Every week, Psychedelic Times will bring you a few of the most interesting, overlooked cannabis stories that we come across. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep in the loop on marijuana and psychedelic news.

Federal Requests For Patient Info Raise Red Flags In States That Allow Medical Pot Use — Huffington Post

Federal narcotics agents are seeking data on medical marijuana patients, including age, gender and medical condition of registered patients. Of course, officials from the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force say this is just “general demographic data for research,” but it’s worrying state health officials.

Luckily, a few states, including California and Nevada, have only provided public data that is already available on their respective webpages and are not giving over personal information. That’s a good thing, because this kind of data should be considered medical data, which is protected by law.

 

Even If Trump Challenges The Marijuana Industry, The Market Could Hit $18 Billion By 2021 — Forbes

In 2016, retail cannabis sales in the United States were $6.5 billion—but that number could nearly triple by 2021, according to a new report by Greenwave Advisors. California is projected to make up approximately 40 percent of the market. The industry is seeing a huge wave of capital investments as more states enter a 21st Century understanding of marijuana. The report depends on a lot of ifs, but it proves one thing: legal cannabis is big money.

 

Startup Buzzkill: California Bans Drone Delivery Services Of Legalized Pot — Ars Technica

If you’re too lazy (or physically unable) to make it to a dispensary, having your medical marijuana delivered to you via drone may sound like a dream come true. Too bad if you live in California— the state’s Bureau of Cannabis Control has written rules forbidding delivery by any type of autonomous vehicle. Don’t expect drone delivery to pop up in any other states either—people are that paranoid about weed somehow getting somewhere on its own.

 

Uruguay Setting Up New Pot Shops After Challenge By Banks — Associated Press

You may have heard that Uruguay legalized recreational cannabis and just recently opened their state-operated pot shops. However, the United States financial sector isn’t looking kindly on the operation—they threatened to shut down any bank accounts of businesses selling marijuana. So to avoid this problem, the pot shops are just accepting cash only. Checkmate.

 

Senator Introduces Bill To Make It Easier To Do Medical Marijuana Research — The Verge

A senator from Utah, of all places, is behind a new legal effort to ease restrictions on studying cannabis. The Marijuana Effective Drug Study Act of 2017, introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch, would increase the quota for marijuana used in research and help streamline the research approval process. Let’s hope this sucker passes—more research on cannabis is never a bad thing.

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