Business
Visiting Seattle For MLB Or A Cruise? Information You Need!
Summer is bringing MLB and cruises to popular Seattle. Here is a quick guide of what to do, where to eat, how to consume and a word of caution!
Seattle has long been a tourist destination. Home to the historic Pike Place Market, the soaring Space Needle and mystical Chihuly Garden and Glass, a vibrant music scene, tourists from around the globe trek to the mythical home of Frasier. In June, Seattle set another record for being the most sold out city in the US. The cruise industry is having a banner year and Major League Baseball All Stars kicks off 11 July at T-Mobile Park.
While the city is flooded with visitor, if doesn’t feel crowded and has something for everyone to explore. Marijuana is fully legal so that isn’t a concern. But, be warned, Seattle is the only city in Washington that has chosen, for now, not to prosecute drug offenders. Here are some direct and general tips for visiting the city.
Seattle has fully legal recreational marijuana. The greater downtown area has a variety of retail shops including Have A Heart (Belltown) and Uncle Ikes (Capital Hill). While people smoke on the streets, don’t plan to whip out a pre-roll in restaurants, retail stores, bars or nightclubs. Look for something more discreet. The stadiums have security checks and cannabis and alcohol are not allowed. Cruise ships are also not open to marijuana being part of your luggage. For the cruises the telltale sign is the aroma.
The light rail can take you from the Stadium district to the retail core, where the largest hotels are located. It can also take you the International district (excellent food), Captial Hill (trendy music and bar district), and historic Pioneer Square.
The city has a great food scene with a variety of experiences and cuisines. Consider treating your palate at The Pink Door, Japonessa, Communion, Aqua and more. Low key place include Bar Cotto, Fogon, Assagios and gems in Pike Place Market. In the international district, Jade Garden is known for excellent dim sum, Tai Tung is the oldest restaurant and Harbor City is open until 11 pm. For drinks, high end would include the Fairmont, the Four Seasons, and at the other end you have The 5 Point along with a whole range of bars in Belltown and Capital Hill. Near the stadium you can pick from a wide choice of watering holes.
There is a caution. After the governor and state legislature punted on this issues of illegal drugs and let the law for prosecution expire, the public was outraged. A special session (at taxpayer expense) was cobbled together to produce a quick fix. It required Washington cities and counties to pass a resolution to allow prosecution. The office of the Seattle Mayor and a majority of the Seattle City Council said there was no need. This in the city where fentanyl overdoses dethroned COVID deaths, and the situation has gotten worse. The city’s own attorney and a handful of city council members tried to tackle the problem, but were voted down. Now the Mayor has assembled a 24 member task for to look at the situation and come up with a solution at some point in the future.
As of 1 July, the city does not have a system to deal with open air drug users, so some of the downtown streets have some extra local scenery. Fentanyl is freely used on the streets and 3rd Ave should be avoided except as a crossover street. Don’t be surprised if you randomly see people screaming, waking naked, or stealing. Police are hamstrung in their approach, so try to stay in groups.
Seattle in the summer is beautiful and it will be a warm, so enjoy your visit to the Emerald City.
Source: https://thefreshtoast.com/cannabis/visiting-seattle-for-mlb-or-a-cruise-information-you-need/
Business
New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Business
Marijuana companies suing US attorney general in federal prohibition challenge
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Business
Alabama to make another attempt Dec. 1 to award medical cannabis licenses
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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