret to companies already targeting the luxury marijuana market. There are two different monthly premium subscription boxes catering to the big spenders. The Au Box is a carefully curated box of either CBD products and/or THC products depending on the state you live in. It was created by Jessica VerSteeg, a former Miss Iowa and Amazing Race competitor. This product is only available in San Francisco.

Read more at Forbes.

The Growing Movement for Marijuana Amnesty
With an estimated $7 billion in sales in 2016 and potentially exponential growth due to recent ballot initiatives on recreational use, the legal marijuana industry has a lot of businesses seeing green. But as is so often the case in this country, there’s a darker side to this story and it splinters on the lines of race. For decades, the war on drugs has disproportionately targeted black and brown users for arrest and incarceration, and legalization efforts have until recently not addressed what happens to people who have been put in prison for possessing a substance that voters have since opted to make legal.

The American Civil Liberties Union found in a 2013 report that, between 2001 and 2010, 88 percent of marijuana arrests were for possession, as opposed to intent to distribute. These arrests accounted for 46 percent of all drug arrests in the United States at that time. And though studies suggest that African-Americans and whites use marijuana at similar rates, African-Americans were nearly four times more likely to be arrested for a marijuana crime.

There is also the question of how former convicts with marijuana-related felonies on their record will be treated. Colorado, which legalized marijuana for recreational usage in the 2012 elections, doesn’t allow anyone with a felony marijuana conviction in the last decade to apply for a retail marijuana business license—this in a state where African-Americans are more than three times more likely and Latinos 1.5 times more likely to be arrested on marijuana charges than whites. So even though arrests are down 81 percent since 2012, there’s a whole host of black and brown people in the state who will be excluded from participation in the legalized industry for almost another decade.

Read more at The New Republic.

Marijuana Dispensaries See Increased Sales During the Holidays, Just Like Other Retailers
Many consumers go into a buying frenzy around the holidays, and traditional retailers aren’t the only businesses that notice an uptick in sales during this time of year.  This is simply proof of why cannabis is better off in a regulated system since more people actually seek cannabis products out as gifts for people who they know it would be just right for.

Randa Shahin, owner/operator of Homegrown Apothecary in Portland, OR, said, “Business grows around the holidays…primarily with edibles and vape products because people need a discreet way to put up with their families. There is also an increase because of gift giving ideas.”

Matt Walstatter, owner of Pure Green PDX mentioned, “We typically see things slow down a bit in early November, pick up a little around Thanksgiving, then slow down in early December before picking up again closer to Christmas. Come January, sales typically fall off for a month or two. This year has followed that pattern so far.”

Read more at The Weed Blog.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.