Name: Derek Rayhorn

Larger cannabis companies possess the resources but often lack the local-level trust and connections needed to cultivate a culturally inclusive industry.

Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM) works to create that bridge, founder and CEO Roz McCarthy says. 

Through nine national programs, such as Cannabis Business Licensing Bootcamp, which offers education for minority, women, veteran and small business owners, M4MM equips its clients with information, referrals, mentors and other resources needed to navigate the cannabis industry. 

M4MM, a nonprofit organization that launched in 2016 in Orlando, Fla., has 27 state chapters throughout the U.S.; international chapters in Toronto, the U.K. and Jamaica; and two chapters at historically Black colleges and universities. 

While M4MM has fostered trust in Black, Hispanic, veteran and other communities through state-level volunteers, the organization’s next focus is to help build relationships, uniting its clients with cannabis organizations, businesses and entrepreneurs, McCarthy tells Cannabis Business Times. 

Tony Lange: What is M4MM most proud of accomplishing as an organization in 2021? 

New Jersey residents are ready for adult-use cannabis, but the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) is not.

The commission missed another self-imposed deadline March 15, the 90-day target date to finish reviewing applications for potential adult-use cannabis cultivators.

During the commission’s last regular meeting, executive director Jeff Brown asked for patience in the review process, which has become more time consuming than expected because of a decision to allow applicants to amend their submissions if found to be flawed, The Press of Atlantic City reported.

“Here we are, moving through hundreds of applications, ready to kick off this legalized market under an entirely new framework,” Brown said. “We are making tremendous progress.”

The cultivation application deadline isn’t the first target CRC officials have missed. The Garden State also missed a Sept. 18 deadline to begin accepting and processing business license applications from potential cultivators, manufacturers and retailers, as well as a Feb. 22 deadline to allow operational medical dispensaries to begin serving adult-use shoppers.

Brown said last month that one of the factors holding up the retail launch includes a lack of confirmation from local municipalities, where officials must provide in writing that they support the medical cannabis cultivators and dispensaries in their communities transitioning to the adult-use market, NJ.com reported.

Cannabis sales in California are on the rise, but the state’s regulated industry continues to struggle.

But if it’s not sales numbers holding back licensed operators from thriving, then what is?

According to Jocelyn Sheltraw, Director of Industry Relations for Headset, a provider of cannabis data and marketing solutions, the biggest hurdles for California’s licensed cannabis businesses are:

“It’s just a recipe for disaster,” Sheltraw tells Cannabis Business Times. “It’s just created turmoil on the cultivation side.”

RELATED: ‘Surviving is Thriving’ in California’s Cannabis Market

Pennsylvania lawmakers attempting to exercise due diligence on crafting adult-use cannabis legislation have taken a one-sided approach, according to one legislator.

The state’s Senate Law & Justice Committee held a series of three hearings, each extending beyond two hours, when body members heard from a mixture of testifiers, including law enforcement officials during a Feb. 7 hearing; and individuals who played active roles in legalization efforts in other states during a Feb. 28 hearing.

In their concluding hearing held March 14, committee members heard from industry professionals and patient advocates with connections to Pennsylvania’s existing medical cannabis program.

Sen. Mike Regan, the committee’s chair and a former law enforcement officer who plans to introduce an adult-use bill in the General Assembly, said during the final session that it was important to hear from the medical cannabis regulatory oversight personnel in the state Department of Health.

“We’re fortunate to already have an established medical marijuana program in Pennsylvania, which has laid the basic groundwork for licensing, growing, manufacturing and selling cannabis through a state regulated system,” he said. “As we will hear today, our medical program is not without its faults. I look forward to learning about this so that we can help Pennsylvania’s 600,000 patients and caregivers while also formulating an oversight structure for adult-use marijuana that will be regarded for its desire and ability to work with the industry and advocate for its success.”

But at the conclusion of Monday’s hearing, Sen. Judy Ward called the hearings one-sided.

Georgia lawmakers who have been searching for a way to jumpstart the state’s stalled medical cannabis program made progress March 14 when a House committee approved legislation that would allow regulators to redo the licensing process, according to Capitol Beat.

