When Californians go to the polls on November 8 to vote, among other things, on Proposition 64, legalizing marijuana for recreational use, many of the state’s licensed pot farmers will vote against it. In Massachusetts, opponents of that state’s legalization initiative, known as Question 4, are using an argument much like that of California’s recalcitrant marijuana growers.

The issue is who will benefit? Among other concerns with Prop 64, California growers worry that the size of the state’s potential market for legal marijuana will attract big business players who will simply overwhelm the small grow operations that currently supply California’s medical marijuana market.

In Massachusetts, the initiative is running into opposition from the Catholic church, the Massachusetts Medical Society, the governor and the mayor of Boston. A state legislator also raised the issue of who will benefit:

What this is really about is commercializing big marijuana in Massachusetts. This ballot question is written by and for the marijuana industry and unfortunately it puts their profits ahead of the health and safety of our children and our communities.

The so-called marijuana industry is not exactly the oil industry, at least based on size and influence. But California’s pot market has been estimated to reach nearly $6.5 billion by 2020 if Prop 64 is approved. It’s not difficult to imagine large pharmaceutical companies buying into, and even eventually controlling, a market that size.

The Vote to Legalize Marijuana in California Might Have Its Greatest Impact Elsewhere

Would teen use of marijuana drop and roads become safer if Californians vote to legalize cannabis in November, as Rep. Ted Lieu has claimed? Or would pot shops begin luring kids with clever TV commercials that push drug-infused candy, as Sen. Dianne Feinstein has argued?

In August, those wildly divergent claims landed before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne W.L. Chang, who had to referee a battle over dueling assertions that proponents and opponents wanted to include in the state’s official voter guide.

Her ruling?

Both sides were exaggerating and needed to tone down their depictions of a California future with legal, recreational cannabis.

November’s election is polarized like few in modern memory, from the presidential choices on down. But the intensity of the fight over Proposition 64, which would legalize the recreational use of cannabis, has stood out. Out of 17 controversial initiatives on the state ballot – including efforts to increase gun control and ban the death penalty – the question about pot is the only one so far that’s led to lawsuits.

Read more at The Orange County Register.

Pets on Pot: The Newest Customer Base for Medical Marijuana

When Lisa Mastramico needed relief for her ailing tabby, Little Kitty, she turned to an unlikely source: marijuana.

At 12 years old, the cat had arthritis. For a long while she spent her days hiding in a closet, where Ms. Mastramico had built her a bed of plush blankets. After trying various supplements that proved ineffectual, she went to a meeting for Women Grow, an industry group for cannabis entrepreneurs.

She was not sold on the idea right away. “My concern was that it’s not my place to get my cat high,” said Ms. Mastramico, the director of a public access television network in Long Beach, Calif.

But with Little Kitty becoming increasingly isolated, it was time to give it a try. She got a medical marijuana card and purchased two edible oils made for pets and derived from cannabis that she squirts into her pet’s mouth.

Read more at The New York Times.

Potential Pot-Growing Industry More Subdued Ahead of November Vote That Could Legalize Medical Marijuana

Florida voters will take another crack at legalizing medicinal marijuana with a referendum nearly identical to the one that failed two years ago.

But this year’s run-up to the vote is much more subdued for would-be purveyors of the weed.

One of the cottage businesses in 2014 before the vote on the measure that would create legal marijuana growing operations in Florida was the proliferation of seminars and how-to advisory classes that cost hundreds of dollars for those who were considering getting into the commercial sale of marijuana.

Those are almost nonexistent this year.

In Jacksonville alone, a seminar at a hotel near the Jacksonville International Airport was sold out with dozens of participants two months ahead of the vote in 2014 that would ultimately be narrowly rejected by the voters.

Richard Blau, an attorney for the Regulated Products Group for the law firm GrayRobinson, said the hype over the possible legalization of medicinal marijuana two years ago was a huge mistake.

Read more at The Florida Times-Union.

Congress Fails to Pass VA Medical Marijuana Provision

Veterans pressing Congress to let VA doctors recommend medical marijuana for their patients in states where the drug is considered legal had their hopes dashed last month when Congress passed a pared version of the Veterans Affairs funding bill without the marijuana provision.

The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill originally included the Veterans Equal Access amendment, which would have let Veterans Affairs physicians discuss medical marijuana with their patients and complete the paperwork required by some states to purchase it.

The amendment passed the House in May, 295-129, and the Senate, 89-8. But in June, the provision was removed from the final version of the larger appropriations bill by the conference committee established to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions.

Supporters such as Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., lobbied congressional leaders to reinstate the amendment but they were unsuccessful.

Read more at Military Times.

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