California Pot Industry Important Developments 2017

The North American cannabis industry witnessed several events in 2017 that will fully totally transform it. While the biggest of the events takes place on Jan. 1 when the California fully legalizes pot for recreational use, there are other important events that you should know.

New companies joined the pot industry with plans to benefit from the surge in weed demand as a result of the January 1 event. Pot sales are really increasing and more is yet to come. One example is Red Coast Winery that invented an alcohol-free weed-infused wine.

While there are many weed-infused alcoholic drinks in the market, this one caught the attention of many as the inventors discovered a method to remove all the alcohol content from wine before infusing it with weed. Also, the company says this will be a hangover-free drink. The products will be released into the market come New Year’s Day and they say more will be released before end of 2018.

The state has spent most of 2017 to prepare for the start of the year preparing for full legalization of weed. It’s important to note that both the local, state, and federal governments have a role to play in weed legislation. The federal government hasn’t made any changes to its law to favor weed.

Major cities including San Francisco and Los Angeles have been busy scrambling to approve their strict marijuana regulations that all cannabis dispensaries, businesses, consumers, grower, shipping companies, and other weed industry stakeholders within their area of jurisdiction have to follow. Most of these rules are meant to improve public safety.

To date, very few local governments have signed off on rec sales.

Businesses have been keeping up-to-date with new pot industry regulations and reading them to know the requirements so they can come in compliance with them.

Also, many companies have been studying the market to come out with accurate predictions for the industry. One such business is the Marijuana Business Daily, which projected that once recreational weed kicks in, the industry will be worth up to $4 billion annually.

If the projection withstands the test of time, it would be consistent with the other US industry’s figure for last year. This figure does not include another projected $1 billion for use of pot for medical purposes.

Recently state officials released 276 pages of regulations for the weed industry. Stoners will have to wait two months for the state to launch its new rules for medical and recreational use of weed. The state is finalizing everything so the industry can run smoothly come 2018.

The newly released law is a must read for any California stoner, but if you would like an overview before you grasp your own copy to read, here are the most basic regulations:

People who want to use marijuana for medical purposes can possess a maximum of eight ounces of weed. Those who use weed for recreational purposes can buy at most one ounce of bud, six immature plants, and eight grams of concentrates.

Recreational use weed samples or products may not be given away for free.

Weed delivery may not be done by bicycle or drone, only by enclosed automotive.

All weed products must pass quality control test for chemicals such as pesticides, solvents, heavy metals, added caffeine, and nicotine.

No one should consumer an edible with more than 10 milligrams of weed per serving; and no packaged products may have more than 100 milligrams of weed.

Cannabis products may not contain seafood, nicotine, dairy (except butter), or alcohols (except tinctures).

Recreational use concentrates, tinctures, and topicals not to have more than 1,000 milligrams of THC per package; medical versions of these products may have at most 2,000 milligrams of THC.

While the state has come such a long way in 2017, it has several miles to go next years before the industry transforms to what they want it to be. Tight regulatory legislation is an absolute necessity for this industry as it’s a very sensitive one.