 We are Pro Cannabis Media. Hi, everyone. Welcome to We Talk News. I'm Jimmy Young, the founder of Pro Cannabis Media. Kurt Dalton from cannabis.net is my usual co-anchor, but he's on assignment this week. Filling in is the Rye Russell from weedbudsradio.com. We call him the main man. So, Rye, what is We Buds Radio? We Buds Radio is a fantastic podcaster. We have amazing guests from all over the cannabis industry coming to break down policy, science, and draw a connection for the audience. Sounds like Pro Cannabis Media. I like that. You know, you have big shoes to fill, right? But we'll start in your home state of Maine. They open for adult use retail sales on October 9th and a handful of locations around the state, but not in Portland, Maine, the state's biggest city. That's where 12 out of 43 applicants have been disqualified for a variety of reasons. So what is going on in Maine's biggest city? Can you explain the Portland license-scoring matrix? I don't know that anybody can explain that matrix, Jimmy, and I think that's part of the problem, is that they broke away from what we were seeing in a lot of other districts and municipalities. There was a much more streamlined, much more effective process. And I think that reduced ambiguity. I don't think that these applications were poor by any stretch of the imagination. I think that they were up against some pretty tough criteria. There you go. And I know that the city manager, John Jennings, is involved with this. Is he not? I see the entire city of Portland really struggling. You know, it's something that everybody wants, but politicians have a way to make things a little bit more confusing than they need to be. Well, he was an assistant coach with the Celtics way back when in the 90s when he was a regular on Jimmy Young Sports World on NECN, and maybe a little phone call to my old friend, John, might help the process, although I doubt it. Now, you know, that's not the only New England state or city that's holding up the growth of the cannabis industry. Just when you thought Vermont was going to be open for retail sales, the governor, Phil Scott, is insured the legislation on his desk that already has been approved by the Vermont House and the Vermont Senate goes far enough on social equity, even though expungement of cannabis possession records is part of that bill. Right. You got any insight on what's going on in Vermont? Same type of situation, Jimmy. If you have your branches of government saying that they've got a program ready and you have a population that is telling you they're ready. There was an interesting statement, though, that the social equity has been challenged by some. I'm curious to know who the some is because what it looks like if you come in looking from the outside, Jimmy, it looks like Vermont wants it and it looks like there's somebody holding up the process. Now, and who knows who Phil Scott is listening to on his private counsel on this, but it obviously upset a lot of the advocates in the state. But stay tuned. We'll have to see what happens in Vermont. Now that that bill is on their governor, Phil Scott's desk. Now it's time to go to the Big Apple for our weekly Wall Street report with Green Market reports. Deborah Borcher dead. You may recall a couple of weeks ago. Ianthus said its shareholders approved of a recapitalization plan that effectively dropped the shareholders ownership to less than 3% of the company. Well, one group fought back and as a result, the judge said that Ianthus must now go to the CCCA, which is basically bankruptcy court in Canada. This week, Juicy Holdings announced rising revenue after releasing preliminary financial results. The company is estimating revenue of $24 million for the third quarter that ended in September. That's a sequential increase of 61%. The guidance for revenue for the fourth quarter ending in December is now expected to be at the high end of the previously announced range of $25 to $30 million. And they said they expect to report positive adjusted EBITDA billionaire investor Nelson Peltz has resigned as senior advisor to Aurora Cannabis. The company made a big deal about this last year when they brought Peltz on because it gave them a little investor star power. Well, the divorce was quietly noted in an annual meeting update. And that's the big news this week. I'm Deborah Borechart with the Green Market Report for We Talk News. There are a half dozen states that will be voting on the legalization of cannabis in the November election. And just when you thought Arizona would be a slam dunk, a recent poll has shown now there was just a 50-50 shot of it passing. 600 Arizonians were asked whether adult use of cannabis should be legalized and 46% said yes, 45% said no. That means there are still 9% undecided. Amazingly, that same question was asked in July and 62% said yes then and 32% said no. So any idea what's going on there, Rye? Oh geez, I think when you have a population that is cooped up inside for too long, they might expand their mind and evaluate some decisions a little bit differently. So I've been to Arizona, they've got great cannabis and I am very hopeful they can pull this together. There they go. And hopefully the citizens have been enjoying that. Anyway, Nebraska's who advocated for a ballot question to legalize medicinal cannabis were shut down by a state Supreme Court decision a few weeks ago. The court explained their decision was based on the complicated wording of that question. Did that stop the movement? No. Now they're crafting a simpler question