LAS VEGAS (Feb. 1, 2022) – Registration has officially opened for Cannabis Conference, the cannabis industry’s leading conference for cannabis cultivators, retailers, extraction professionals and hemp growers.

Cannabis Conference 2022, which will return to the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino from Aug. 23-25, 2022, is presented by award-winning media brands Cannabis Business Times, Cannabis Dispensary and Hemp Grower. The industry event will bring together 4,000 current and prospective cannabis business operators, university professors, consultants, and technology and solutions providers from across the U.S. and around the globe for three dynamic days of education and expo.

Cannabis Conference’s education program will address the most pressing issues plant-touching businesses face, as well offer tangible solutions operators can implement into their own businesses. Sessions are being crafted with the assistance of Cannabis Conference Advisory Board members, who come from some of the most successful and innovative companies and organizations in the space, such as Cresco Labs, Flower One, Green Rush Consulting, Sherbinskis, the Minority Cannabis Business Association, Curaleaf, Merida Capital, Papa & Barkley, and many more.

Cannabis Conference will also feature 240-plus solutions providers in its 85,000-square-foot exhibit hall, including experts in: horticultural lighting, nutrients, growing media, pest control, structures, drying and storage, IT services, marketing solutions, facility design, accounting and finance, POS software, packaging and labeling, and much more.

“The global legal cannabis market continues to grow and evolve at breakneck speed,” Cannabis Conference Executive Director Jim Gilbride said. “With new markets emerging, new challenges arising, and new solutions coming to the forefront in 2022, it’s more important than ever for cannabis businesses to connect and discover ways to build and strengthen competitive, compliant, and profitable businesses.”

Registration rates range from $99 (Expo Only) to $399 (All-Access Pass). Detailed pricing and registration information can be found at www.cannabisconference.com/page/prices.

In one of his final stints on Capitol Hill, Rep. Ed Perlmutter isn’t ready to call it quits on banking reform for the cannabis industry.

The Colorado Democrat, who assumed office in 2007, announced earlier this month that he won’t seek reelection come November, attracting the attention of those throughout the cannabis industry, many of whom have backed his fight to provide clarity and safe harbor to financial institutions servicing cannabis clients.

Perlmutter, 68, is the chief author of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which has passed the U.S. House five times since 2019, including twice as a standalone bill, and most recently as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act in September 2021, before it was later removed from the military spending package during negotiations between the House and Senate.

RELATED: U.S. House Adds SAFE Banking to Defense Spending Package

All five times SAFE Banking passed the House, it stalled before making headway in the Senate. But behind broad bipartisan support in his chamber, including a 321-101 roll call vote in April, Perlmutter isn’t giving up on its complete passage.

In his most recent move, Perlmutter is now fixing to attach SAFE Banking as an amendment to the America COMPETES (Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology) Act of 2022, he announced Jan. 28.

Republican lawmakers in Virginia are considering changes to the state’s adult-use cannabis law, according to an AP News report.

Legislators have said that while they will not seek to overturn the law, they do want to tweak the statute that passed last year to legalize cannabis possession and sales.

Changes might include launching retail sales earlier and eliminating a provision that would give licensing preference to people with past cannabis-related convictions, AP News reported.

Former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed the state’s adult-use legalization bill into law last spring after the Legislature approved last-minute amendments to expedite the cannabis possession and home grow measures to take effect July 1, 2021. The legislation called for sales to launch in 2024, but also included a reenactment clause that requires the Legislature to reauthorize the bill before it can take effect.

RELATED: New Governor, Reenactment Clause Could Mean Changes to Virginia’s Adult-Use Cannabis Law

The Illinois Supreme Court has denied a request from a cannabis company to allow the state to name the winners of craft grow licenses that have been held up until pending litigation is settled, according to the Chicago Tribune.

One of the applicants for the craft grow licenses, 1837 Craft Grow LLC, had asked the court to modify an order from a lower court that bars state officials from naming the licensees until litigation is settled.

