One Toke Over the Line - Cover - May 2020

    By Matthew Gervais


How many hits off the constitution is too many?  One.  Exactly one hit is too many when one rolls up civil liberty into a Castro sized blunt, takes a massive hit, and blows the smoke into the innocent faces of the ‘Michgian Families’ one repeatedly uses as a trigger to justify usurping power, banning commerce, and acting like a tyrant in general.  

As a Michigan resident, unless you have been living under a Petoskey stone, you must know of ‘the champion of those who do not even know they need a champion and regardless of whether or not they would like a champion’ Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her assault on essential liberty in order to provide temporary safety.  Literally. 

And I am not even directly referencing the Coronavirus (A.K.A Covid-19, A.K.A. The ‘Rona, A.K.A The reason everyone has lost their minds), this is just par for the course.  You see, while we are trained from birth to look at the distraction and believe that all cause comes before effect, I prefer patterns.  Patterns do not lie.  Patterns have no motives.  Patterns will never be up for a VP nomination. 

A virus is not why Gretchen Whitmer grabbed at power and chucked civil liberty into a psychedelic bong like a stoner after an eight hour shift with no edibles.  She did it because she is a tyrant.  A dictator.  She takes power that is not hers and uses it to force choices on people against their will.  Consistently, and always at the drop of a hat.  It is apparent in her actions, and can be seen in other branches of her administration.  Namely the MRA.  The director of which, a Whitmer appointee, has basically made a career out of not listening to reason, expertise, or the constitution, and forcing ridiculous rules on the Michigan marijuana world all in the name of ‘health’ and ‘safety’.  Same rag.  Same overreach.  Same leadership.

The pattern revealed itself in the first year of her administration.  Rick Snyder, a man who received the reputation of being anything from an incompetent child to a maniacal racist all because Flint politicians suck at, well, everything, levied a total of fifteen Executive Directives in his eight years of office.  Fifteen times his lordship felt the need to issue directives.  Jerk, right?  Whitmer hit that number in year one, no Corona.  In realistic prob and stat terms that puts her on course to eight times the Executive Directives of Snyder.  Or in Covid-19 era prob and stat, two million times more.  The fun, corrupt, little hypocritical cherry on top is that her first directive was aimed directly at what happened with Flint, in which she demands government transparency in times of crisis.  This from the person who just used a crisis to suspended the Freedom of Information Act, then tried to give out a no bid contract to an organization with ties to her party to track the virus that she is using to grant herself emergency power.

The patterns are next noticed in how the state has handled ‘The Black Market!’ (insert shocking murder mystery music).  While the Queen has left this untouched, Sheriff Brisbo of Nottingham was appointed to do it for her, presumably so she could maintain her pro pot image and continue to receive B+ ratings from the likes of MiNORML and other ‘politically unbiased’ marijuana groups.  The good sheriffs ideas for combating the pre-existing cultivators and caregivers, now deemed dew rag wearing ‘nine’ touting criminals for being priced out of the market by his rules, fall nothing short of tyrannical.  From union agreements, to access to all contract data, Whitmer’s MRA has torn through constitutionality and completely disregarded liberty at almost every step, all while fighting a false enemy they created.  What the MRA thinks and wants comes first.  Whether or not they have a right to do it, or whether or not it even makes sense, always come second.  All of it in the name of health and safety.

Next on our tour of patterns is everyone’s favorite additive, Vitamin E Acetate.  With a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the population dying from a voluntary action that may or may not have involved vape, she immediately sounded the alarm and banned the sale of flavored nicotine e-cigarrettes.  Using data that was almost a year old El Governor contrived a link to teen vaping to support her ban of free commerce on all consenting adults, using once again “the health and safety of Michigan families” as justification for her overreach.  Even after the new data landed, and Vitamin E Acetate was named, a substance not found in fruity flavored nicotine vape, she refused to back down.  Reason, science, it mattered nothing, and a judge had to strike down her ban, twice.  Even with the cause removed, her administration pushed for the effect:  A tyrannical and arbitrary across the board ban on some but not all vape as to be determined by her, not relevant data, and with no regard to individual liberty.  

