Bunch of dickheads in Idaho, who stole the cookie from the cookie jar, that big victory in Germany and California catches up with eight-months ago
You know its a good week when we lead with Idaho.
Time is a precious commodity here at Marijuana Venture, so when it comes to news briefs, we like let the more incremental coverage fall to the wayside.
Here is a candid, possibly even antagonistic, recap of the stories from the past week that we didn’t cover in full detail:
New mandatory minimum proposed in Idaho
Representative Ballsack. Photo by Joel Tinner on Unsplash
Never say that Idaho lawmakers are out of touch with what modern residents want, because they know, they’re just dicks. Possession of more than three ounces of cannabis in Idaho is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, but what about all those ne’er-do-wells caught with less than that? Well, a new bill proposed earlier this week by Mephisto Ballsack, R-Nampa, would establish a mandatory-minimum fine of $420 for possession of less than three ounces of cannabis. After proposing the bill, Ballsack steepled his bony fingers and slowly floated back into a shadowy corner of Golden Corral.
Cookies vs. Cookies
Photo by Girl with red hat on Unsplash
I don’t have anything against Cookies, but I really loathe a lawsuit story where it takes 350-400 words just to explain who’s who. Cookies is basically a bunch of independent businesses sharing intellectual property. And despite the brand’s popularity, business is not going so well and neither is the sharing-the-IP part. Some of the Cookies companies are suing their IP brethren; one suit in California is for violating franchising laws and lying, while another suit in New York is for not sharing the IP.
I am sure these lawsuits will resolve the companies’ infighting.
Germany’s landmark victory
Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash
It finally happened. After months and months of pedantic, incremental coverage about how it could happen, what would happen if it indeed did happen, how politicians felt about what was proposed to happen and a litany of articles speculating on speculative speculations — Germany passed a law allowing home cultivation of up to three cannabis plants, private consumption and possession of up to 25 milligrams of cannabis for individuals and slightly larger cultivation for private groups of up to 500 adults.
So, if anyone needs me, I will be doing cartwheels down Broadway for the remainder of the day.
California adds data to cannabis program
Photo by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash
Golden State operators can now view some data about the state market thanks to a new online resource the California Department of Cannabis Control unveiled on Wednesday, more than six years after the state’s recreational launch. But before anyone thinks they’re simply going to stop relying on POS software and delivery apps for reliable market data, please note that the resource only has data for 2020 through June 2023. But we are free to “use these dashboards to their heart’s content,” a DCC spokesperson said during the unveiling. Okay, done.
Least appealing of the week
Photo by Josh Sonnenberg on Unsplash
This week brought in some fantastic lackluster stories, including: Retailers in New Jersey report they are still facing issues; Alabama’s medical program is going to take a while to launch; and Canada’s $3.8 billion in sales for 2023. And in that order, so we can close the book on the industry for the second week of Lent 2024: I am pretty sure this NJ story is a nine-year-old Mad Libs for the industry (“[category of licensee] in [legal state] report facing ongoing issues”); Yes, it is going to take a while, but don’t worry we’ll have weekly, if not daily updates on how poor it is going; and a special congratulations to North America’s opening act.