MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press
CBT focuses strictly on the business of legal cannabis for medical and recreational use and aims to provide timely information—through its website, e-newsletter, mobile app, print magazine and annual conference—to help the reader make timely, informed decisions to help them run their businesses better and more profitably. In 2018, Cannabis Business Times was named Magazine of the Year by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
As this incredibly tumultuous year comes to a close, so does another year of cannabis features and b2b journalism at Cannabis Business Times. Here, the CBT editors take a look back on their favorite stories of 2020.
Eric Sandy, Digital Editor
The Case for Cannabis Biodiversity – Tomorrow in Cannabis, February 2020
Kenneth Morrow’s columns are always a joy to read. Each month, he casts a bright spotlight on some of the deepest sources of tension in the legal cannabis industry. In February, his column took up the mantle of genetic biodiversity—and what the licensed business landscape was losing in its quest to meet broad consumer demand. “Cannabis genetics follow trends and fads, but what value is lost in the genetics the industry has overlooked?” he asked. It’s a good question, and one that growers will continue to ponder as the marketplace expands (with four states legalizing adult-use cannabis in 2020!) and as consumer interests evolve (much like any other commercial space). “We must balance the need for marketable products while not losing sight of the long-term value of having genetics that might hold the key to disease or pest immunity,” Morrow writes. “Therefore, it’s up to all of us to collect, protect and preserve all available cannabis genetics of today for tomorrow.” Read more
Brian MacIver, Senior Editor
A Cultivator’s View: ‘The Wolves Have Gotten Bigger’ -- Guest Column, March 2020
Leif Abel, owner of Greatland Ganja in Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, penned this column in the special 5-year anniversary issue of Cannabis Business Times as a follow-up to his column in the publication’s first ever issue (bit.ly/5_years_later). In this March 2020 article, Abel looks back on the “[poor], idealistic, unaware little fella working frantically like there is an end in sight” that is his younger self. He reflects on the metaphorical (and likely some very real) wolves that kept him awake as he was getting ready to launch his business. While he vanquished those wolves, bigger ones have filled the ranks, he details—such is the nature of the cannabis industry. The column is an ode to the challenges that the industry has overcome, those that lie ahead, and the perseverance it takes to make it as an independent cannabis cultivator. Read more
According to executives from cannabis edibles manufacturers Wana Brands and Dixie Brands, the companies’ biggest takeaway in 2020 was that edibles—and particularly gummies—could continue their steady growth, even in the wake of a global pandemic.
“Over time, the gummy has continued to be a pretty massive part of the edibles industry,” Wana Brands Chief Marketing Officer Joe Hodas told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary.
Edibles represent roughly 15% of sales in the legal cannabis market, according to a recent webinar from BDSA. The U.S. edibles market is dominated by candy, which makes up 67% of edibles sales, according to the webinar, and gummies are the most popular form of candy, making up 85% of candy sales.
Despite limited travel and remote working conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wana was able to capitalize on the popularity of the gummies category this year through its launch in Oklahoma, Maryland and Canada, and it plans to launch into Florida and Missouri by the start of 2021.
To conduct the necessary training with its partners in the new markets, Wana created a video series covering product formulations, SOPs and more.
DETROIT, Dec. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- Gage Cannabis Co., a cannabis brand and operator in Michigan, has announced it has secured a minimum investment of US$20 million from funds advised by JW Asset Management, LLC as part of the company's Regulation A, Tier 2, equity financing.
JW Asset Management's investment will provide Gage with resources to accelerate the expansion of its retail and cultivation footprint, pursue accretive acquisitions, and help position and solidify Gage as the leading cannabis operator in the state of Michigan. JWAM has been an active investor in the cannabis sector since 2014, investing in many of the industry leaders, including TerrAscend Corp., where Jason Wild's strategic involvement and support has been instrumental in driving tremendous value for shareholders.
"JW Asset Management is widely recognized as one of the premier investors in the cannabis sector. Their participation provides Gage with a strong balance sheet that enables us to further establish our brand in one of the fastest-growing cannabis markets in the United States," said Fabian Monaco, president of Gage. "We are confident in executing on our 2021 goals, driven by the growth of both the cultivation and dispensary arms of our business. We are fortunate to have developed a strong relationship with JWAM and are grateful for their support as we capitalize on the opportunities ahead in Michigan."