And of course, here we are now.  With nothing more than two presumptive (pre-sump-tive - adjective - Of the nature of a presumption; presumed in the absence of further information) cases Whitmer set off a chain of decrees that ended in her declaring it a misdemeanor to leave one’s home for ‘nonessential purposes’, which she defined.  In effect, you are a criminal if you leave your home, go to work, open your business, go to school, or gather in groups, unless she gave you permission.  All while involving herself in the Trump media circus, even going so far as to attempt to penalize doctors for trying to help patients, playing politics with people’s lives, and trying to catch the eye of creepy Joe Biden.  Even now that the numbers are no more than other seasonal causes of death and health officials are offering up logical and realistic methods of slowing infection, she follows the patterns of her vape ban policy and ignores facts for the sake of getting her way, even going so far as blocking efforts to limit her now invisible power.  Again in the name of health and safety, always with no regard for rights or facts.

Whitmer has not ignored the constitution and stolen rights because of a virus.  She just steals rights and ignores the constitution because she is a tyrant.  Just another one of these bossy arrogant people who blatantly disregards the will of others and falsely believe they know what is best for everyone.  All the while justifying their policies with pure rhetoric and conditioning, as if the people were nothing more than dogs to be trained.  

If one person can reshape civil liberty on their whim then we do not have civil liberty, which makes her exactly the type of ruler the constitution and bill of rights are meant to prevent.  Michigan deserves leaders who honor their constitutional oaths and respect the freedom and autonomy of all others.  Michigan deserves better than a dictator who smokes our rights every chance she gets, all while handing us the same tired lines.

Elizabeth Hollins Within the Mind of a Budtender - May 2020

If you had asked me in December what I’d be doing in May, I wouldn’t have told you “social distancing” or “self-quarantine”.  Hell, my plans were birthday party and Poconos vacation. Well birthday will be a quiet affair, and that vacation quickly turned into a “staycation”. It’s hard to make my double wide feel anything like an all-inclusive couples resort.

I’m sure most of us expect this to last quite a while in some form or another, therefore, by the time you read this we’ll….probably still be at home. Countless individuals have celebrated birthdays, graduations, and more in solitude. Many individuals have had to figure out how to survive without work and frustrating unemployment resources. Weddings have been rescheduled, baby deliveries have been missed by loved ones, spouses/family have had to remain separated through illness, and even death, making funerals impossible under the circumstances. I start to tear up a little even just thinking if my husband were to get ill right now, since I wouldn’t be able to visit him. And goodness forbid he passed away? I don’t even want to think of how I would be.

You know what we can all do together? Social distancing or not, we can take a breath. We can take a big healthy inhale through the nose for 4 seconds, we can hold that breath for 4 seconds, and then we can release that breath, and all the negative energies with it, through the mouth for 8 seconds. Shorten that time frame if you need to. This is just a nice, calming breath for you.

Want to know something else we can all do? We can grab a pen and fill in some blanks. Take a moment to breathe, and to focus on nothing else outside of the bubble of these next few sentences. Let go of all the craziness that has been rattling around in your mind for these past few weeks. Just sit back and fill in the blanks with the first thing to come to your mind on each one.

My most welcomed hobby during Stay Home, Stay Safe is ____________________. I find solitude in ____________________. The hardest thing I’ve had to go through in these few weeks is ____________________. With the help of _______________, I’ve been able to get through _______________.

I miss ____________________ from __________________ the most. The first place I’m going when everything opens back up again is ____________________. The first person I’m giving a giant bear-hug to is ____________________.

