An Interview with Platinum Vape - Cover - June 2020

Platinum Vape is a brand known all over Michigan, but who are they?

It all began in 2012 when an inspired young man presented his father with a question: Do you want to sell pot?  After some convincing, and selling their dirt bikes for two grand each for starting capital, Cody and George Sadler were in business.  George kept up on the laws, while Cody secured a California med card to facilitate their first grow.  In fact, it was the first time either of them had grown anything at all.  

Flash forward to 2016.  Their now successful, and hand built, marijuana company asks itself a new question: Why rely on third parties for vape pens when we could make them ourselves? 
With that, Platinum Vape was born.  

As Platinum Vape graces the shelves of provisioning centers all over our state, the MM Report wanted to ask them a few questions of our own:

Q: Why is Platinum Vape the most popular cannabis cartridge in Michigan?

A: Honestly, I believe it is the quality and our commitment to the customer and the dispensary buyers.

This memorial weekend we participated in the planting of 8,000 US flags in support of fallen heroes. We are planting at Michigan Memorial Cemetery, which is in greater Metro-Detroit.

This is a cooperative effort with The Downriver for Veterans, they are leading the effort.  This is a small example of our community involvement.

Our React Foundation is pioneering the way in supportive efforts going to Veteran Support, Suicide Prevention, End Hunger, Children’s Hospital, Animal Rescue, Pride and Breast Cancer.

Each of these React Programs have local organizations attached.  No other cannabis company has this broad community commitment.

Tie this to the quality of our vape cartridges and it is a win-win. 

Q: What are the brands plans and future products?

A: Edibles will be our next product launch.  A gummy line.

Continued expansion, especially as the market evolves, into recreational and allowing lounges for consumption.

Q: Who is the host of PVTV and where is it based?

A: George Sadler and Cody Sadler host at our headquarters in San Diego.  This has been a fun project. The theme is “What has cannabis done for you?”

Amazing what people say.  We have some great guests lined up on the medical, scientific and recreational aspects of this plant.

It is a fun...definitely unfiltered...educational show.  We wanted to provide a platform that would be “adult” without the stoned stigma.  No one smokes on the show.

It is a frank conversation that is entertaining.

Q: What else do you want people to know about?

A: We are always looking outside the market to the future.  Innovation and not being held back by “what the market is saying”.

This mindset has allowed us to be ahead of the curve and not behind it.  We are pivoting.  Striving to improve and stretch.

Elizabeth Hollins Within the Mind of a Budtender - June 2020

Alright, this month is going to be a bit gritty. A tad bit informative, and lot of “listen here”. I think it’s high time it was said, and we all truly listened: this world needs more kindness, and it needs it now. 

As an “essential employee” I have worked through the last few months with no extras or perks, just the same wonderful job that I had before. What did change was our day-to-day operations. Going from business as usual to curbside only is no easy feat. There are countless procedures involved. Add in all the other safety precautions that were deemed necessary, as well as following mandated orders to operate as lean of a staff as possible, I can tell you that we “essential employees” are feeling tired. Not just tired, sometimes we don’t even feel “essential”. Why is that? 

In the last few months that we have had to undergo the Stay Safe, Stay Home order (which I hope is lightening up as you read this), I have witnessed two types of people truly stand out. Those who are kind, patient, even understanding….and those who are not. At my place of employment, we have been honked at, sworn at, yelled at, made to stand in the rain by individuals who don’t care that you’re doing your best to help them while standing there drenched from head to toe. Around the state, other “essential employees” have been spit on, attacked, shot and killed. 

What on this good, green Earth makes anyone think that this kind of behavior is acceptable? We are not children any longer. This is not recess or lunch time. This is life. This is human interaction. You are leaving an impression of yourself, and in these horrible cases listed above, it’s not a good one.

Countless times I have been told “you sound so nice”, “thank you so much for your help”, “you must work with people”. I’ve been asked over and over “how do you do it?” 

Here’s my secret, right here in black and white for all to see - I choose to be kind. 

Empathy is not necessarily something everyone just has and sometimes has to be developed (which can definitely help to play a role in how you treat others; putting yourself in their position). Kindness, however, is a choice that everyone can make right away. After a while, it becomes something you just do but it’s not always easy at first. After all, we all know that people can be difficult. 

Every word, every action, my body movement, even the inflection I place in my voice…these are all active choices. Every interaction, every situation…you can choose to be kind. Adding “please”, and “thank you” to your daily vocabulary will work volumes to start. That’s the first step. After mastering the art of speaking respectfully, and politely, then we can approach the topic “the sales person you just screamed at for selling out of the item you like has worked 10 days straight, is stressed, and is probably trying their best”. 