The case holding up the licenses centers on 13 companies that sued the state to challenge the licensing process after their applications for craft grow licenses were disqualified.

A state law required Illinois officials to issue 60 new craft grow licenses by Dec. 21, 2021, but Cook County Judge Neil Cohen and Sangamon County Judge Gail Noll have ordered that the licenses cannot be issued until the lawsuit is settled.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for March 10.

OAKLAND,Calif. and HALF MOON BAY, Calif., Jan. 31, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE – Dark Heart Industries, a California cannabis geneticscompany, announced the world’s first seedless triploid cannabis for commercialgrowers. Dark Heart’s PistilGuard technology produces triploid cannabis seedsand clones that essentially cannot produce seed, even when directly exposed topollen. This technology innovation means that triploid cannabis can be grown onthe same scale as corn, wheat or industrial hemp.

“Ourcannabis genetics using PistilGuard triploid technology are an industry first,”said Dan Grace, founder and CEO of Dark Heart Industries and Dark HeartNursery. “The ability to grow THC-rich cannabis from sterile, triploid seedsand clones that are guaranteed to produce virtually seedless plants is a hugewin for the cultivators we support. Pollen-proof cannabis, and the advantagesit offers, will help move cannabis production from artisanal cultivation tolarge-scale agriculture.”

"Thedevelopment of triploid seedless varieties has been a huge step forward in manycommercial crops including watermelon, banana and apples,” said Ken Owens, Ph.D.,vegetable breeder and former president of Magnum Seeds. “This trait'sintroduction in cannabis is a real breakthrough that will allow higher yields,reduced costs as well as improved aromatic and chemical qualities of the crop.All this leads to higher profitability and control of your crop.”

Owensadded, “Now that scientists at Dark Heart have developed the core technology,they'll be able to introduce new seedless, triploid-based strains and cultivarsthrough traditional breeding that should bring cannabis production to a wholenew level very soon.”

Cannabis Genetics 1970s – 2022

Thepresence of seeds in cannabis plants decreases the density of cannabinoids andterpenes, leading to low-THC production, loss of yield and diminished bagappeal. So, breeders have long sought ways to remove seeds from cannabis.

Names: Lex Corwin and Blake Kelley

Columbus, OH – PRESS RELEASE – Today the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol was notified by the Ohio Secretary of State’s office that they have submitted sufficient valid signatures to qualify the initiative for the next phase of the process. The news comes after CRMLA submitted 29,918 additional signatures in support of an initiated statute legalizing the adult use of marijuana to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office on Jan. 13. Local boards of elections determined that 16,904 of the additional signatures were valid.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has transmitted the initiative to Ohio legislators, kicking off a four-month process during which legislators will have the opportunity to debate and vote on the initiative. If legislators fail to take action on the initiative, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol will have the opportunity to collect an additional 132,877 signatures this summer in order to present the issue to Ohio voters on the Nov. 8, 2022, ballot.

“We are ready and eager to work with Ohio legislators over the next four months to legalize the adult use of marijuana in Ohio,” said spokesman Tom Haren. “We are also fully prepared to collect additional signatures and take this issue directly to voters on Nov. 8, 2022, if legislators fail to act.”

In New Jersey, adult-use cannabis sales have been on the calendar for Feb. 22: Opening Day in the state’s newly legalized marketplace.

Now, regulators are dialing back the anticipation.

“There’s still a lot to be done,” Jeff Brown, the executive director of the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission, told NJ Cannabis Insider this week. “Feb. 22 is not a concrete date to open. There is no firm commitment on timing of when recreational sales will begin.” 

Brown pointed to a lack of “municipal approval” as one major challenge to getting dispensaries up and running next month. Without local governments signing off on business owners’ license applications, that market cannot get off the ground for customers.

By and large, the businesses clamoring to open are the same ones already operating in the medical marketplace, and they’re insisting to state regulators that supply will not be an issue. Once they’re given the formal green light, those licensed businesses have told the local media that they’ll be ready to serve recreational customers right away.