Now that we’ve taken a moment to breathe, and drop into our little moment, let’s discuss something important that we should really keep in mind when all this blows over: general safety and prevention. Throughout human history, health and livelihood generally increase with better implemented hygiene practices. Just because it’s 2020, doesn’t mean we know everything. I bet you the Cavemen probably thought they were top of the world for learning to take a dump down wind. Romans thought they were tough stuff too but when we look back, we can see the things they did, hygiene wise, that we wouldn’t even consider hygienic or necessarily safe now. 

When we all pull through this, we need to take a look at our health and hygiene practices and learn what we can do better. Maybe encouraging more normalcy behind wearing masks if one isn’t feeling 100% when out in public, especially during flu season. Maybe encouraging the frequent cleaning of items such as carts, door handles, etc on a regular basis. Perhaps social distancing in store settings isn’t a bad idea long-term. Maybe everyone carries sanitizer and wipes with them wherever they go. It may not be a bad idea to consider any employees who handle cash, have either gloves or sanitizer to use with every transaction that occurs, or maybe breaks to wash every .5-1 hour. Whatever it is….we can do better.

All of this can tie into our smoking practices as well. If you don’t already wipe down your pieces after each use, now may be a great time to get in the habit. A little alcohol and a paper towel can go a long way. A joint holder is also a very inexpensive way to make sure that as you puff puff pass, it’s not the germs you’re passing. That one joint doesn’t have to physically touch the lips of everyone in the circle for us to all enjoy it.

With any luck, we will also see a push for regular banking within the cannabis industry. Those of us in the industry have been calling for it for quite some time. This plant, that has been deemed essential 100 times faster than we could get it deemed legal in the first place, is still a cash only business. Why? Do you know how much bacteria is transferred around on physical money? There needs to be a better way. 

It’s time to start taking our health more seriously. It’s not just us that we need to think about. We are a herd species and whether we like it or not, there are several large “herds” all over our state, and our country. The only way we survive, and I mean really survive, is by protecting and looking after one another.

Since we may see these regulations stretch a little while, we need to try to remember to make the best of it. In this day and age we can still communicate with each other whether it be from across the street, or across thousands of miles. Deliveries are available for all we need, curbside pickup and drive through services have been made available for several industries. There is no doubt that this period of time is difficult, it is not what we have become accustomed to, but we will pull through. We will do better. 

Stay high, stay home, and stay safe. 

John Sinclair - Free the Weed #107 - May 2020

A Column By John Sinclair

Hi everybody, as Ernie Harwell used to say when they had a major league baseball season, and welcome to another month of my recovery from open heart surgery on Valentine’s Day, when the people at the Heart Hospital in the Detroit Medical Center gave me a quintuple by-pass operation in response to a heart attack I suffered on February 10th.

After my Hash Bash column last month raised so much controversy, I wanted to come back this month with something that could cause no worse reaction than “ho hum,” so I decided to write about the long series of physical difficulties I’ve suffered all of the current century and for ten years previously.

Really my bodily troubles go back to 1991 when I was diagnosed with diabetes after I took a couple of major falls and tore the tendons on both knees, one after the other, and was forced into an operation on both legs at once that necessitated hip-to-ankle casts that lasted several months until I started rehabilitation and learned how to walk again.

I ended up with a 20% disability in both knees but basically still able to walk properly and exist without much strain on my knees. I should say in conformance with the basic theme of this column that I continued to smoke copious quantities of excellent weed during this entire process of injury and healing because it helped me keep my positive outlook and remain focused on making myself better. 

As I review my medical problems of the past 30 years I think of all the positive effects smoking weed has had on my struggle to overcome severe physical disabilities, avoid serious depression, and maintain my grip on everyday life, including my work as a creative person who writes poetry and prose, performs with musical ensembles, and operates an internet radio station called RadioFreeAmsterdam.org.

Let me say it right out: Life would be an entirely different experience for me without smoking weed on a daily basis. I can’t imagine another type of life without weed, and that’s why I’ve dedicated an inordinate amount of time over the years to legalizing marijuana—to get the police out of our lives and to create free space for us to get high and do whatever we wanna.

