Friday January 8 2020
In todays report
California Marijuana Workers Should Be Prioritized For COVID Vaccines, Companies Say
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click here for the link to the video on horrible youtube
“Over the course of the last nine months, industry workers have been providing essential medicine to thousands of Californians every day,” the coalition of more than 20 cannabis firms wrote in a letter to the California Department of Public Health’s Community Vaccine Advisory Committee. “Despite numerous health and safety measure instituted at great expense by employers, this work has been done with inherent risk.”
Almost all states where cannabis is legal for medical or recreational purposes declared that the industry serves an essential purpose and could continue to operate amq
id the pandemic. Advocacy groups had pushed governors and state officials to ensure that medical marijuana patients in particular can maintain access to the cannabis they need.
“Despite a global pandemic, California’s cannabis industry has continued to work tirelessly to provide quality products in a safe manner,” David Spradlin, CEO of the marijuana company Perfect Union, said in a press release. “Even after following health and safety measures, cannabis workers face inherent risk going to work and cannot shelter in place.”
“And unlike traditional retail, many that visit cannabis dispensaries are also those most vulnerable to severe COVID-19 complications, including the immune-compromised and elderly,” he said. “I urge state policymakers to explicitly include essential cannabis workers in Phase 1B of the vaccine rollout to keep our patients and staff safe.”
Twenty-three other marijuana businesses signed the letter, including Wyld, Carter’s Aromatherapy Design, Maven Genetics, Megan’s Organic Market, PLUS Products, Loudpack and Vet CBD.
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Biden’s Commerce Secretary Pick Wants Marijuana Sold In Government-Run Stores
President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to run the U.S. Department of Commerce is a governor who supports not only legalizing marijuana but selling it through government-run stores.
Biden announced on Friday that Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) is getting the nod for Commerce secretary, a cabinet position where, if confirmed by the Senate, she will be responsible for representing business community interests and promoting economic growth. And while the incoming president might not be in favor of legalization himself, his nominee to lead the country’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic has come to embrace the policy change, with a unique twist.
In a budget proposal last year, Raimondo called for a state-run regulatory model for cannabis—rather than allowing sales through a privatized commercial market as is the case in all other states that have legalized to date. Having the government control the industry would “allow the state to control distribution, prevent youth consumption, and protect public health,” her proposal to lawmakers said.
“My view: it is only a matter of time,” Raimondo told The Providence Journal last month. “I think we should do it. Yes, I support the state-run model because from all the work we have done it is the most controlled way to do it, arguably the safest, and the way to maximize state revenue.”
Although the would-be commerce secretary wants the government to make money selling marijuana, she is not herself a cannabis enthusiast. She said in an earlier interview that “I’ve never used #marijuana. I’ve never smoked. I’ve never vaped,” calling herself a “super boring governor.”
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https://eatdrinkri.com/2020/08/06/an-open-letter-to-governor-gina-raimondo-from-the-owners-of-the-thirsty-beaver/
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https://www.abc6.com/its-not-the-full-story-woman-who-took-photo-of-governor-raimondo-speaks-out/
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Study suggests West Coast hemp growers escaped smoke damage from wildfires
Preliminary data out of Oregon suggests that industrial hemp crops may have been spared major damage from the West Coast #wildfires that blazed across California, Oregon and Washington and endangered outdoor cannabis operations last year.
According to research by FSOil and Iverson Family Farms #published in late November, hemp plants grown within as little as 8 miles of a wildfire were still found mostly free of contaminants and safe for human consumption.
The results corroborate what the majority of cannabis cultivators in all three West Coast states have said: that their crops were relatively unaffected by smoke and ash, and that they didn’t anticipate a rash of testing-lab failures or product shortages.
Several sources attributed that to the fact the fires mostly hit trees and vegetation, not structures, since buildings that burn usually produce more chemical-laden smoke and ash.
California
The fumes caused minimal damage to crops planted at a certain distance from the wildfires, but California-based Indus Holdings is one of the grow operations in closer #proximity that have been forced to confront the fiscal fallout from the blazes.
The vertically integrated company – which trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol INDS and on over-the-counter markets as INDXF – disclosed in a December regulatory filingthat its greenhouse operations on the central California coast were significantly impacted by the fires and quarterly revenue could shrink by up to $4.5 million because of lower harvest yields caused by “plant stress.”