USA: Banking, Public Opinion, Public Housing, National Cannabis Bar Accociation, High Times Merger, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Washington & MJ Freeway

BANKING

Senators Vote Against Amendment Allowing Cannabis Businesses to Open Bank Accounts

PUBLIC OPINION

Title: Poll: U.S. Support for Marijuana Legalization at an All-Time High

Author: High Times

Date: 21 June 2018

URL: https://hightimes.com/news/poll-u-s-support-for-marijuana-legalization-at-an-all-time-high/

Extract:

A new poll shows that support for the legalization of marijuana in the U.S. is at an all-time high. The survey found that 68% of voters now support legalizing cannabis. Research firm GBA Strategies conducted the online poll of 1,000 registered voters between April 25 and May 1. The Center for American Progress (CAP) commissioned the study and then released the results on Wednesday.

Ed Chung is the vice president of Criminal Justice Reform at CAP. He said that the poll’s results are a signal to federal lawmakers, noting that state and local jurisdictions have already led the way.

PUBLIC HOUSING

Title: Bill Introduced to Allow Marijuana in Public Housing in Legal States

Author: High Times

Date: 21 June 2018

URL: Extract: https://hightimes.com/news/bill-introduced-allow-marijuana-public-housing-legal-states/

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has introduced a bill in Congress that would allow marijuana in public housing in states with legalized cannabis. Current regulations forbid all forms of cannabis, including medical marijuana, in all federally assisted housing. Norton’s bill, House Resolution 6152 (H.R. 6152) would apply to residents of both public housing and those in the Section 8 housing program.

Norton signed the bill at a ceremony in her Washington, D.C. office on Tuesday. Also at the ceremony was Sondra Battle, a resident of the District of Columbia and medical marijuana patient. Battle lives in assisted housing and uses medically prescribed cannabis to treat fibromyalgia. With Battle were Adam Eidinger and Nikolas Schiller, who together founded cannabis advocacy group DCMJ.

During the signing event, Norton announced that she would honor Battle in the title of the bill. In a press release, she also expressed gratitude to her guests for bringing the issue to her attention.

NATIONAL CANNABIS BAR ASSOCIATION

They want you to vote

Board of Directors
Meet Your Nominees – Election Takes Place June 25-29, 2018

As a member, you play an integral role in shaping the policies and priorities of the association as we enter an environment of regulated cannabis businesses. One of your major responsibilities is voting into office our Board of Directors.

The diversity of legal expertise that is represented by our Board is key to our success, and we encourage participation by all of our members to elect a board that is diverse in terms of their legal practice, substantive concentrations, background, jurisdictional locations, strengths, and bar membership, among other things.

NCBA board members are generally elected for a term of two years. However, to begin staggered board terms, while all thirteen seats are currently up for election, six of those seats will be chosen at random to serve a term of a single year.

Please familiarize yourself with our nominees prior to the opening of the election on June 25. To provide you information and a background on our candidtates, each has provided you a personal statement. We encourage you to look up your potential future board members to further familiarize yourselves with them. Your nominees for NCBA’s 2018 Board of Elections are:

Current members will receive an email on the morning of June 25, 2018 with detailed directions on how to vote and a link to the voting platform, and the election will remain open until June 29, 2018 at midnight pacific time. If you do not receive this email, please sign up for a new membership here, and the link will be forwarded to you.

Thank you for your participation!

https://www.canbar.org/board-of-directors-nominees/

HIGH TIMES MERGER

From the Seyfarth Shaw Blog..

Origo Acquisition Corporation Secures Additional Time for High Times Merger

By Mark Katzoff on June 14, 2018

POSTED IN INVESTMENT/VENTURE CAPITAL

In our June 12 blog post, we reported on a potential acquisition in the cannabis industry:

As an illustration of the potential difficulties in an acquisition by a SPAC, in July 2017 it was announced that the publisher of High Times was going to be acquired by a SPAC, Origo Acquisition Corp. The merger has yet to be consummated, and Origo has scheduled a stockholder meeting for June 12 looking for approval to extend the time that Origo has to close a transaction before having to dissolve.

On June 12, 2018, Origo Acquisition Corporation obtained stockholder approval to amend its corporate charter to extend its deadline to consummate an acquisition from June 12, 2018 to September 12, 2018. Origo had previously entered into a merger agreement with Hightimes Holding Corp., the publisher of High Times Magazine. The amendment gives Origo an additional 3 months to consummate the merger. As a special purpose acquisition company, if Origo does not consummate the merger with Hightimes, or another qualifying acquisition by September 12, 2018, it will be forced to liquidate.

ARKANSAS