Going back to my medical troubles, my current phase started in the early 2000s when I was living half of each year in Amsterdam. I developed a condition in my feet called “hammertoe” that resulted in the undue rubbing of my toe knuckles against my shoes and opening up a wound on my fourth toe that would immediately become infected and cause major difficulties. 

This condition led to two or three 5-day hospital stays in Amsterdam to cure the infections and interfered considerably with my ability—or desire—to do much walking. My feet troubled me all the time, with the worst episode in 2007 when I was in Florence, Italy and walked too far in the wrong shoes. This time I went back to Detroit and my daughter Sunny took me to her foot doctor, Stanley Cohen, who began treating me then.

Dr. Cohen and I went through several operations to remove the knuckles from my toes on both feet and then straighten out the big toe on my left foot, which eventually suffered the loss of the tip of my middle toe and then the little toe was completely removed. My right foot didn’t come out right: all the toes were cocked severely to the right, with the big toe tucked underneath, so that I would stumble by tripping on that big toe, causing a disastrous series of serious crashes to the ground between then and the present.

I fell three times in Oxford, Mississippi, in the autumn of 2007, tripping over a curb on the street and on two doorsills in residences. During this period every step I took was painful, and I ended up getting some special shoes recommended by my acupuncturist in Amsterdam that would dig new arches into the bottoms of my feet simply by wearing them every day. I did this for two years and then the pain stopped, but I wasn’t any surer on the feet during the following ten years, and that was the beginning of the awful series of falls— too numerous to recount—that I’ve suffered in the 13 years up until the present.

It was in the spring time of 2017 that I began to develop my current panoply of physical problems, starting with an instance in a hotel in Amsterdam where I woke up at 4:00 am and couldn’t catch my breath for two hours. I went from checkout with Steve The Fly to the expatriates’ clinic and got treated, filling two prescriptions for 200 euros and paying 49 euros for the office visit. That amounted to a good two weeks worth of modest dining privileges and I saw at once that it would be necessary to come back to Detroit to get my government-sponsored medical care at the Detroit Medical Center instead of paying for services in cash.

After being treated at DMC by my principal doctor. Muhammad Kang of the Rosa Parks Geriatric Center at Detroit Receiving Hospital, I returned to Europe to perform a series of concerts in Sweden and then spend a week in Amsterdam before returning to Detroit. It was then, in August 2017, that I was hit in the back by a man on a bicycle on a street near the Spui and knocked face-down on the pavement, taken to the hospital and released without surgery.

I went back to Detroit in September 2017 and I’ve been here ever since. At Thanksgiving time I tripped on the carpet in my bedroom and fell flat on my face, cracking my head on a crystal geode sitting on the floor next to the bed. Then I fell in New Orleans in March of 2018 when I tripped over my feet trying to catch a streetcar on Carrollton Avenue and smashed down face-first on the pavement. I was taken to the new Louisiana State Medical facility, treated and released.

Recovery progressed smoothly until October 2018, when I fell getting out of my chair at my desk and landed on my right forehead and right hip, causing months of diminished capacity including two weeks in the hospital and a month in a rehab facility before I could go home.

I was (and still am) recovering from that particular fall and undergoing rehabilitation treatments at home when my walker collapsed at the corner of Woodward and Peterboro and I fell to the sidewalk, breaking my right humerus bone in three places when my shoulder hit the ground.

It took three months for the shoulder to heal, and I asked my doctor for permission to travel to Amsterdam for two weeks in February 2019. Dr. Kang reluctantly agreed, and my comrade Joeri Pfeiffer had come over from the Netherlands to accompany me on my flight to Amsterdam. We went to the airport and I was experiencing some feelings of weakness that alarmed me to the extent that I decided not to board the flight. I went home and the next day suffered a heart attack that propelled me to the hospital once again. 