There’s no enforcement mechanism for the Feb. 22; the date is more symbolic or aspirational than anything.

The Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA) is set to release its National Cannabis Equity Report and National Cannabis Equity Map Feb. 10 to present data it has collected on social equity programs across the country, and MCBA Executive Director Amber Littlejohn said the data paints a bleak picture of social equity in the industry.

“When you start to look beyond these social equity provisions, you start to see how these merit-based and lottery selection systems have the inequities and the barriers to entry baked into them in more subtle and quiet ways,” she told Cannabis Business Times. “We’re really hoping that this is an opportunity for reflection for the industry as a whole on how they can align their values with their actions.”

The National Cannabis Equity Report and National Cannabis Equity Map, made possible with support from the ArcView Group and in association with Weedmaps and Parallel, provide critical data from social equity programs, as well as other policies that impact equity in state and municipal medical and adult-use markets.

Littlejohn said the project was initially inspired by the questions she has received in the two years since she began leading MCBA.

“One of the most frequent questions that I’ve been getting over the past two years since I’ve been with MCBA—almost three years now—is how many social equity programs are there and what do they do?” she said. “The project itself originally started with us wanting to take a look at all of the social equity programs and understand which programs did what and be able to provide an overview so people could see what was out there and what was being done.”

A new bill introduced in California would set new deadlines for courts to dismiss and seal cannabis-related convictions after a Los Angeles Times’ investigation revealed that tens of thousands of Californians are still stuck with the crimes on their records.

A 2018 law required the state to clear cannabis-related convictions, but many courts have been slow to act, according to the news outlet, which reported that at least 34,000 records have not been fully processed.

Court officials have blamed several factors for the delays, including the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing shortages and outdated case management systems, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“California made a promise,” the bill’s author, Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), told the news outlet. “I’m focused on making sure that California keeps its promises. This bill would allow us to automatically seal qualifying cannabis criminal records.”

Bonta’s legislation would give courts a Jan. 1, 2023 deadline to update case records and send them to the California Department of Justice, which manages the state’s criminal history database. The department would then have until July 1, 2023 to update its records, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has included an adult-use cannabis legalization proposal in his state budget that calls for a tax on adult-use sales and funding for a new Cannabis Management Office, grants for business owners and education programs, according to the Duluth News Tribune.

The proposal, put forth in collaboration with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, also includes provisions that would expunge nonviolent, cannabis-related convictions, the news outlet reported.

Walz and Flanagan said during a Jan. 26 news conference on the budget proposal that cannabis prohibition has not worked for Minnesota, according to the Duluth News Tribune, and that the state should instead try to reap its economic benefits and free up law enforcement to focus on violent crime.

Adult-use legalization in the state faces strong opposition not only in the Minnesota Legislature, the news outlet reported, but also from a statewide coalition of groups including the Insurance Federation of Minnesota, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, and the state trucking and police associations. These organizations have announced the formation of the Minnesotans Against Marijuana Legalization.

Walz has said in the past that he would sign an adult-use legalization bill into law should one land on his desk. The Minnesota House approved adult-use legislation last year, and the bill is still active, although House Speaker Melissa Hortman told the Duluth News Tribune that she does not plan to hold additional hearings on the measure this year. Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller has said he opposes the bill, according to the news outlet.

A pair of Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin reintroduced a medical cannabis legalization bill in Madison Jan. 26.

Sen. Mary Felzkowski and Rep. Patrick Snyder’s legislation is identical to a bill Felzkowski filed last year, according to an AP News report.

The latest proposal from Felzkowski and Snyder would create a new state commission to regulate medical cannabis in Wisconsin. Physicians who earn a certification from the commission would be able to recommend cannabis to their patients, according to AP News.

Patients could then access medical cannabis in liquid or oil form, which could be dissolved in alcohol or in a topical formulation, the news outlet reported. Inhalants would be prohibited under the legislation, according to AP News.

The bill also levies a 10% state excise tax on wholesale cannabis.