and have started a new campaign that should be ready for the next election. Rye, this is why lawyers are the best investment in the cannabis industry. We need to have them. Every business probably should be investing in really strong representation because whenever you leave anything to politicians in one central office, we see how easy it is to blame others and to hold up a process that doesn't need to be held up. Hey, speaking of politicians, now onto Washington, D.C. where the word cannabis appears on the latest house proposal on the COVID relief bill more times than the word jobs. Now here's vote pro podcast co-host Phil Adams with our D.C. Report Bill. Hi, I'm Phil Adams from vote pro podcast and this is the We Talk News D.C. Report. The coronavirus relief legislation released by House Democrats on Monday once again includes banking protections for the cannabis industry. The new COVID legislation contains the text of the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act and could get a floor vote within the week. The Safe Banking Act as it's known protects financial institutions that service state legal cannabis businesses from federal regulators. As a standalone bill, the Safe Banking Act has significant bipartisan support. GOP lawmakers, however, continue to question the relevance of cannabis provisions within a COVID relief bill. Steve Fox, president of cannabis consulting firm VS Strategies, said of the Safe Banking Act, quote, at a time when businesses all over the country are relying on electronic transactions to protect public health, cannabis businesses are being forced to exchange currency. This bill is timely and necessary. For the first time in four years, U.S. marijuana arrests fell in 2019 according to a new federal report. Although cannabis arrests were expected to decline with the rise of state level legalization, that decline had proved elusive from 2016 to 2018. The FBI's uniform crime reporting program shows however, that federal prosecutions of cannabis related offenses dropped by nearly 18 percent last year, as in previous years, the vast majority of those prosecutions were for simple possession. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing a Maryland dispensary operator for sexual harassment of dispensary employees. In a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court against Maryland Health Management and AMMA Investment Group, the EEOC charges that the former general manager of the nature's medicines dispensary in Ellicott City, Maryland, subjected at least three employees to a sexually hostile work environment. The EEOC is requesting a jury trial to determine compensation, as well as an order for the defendants to provide anti-harassment workplace training. That's the Weed Talk News DC report for this week. I'm Phil Adams from Vote Pro Podcast. One more note from our nation's capital. The IRS has asked a federal judge to dismiss Harborside Supreme Court Challenge over the tax rule 280E that bars cannabis companies from taking business deductions like any other business. What do you think that federal judge will rule? Rye against the IRS or for Harborside? I wish I was a judge and I could give this ruling because thankfully I'm on the media site. I'll tell you though, they have deemed this essential, this is an essential business. And when you put those words together, it's very clear to me that if you want jobs that you need to support businesses. So I hope they do the right thing, but who am I? That's right. And even judges have to file their taxes, don't they? I mean, at least we think that's what they have to do. Now in the meantime, on the research front this week, migraines and menopause, another health issue that research shows can be positively affected by cannabis. Did you know 39 million people in the U.S. suffer from migraines? Well, according to the app tracker, migraine buddy, 82% of migraine sufferers have been helped by using cannabis. So right. Do you have or have you know people who suffer from migraines? Absolutely. I've seen it a lot and I think this is going to be a fantastic tool. I was looking at the app store and there's actually quite a few tools available for consumers to download and keep track of what it is they're consuming, how are they consuming it and how it will treat their ailment. That's right. And can a dose is one herb tracker is another. There's quite a few other ones out there of course. Just go to the app store and search cannabis tracking apps and you'll find quite a few. Now, as far as menopause is concerned, that's another issue that women have to deal with and men get a pass on this one. But as partners, it's an issue. Trust me. Sure enough, a recent study by the midlife women's veterans health group in California found that women who experience hot flashes and insomnia can get relief from cannabis 27% of the women surveyed reported cannabis use helps them with those symptoms. But right, this is a veteran study and of course the VA hospital cannot recommend medicinal use because of the schedule one classification. Another reason why it should be decriminalized at the federal level, right? We have to support our veterans. This is not a new concept and so they're make sacrifices for us every day. I think that we can make some sacrifices for them and so this is another way that we can look at ways to not just support the medical uses of cannabis, but also just support those on the front lines. Absolutely. And one nation that does not have this problem with veterans is Canada. That's where it's federally