The heart specialists advised open heart surgery and conducted a five-bypass operation on Valentine’s Day, after which I spent more time in a rehab center before being released prematurely under orders of the insurance company. Dr. Kang arranged for in-home rehabilitation but before it started, I fell in my apartment and injured my back and right side, which delayed my rehabilitation for a couple of weeks and then stopped with the pain.

That’s where I am today, dear friends, recovering at home from open heart surgery and trying to get my strength back after months of inactivity. My therapists, nurses and doctors have all written me a clean bill of health up to the present week and I’m continuing to get better every day. I know this is a lot of hooey to most of my readers, but I’ve pissed & moaned so much about my health problems that I thought I’d spell it out once and for all. 

In the ultimate of ironies I woke up this morning, headed for the bathroom, missed a step somewhere on my way to the toilet bowl and crashed onto the tile floor with all my might, hitting the commode with my left side above the hip on the way down and opening up about 3 more weeks of injury, suffering and recovery. So let’s just roll up a big joint and FREE THE WEED, everybody!

—Detroit
April 25-26, 2020 


© 2020 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.

Herbert Huncke's America - Edited By Jerome Poynton Literary Executor - Ed Leary (1939-1944) Part 5 - May 2020

ED LEARY (1939-1944) PART 5

Continuing from the April 2020 MM Report...

Finally, while creating a great scene of capturing a dangerous narcotics addict—implying I was dangerous—pointing a gun at me—telling me to stand-still—not to make a move—both pairs towering over me in height—frisking me—grabbing my umbrella—one of them loudly saying, “None of that,” as though I had intended using it as a weapon—they pushed me toward the doorway—telling people to step aside—out into the street where a huge crowd had gathered—peering and grimacing at me—some laughing—asking questions—others looking at me as though I were the scum of the earth—some with amazement to see a real live criminal.

The police were still arguing over who was to take me to the station—peering down at me—leaning closer to me, asking, “Which of us got here first?”

I decided in favor of the detectives, thinking in all probability that they would be easier to get along with than promotion-conscious harness cops.

I chose wisely.

They turned out to be fairly decent—even arranging to get me a fix when I began getting really sick. I was booked and charged with attempting to obtain narcotics through fraud—a misdemeanour—and was eventually sentenced to another six months on Riker’s Island. 

I kept Eddie’s name out of it—not giving them my proper address—telling them that my only possessions were those I had with me—that I had been making it playing cards and shooting craps—that I had not used drugs for long—that I had been living in the Mills Hotel paying by the night. 

They asked me about the scripts and I told them I had bought them from a guy on the corner of Forty-third Street and Eighth Avenue—one of the kids from Forty-second Street pointed him out to me—I didn’t know his name and wasn’t sure I could recognize him were we to come face to face.  They didn’t believe me but there was nothing they could do about it.

While I was away Eddie corresponded with me regularly, sending money for cigarettes and a few of the necessities—such as a toothbrush and toothpaste—soap—and candy. Candy is a must when a junky kicks a habit.

He kept me informed to some extent of his activities. Much of what was happening with him I had to guess from the well-known reading between the lines. 

Sal had finally been sent away for a year—another of the gals had taken a fall—there had been some difficulty at home concerning someone who’d come to visit us drunk and disorderly and Eddie had been asked to move. He was finding the going rough—and missed me.  By the time of my discharge Eddie had gone back to Brooklyn. What he failed to mention was that he had—just before moving to Brooklyn—acquired a new partner.

When I got out I went directly to the Brooklyn address. Instead of Eddie opening the door, Georgie, his new partner, opened it saying, “Hello—Ed isn’t home just yet. We have been expecting you. I hope you will like me. Eddie thinks we all three can get along real great. He told me what a swell guy you are.”

George was a nice person but perhaps jealousy caused me to resent him and decide against any plans in which the three of us were to be involved. George had some stuff stashed away and before Eddie got in he gave me a little fix. Eddie arrived all smiles and good will—telling me how much he had missed me—how bad  he had felt when he realized—when I didn’t come home the night of the pinch—what must have happened.