Wild, founder and president of JWAM added, "Gage has rapidly established a strong footprint in Michigan and I'm thrilled to participate in their growth. I'm confident that Gage's experienced team will continue to execute on the opportunity ahead."
Gage's Michigan footprint has grown significantly since their first retail opening in the state in September 2019. Today, the company supports five provisioning centers (dispensaries), three cultivation facilities and one processing facility across the state of Michigan, with plans to double its retail footprint by the end of the first quarter of 2021. Earlier this month, Gage had its first harvest at its flagship Monitor Township cultivation facility with a second harvest scheduled for this week.
The first tranche of approximately US$10 million of the US$20 million commitment from JWAM has been received by the company. Gage expects to receive the remaining funds prior to year end 2020. In consideration for JWAM's participation in the offering (US$1.75 per share), the company has agreed to issue an equivalent number of warrants to purchase subordinate voting shares of the company. Each warrant shall entitle the holder to purchase one subordinate voting share in the capital of the company for US$2.60.
It came hand-in-hand with the rise of cannabis delivery: Online ordering was already a vibrant part of the retail sector, but the coronavirus pandemic turned this digital option into a handy tool for customers eager to streamline their transactions.
Dispensaries created in-house solutions or, in many cases, partnered with ecommerce platforms to facilitate pre-orders and curbside pickup. The sudden swing toward online ordering also gave retailers a chance to encourage customer to peruse the website and navigate toward educational offerings or branded merchandise—ancillary interactions that budtenders would otherwise tee up in the brick-and-mortar environment.
A cannabis dispensary’s website could be used to reflect and enhance the in-store experience.
“If you are a dispensary that offers a very boutique, up-scale experience, your website should really match that, and the experience that they have within the website should really match that,” KindTyme co-founder Ryan Michael told us. “If you are more of a counter-culture, maybe you’re by a skate park and you feed toward that end of the industry, then you want to make sure that the website experience mimics that as well.”
The pivot also paid dividends for retailers interested in harnessing consumer data to grow their business. Jushi Holdings’ BEYOND/HELLO dispensaries began leaning into sales trends, which helped the company reevaluate its cultivation strategies and genetics selection.
“You’re looking at this digital environment today, and you’re facing all these silos of data,” Jushi’s chief creative director, Andreas Neumann, told us earlier this year. “If you connect all that, you can create products for the people and focus on what they want.”
To those following the mergers and acquisitions of cannabis companies, 2020 was a different sort of year. Capital markets were already running dry by January, so executive teams and investors began getting creative in connecting dollars to companies.
Enter SPACs: special purpose acquisition companies, which act as blank checks for investors interesting in pooling their money for a designated goal. In our industry, SPACs function as a way for investors to align their money and identify a target company for acquisition. The net effect is actually a reverse merger, whereby the resulting company takes on the SPAC “shell” and operates as a publicly traded enterprise. (See below for SPAC Alpha's 2020 year-to-date report on SPAC moves.)
At the tail end of 2020, Schulze Special Purpose Acquisition Corp. landed a deal with Clever Leaves, a sprawling cultivation and distribution company with bases in Colombia, Portugal, Canada, Germany and the U.S.
“We believe that Clever Leaves is now among the best-capitalized companies in the cannabis industry and is well-positioned for substantial growth and profitability based upon its disruptive, low-cost and vertically integrated operating model,” George J. Schultze, chairman and CEO of the SPAC, said. “We look forward to working with its outstanding and highly accomplished management team to create significant value over time.”
It’s a $205-million deal, which puts it in the upper echelon of recent cannabis transactions.
Among SPACs, though, this is not uncommon. Cannabis-related SPACs held more than $2 billion in assets in 2020. Because of that, these new investment packages aren’t necessarily a dime a dozen; they’re built to target high-value investments that have a healthy future as a publicly traded firm.
Everything changed in March 2020. The sudden stay-at-home orders across the U.S. altered the landscape of daily life, and yet the consumer marketplace couldn’t simply stop. Delivery, then, became a powerful force for commercial businesses. Cannabis was no different.
