Battenfeld: Shannon O’Brien’s surprise suspension creates more turmoil in $3 billion pot industry
O’Brien’s ouster – which sounds permanent and ominous – signals new turmoil ahead for the CCC and the already reeling cannabis industry.
O’Brien’s ouster – which sounds permanent and ominous – signals new turmoil ahead for the CCC and the already reeling cannabis industry.
On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Deb Goldberg temporarily removed pot boss Shannon O’Brien from her post just a year after the former gubernatorial candidate took the job steering marijuana policy for the state.
The debate over public consumption has grown since 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana but with widely varying regulations.
Cannabis board boss Shannon O’Brien is apologizing for her recent outburst saying she was too blunt in saying the state’s legal weed rollout was in a “crisis.” It came on the same day the commission announced the Bay State has hit a new one-month high in legal weed sales — $136 million in July.
Taxpayers shouldn’t need to watch a career politician prove what we’ve known for a long time — most of the executives in the state could go and we wouldn’t miss them.
Eight businesses received warnings for hosting marijuana-related activities in Denver without the required license, with a separate ticket issued to cannabis lounge Tetra Lounge.
Marijuana emergency department visits for children, teens and young adults have spiked since the start of the pandemic more than three years ago, according to new data from the CDC.
Wellness Center of the Rockies, also known as The Center, recently purchased a former firehouse at 600 S. Broadway for $3 million.
Colorado’s marijuana industry dubbed total weed sales for this year’s 4/20 “the worst” in five years.
“Our feeling is that eliminating the pilot program will help us dive into building that licensing and regulatory framework.”
A shift by Gov. Chris Sununu’s to support marijuana legalization has inspired a last-minute push for new legislation.
Trulieve Cannabis Corp. recently announced that the marijuana giant will be winding down its operations in Massachusetts. The company’s dispensaries in Worcester, Framingham, and Northampton will close at the end of June.
Think of it like a beer garden, but instead of drinking alcohol, guests smoke weed.
The heyday of marijuana sales in Colorado — back in 2020 when recreational and medical sales topped out at a combined $226 million — is a distant memory, as the state’s dispensaries struggle through an economic downturn, with sales plummeting and small businesses foundering.
A Denver judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by eight people who live near Bonnie Brae, clearing the way for that neighborhood’s first dispensary to open next month.
If there’s one thing the Massachusetts State Legislature loves to do, it’s legalize ways for people to get high.
The aesthetic and amenities will be specifically curated to attract women and gay individuals, as well as the canna-curious looking for a comfortable environment where they can try some of Colorado’s locally grown herb.
Cirrus Social Club aims to be the “Ritz Carlton of the cannabis industry,” serving high tea by day and snacks-plus-smokes at night.
Golden expects to collect $600,000 in marijuana excise tax revenue in 2024, the first year it will have all four shops open and selling.
Look ma, no hands!
One city student at the Tobin K-8 School was rushed to the hospital and others were evaluated by the school nurse after eating pot-infused chocolate bars.
Colorado’s first legal cannabis party bus is preparing to roll up and roll out on the streets of Denver, offering shuttle services to and from Denver International Airport as well as curated tours throughout the Mile High City.
Rec. Weed, Harpoon’s newest venture, is a non-alcoholic, low-calorie beverage featuring tropical juiceness and citrusy hop notes, leaving a clean and crisp finish – a perfect way “to kick back at the end of a long day and unwind,” the brewery said in a release Wednesday.
Last year, Mile High 420 Fest promised it would impose an age limit at future events after fielding concerns from parents about open cannabis consumption onsite.
Massachusetts lawmakers have filed bills to end arrests for psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, mescaline and ibogaine. This push for decriminalization at the state level comes after cities decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms and other entheogenic plants.
“Shannon O’Brien, in her personal capacity, does not have an ownership stake over this license any longer,” investigations staff reported to regulators.
Massachusetts is the first recreational-use cannabis state to adopt, “Shifting Gears: the Blunt Truth about Marijuana and Driving,” a AAA curriculum that educates teens about the risks of cannabis-impaired driving.
TEWKSBURY — An investigation by the Tewksbury Police Narcotics Unit at a known hot spot for drug activity led to the arrest of two men on fentanyl trafficking charges on Thursday.
The latest effort to let legal cannabis business open checking accounts and accept credit cards has failed, due to U.S.
Some health effects, such as brain development issues, high blood pressure, and increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, have been studied.
“As a growing industry in Massachusetts, obviously, after legalization, the demand for jobs and highly qualified people skyrocketed — that what we were hearing from folks in the community businesses,” said Northern Essex Community College spokesperson Melissa Bouse.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters that “we always say that any contacts about possible exchanges can only be conducted in silence under a tight lid on any information.”
Those who grow outside — including with greenhouses — point to plenty of benefits. Lower startup and operational costs allow them to increase their profit margins, while their operations have a lesser impact on the environment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is pardoning thousands of Americans convicted of “simple possession” of marijuana under federal law, as his administration takes a dramatic step toward decriminalizing the drug and addressing charging practices that disproportionately impact people of color.
“Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed, right?” she said, adding that governors and states should follow the president’s lead in offering pardons for state convictions.
The agenda for the state Cannabis Control Commission’s next meeting shows the pot-growing farm pitched in part by Chair Shannon O’Brien will soon appear before regulators for final license approval.
The state’s new pot boss Shannon O’Brien, paid a smoking $181,722 salary, has been involved in two applications for cannabis cultivation, according to documents reviewed by the Herald.
Cannabis connoisseurs living in Bay State are invited to flex their taste buds in a competition to choose the People’s Choice awards in the state’s edition of High Times’ Cannabis Cup.
July’s medical marijuana sales only reached a little over $18 million – the lowest number ever recorded since January 2014
Of the thousands of revelers who head up the hill from Morrison to Red Rocks Amphitheater to catch a show on any given night, many are likely high, about to get high or at least thinking about getting high.
Cannabis retailer LivWell Enlightened Health is set to dominate the Colorado market with 26 dispensaries after PharmaCann announced its plan to buy The Clinic, a boutique dispensary chain in the Centennial State.
Denver Packaging Company, which also operates as Keef Brands, admitted to seven violations on April 20, including unlawful acts, packaging and labeling
When the Cannabis Control Commission marks its five-year anniversary on Thursday, it will also get a new chairperson — former state Treasurer Shannon O’Brien.
Ultimately, proposed product bans will only perpetuate the unregulated market.
Why did Beacon Hill pols tuck a proposal to study giving students access to medical marijuana into cannabis reform legislation?
The nine-year sentence was close to the maximum of 10 years that Griner had faced under the charges. Most Russians possessing small quantities of drugs get at most five years in prison, lawyers said.
KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner was convicted Thursday in Russia of drug possession and smuggling and was sentenced to nine years behind bars in a politically charged case that could lead to a high-stakes prisoner exchange between Washington and Moscow.
A federal grand jury in Boston indicted eight alleged members of the conspiracy that the feds — which operated it under the moniker “Operation Good Fortune” — say funneled tens of millions of dollars in drug money and more in a gift card fraud scheme.
If Denver’s future is anything like the present, the past would be an improvement.
Weed delivery has yet to catch on in Denver, but government officials are pushing dispensaries to drop their resistance to save the transporter businesses of marginalized entrepreneurs.