Alison Ettel, CEO of TreatWell Health, was thrust into the national limelight over the weekend after she was caught on video while allegedly calling the police on an 8-year-old black girl who was selling water on a sidewalk in San Francisco. According to news reports, Ettel, who is white, was upset that the girl did not have a permit to sell water.

"She asked me where's my permit? And I didn't know what a permit was," the girl told CBS News.

The viral video then produced the hashtag #PermitPatty and a subsequent wave of business backlash against Ettel and TreatWell Health.

So my little cousin was selling water and didn't have a permit so this lady decided to call the cops on an 8 year old. #PermitPatty pic.twitter.com/SiL61pnAgl

— Raj ?? (@_ethiopiangold) June 23, 2018

As of Monday morning, Magnolia Wellness in Oakland, Calif., had pulled TreatWell's products from its line of vendors and publicly boycotted the company.

“As of [June 23], Magnolia will no longer be carrying Treatwell Tinctures. After seeing this video of their CEO, calling the police on an 8-year-old entrepreneur selling water on a hot day, we decided without hesitation that we could no longer patronize her company,” according to a Magnolia Wellness Instagram post. “To our amazing patients who use the Treatwell products, please know we are working to ensure we can bring on some new amazing and ethical brands. Treatwell was one of our best-selling products but to us, integrity is always before products. For our remaining inventory, we are doing blow-out deals and donating all proceeds to a local non-profit.”

SPARC, Barbary Coast and Berkeley Patients Group have similarly decided to stop selling TreatWell products in their stores, according to Leafly. And Leafly has pulled TreatWell products from its products and brands listings.

“It was stupid,” Ettel told Huffington Post. “I completely regret that I handled that so poorly. It was completely stress-related, and I should have never confronted her. That was a mistake, a complete mistake. Please don’t make me sound horrible.” 

In a 21-10 vote, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee shot down an amendment that would have lent support to the cannabis industry’s need for banking resources. This latest move comes just a week after the committee approved protections for the medical marijuana industry that shielded businesses from U.S. Department of Justice prosecution. 

This amendment, part of a broader budget bill, would have protected financial institutions that opened accounts with licensed marijuana businesses.

"The Senate Appropriations Committee chose to bury its head in the sand rather than make it easier for licensed and regulated marijuana businesses to operate safely, transparently, or effectively," Justin Strekal, political director for NORML, told Forbes. "It's absurd." 

Top photo courtesy of Adobe Stock

Santa Barbara, CA – PRESS RELEASE -- June 21,2018 – Canndescent announced today it has received Red Herring's Top 100 North America award, a prestigious accolade which honors the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the North American business region. This is the first time a cannabis company has received or been nominated for this globally recognized award.

Canndescent has turned what many perceive as an agricultural commodity, cannabis flower, into the leading, luxury brand in the industry.  In doing so, it has served as the tip of the sword, mainstreaming the cannabis category and redefining public perception. Since inception, the company has innovated the cannabis market and made it more consumer-friendly, becoming the first cultivator on the planet to abandon strain names and market cannabis flowers based on effect—Calm, Cruise, Create, Connect, and Charge.

The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from all of North America and evaluated them on 20 main quantitative and qualitative criterion, which include disruptive impact, market footprint, proof of concept, financial performance, technology innovation, social value, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.

Receiving the Top 100 award on behalf of his company, founder and CEO, Adrian Sedlin said, “The cannabis industry is now disrupting business, society, politics, culture, health and leisure, and this award is one more nail in the coffin ending prohibition.” Sedlin added, “I really see this as an industry achievement award, and we share it with all the other great companies in the cannabis industry who’ve been innovating and swinging hammers to redefine the industry.”

Canndescent received this award at the Red Herring North America Forum in Marina Del Rey, at a special awards ceremony on the evening of June 20.

LONDON (Reuters) - Evidence that cannabis can ease epilepsy and other conditions is building as a British company counts down to what would be the first U.S. government approval for a prescription drug derived from the marijuana plant.

GW Pharmaceuticals, which has spent 20 years developing medicines from cannabis, is hoping for a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) green light by June 27, after winning support from an advisory panel in April.

Some parents already use cannabis to help children with severe forms of epilepsy, but such therapy is not monitored or licensed.

Scientists told a briefing in London on Thursday that new research was unlocking the potential of certain cannabis compounds.

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