Because of the “essential business” tag that many states extended to cannabis retailers, it fell to dispensary owners to pivot and meet their customers in new places.
“What's happening in delivery was something that was going to happen anyway,” Ganja Goddess CEO Zachary Pitts told us. “The pandemic just jumped us ahead a couple of years. This happened in every aspect of our economy.”
From Amazon Prime to Uber Eats, delivery on a mass scale was more visible than ever this year. Companies like Ganja Goddess, which operates a delivery service in California (with a hub in Oakland), followed suit. Already, delivery was a powerful force in cannabis.
Global events simply pressed the fast-forward button this trend. In 2020, Pitts’ company reported 100% revenue growth from the year prior. Several important days stand out:
“Ganja Goddess experienced a more than 100% growth year-over-year [around the 4/20 holiday], along with a 275% increase in growth and 350% uptick in orders from the year prior on its California-based statewide online cannabis shopping, delivery and lifestyle platform on 4/20,” according to the company. Cyber Monday came up as the company’s second-biggest sales day, with 200% growth year-over-year.
This week, President Donald Trump announced the resignation of Attorney General William Barr, who is expected to officially step down next week. Elsewhere, in New Jersey, the state legislature sent a bill to Gov. Phil Murphy to implement the state’s adult-use cannabis program.
Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is over.
Federal: President Donald Trump announced the resignation of Attorney General William Barr Dec. 14, while simultaneously announcing that Barr’s current deputy attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, will become acting attorney general when Barr officially steps down next week. Rosen will fill the role of attorney general until President-Elect Joe Biden is sworn into office Jan. 20, although Biden has not yet chosen an attorney general. Read moreSouth Dakota: South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws, the group behind Amendment A, the state’s voter-approved adult-use cannabis legalization measure, has filed a response to a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the ballot initiative. The group argues in its court filing that the case should be dismissed because voiding Amendment A would overturn the will of the people. Read moreKentucky: Rep. Jason Nemes has announced plans to reintroduce a medical cannabis legalization bill in the upcoming legislative session. The Kentucky House of Representatives passed House Bill 136 in February, marking the first time a bill to legalize medical cannabis has received a full House vote in the state, and Nemes says support in the House has only increased since then. Read moreSouth Carolina: Lawmakers have pre-filed bills in both the House and the Senate to legalize medical cannabis. The bills, both called the “South Carolina Compassionate Care Act,” mirror legislation that was considered during the 2019 legislative session, when the Senate ultimately voted to table to legislation. Read moreArizona: The Arizona Department of Health Services has announced draft rules for the state’s forthcoming adult-use cannabis market. The draft regulations largely mirror the framework of the state’s medical cannabis program, and Arizona’s existing medical cannabis operators can seek licenses in the adult-use market beginning in January. Read moreCalifornia: Columbia Care has closed its acquisition of Project Cannabis—a vertically integrated business based in California. The transaction comprises $52.5 million in Columbia Care stock and another $16.5 million that’s expected to come from the sale of Project Cannabis’s real estate assets. Read moreNew Jersey: Members of the New Jersey state Assembly and Senate have given final approval to legislation permitting the possession of marijuana by adults and regulating its commercial production and retail sales. Each of the measures now awaits the signature of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Read moreVermont: Gov. Phil Scott is calling for applicants for the new, three-member Cannabis Control Board that will establish and regulate an adult-use cannabis industry in the state. The board will be comprised of one chair and two members, which will be appointed by the governor after being vetted by the Cannabis Control Board Nominating Committee. Read moreCanada: Aphria and Tilray announced this week that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine their businesses and create the world’s largest global cannabis company based on pro forma revenue. Following the completion of the arrangement, the combined company will have principal offices in the United States (New York and Seattle), Canada (Toronto, Leamington and Vancouver Island), Portugal and Germany, and it will operate under the Tilray corporate name with shares trading on NASDAQ under ticker symbol “TLRY.” Read moreInternational: The Chamber of Deputies, Mexico’s lower house of Congress, has received an extension on a Supreme Court-imposed Dec. 15 deadline to approve a cannabis legalization bill, again delaying the country’s much-anticipated legalization vote. Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said during a news conference that lawmakers asked for an extension because they needed more time to make revisions to the bill, and Lopez Obrador now expects approval on the legislation in early 2021. Read moreThe Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration has reported that medical cannabis sales in the state have surpassed $200 million, according to a KATV report.