Georgie had something to do and excused himself saying, “You two will have a lot to talk about—I’ll see you both later.”

As soon as Georgie left, Eddie came over, put his arms around me and said, “Man I’ve missed you so much—I never thought it could happen that anyone could come to mean as much to me as you do.” He explained that things had gotten pretty bad financially and that he had originally decided to double-up with Georgie to save on expenses, but since living with him had grown to like him. He said he was sure I could understand and that Georgie being there wouldn’t make any difference to our friendship. He had it figured out the three of us could reorganize our original setup—living in Brooklyn this time but still doing business in New York. 

He went on to explain he had made some new contacts and we could—with the third party—do even better than when there had just been him and me. I told him it all sounded great but somehow I didn’t like it—also I said I wasn’t sure I liked Georgie.

The section of Brooklyn Eddie and Georgie had settled in is known as Bay Ridge, and although I stayed there only a short time I liked it. A good number of people living in the district are of Scandinavian descent—many going to sea.  The bars in the neighborhood cater to seamen and there is a certain air of the romantic and adventurous. Eddie had discovered several Swedish eating places we frequented often—the three of us creating a strange appearance in our sharp clothes and somewhat obvious disregard of the staid conservative manner of our neighbors. 

We came and went at all hours of the day and night. It was apparent none of us worked legitimately—still we were never made to feel uncomfortable or treated as outsiders—the principal of live and let live seemingly the opinion of most of the people we came in contact with. 

The apartment was spacious and comfortably furnished—but I felt a strangeness with Georgie I was unable to overcome and began to think about leaving.

We settled to a routine satisfactory to the three of us—each of us assuming certain responsibilities of our own. It worked well enough and perhaps we could have continued indefinitely. Somehow though—I was uncomfortable  with Georgie. I was jealous of the attention Eddie directed toward him—becoming angry on the slightest pretext—finally telling Georgie I didn’t like him—considered him weak and ineffectual—stupid and a bore—and that I was going to clear out. Eddie grew angry, accusing me of being unkind and unfair—telling me if I didn’t apologize to Georgie I had better make arrangements to live somewhere else. It was true—I had been unfair and I knew it—but it was impossible for me to apologize.

We did spend our last few days together happily, but when I succeeded in locating a room in Manhattan I was relieved to get away.  It was time to once again be alone.

We continued seeing each other daily—making the doctors—occasionally falling into a movie—or going to Chinatown for food. It wasn’t long before I began meeting new people and frequently when Eddie and Georgie would suggest our going somewhere together I would already have other plans.

And so we gradually drifted apart. I found new sources of supply for junk—beginning to cop uptown in Harlem. Eventually I failed to keep appointments with Ed and Georgie—and it followed that soon thereafter I stopped seeing them altogether.

One day, running into a mutual friend, I learned Georgie had been arrested and Ed had gone to the hospital in Kentucky to kick his habit. Several years passed and one day I ran into Ed. We were both pleased to see each other but neither of us had any desire to become involved in close association. We talked and reminisced—shot up a couple bags of heroin—spending the night in a Times Square hotel.

Next day—Ed had plans of his own and so did I. We parted good friends.

Up until three years ago, periodically we would meet—sit and talk—and once I went back over to Brooklyn with him and stayed over the weekend. Georgie had disappeared completely and I have never run into him.

I never see Ed anymore and I can’t pick up any news of him. Every now and then I’ll meet someone who remembers us as a team and we’ll discuss the good old days. Everyone remembers Ed with good feelings.

It is possible I’ll see him again—although in my heart I feel he might be dead.

Looking back over our friendship it occurs to me Ed Leary influenced my life in all probability more than anyone else I’ve known. 

VGIP - Caregiver's Last Stand

      By Ben Horner


In April the Michigan Supreme Court Ruled in Favor of Byron Township, upholding the local
ordinance that restricts caregiver growers. The Court ruled that a municipality can enact an ordinance that forces caregivers to register their grow with the city, village or township authorities. Other restrictions such as, limiting the space a caregiver or patient can grow to a specified square footage of a home of property. Electrical limits have been considered.