The South Carolina Senate addressed a proposed medical cannabis legalization bill this week. The Compassionate Care Act is, on its face, a fairly conservative example of medical cannabis legislation, one that would prohibit dried flower sales, possession and consumption. 

The bill has been filed with the state Legislature for more than a year now.

State Sen. Tom Davis, a Republican from Beaufort, in the southern part of South Carolina, has been advocating for medical cannabis reform for much of his tenure. He is sponsoring the bill and leading the Legislature’s efforts to debate the issue openly.

“What I'm trying to do is let doctors do what they think is in their patient's best interest. What is so radical about that?” Davis said on Wednesday. “What's radical is, is that we're letting law enforcement and politicians tell doctors what's in their patient's best interest. That's what's ludicrous!" 

CBD products have been legal in South Carolina since 2014, but the merits of a licensed, regulated medical cannabis market remain hotly contested.  

The South Carolina House has not yet taken up the bill for consideration. The state Legislature’s session ends in early May, however, providing a tight deadline at this point for Davis’s bill.

On Wednesday, the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) issued a product recall for Claybourne Co.’s “Head Banger” flower sold between Nov. 2, 2021, and Jan. 26, 2022. Those packaged units were reportedly contaminated with Aspergillus niger, otherwise known as black mold.

The DCC determined this contamination via independent testing. The UID number for the affected products is "1A406030000326B000094476," and the batch number is "28090621HB."

A Delaware House committee has given the green light to an adult-use cannabis legalization bill.

House Bill 305, a modified version of last year’s adult-use legislation, House Bill 150, cleared the Health & Human Development Committee Jan. 26, according to a WDEL.com report.

RELATED: Delaware Lawmaker Files New Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization Bill

H.B. 305 would create a legal framework for the sale and possession of cannabis in the state, as well as a business licensing structure. Adult-use cannabis would be regulated similarly to alcohol under the legislation, WDEL.com reported, with adults 21 and older able to purchase up to one ounce at a time.

The bill would create up to 30 retail licenses within 16 months of the legislation being signed into law, according to the news outlet.

EUREKA, Calif., Jan. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- Papa & Barkley, a leading brand and manufacturer of THC topicals, edibles and concentrates in California, and CBD products nationally, today announced that Guy Rocourt has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, effective Feb. 1, 2022. Rocourt has served as Papa & Barkley's Co-founder and Chief Product Officer since 2015. In this new role, Rocourt will lead the company's expansion into additional THC markets in California and beyond.

(Editor's note: Guy Rocourt is a member of the Cannabis Conference 2022 advisory board.)

RELATED: Beyond the Show: Guy Rocourt

As President and Chief Product Officer, Rocourt led the development and launch of Papa & Barkley's best-selling product lines, including Releaf topicals, Releaf Gummies, the Sleep Releaf Collection and Papa's Select solventless living extracts –which has won the Emerald Cup every year since 2018.

"I've dedicated my career to unlocking the power of cannabis and developing products that improve people's lives," said Rocourt. "I look forward to leading Papa & Barkley as we focus more on THC markets in California and other states and bring new customers into our fold. It's a privilege to work with such a solid team of changemakers, and I can't wait to see what we can accomplish together."

The world’s second-largest cannabis market shows early indications that its retail industry experienced a 50% year-over-year (YoY) growth in 2021.

Although December figures have yet to be tallied, Canada’s cannabis sales are on pace to eclipse CA$3.9 billion in 2021, casting a monster shadow on its CA$2.6 billion in sales from 2020, according to federal data agency Statistics Canada.

The record year was backboned by eight straight months of market growth, from March through October, before a slight dip in November. The momentum came during the third full year of Canada’s adult-use cannabis market, which launched in Oct. 2018.

Despite the overall sales growth, Canadian cannabis retail prices declined across all product categories throughout 2021, including as much as 35% for some categories, according to market data from Seattle-based cannabis analytics firm Headset.