Did you know, as a consumer in this industry, that there have been several regulation changes recently? Your local provisioning centers don’t get a heads up all the time, they aren’t given a countdown of when these regulations will go into place. They simply get communication from the state saying this is how things are now. 

One of the more recent regulations is that the recreational products made available in the state can no longer come from caregiver derived materials. This cuts out a large part of the market until large scale harvests are more plentiful, and it also will have prices rising across the state on select items. 

The rollout of recreational cannabis in Michigan could have been done better, absolutely, but whether or not that’s the case: we are all here now. We are all active participants now. We can make the choice to be kinder, and to be as knowledgeable about what is happening in the industry as possible, because remember, this is not just your standard retail. 

So the next time your item of choice is not available, or there’s a change in price in your product, take a breath and remember that the sales associate standing in front of you providing you with this valuable information is NOT in control of the State of Michigan, LARA, or the MRA. Technically speaking, that sales associate is going against federal law in order to provide you with your product. Cannabis may be state legal, but it is still, federally, a “dangerous drug”. Hell, it’s still lumped in with Heroin as a Schedule 1.

Not long ago, we were having to meet up with people we had never been introduced to before, in some dimly lit parking lot somewhere to get a bag of brick, or a few homemade brownies that reeked of canna butter. We have come a long way from that place, but we’re not done yet.

This industry is all about helping people. About ending the stigma placed upon a simple flowering plant that has miraculous, HAPPY properties. We should not be letting things make us vengeful, hateful, and out to get each other. We should be lifting each other up, supporting each other, understanding the struggles of others, and spreading the love. 

Too often, we let cloudy, stressful thoughts occupy our mind, and those feelings manifest in our words, and our actions. Since we’re all cannabis advocates here, let’s try this: when you have these feelings, and you’re about to interact with another individual, pretend you just took a hit, or that an edible just kicked in. 

Take a second, and actively choose to be kind. You may notice quite the change in yourself, and in those around you. 

Stay happy. Stay healthy. Stay high.

John Sinclair - Free the Weed #108 - June 2020

A Column By John Sinclair

Hi everybody and welcome to springtime in Detroit, a great season for which we’ve been waiting all through the dread wintertime and its severe disposition.

Now the sun is shining and the temperature is better than bearable and soon the most challenging conditions of the virus protection system will begin to lift and people will start to congregate again after this long long social drought.

Last month I talked at some length about my physical difficulties of the past few years and mentioned my latest fall, now a month ago. The pains have finally abated and I’m good to pursue my rehabilitation program in recovery from open heart surgery this February. It hurt to cough for some time and I had to cut back on my smoking because, like they say in Amsterdam, if you don’t cough, you don’t get off.

Now the pain has receded and I’m trying to build my marijuana habit back up even if I have to remind myself to smoke more joints. Nothing has ever worked for me like enough weed all the time, and as I get the rest of my life back after recovery I want to get all of my head back together too.

I want to send a shout out to my old friend and comrade, Keith Stroup, former director of NORML for many years, who’s celebrating 50 years of the marijuana decriminalization organization founded in 1970. I met Keith in 1972 when we were both campaigning at the invitation of AMORPHIA in support of the first California Marijuana Initiative and, later in the season, in support of marijuana legalization efforts in Arizona and New Mexico.

Keith Stroup is a great guy, vastly intelligent and possessed of a beautifully developed sense of humor. He created NORML out of his own vision of the organization and steered it righteously for many years until his recent retirement. While I’ve always had the utmost respect for Keith and have long considered him a close friend in the struggle, I haven’t always seen eye to eye with NORML in terms of appropriate strategies for legalization of the weed. 

For me, the idea of NORML, or normal, is a frightening concept to begin with. It is the normal people who have constructed the entire ideological mess that is the War On Drugs, and it was the quest for universal normalcy that fueled the War On Drugs for so long. I always felt that what we were doing with marijuana was abnormal, its effects and deep influence on our lives were abnormal, and it was no pathway to normalcy in any form. That was the great thing about it in a societal context—weed did not lead to normalcy.
What bugged me abut NORML for many years was its reluctance to take on the issue of legalization full force and try to end the marijuana front in the War On Drugs once and for all. NORML seemed to be happy with the steady increases in polling numbers showing support for decriminalization rather than in diminishing the number of arrests and incarcerations for weed.