In a unanimous opinion written by Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Bernstein, the court held the Court of Appeals erred when it ruled in favor of Christie DeRuiter, who sued after Byron Township officials told her in March 2016 that her medical marijuana-related activities constituted a zoning violation because she grew marijuana in an enclosed, locked facility at a commercial location.

“The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act (MMMA) doesn’t nullify a municipality’s “inherent authority to regulate land use” under the state’s zoning act -- so long as it doesn’t prohibit or penalize all medical marijuana cultivation.”

The Vote Green Initiative Project (VGIP) was started as an education program to promote being active in the election process.  In the years past dozens of meetings were held around the state to educate and advocate for individual cannabis rights, safe access to medical marijuana, as well as local petition drives. Thousands of iconic Vote Green tee shirts were distributed to eager participants to wear as badge of honor.

Many cities around the State used the VGIP platform to assemble petition teams, led by the Godfather of cannabis law, Tim Beck of the Safer Michigan Coalition. Several petition styles were drafted, to tackle the nuances of each municipality. Sometimes amending a cities code to remove penalties was the simplest way to produce a victory. Chuck Ream used a different technique in Ypsilanti called Lowest Law Enforcement Priority (LLEP), which used money spent and annual reports to curb marijuana prosecutions.  Grand Rapids, working independently took a play from Ann Arbor and made possession a small fine, to decriminalize pot to a certain degree.

These small victories in Detroit, Ypsilanti, Flint, Ferndale, Grand Rapids, Port Huron, Saginaw, and several others, demonstrated solid support for legalization. Thus, a statewide campaign was started and has now come to fruition. For many this is a lifetime achievement culminated by years of hard work in the face of reefer madness.  But is the fight over?


VGIP will be conducting Petitioning Seminars around the state to reverse ordinances in communities that enact harmful cannabis cultivation rules. Contact Ben Horner if you are interested in hosting one in your community.

Michigan News - May 2020

Michigan to bring in $500 Million in Taxes from Rec

MSU’s Product Center Food-Ag-Bio Center conducted a study that finds Adult-Use retail recreational sales could bring in $500 million in tax revenue annually. The study used modeling based on Colorado with population statistics for the great lakes state. The study predicts $298.6 million in excise tax revenues and $197.1 million in sales tax revenues will come from recreational marijuana once the products become “widely available.”

When that will be depends on how fast large-scale production produces flower, edibles, and concentrates that can be sold at a price that is competitive with the pervasive black market in Michigan. Currently, folks can buy untested marijuana at half the price on the streets, which hampers the legal market. Medical marijuana prices average in the middle of the recreational and illicit markets. Licensed medical marijuana caregiver, who can grow for up to five patients,  “overages” will still be accepted into medical marijuana provisioning centers via licensed growers until October of this year.

Protesters Rally in Favor of Constitutional Rights




On Thursday April 30th, despite the rain, a crowd of protesters gathered on the Capitol lawn in Lansing.  The common sentiment appeared to be a mix of anti-government and pro-constitutional freedom.  

While some sported Confederate flags, and there was one sign depicting Governor Whitmer as Adolf Hitler that contained a Swastika, the vast majority waved either American flags or “Don’t Tread on Me” styled flags.  The ideas expressed on signs were a mixed bag.  While most referred to the constitution, civil liberties, and freedom, many also contained an anti-vaxination theme, with Bill Gates name popping up more than once.  

Local, mostly rural, small business owners took to the stage and gave testimonials as to the dire straights they find themselves in due to, what they perceive as, unwarranted executive orders.  America themed music kept time for the speeches, and warmed the crowd from the cold rain.  A not so flattering rendition of “The Candy Man Can” spoofed as “The Government Can” played as a group of children danced while wearing masks of former presidents. 