House Bill 1425, sponsored by Rep. Bill Werkhiser (R-Glennville), would scrap the current program, as well as the licenses that the state tentatively issued last year, and authorize a new request for proposals (RFP) from companies looking to produce and sell low-THC oil to Georgia’s registered patient base.

After years of regulatory limbo that allowed registered patients to legally possess—but not purchase—the oil, which can contain no more than 5% THC under state law, lawmakers approved legislation in 2019 to legalize the production and sale of the oil in the state.

RELATED: How Are Georgia’s Medical Marijuana Patients Supposed to Access Cannabis Oil?

A new regulatory body, the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission, then licensed six companies in July 2021 to produce and sell the oil to the state’s patients, but 16 unsuccessful applicants challenged the licensing process, which has delayed the rollout of the program.

Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke may be trailing two-term incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott by seven points in a recent poll, but the challenger has continued to push a pro-cannabis stance as one means to gain ground.

O’Rourke, who served as a U.S. representative for Texas from 2013 to 2019, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, has said that if he’s elected the governor of Texas in the November 2022 election, he’ll work to legalize cannabis in the state.

He reaffirmed that position March 12 during the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference in Austin, suggesting that the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature would back him on the issue, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

“I’ll let you in on a secret: Republicans like to get high just as much as Democrats,” O’Rourke said, speaking during a SXSW panel.

Cannabis legalization has become a popular political platform in recent years amidst growing public support, and Texas is no exception. According to a November 2021 survey from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University, 67% of Texans support legalizing adult-use cannabis.

But O’Rourke began backing and advocating for reform before it was popular.

After closing its $545-million acquisition of Gage Growth Corp. this week, TerrAscend is keeping its collective eye on the horizon. Executive chairman Jason Wild told Marketwatch that his company is planning to be on the ground in more states, likely along the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic by year’s end.

Right now, with the Michigan-based Gage assets in its portfolio, TerrAscend boasts 25 dispensaries in five states (California, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania).

“From a merger and acquisition perspective, we’re looking to go deeper into states where we are, and we want to add one to two additional states over the next six to 12 months,” Wild told the news outlet. “We’re looking at Michigan east toward the East Coast, and up and down the East Coast from Massachusetts to Georgia.”

The notable headline only solidifies TerrAscend’s intentional growth strategy after the Gage closing. That transaction saw two large vertically integrated businesses coming together, each bringing a focus on brand-building and retail to the table.

RELATED: Beyond the Show: Fabian Monaco 

"This is a defining moment for TerrAscend as we combine two leading vertically integrated operators with proven cultivation and manufacturing expertise, deep portfolios of proprietary flower strains, and top-selling brands across our core markets," Wild said upon the Gage deal’s closing.

A seamless customer experience is important to Fire & Flower, a Canadian adult-use cannabis retailer with more than 100 corporate-owned stores in its network.

This mindset inspired the company to launch a next-day cannabis delivery service to customers in the Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, area last month, powered by Pineapple Express Delivery Inc., a subsidiary of Fire & Flower.

As of Feb. 28, Pineapple Express offers next business day delivery through BC Cannabis Stores’ e-commerce website.

Fire & Flower announced its acquisition of Pineapple Express in December 2021, with the transaction closing in January. Pineapple Express has since become a key part of Fire & Flower’s Hifyre cannabis consumer technology platform.

The Hifyre Digital Retail and Analytics Platform has become one of Canada’s leading cannabis data platforms, Fire & Flower CEO Trevor Fencott told Cannabis Business Times.

California Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is looking to restore voter-approved access to medical cannabis with new legislation, according to the Los Angeles Blade.

Senate Bill 1186 would require all cities and counties to allow licensed medical cannabis dispensaries, licensed medical cannabis deliveries, or both, the news outlet reported. The legislation allows cities to choose which form of medical cannabis businesses they allow, but they must allow at least one type.

