One marijuana dispensary owner whose business was caught in the chaos stemming from the reaction to rampant police violence over the weekend says he values life and justice over his stolen cannabis merchandise.

Cookies, a well-known dispensary in Los Angeles, was looted during Saturday’s massive protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd. But the brand’s creator and store’s part-owner, the rapper-turned-cannabis-entrepreneur Berner, says he is more concerned about the underlying injustices being highlighted by protestors than the damage to his storefront.

A video on Instagram shows the Cookies location on Melrose being broken into, with people jumping the fence, entering the store, and stealing products. Police are seen driving by in the clip, but no one appears to have been arrested.

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Cannabis dispensaries across the United States are falling victim to looters and in some cases even armed robbers using protests against police brutality and institutional racism as cover.

The protest wave gripping the US was sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who was killed by Minneapolis police officers last week.

According to countless videos uploaded to social media, dozens of cannabis stores were broken into and ransacked.

In San Francisco, SPARC, Mission Cannabis Club, California St. Cannabis Company, The Green Cross, Dr. Greenthumb’s, The Apothecarium, Urbana, Moe Greens, Grass Roots, Connected Cannabis, Dutchman’s Flat, BASA Collective, Blunts+Moore, and Medithrive were looted.

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Cannabis industry advocates applauded House Democrats on Tuesday after a new $3 trillion federal stimulus bill included provisions to allow marijuana businesses access to banking.

Introduced by House speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act includes wide-ranging goals to address the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, from offering financial assistance to state and local governments to forgiving student loan debt.

Wrapped into the massive, 1,815-page bill is an initiative led by Colorado Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter known as the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which would allow legal cannabis businesses to leverage traditional banking services.

In the midst of the pandemic, there is much uncertainty about almost everything, but one thing does seem certain. America is going to be much poorer. Or, to put in a global perspective, America and a few other countries will be much less rich and the rest of the world will be much, much poorer, and no wall or welfare program will protect us.

In Los Angeles, the global center of the entertainment industry, the unemployment rate is already around 50%, and many jobs and businesses are gone forever. The sheer scale of the problems will almost certainly lead to social unrest which will be visible to the world. But so will the solutions, because the world really does look to “Hollywood” for imagination.

Potential cannabis business owners in Los Angeles looking to open new shops are suing the city, claiming the process for applying for a license is “flawed.”

The L.A. Times reports that the lawsuit was filed last week by the Social Equity Owners and Workers Association. They are demanding that the city vet all applications based on a first-come-first-served basis or come up with a new system that is more “equal, fair, and transparent.”

Back in September, when 100 new licenses were expected to be awarded in L.A., hundreds rushed to get in first so that their business would be considered. It has since been revealed that some started their applications before the official 10 a.m launch time. Many claimed that the process wasn’t fair and called for an audit to look more into what happened.

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Are marijuana users at an increased risk of suffering serious complications should they contract the novel coronavirus?

As the COVID-19 pandemic drones on, many are now aware that older adults and people with certain underlying medical conditions are at a higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19. The same is also true for cigarette smokers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But does that increased risk also apply to those who smoke marijuana, a substance that has become increasingly legal in states across the nation in recent years?

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Golden Gate Park’s Hippie Hill, known for its pungent and pervading aroma of marijuana, won’t be nearly as green this 4/20.

The cannabis holiday — which falls on Monday — is an exalted day for pot enthusiasts. But this year, the coronavirus has upended traditional celebrations that typically draw thousands of smoky revelers to the famous San Francisco knoll.

In response to the city’s stay-at-home orders, the organizers of the 420 Hippie Hill festival announced last week they were canceling the event. In past years, tens of thousands of people packed Robin Williams Meadow to pay homage to the cannabis plant with music, merchandise and food, a tradition organizers say dates back to the 1970s.

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Charlotte Figi, a girl with a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome and who helped normalize CBD use for chronic health conditions, died at the age of 13, according to the Realm of Caring Foundation, on Tuesday. She died from complications due to COVID-19, according to the Colorado Sun.

Figi was born with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy that develops in the first year of life. It causes repeated seizures and typically doesn’t respond to existing epilepsy medications. Dravet syndrome can lead to other complications, including developmental disabilities. Figi’s parents shared she could have as many as two seizures an hour at its worst Figi was nearly out of treatment options when her father saw another child with Dravet syndrome responded to CBD.

A lot of small businesses have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its global spread. I wanted to give a firsthand account of how this situation has personally impacted my company and those I work with, as well as offer some perspective to help businesses move forward.

I am the cofounder of Darkroom, a digital-marketing agency that helps ecommerce companies build their brands and drive revenue through online channels. We also work extensively with sourcing networks and are in the process of launching a luxury sneaker brand called NERA.