Patients have purchased 30,648 pounds of medical cannabis since the first dispensary opened in May 2019, the news outlet reported.
Green Springs Medical in Hot Springs has sold the most cannabis in the state to date at 3,414 pounds, according to KATV.
This year, the oldest members of Gen Z turned 23. That means the legal cannabis industry is about to be bombarded with new customers—members of a distinct generation with new tastes and emerging cultural touchstones.
The HQ Cannabis Brand Affinity report was issued in December 2020 by Headquarters, a strategic advisory studio focused on driving growth for businesses and brands entering the California cannabis market, in conjunction with The Statement Group. The report lays out the lifestyle trends and spending power found among Gen Z (and millennial) customers.
Gen Z is defined as anyone born between 1997 and 2012-2015 (depending who you ask). As of January 2020, according to the report, Gen Z spending power clocked in at $143 billion.
So, what does the younger set gravitate toward? The big topics include: hip-hop and R&B, fashion, social influencers and gaming.
READ MORE: Gen Z and Millennials: A New Age of Cannabis Consumers
“Gen Z and millennial lifestyle cannabis consumers—an often tough-to-reach consumer group—make up a significant share of the cannabis market today,” said Headquarters CEO Daniel Abrahami. “As we head into the holiday season and New Year, these consumers are only expected to take a greater share of the market. … Our hope is that cannabis brands leverage this proprietary data to gain the competitive advantage they’re looking for in this highly competitive space.”
December 10, 2020 – Walker, Michigan – December 10, 2020 – PRESS RELEASE – Pipp Horticulture (a division of Pipp Mobile Storage Systems, Inc., backed by Novacap), a provider of space-saving, multi-level mobile cultivation systems, has announced that it has acquired Vertical Air Solutions LLC. Based in Santa Cruz, Calif., VAS is a leader in providing air circulation systems and related products to the global indoor vertical farming industry.
"We are excited to welcome the entire VAS team, led by innovative entrepreneurs and powered by a dedicated group of employees, to the Pipp family of companies," said Craig Umans, president and CEO, Pipp. "We have gotten to know the VAS team well in recent years, as they have been an integral part of our horticulture business, and their products are the ideal addition to our Mobile Vertical Grow Rack Systems. We look forward to integrating their leading technology into our continually expanding product offering to better serve the fast-growing vertical indoor farming industry."
“In 2017, when our ‘first of its kind’ airflow technology couldn’t fit into standard mobile racking configurations, Pipp Horticulture was prepared and willing to customize their system in order to accept ours. Our companies have since built a strong relationship and we’re excited to make the partnership official.” said James Cunningham, founder of VAS. “We look forward to continuing our focus on innovation, while providing top tier solutions for the vertical farming industry. Pipp’s 40 years of experience in equipment sales and manufacturing is exactly the support VAS needs in order to facilitate our growth into new markets.”
“The acquisition of VAS continues our mission of expanding our product offering to better serve the vertical farming industry. Pipp Horticulture brings a combination of the most knowledgeable and experienced Team along with the best products, competitive pricing and best in class customer service” said Umans.
TORONTO, Dec. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Unifor, Canada's largest private-sector union, and Aleafia Health Inc., have entered a long term partnership that through collective bargaining will seek to provide access for its members to medical cannabis coverage as part of their benefit and insurance coverage.
"This is a landmark agreement, with a union and a medical cannabis company coming together to provide dedicated support through medical marijuana clinics across the country while challenging the stigmas associated with cannabis," said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. "Partnering with Aleafia Health allows us to fight against Canada's opiate crisis, and improve the lives of patients suffering from chronic pain."
Unifor will work with its local unions to recommend and propose insurance coverage in collective bargaining agreements for the reimbursement of medical cannabis. In turn, Aleafia Health and its affiliates will provide Unifor members with access to its health and wellness ecosystem, including education and training, physician-led consultations, scripting, treatment and, where appropriate, medical cannabis products.