S.B. 1186 aims to prevent Proposition 215, California’s Compassionate Use Act that voters approved in 1996 to legalize medical cannabis, from being undermined by local jurisdictions that have blocked access to medical cannabis by banning both dispensaries and delivery services.

Proposition 64, which voters passed in 2016 to legalize adult-use cannabis, granted California’s municipalities the authority to ban adult-use businesses within their jurisdictions, but did not give cities and counties local control over medical cannabis businesses.

The California Legislature, however, later gave municipalities the ability to prohibit medical cannabis operations through the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA). Since then, nearly two-thirds of the state’s cities have banned both medical and adult-use businesses, the Los Angeles Blade reported.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., March 14, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE – Trulieve Cannabis Corp., a top-performing cannabis company in the United States, announced an exclusive partnership with Survivor: Africa winner and cancer survivor Ethan Zohn. Through the partnership, Zohn will be the official ambassador of Momenta, Trulieve's in-house everyday wellness and overall well-being brand.

"I'm proud to partner with Trulieve and Momenta to enhance cannabis advocacy, awareness and education throughout the country," Zohn said. "As a two-time cancer survivor and stem cell transplant recipient, cannabis, CBD and plant-based wellness have played a critical role in my physical and mental recovery. It's awesome to represent Trulieve, a brand that prioritizes research, patient education and product quality."

Zohn will be documenting and sharing his holistic cannabis wellness journey and how he incorporates cannabis into his daily routine. The partnership includes local and national educational outreach, keynote speaking, philanthropic opportunities and social media collaborations. The former professional soccer player will also wear Momenta apparel during his future athletic endeavors. Zohn's first function serving as the brand ambassador will occur at the grand opening of Trulieve's Framingham, Mass., dispensary coming soon.

"Trulieve is excited to partner with Ethan as we expand our brand presence and identify partnerships aligned with the values of our patients and the communities we serve," said Valda Coryat, chief marketing officer of Trulieve. "Ethan's personal wellness journey will inspire and educate patients around the country, and we are pleased to work with him to initiate engaging conversations around cannabis' holistic benefits."

Momenta, currently available in Florida, Massachusetts and West Virginia, empowers patients to enhance their everyday wellness routines through cannabis. Momenta's premium easy-to-dose products, spanning capsules, tinctures and topicals, are precisely formulated to strengthen the connection among mind, body and spirit. Momenta's national partnership with Zohn aims to promote medical cannabis awareness while embracing the natural powers of the plant.

For more information about Momenta, please visit on Facebook @MomentaByYou, Instagram @mymomenta_ or via the web at www.Trulieve.com.

A bill to limit the number of medical cannabis testing facilities to two license holders in West Virginia took one of the stranger paths to defeat.

While the vast majority of proposed bills never become law, House Bill 4627 had overwhelming support in both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature. The legislation aimed to amend an article of the state’s Medical Cannabis Act to provide that “no more than two laboratories in this state may be certified pursuant to this section.”

RELATED: West Virginia House Clears Bill for Two-Lab Cannabis Monopoly

House members approved the proposal, 67-33, on Feb. 24, and Senate lawmakers voted, 30-3, in favor of the bill on March 12.

All signs pointed to final passage.

But a last-minute amendment by the House to change the bill’s title derailed the process. Delegates voted, 71-25, to amend the title on March 12, but the Senate ran out of time to approve that change before the Legislature adjourned later that day for the year.

The Louisiana Legislature is considering multiple bills this year that would expand the state’s medical cannabis program, which began serving patients in 2019.

Proposed legislation would increase the number of cultivation and pharmacy licenses in the state and allow nurse practitioners to recommend medical cannabis to patients, among other provisions, according to a WVUE report.

Louisiana’s medical cannabis program is currently one of the most expensive in the country for patients, the news outlet reported, due to the state only licensing two cultivators.

“It definitely causes some issues with supply,” Jeff Schmidtke, executive director of BioSciences Louisiana, told WVUE. “It also causes some issue with contingency. What is the backup? What is the population supposed to do when an entire harvest fails, either through failing tests, or spoilage, or contamination?”