Maybe this is just my own prejudice against the organization, but I felt much better about NORML after other progressive forces had actually legalized marijuana and the decriminalization organization started calling for outright freedom for the weed smoker. They’re pretty forthright now and that’s a very good thing in my estimation. And congratulations to my pal Keith Stroup on his many years of service to all of us,

I’ve been obsessed for some time with some public provocations that I’ve been meaning to write about in this column, so maybe I’ll just rear back right now and let ’em fly. For the longest time _since its inception as a chain— Starbuck’s was known as the place you could cop the daily papers wherever you were and get the national edition of the New York Times. I depended on the Starbucks at Woodward & Mack Avenue, about as far as I was able to travel with the assistance of my walker, to get my Detroit News and Free Press and the much-desired NYTimes.

I did this every day for months after I was confined to my 2nd-floor Cass Corridor apartment, and then one unholy day in August 2019—voila!—Starbuck’s decided that they didn’t want to bother providing this service to its patrons and it removed the newspapers from the store. I understand that this was a universal measure that went into effect at all Starbuck’s outlets in the U.S.—another nail in the coffin of national literarcy in this god forsaken country.

Now I keep up with my newspaper jones through the kind services of my daughters Sunny and Celia, who take care of my shopping needs and manage to procure a New York Times for me almost every day from the splendid University Village store at Third & Forest, not far from my place. 

You’d think, “why doesn’t the guy just subscribe to the papers like a normal American,” but they don’t know that the NYTimes will not deliver anything except the Sunday paper in downtown Detroit, and the Detroit papers will let you have home delivery only on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. It sounds crazy but that’s the way it is.

Speaking of newspapers, another thing that drives me nuts is the always burgeoning obituary section in both Detroit papers in which only white people seem to die in this city, a metropolis which is about 80% African-American in its composition. I imagine that you have to pay to be included in the dying numbers and the black populace isn’t able to make the necessary payments to get their loved ones listed in the newspaper obituary section.

The other thing that drives me batty in contemporary urban life is a phenomenon that doesn’t have a handy name so far but it consists of foot-pedaled wagons stocked with beer drinkers and casks of beer that amble from their downtown pickup spot north on Woodward to my street, Peterboro, turn west two blocks to a place called Detroit Shipping Company, where everybody gets off and buys a drink from the bar, then they continue either down Peterboro or adjoining Charlotte Street back to Woodward and back downtown.

There is nothing uglier nor more offensive in urban life today than these goddamned beerwagons and their drunken customers careening through this battered inner-city neighborhood to the obscene songs and screams of their riders. They had these in Amsterdam but they outlawed them along with a bunch of other tourist atrocities.

Speaking of Amsterdam, I’ll sign off with the dreadful news that the Mayor and City Council are trying to use the coronavirus crisis to call for a shutdown of the red light district and to limit the use of marijuana coffeeshops to residents of the Netherlands—no foreigners allowed. How ugly can these square motherfuckers get? FREE THE WEED! 

—Detroit
May 24, 2020

© 2020 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.

VGIP - Smart Banking Act is in the Pork

Smart Banking Act is in the Pork

By: Ben Horner

Congress considers a second round of stimulus funds to help the nation as the shelter in place orders hamper the US economy. The CARES Act provided individuals with $1,200 and $500 per child. Citizens began receiving checks with a memo from Trump in May. With only a small section of the country opening back up late May, Nancy Pelosi and her colleges put forward a new package, the HEROS Act, which met controversy from the right.  

Conservatives question why democrats have included several provisions in the stimulus package such as aid to state budgets, relief for undocumented immigrants and the SMART BANKING Act.

The SMART BANKING act is a bipartisan bill authorizing US banks to allow state licensed marijuana facilities to open accounts and conduct business in conventional terms. Most cannabis companies conduct cash only business.



Democratic Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell has explained how cannabis is not only positive for medical purposes but potentially a huge economic sector of the economy. Many Cannabis experts see the SMART BANKING act as a precursor to nationally decriminalized cannabis.





Republican candidate John James, who is running against Gary Peters for his seat, is not taking a stand on the cannabis issue. The MM Report reached out several times to James’ headquarters and haven’t received any responses to our questions. 




 Ryan Basore, Cannabis Activist and owner of the cannabis brand Redemption, had the opportunity to meet John James and this is what he told us, “Back in the summer of 2018 John’s comment to me was that he supports legalization, but our proposal was a bit too far in terms of legalization  for him to endorse, but with a bit of a wink.  My take was that as a republican candidate with the national party behind him he couldn’t do it. That is my opinion, so I don’t mean to put words in his mouth.“





The VGIP (Vote Green Initiative Project) is urging everyone to reach out to President Trump, Mitch McConnell and the rest of the US Senate and urge the passing of the SMART BANKING act. The elected officials work for us, but only if we tell them what to do!

