Cheddar's weekly series CannaBiz tracks the latest trends and news in the expanding marijuana market. Cheddar's Brad Smith and Hope King explore how marijuana advocates are taking on the legality of the drug at the federal level, and how companies are capitalizing on this market in Canada.
Five plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the DEA and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. It challenges the listing of marijuana as a schedule I drug, which classifies the drug as having no medical use and it cannot be legally prescribed. Jose Belen, U.S. Army combat veteran and one of the plaintiffs in this case, and attorney Joseph Bondy explain why they were inspired to fight for this cause.
"Cannabis for me has allowed me to feel emotion again--to just simply function," says Belen who has suffered from PTSD. "It's not a cure, but it's allowed me to find my smile again. For me Cannabis is life-saving."
Marijuana legislation in Canada is going to take a little longer than expected. The nation's health minister says the law will go into effect closer to August. Alan Brochstein, Founder of New Cannabis Ventures and 420 Invest, explains the market opportunity he sees in this emerging market.
"I think its actually a positive because right now there's not a lot of inventory out there," said Brochstein. "If we want this to be a really good transition these companies need to be built up."
This week a major Canadian insurance company announced plans to add medical marijuana coverage. Sun Life Financial will cover this type of treatment in group plans starting in March.
"The world is their oyster right now," says Brochstein about the market opportunity for Cannabis in Canada. "I wish we'd (United States) would move toward Canada, but slow progress is better than no progress."
Adam Spiker is executive director of the Southern California Coalition, which is an organization dedicated to helping organizations, advocacy groups, and businesses coalition build and understand the cannabis industry.
Spiker sits down with Alyssa Julya Smith in Los Angeles to talk about how to implement responsible policies in Los Angeles, the state of California, and at the federal level. He explains that the city of Los Angeles is the biggest cannabis market in the world, but has been slow to roll out licenses across the city.
Spiker also discusses the need for more resources to go through all the applications, both for distributors and cultivators who are trying to legally expand their business. Spiker also emphasizes that he believes the state will do everything in their power to protect business from the threat of federal regulations and roadblocks.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