Louisiana’s two licensed cultivators, Southern University and LSU, have partnered with Ilera Holistic Healthcare and Good Day Farm to grow medical cannabis for the state’s patients.

Medical cannabis legalization is back on the table in Kansas.

Senate Bill 560, the Medical Marijuana Regulation Act, was introduced March 11 in the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee and is sponsored by Sen. Robert Olson, a Republican who serves as the vice chair of the committee.

The legislation seeks to regulate the cultivation, processing, distribution and sale of medical cannabis and includes more than 20 qualifying conditions for potential patients. Some of those conditions include Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, epilepsy, fibromyalgia, glaucoma, hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, sickle cell anemia, Tourette’s syndrome and traumatic brain injury.

The reform effort comes two months after a House-passed medical cannabis bill stalled in the Senate, with leadership in the upper chamber canceling planned hearings on the legislation and re-referring it to another committee, The Kansas City Star reported.

Under the new bill, the smoking, combustion or vaporization of medical cannabis would be prohibited. According to S.B. 560’s text, the following forms of medical cannabis may be dispensed: oils, tinctures, plant material, edibles, patches, or any other form approved by the secretary of revenue. Plant material would have a 35% THC cap in its final dispensed form.

While the maximum supply that may be purchased by a patient or caregiver would be 3 ounces of dried flower or an equivalent in a 30-day period, there would be exceptions “from any such limitation upon submission of a written certification from two independent physicians that there are compelling reasons for the patient or caregiver to purchase greater quantities of medical marijuana,” according to the legislation.

WAKEFIELD, Mass., March 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- Curaleaf Holdings, Inc., an international provider of consumer products in cannabis, today announced the opening of its newest location in Tamarac, Flora. Curaleaf Tamarac is the company's 45th location in Florida and the second in Broward County.

Located at 6899 N University Drive, Curaleaf Tamarac will expand medical cannabis access in the western half of the state's second most-populated county. Patients can choose from a wide variety of high-quality products including Select Nano Bites, Select Squeeze, Select Bites as well as the company's proprietary gravity-fed vape pod, Cliq by Select. Last week, Select's first solventless product, Select Live Rosin vapes began rolling out across the state. Curaleaf first began serving Broward County in 2018 through its Deerfield Beach location, however this new location is Curaleaf's first location in West Broward County.

Curaleaf continues to scale its operations in the largest medical market in the U.S. Using a tailored retail approach rooted in patient education and advocacy, the company has served nearly 300,000 patients through its 45 dispensaries across Florida. Curaleaf's recent momentum has doubled its Florida market share over the last year.

"We are excited to deepen our roots in the Sunshine State and serve even more patients in Broward County," said Matt Darin, president of Curaleaf US. "Our team is grateful for the continued support of Florida's medical cannabis community as we offer convenient and accessible patient experiences through our growing retail presence."

To celebrate the grand opening of Curaleaf Tamarac, the company will offer half-priced products and double rewards points beginning Friday, April 1 through Sunday, April 3. Prizes and gifts with purchases will also be offered on Friday, April 1.

Talley Wettlaufer, vice president of retail for multistate cannabis operator Curaleaf, says she was one of the few people who tried to convince a recruiter that she wasn’t the right fit for her current role.

“I got an email from a recruiter on LinkedIn, just saying, ‘Hey, would you talk to us?’” Wettlaufer says. “And I said, ‘Sure, I’ll have a conversation.’ I was really excited about the opportunity [with Curaleaf ]—such growth, such evolution. It was really a time to create something and to take my familiar retail experiences and lessons from that and put it into a new industry that really hadn’t been defined. That said, I was like, ‘Are you sure you want me? Are you sure you think I’m the right candidate?’”

Wettlaufer, in fact, was the right candidate. She has over two decades of expertise in global merchandising, retail expansion, and profit loss and management, and previously held roles with J. Crew, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Petco. She moved to California shortly after the state launched legal adult-use sales in 2018 and says “it’s been an amazing journey since then.”