National News - May 2020

Cannabis CEOs Hope Feds Notice Essential Status

CEO’s for U.S. based producers Cresco Labs, Curaleaf, and Green Thumb Industries told CNBC that coronavirus could accelerate federal legalization efforts.  Charlie Bachtell of Cresco Labs stated, “When we all start to be able to lift our heads from this Covid experience, we are going to be faced with a scenario where a lot of jobs have gone away, a lot of economic development impact has disappeared.  How are we going to bring that back?  I think cannabis has to be part of that discussion.”

Eight states determined that adult-use, otherwise known as recreational marijuana, was essential for sustaining life.  With most businesses shuttered, and regulations altered to expedite home delivery, many of these states saw an increase in sales, with California, Washington, Nevada and Colorado reporting a 17% increase over last year.  The second half of March, after shelter in place orders were set, the average purchase dollar amount saw a 47% increase.

“You can just point to the fact that we have been deemed essential, why are we not legal?”, voiced Matt Hawkins, managing partner for Entourage Capital, a private equity firm with $200 million invested in Green Thumb Industries and other marijuana producers.  Curaleaf, Cresco Labs and Green Thumb Industries shares have all lost 60% of their value or more over the past year.  All the CEO’s agree that federal legalization would help bring capital into the industry.

Weedmaps Hit with Federal Subpoena

Ghost Management Group LLC, parent company for Weedmaps, was served with a grand jury subpoena earlier this year. In a MarketWatch article this March over 30 high profile Cannabis companies were also listed in the subpoena. 

The investigation seems to be focused on licensed and unlicensed advertisers on Weedmaps online website, primarily in California. Recently the Weedmaps sight has been purging unlicensed facilities. 

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, McGregor Scott, is carrying out the federal government’s investigation, which is ongoing. Cannabis attorneys around the nation are recognizing that the federal authorities are preparing for national regulatory schemes. 



Colorado Starts Delivery

Medical Marijuana delivery services started last month in Denver and Boulder. Colorado was slow to roll out cannabis delivery services. Recreational delivery won’t be available till 2021. 

Colorado was the first state to legalize Adult Use of marijuana as well as the first State to license medical marijuana dispensaries. Colorado is a local option state, which means it is up to the local municipalities to approve of delivery services prior to receiving state authorization.

Weedmaps provides an online portal for accepting delivery orders, which is available in several states, including California, Colorado and Michigan. Covid-19 has spurred a surge in curbside and delivery sales.  

World News - May 2020

Israeli Doctors Test Cannabis on Coronavirus

Tel Aviv Hospital is conducting a study using cannabis extracts containing THC and CBD to help Covid-19 patients suffering from inflammatory processes that complicate the patient’s respiratory system. The study is testing dozens of patients in several wards that are moderately ill. 

Dr. Barak Cohen is an anesthesiologist at Ichilov Hospital and is heading up the Corona management. He initiated the research utilizing cannabis medicines developed in Israel. He explains, “This is a novel approach to treating some of the symptoms, using a component of the cannabis plant that is considered safe and non-addictive.”

The study currently has no cooperate affiliations. The compound THC was first discovered in Israel, which has led the world in integrating marijuana into modern medicine. 

Pot Stocks Struggle

In a currant attempt to save their listing on the New York Stock Exchange, Canada’s Aurora Cannabis company plans to reverse share splitting by merging its common shares (12-to-one). This comes as trading officials warned that the stock is falling below the threshold of viability as the price of shares drop below a dollar.

Big players like Canopy, Cronos, Tillray and Aurora are publicly traded companies that have watched their stocks fall due largely to a lack of vertical integration in the supply line and depleting cash reserves. In the absence of reforms to federal cannabis laws, these companies fail to be able to scale out and maintain profitability. 

Some investors see these low stock prices as an opportunity to buy low with a long-term strategy. Strategic capital investors are seeing more promise in investing in localized markets that complete the circle of cultivation and retail sales all in the same state, district or country. Europe similarly finds EU regulations have closed the loop.