Michigan News - June 2020

Tim Beck Gets a Hair Cut

Defiant as always, Godfather of Cannabis Law reform in Michigan, Tim Beck goes to Owosso to get his ears lowered by one of the few barbers in Michigan cutting hair during the Covid shut down.

Karl Manke has made national news for choosing to ignore the Governors executive orders for services providers. Activist from around the state have come defend Karl’s barber shop in down town Owosso.



Telehealth Coming in Wake of Health Crisis

On May 14, 2020, Governor Whitmer signed Executive Order No. 2020-86, encouraging the use of telehealth services during the COVID-19 emergency. Her order is effective immediately and remains in effect during any state of emergency or state of disaster arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. While EO 2020-86 is in effect, the written certification required for issuance of a medical marijuana patient registry card will not require the medical evaluation conducted by a licensed physician to be conducted in person. Relevant medical evaluations may – and to the greatest extent possible must – be conducted via telemedicine.

In 2013, Senator Jones pushed through the Walsh Bills that sought to “clean up” the MMMA. In the bills were restrictions on how doctors certify patients for medical marijuana. From that point till now only face-to-face evaluations were legal. Whether telemedicine could be permissible indefinitely depends on how long the courts allow the legislature to be circumvented, and if the Michigan legislature moves to change the law for this and other issues of public safety due to the virus.

Also, all patients without a caregiver can now apply for (or renew) their Patient Registry Card online, even if their physician is not yet an online provider. Patients who use this process will receive a temporary card via email that is good for 30 days. 

National News - June 2020

Lay-offs at Leafly Amid  $14.8 Million in Investments


Leafly, the Seattle based billionaire backed online weed directory and sales portal, recently filed a new $3.6 million dollar investment, bringing total monies raised to $14.8 million.  Simultaneously, they have issued two rounds of layoffs, and have ‘dialed back on hiring’.

The company began in 2010, then was purchased in 2011 by Seattle marijuana investment firm Privateer Holdings.  In June 2019 they leased a bigger headquarters, moved their offices, hired 150 employees, and in October they launched a new website design with new branding.  Then in January of 2020, in response to a dip in traffic and what former Amazon now Leafly CEO Tim Leslie called “market realities of the technology and cannabis sectors”, Leafly cut 54 of those employees.  Then again in March, this time citing Cornavirus, they laid off 91 employees, for a total cut of over 50% of their workforce, which is now at 133 total.  

In recent months Leafly has seen an uptick in traffic due to social distancing mandates that forced many to order marijuana online.  TechCrunch reported cannabis as ‘one of the bright spots in the pandemic’.  

With investments totalling $111,278.19 per remaining employee, the overhead of a dot com, and online dispensary sales skyrocketing amidst the crisis, CEO Tim Leslie stated “Leafly’s work in the cannabis industry has never been more important, and we look forward to the many opportunities ahead.”

PetSmart Joins the CBD Ranks with Mary’s Tails


Even before the Farm Bill removed hemp as a controlled substance, a survey conducted by the American Veterinary Medical Association found 371 out of 631 people were using a CBD product for their dog.  Independent pet shops were quick to get on board, and even major retailers like Petco have joined in.

Now PetSmart has officially announced they too will carry pet CBD.  Striking a deal to stock Mary’s Tails, part of the Mary’s Brands, the chain will initially offer the products in Colorado, Oregon, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, with plans in the works to expand to additional states in summer 2020.  PetSmart has over 1,600 locations.

PetSmart stated they chose to work with Mary’s due to their “focus on transparency, quality, efficacy and pet-friendly delivery methods.”  Vice President of Merchandising Tim Milano added, “PetSmart continues to build a world class shopping experience through merchandising, product selection, and service.  We evaluated numerous CBD pet brands and selected Mary’s Tails to be the first CBD brand on the shelf.  The addition of Mary’s Tails will answer the call from our consumers seeking options for a highly trusted hemp extract with naturally occurring CBD for pets.”

Social Media Stars Busted with Weed in Texas


Two Los Angeles TikTok stars are facing drug charges after they were arrested during a cross-country road trip.

Officers arrested 20-year-old Bryce Hall and 19-year-old Jaden Hossler on Monday outside Austin, Texas on drug charges.  The two were charged with possession of marijuana.

Hossler was also charged with possession of less than 400 grams of a controlled substance, a felony.

The two were released after posting bail. Texas has not approved recreational adult use of cannabis, but does have a limited THC medical program.