Here, Wettlaufer reflects on the customer experience, evolving retail trends, and the industry’s biggest challenges and opportunities this year.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for style, length and clarity.

After nearly five years serving as the first executive director of the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation (DCR), Cat Packer is stepping down from the head regulator position of California’s largest city.  

As the department’s executive director, Packer advised Los Angeles officials on cannabis law, policy and regulation, and she oversaw the city’s licensed commercial cannabis market.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Packer to the position in August 2017, after city voters approved the local regulation and taxation of adult-use cannabis earlier that year.

Commenting on her departure in a social media post on March 9, Garcetti said, “When we established DCR, we knew we needed a fierce leader who would not shy away from controversy associated with this responsibility. Cat was that leader.”

Outspoken in her role, Packer publicly criticized the Los Angeles City Council for leaving DCR understaffed and underfunded while the department was tasked with overseeing one of the largest cannabis markets in the world, POLITCO reported.

Specifically, Packer helped navigate the department through the rollout of the city’s Social Equity Program, which opened the application process for retail licenses in September 2019, after the California Cannabis Equity Act of 2018 and the Budget Act of 2019 appropriated state funding, include $7.8 million to Los Angeles, to help local jurisdictions develop and operate cannabis equity programs.

When Canada’s legal cannabis market launched in 2018, Canadians were legally permitted to grow up to four plants at home for personal use—but not in Quebec, where the province’s Cannabis Regulation Act prohibits home cultivation.

Now, the Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to weigh the constitutionality of Quebec’s law, according to a Global News report.

Janick Murray-Hall challenged Quebec’s ban on home cultivation, which the province’s Superior Court declared unconstitutional in 2019 when it ruled that the law fell under federal jurisdiction, the news outlet reported.

The decision was then overturned in 2021 by the Quebec Court of Appeal, sending Murray-Hall to the Supreme Court, according to Global News.

A date has not yet been set for the hearing.

New York grabbed national headlines when state officials announced March 9 that they will issue the state’s first adult-use cannabis dispensary licenses to applicants with cannabis-related convictions.

The following day, Gov. Kathy Hochul provided more details on the state’s plans to prioritize those most impacted by the war on drugs in the adult-use cannabis licensing process.

In a March 10 announcement, Hochul unveiled the “Seeding Opportunity Initiative,” which aims to “position individuals with prior cannabis-related criminal offenses to make the first adult-use cannabis sales with products grown by New York farmers,” according to a press release from her office.

The plan will allow the state to launch adult-use sales before the end of the year, the press release said, while ensuring support for social equity applicants and investing in the communities most disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of cannabis prohibition.

“New York State is making history, launching a first-of-its-kind approach to the cannabis industry that takes a major step forward in righting the wrongs of the past,” Hochul said in a public statement. “The regulations advanced by the Cannabis Control Board today will prioritize local farmers and entrepreneurs, creating jobs and opportunity for communities that have been left out and left behind. I'm proud New York will be a national model for the safe, equitable and inclusive industry we are now building.”

The majority of Delaware House lawmakers supported an adult-use cannabis bill during a floor vote March 10, but the legislation was defeated without the supermajority approval it needed.

Sponsored by Democratic Rep. Ed Osienski, House Bill 305 aimed to legalize the possession of up to 1 ounce of cannabis for adults 21 and older, promote equity and inclusion, and reinvest a portion of tax revenue into disproportionately impacted communities through a Justice Reinvestment Fund.

The bill also aimed to require regulators to issue up to 30 cannabis retail licenses within 16 months of its effective date.

House lawmakers voted, 23-14, almost entirely along party lines Thursday, with 23 Democrats casting yeses, and 13 Republicans and one Democrat casing no votes. House Speaker Peter Schwartzkopf was the lone Democrat in opposition.

The bill needed a three-fifths majority (25 votes) to pass in the 41-member chamber. Two Democrats did not cast votes—had they both voted yes, the measure would have passed.

The legislation was the first adult-use cannabis proposal to reach the House floor since a similar bill failed in 2018, the Delaware News Journal reported.