Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.
One of the biggest problems the legal marijuana industry faces is the lack of access to banking services. California is looking to change that.
- California treasurer lays out first steps toward state marijuana bank
(Marijuana Business Daily: News, 31 January 2018)
Following up on a plan he announced last year, California state Treasurer John Chiang on Tuesday outlined the foundation for a public bank for cannabis businesses so they won’t have to operate on a cash-only basis.
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State treasurer, attorney general team up to explore creating California pot bank
(Los Angeles Times, 30 January 2018)
California’s treasurer and attorney general will study whether the state should create its own publicly owned bank to serve the state’s now-legal cannabis industry.
In other Golden State news, the city of San Francisco is planning to wipe the slate clean as regards convictions for marijuana.
- San Francisco plans to wipe out thousands of pot convictions
(Albany Democrat Herald: National, 1 February 2018)
San Francisco’s district attorney said Wednesday that city prosecutors will toss out or reduce thousands of criminal convictions for marijuana dating back decades, a move allowed under the 2016 state ballot measure legalizing recreational sales of pot.
- San Francisco Erases Thousands of Marijuana Convictions
(Fortune, 1 February 2018)
Misdemeanors will be dismissed and felony cases reviewed.
And Cannasure Insurance Services will begin offering coverage to the marijuana industry.
- New Cannasure Program to Offer All Coverage Lines to Cannabis Industry
(Insurance Journal: News, 1 February 2018)
Cannasure Insurance Services, an cannabis insurance MGA and wholesale broker, is launching a new comprehensive coverage program for the cannabis industry.
- Cannasure to launch comprehensive coverage program for marijuana industry Feb. 1
(Crain’s Cleveland Business: Breaking News, 31 January 2018)
The Westlake-based niche insurance firm exclusively serving the legal cannabis sector has been working to develop its own in-house program for several years.