The social media team has a combined 13 million followers on TikTok.

Medical Marijuana in West Virginia Delayed Again


Despite having passed medical cannabis legislation in April of 2017, West Virginia still does not have a system in place for sales.  Now officials say it will be even longer.

Cabinet secretary of the state’s Department of Health and Human Resources Bill Crouch told WVNews that the agency was “looking at making the product available in the spring of 2021.”
Growing and Processing licensees have been reviewed, and now have 30 days to provide supplemental materials and answer the state’s questions.  Provisioning centers are still under review, and marijuana doctors could begin registering at the end of May 2020.  Bureaucratic games are being blamed for, what will be, a four year gap between the vote and the reality.

World News - June 2020

Uruguay Ships 2,205 lbs of Flower to Mystery Buyer


A 2,205-pound (1,000-kilogram) shipment of high THC medical cannabis left Uruguay in October of 2019, considered the largest flower export ever.  To put that into perspective, Germany, the largest importer of marijuana on the planet, buys in total about half that much each month.  According to customs documents, Fotmer Life Sciences, a Uruguay based producer, sent the massive amount of weed to a buyer in Portugal for $3.2 million.  The price included insurance and freight.

What is not known is exactly who purchased the pot, and for what purpose.  Portugese officials have declared the information “is not public”, and marketing director for Fotmer Life Sciences Vera Tochetti has stated that her company can not disclose the name of the buyer.

CBD Extracted From Orange Peels Revealed in Japan


Hiro International, a Japanese fruit and fruit juice import company who specializes in extracts such as banana, red bean, and horse placenta, has announced they can now extract CBD from orange peels.  

Spokesperson for Hiro International, Ryouske Koseki, also states that orange peel CBD, since it is not derived from hemp, contains 0.0% THC.  He claims the two CBD are identical in structure, “With Orange CBD, you get the same ingredient, same effects and there’s no danger in terms of legality.  It also provides a different story of CBD for the consumer that sounds better than being derived from the marijuana plant.”

The company had initially created the product for domestic use in Japan, where marijuana is still quite illegal.  But the international reception Orange CBD received at CosmeTokyo, a cosmetic trade show, has the company thinking otherwise, “We didn’t expect so many international visitors.  This is only the first day and judging by the reaction, there are a lot of people who are interested.  Now we will have to decide if we still want to focus on the domestic market or take on overseas as well.”

Canada’s Aurora Buys U.S. Based Reliva, Sees ‘Surge’


“It’s immediate access into the world’s largest cannabinoid market,” said Aurora Cannabis Executive Chairman and interim CEO Micheal Singer of the purchase by his company of Reliva, “I think the Reliva acquisition is a responsible strategic entry into the U.S. market; and for Aurora, delivers a key aspect of our reset plan.”  Reliva has access to 20,000 retail locations in the U.S., including Circle K convenience stores.

In the deal, Reliva stakeholders will receive $40 million in Aurora shares.  These shares are being touted as surging 120% since May 14 when Aurora announced a narrower quarter-over-quarter loss, relative to the 90% loss in value the stocks have seen over the past 12 months.

In February 2020 Terry Booth retired from Aurora as CEO, and the company laid off 500 employees while writing down approximately $700 million in product and equipment.  

Newborn in England First to Use Cannabis Treatment


Oscar Parodi was born on March 11 at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, in critical condition, and was immediately transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit for a 72 hour cooling therapy.  Chelsea, his mother, explains what happened next, “I was approached after the birth about taking part in this study and I consulted my mum and my brother who is training to be a paramedic.  It was hard but I wanted to do everything I could to help my baby boy.  Oscar was in the hospital for nine days and he was being monitored 24/7.”

Professor Paul Clarke, a consultant neonatologist at NNUH, was excited when she accepted, “This is the first time a cannabis-derived medicine has been tested intravenously in human babies.  It is hoped that it will be good for preventing seizures and protecting the brains of newborn babies with HIE.”  Neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a condition which causes brain injury to babies.

A second child has since been born and placed on the trial, which consists of standard hypothermia treatment where the whole body is cooled down to 33.5c, then a single dose of the trial drug, or placebo, followed by tests.  The trial also uses more advanced brainwave monitors on the babies, ensuring any seizures or changes in activity are noticed.  Clarke was sure to explain, “As with any study of a new medicine there may be unexpected side effects and unknown risks.  With this in mind the trial has been carefully desgined to make it as safe as possible, and so we are only giving the babies a minscule dose at the beginning, and we monitor them even more closely than usual.”