While sales growth portrayed an inverse relationship with retail prices in 2021, consumer demand grew faster than prices fell, said Cooper Ashley, senior data analyst at Headset.

“For example, when comparing November and December 2020 to 2021, total retail cannabis transaction volume increased by about 58% across the Canadian markets Headset tracks,” he told Cannabis Business Times. “In fact, the large increase in total purchasing volume itself may have helped drive increased competition and price compression in the Canadian market.”

An Illinois lawmaker has filed legislation to limit the amount of THC in cannabis products, and according to the Chicago Sun-Times, the state’s dispensaries aren’t happy about it.

House Bill 4709, which was introduced Jan. 21 by Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield), would cap the amount of THC at 10% for flower and 15% for concentrates.

Batinick filed the legislation at the request of the Illinois State Medical Society, which has voiced concerns about cannabis potency and the number of cannabis-related calls made to the Illinois Poison Center, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The calls have increased from 487 in 2019 to 743 in 2020, when Illinois launched its adult-use cannabis program, and then rose to 855 in 2021, according to the news outlet.

Batinick’s proposal has already received pushback from industry stakeholders, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 26, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE – Crypto CannabisClub (CCC), the original NFT collection and Metaverse community for crypto andcannabis enthusiasts, announced the launch of an NFT-powered cannabis brand.Members of CCC will receive significant discounts on premium cannabis flowerthrough a first-of-its-kind partnership with CampNova, the leadingdirect-to-consumer cannabis platform.

TheCrypto Cannabis Club is a groundbreaking new community that forms theintersection of cannabis, crypto and the Metaverse. Our rapidly growing, globalcommunity includes digital art aficionados, high-frequency cannabis consumersand crypto enthusiasts. In November, CCC launched real-world benefits forholders of its NFTs. The CCC has already announced partnerships with leading cannabisbrands including: Highsman, Old Pal, Dr. Dabber, King Palm, Higher Standards,Vibes Papers and Marley Naturals.

CCCnow becomes the first NFT collection to provide its members with a real-worldcannabis product. To achieve this, CCC partnered with CampNova to provideCalifornia cannabis consumers with premium packaged cannabis flower,hand-selected by the CCC team. CCC products are available to all legal cannabisconsumers in California—but will be offered at a substantial discount tomembers of the CCC community who own an NFToker NFT.

CCCcannabis products will be initially available in 1/8-ounce packages of premium cannabisflower featuring custom artwork from the CCC. Three packages out of the totalproduction run will also include an NFToker NFT—currently valued at more than$600 each. In addition to the three NFToker NFTs, CCC has some other surprisesin store that will be revealed when the cannabis products get into the hands ofconsumers, so customers are encouraged to save their packaging.

"Ourgoal is to provide the NFT owners in our community with the most exclusivecannabis experiences in the Metaverse and the real world,” said CCC new CEORyan Hunter, a tech and cannabis industry veteran. “These worlds are rapidlyconverging, and we want to create a community beyond NFT ownership that willoffer cannabis consumers a pathway between these worlds. Our hope is to beambassadors between the Metaverse cannabis community and the IRL cannabiscommunity.”

Hunteradded, "We are thrilled to launch our NFT-powered cannabis brand withCampNova to offer this product to California cannabis consumers and to ourloyal community members in California at a substantial discount."

New legislation in Oklahoma would give the state’s counties more control over medical cannabis cultivation licenses.

State Rep. Todd Russ has introduced House Bill 2989, which would require growers to apply for licenses through the county they operate in, rather than directly through the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA).

Voters in the state’s counties would then ultimately decide whether to accept the cultivation business, according to a KTUL report.

"It's a huge local control issue and that gives each county the right to choose whether they want that type of activity in their county or not," Russ told the news outlet, adding that the availability of resources like water, energy and local law enforcement could influence counties’ decision to host growers.

Russ’ legislation requires cultivation businesses to submit annual license applications on June 30, and voters would decide on hosting the operations every other year, KTUL reported. If an application is denied, the cultivator would be barred from reapplying in that county for the next five years.