It’s been a chaotic week for cannabis legalization. Here is the latest on what happened over the past seven days:
• New Jersey banned all marijuana use, possession, and cultivation in public view;
• Delaware legalized medical cannabis;
• U.K.-based Novus claims to be able to offer instant delivery of medicinal marijuana products using blockchain technology by 2020;
• Canada becomes first G7 nation with legal recreational pot market that will serve as test case for other countries seeking to legalize weed across board.; and
• Across Europe more than 70% want adults allowed access to take drugs at home without facing prosecution.
A cannabis-free shop debuted in a San Francisco mall, a Massachusetts store sued its home city over excessive “community impact fees,” and a run of thefts at Bay Area dispensaries has left the owners outraged at police inactivity.
Let’s take a look at this week’s cannabis news.
A Cannabis-Free Dispensary Opens in a San Francisco Mall
It’s not the first time the Westfield Mall has dabbled with marijuana. The mall’s owner held conversations with a high-end cannabis chocolatier who wanted to open a store in the mall back in 2017. Many expected a cannabis store would never return to Westfield after mall managers flatly rejected the notion. So, how did Joy Reserve manage to get a foothold in the shopping center?
For starters, there is no genuine cannabis at Joy Reserve’s physical facility. Customers will be able to explore a variety of things, but all of the boxes they see will be empty. Customers must first create an account with the cannabis delivery service IHeartJane in order to buy cannabis. They will be able to buy products from the store and have them delivered to a spot just outside the mall from there.
While the purchase method may seem unusual, Joy Reserve’s strategy enables it to operate without a storefront license. Joy Reserve may (kind of) sell cannabis within the mall thanks to its unique license. Are cannabis-free dispensaries the most effective method to circumvent present legal restrictions? Only time will tell, but Joy Reserve’s actions will be extensively scrutinized by the industry.
A Massachusetts cannabis retailer has filed a lawsuit against the city over fees.
Happy Valley, a Massachusetts cannabis business, has launched a lawsuit against Gloucester and its departing mayor. According to the shop, the city has been requesting “community impact fees” of 3% of total gross sales in addition to charity contributions. In addition to those costs, the city has imposed three different annual levies for Happy Valley’s retail, growing, and processing operations.
Happy Valley thinks the penalties are high and bad for business, according to The Salem News, and it isn’t the only firm that feels this way. Cannabis company owners from all around the state have expressed similar dissatisfaction with the industry’s basically “pay to play” nature.
Small company owners are the ones that suffer the most under these circumstances. The conclusion of the lawsuit will have an impact on dispensary regulation in the future.
Owners of robbed dispensaries in California are fighting for police assistance.
In the previous two weeks, a total of 25 cannabis shops in Oakland, California have been looted. The total cost of the burglaries is more than $5 million. Surprisingly, it is the police, not the criminals, who are the focus of wrath. Criminals have been encouraged to perpetrate these crimes, according to cannabis store owners, by a culture of police passivity.
According to reports from cannabis shop owners, cops often turn up just when they feel like it—if at all. Police are also accused of enabling the crimes to go unreported and unsolved on purpose. In one instance, an officer was caught merely standing by while an unarmed thief looted a cannabis business.
Cannabis companies are angry that they aren’t receiving any police help in exchange for being one of Oakland’s highest-taxed industries—especially because luxury stores throughout the Bay Area have had no trouble obtaining police help with their break-ins.
Cesar is a Marketing Associate at Veriheal, having been born in Mexico and reared in California. He may be seen working on yet another collage project when he isn’t browsing social media for the next online drama.