legal and that's where MJ biz dailies International reporter Solomon Israel delivers his Canadian cannabis report Solomon. I'm Solomon Israel from marijuana business daily International and this is your we'd talk news Canadian cannabis report Ontario's government operated online cannabis store says it's beating black market prices. The Ontario cannabis store says the average price for a gram of marijuana from their website was $7.05 Canadian during the first quarter of their fiscal year. In comparison, they said the average price for a gram from illicit marijuana websites was almost $8.00. Meanwhile, Ontario is still lagging behind other Canadian provinces in terms of the number of bricks and mortar cannabis stores with fewer than 200 licenses to date, but that's going to change in the near future. The province has doubled its pace of approvals for marijuana stores and is now issuing 10 new licenses every week and Aurora cannabis is no longer working with billionaire investor Nelson Peltz Peltz had signed on with Aurora last year as a strategic advisor. This week, Aurora said he had resigned from that role to pursue other commitments. You can read all those stories and more at mjbizdaily.com. I'm Solomon Israel from marijuana business daily. Just a reminder that the mjbizdaily 2020 fact book is on sale now at mjbizfactbook.com mjbizdaily announced their hemp industry daily division has formed an alliance with the data analytic mega company Nielsen to provide insights on the CBD and hemp markets for both humans and their pets. One more note from California state cannabis regulators are suing the parent company of cushy punch for manufacturing over $64 million in unlicensed edibles. A 2019 raid found 58 pounds of concentrate at this unlicensed facility and their parent company vertical bliss. Well, they've had their license revoked at another location where they were licensed. But the unlicensed market are now becoming the rightful targets of law enforcement and isn't that a good thing in this legal world or at least the legal word we're trying to create things like this. Jimmy are a stain on the industry. When we are trying to pioneer something, we're trying to build trust with our community activities like this. They really have no place. So I don't think that we're going to find much debate that we're going to find a lot of support when activities like this are conducted no matter where in the country. All right. And did you know that there's a new documentary about to be released by the cannabis International Foundation that proposes that the leaves of the cannabis plant might be the next superfood. And according to cannabis now Dr. William Cortnett explains that when fresh raw cannabis leaves are juiced and introduced to your system, its restorative properties are increased. So that's pretty cool. Do you know anybody who juices marijuana leaves? So I actually just started trying this a few weeks ago. I was invested in a small juice bar many years ago. And so I'm a big proponent of juicing. And so I just attempted this the other day. I'll tell you, I need to do a little work on the taste, but otherwise I am a firm believer. Okay. So here's a tip that I heard from others who are juicing leaves effectively add carrot juice in with those leaves and that'll help your taste. How about that? Is that a good tip? I love carrot juice. So I'm going to take that up immediately. All right. And finally this week, social media platform TikTok has been in the news for many reasons as its ownership has now been taken over by a pair of US based companies. Well, CBD companies are taking advantage of TikTok's reach. CEO of Cannabombs, Lindsey Corum, created a short video that has now reached 1.9 million views, turning into $25,000 in sales about 50 times more than usual for the CBD bath bomb that they use in Cannabombs. Have you ever heard of a CBD bath bomb, right? Absolutely. I have been buying bath bombs for my grandmother and my sister for years and I just tried one about six months ago and every now and then, I'm not a big bath guy, but every now and then that tranquil bath. But I'll tell you, it's just like some of the topicals that we've used. It felt really good on my joints and it was made my skin feel really soft. Well, that's very important, Ry Russel from weedbudsradio.com and I so appreciate you filling in for Curt Dalton this week, but that will do it for this week's Weed Talk News. Special thanks to Ry Russel from weedbudsradio.com for filling in. In the meantime, I'm Jimmie Young from Pro Cannabis Media. Remember, it's a whole new world of weed out there. Use it responsibly. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. We Talk Now, We Talk News and In the Weeds are all available on most major podcast distributors like iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and our friends at clnsmedia.com and our flagship, cannabis.net. So subscribe, share and like our videos on all the social media networks out there, including LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, The Weed Tube and YouTube. Weed Talk and In the Weeds are two productions of Pro Cannabis Media supported by Revolutionary Clinics, one of the top medical cannabis dispensaries in the Massachusetts area. Now with three locations in Greater Boston, two in Cambridge and one on Broadway in Somerville. Rev Clinics has a patient-first mission. They will customize your needs as a medical patient with the proper titration and combination of strains, flavors and products. Rev Clinics, where the patient comes first.