Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017 • Lassen County Cannabis Association holds press conference — locals should get first bite at cultivation in county

Publisher’s note: These stories originally appeared in the Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017 edition of the Lassen County Times.

On Monday, Feb. 13, local gathered at Memorial Park for a barbeque and press conference held by the Lassen County Cannabis Association.

A representative of the Lassen County Cannabis Association ran the meeting.

The representative said that with the recent passage of laws in California regarding cannabis use, both recreational and medical, came new avenues for locals to participate in the legal cannabis industry.

“These new laws have also brought in out of state interest to Lassen County that would like to exploit these new opportunities,” said the representative.

According to the representative, Supervisor Tom Hammond said he was approached by a Colorado company that was interested in building eight 10,000 square foot growing facilities in the Doyle area.

“Even though the Lassen County Board of Supervisors has banned cultivation of cannabis, they are entertaining the idea of allowing the Colorado company to engage in commercial cannabis activity in Lassen County,” said the representative. “This opportunity should be given to locals first.”

The representative said the company would be presenting its business plan to the board of supervisors at the Feb. 21 meeting.

The Lassen County Cannabis Association urged everyone in attendance to attend the meeting.

Treasurer Chiang, working group meet in Los Angeles to find ways to provide banking services to $7 billion legal cannabis industry
California’s $7 billion a year legal cannabis industry is about to launch 10 months from now. But having no access to basic banking services enjoyed by other businesses hampers it. Cannabis firms are being forced to deal almost entirely in cash, creating a rich environment for violent crimes, money laundering and other illegal activity.

State Treasurer John Chiang and the Cannabis Banking Working Group will meet Friday in Los Angeles to define the banking issues facing the cannabis industry, financial institutions and public agencies. The group will outline the legal hurdles for solving these problems.

The group’s efforts to forge a compromise between the state’s voter-approved cannabis legislation, Proposition 64, and federal criminal statutes now takes on new urgency with the confirmation of Jeff Sessions, a strong foe of cannabis legalization, as United States Attorney General.

The 16-member group is comprised of representatives from banks, taxing authorities, local and state government regulatory agencies, law enforcement and the cannabis industry.

The Cannabis Banking Working Group is scheduled to hear from: Rick Garza, Director of the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board; Cora Parker, Deputy Treasurer for the State of Oregon; Kenneth Berke, Co-founder and CEO of PayQuick; and Julie Anderson Hill, professor at University of Alabama School of Law, an expert on the U.S. Constitution’s “supremacy clause.”

The Cannabis Banking Working Group is charged with finding practical and timely ways to address the state-federal conflict over how to bank money generated by the cannabis industry.