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Medical Cannabis and Education

If you want to learn about fixing motors, you can take a course at the local technical college, or get your friend who owns a garage to teach you.  If you want to become a ‘mixologist’ (bartender), you can take a class in a variety of places.  You’ll be able to walk or drive to [...]

Robbery Awareness

Mention the word ‘security!’, and most people envision large uniformed men with big guns.  If it’s reached the point for men and guns, it’s too late.  Security begins with preparation, and the medical cannabis business is subject to the un-welcomed attention of the nefarious.  Robbery can be committed by anyone—a customer, a total stranger, a [...]

The Importance of Training Your Staff

Can you think of a job that doesn’t require some training?  Even the kid with the paper route needs to know something about how to get the job done. It’s the same with the staff positions in a cannabis dispensary.  Unlike comparable jobs, there’s more involved than knowing the inventory and how to make change.  [...]

New Cannabinoids Discovered by University of Mississippi

Since the late 1960s, the marijuana research lab at University of Mississippi's School of Pharmacy has been the only facility in the United States permitted by the federal government to cultivate and study cannabis. You may even be aware that University of Mississippi (or "Ole Miss" as it is colloquially referred to) has been supplying medicine [...]

Seattle Mayor Proposes New Licenses for Marijuana Businesses

The somber tone lingering inside my local dispensary serves as a silent reminder; the major regulatory changes looming over Washington's medical marijuana industry will go into effect in just over a year, and some major changes are already taking place. In addition to outlawing on-site cannabis consumption and the sales of medicine to current patients [...]

Medical Marijuana Laws and Opioid Analgesic Overdose

Incidents of opioid analgesic overdose are increasing to enormous levels on a daily basis. Opioids are a combination of natural, partially synthetic, or synthetic drugs that have been chemically synthesized in laboratory settings and derived from the poppy plant. Because of the different characteristics, formulations, and duration of the variety of opioid agents used in pain management, [...]

Marijuana Retailers Be Like, “Are You Even 21, Bro?”

The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) has begun youth access compliance checks (undercover sting operations) to ensure that recreational marijuana is not being sold to minors. In a statement issued this week, the LCB reported that 4 of the 22 retail stores investigated in western Washington did, in fact, sell cannabis to LCB [...]

Marijuana Businesses Are Being Taxed to Death

Distracted by the "green rush" mentality perpetuated in the media, aspiring cannabis entrepreneurs are sometimes unaware of the little tax code that has a major impact on the sustainability of their future business: Internal Revenue Code 280E. Similar to the way Al Capone was imprisoned for tax evasion, section 280E was introduced in the 1980's [...]