"This is a significant moment for the cannabis industry, and an important breakthrough for medical cannabis accessibility in Canada. Every day, our team of medical professionals see the benefits of cannabis in the lives of our patients," said Aleafia Health CEO Geoffrey Benic. "Due to the progressive leadership of Unifor, and Aleafia Health's well-earned reputation for providing excellence in cannabinoid therapy, we will be able to expand these benefits to union members across Canada."
Increased access to medical cannabis coverage may also provide further cost savings and health benefits to both members and employers, including a reduction in reliance on traditional pharmaceutical prescriptions.
NEW YORK, Dec. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Acreage Holdings, Inc. has announced that Peter Caldini has been appointed as the company’s chief executive officer. He officially joins Acreage on Monday, Dec. 21.
Caldini brings an ideal mix of capabilities and experience to Acreage, having served in several senior leadership positions at major healthcare and consumer packaged goods companies in the U.S. and globally. Earning a reputation as a strong and seasoned leader, Caldini has a proven track record of improving operational efficiencies, strengthening brand equity and creating shareholder value.
Caldini served as President Pfizer North America Consumer Healthcare as well as Regional President Consumer Healthcare of EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) during his time with the company. Prior to Pfizer, Caldini held similar senior leadership positions in other global markets, including China and Europe, while at Bayer Consumer Health and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Caldini started his career in brand management at Unilever, where he held various roles with increasing responsibility.
Caldini also brings extensive cannabis capital markets expertise to Acreage, having served for the past 18 months as the chief executive officer of Bespoke Capital Acquisition Corp., a Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation. As the CEO of Bespoke, he helped raise $360 million on the Toronto Stock Exchange with the focus to acquire high growth cannabis companies in the US and around the globe. Additionally, Caldini has served for the past year as a Senior Advisor to Tuatara Capital, L.P., a cannabis-focused private equity fund.
“Acreage is a leader in perhaps the most exciting emerging market opportunity of our lifetime, and I am beyond excited to join the company and help position it for long-term growth and profitability,” said Caldini. “I look forward to guiding Acreage to a clear leadership position in the largest cannabis market in the world, utilizing the company’s proven award-winning brands combined with Canopy Growth’s brands and intellectual property.”
Ken Newburger has become very familiar with the issue of medical cannabis in Mississippi over the years.
He worked alongside Mississippians for Compassionate Care, the group behind the Medical Marijuana 2020 campaign, to place one of the state’s two medical cannabis measures, Initiative 65, on Mississippi’s ballot, where voters ultimately approved it on Election Day.
RELATED: Two Competing Measures to Appear on Ballot in Mississippi
“As the campaign was coming to an end, it became clear that the next step was going to be, how do we best serve the patients of Mississippi, now that they’re going to have access to medical marijuana?” Newburger told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary. “I’m really excited to see this industry come to fruition after almost three years’ worth of work that people put in to pass medical marijuana here in Mississippi.”
Throughout November and into December, Newburger rounded up a group of people who were interested in launching a medical cannabis association in the state, and the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association was born.
When Cannabis 2.0 launched in Canada with the sale of cannabis edibles, beverages and vape products, Marshall Posner, chief marketing officer for vertically integrated licensed producer Delta 9, said the company wanted to do more to ensure cannabis packaging and waste was being dealt with responsibly.
While packaging for dried flower and other cannabis products can generally be recycled as part of Canada’s Blue Box recycling program, many vape products are designated as special waste and cannot be recycled in the same way, meaning that they often end up in landfills.
“As we’ve seen these products become more prevalent in our stores, we felt we needed to do something in a responsible fashion to help address … where this packaging and cannabis waste is ending up,” Posner told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary.
This led Delta 9 to partner with Canadian recycling company Emterra Environmental to create a sustainable recycling program for cannabis packaging and disposable vape pens, as well as a landfill diversion program for vape cartridges, to help the Canadian cannabis industry transition to a circular economy.
Emterra Environmental was founded 44 years ago as a Vancouver-based recycling company.
Mark Toigo, a cannabis investor from Pennsylvania, has filed a federal lawsuit to strike down Missouri’s requirement that medical cannabis business licenses are owned by residents, according to St. Louis Public Radio.
The voter-approved constitutional amendment that legalized medical cannabis in 2018 requires licenses to be majority owned by residents who have lived in Missouri for at least one year prior to filing the application, the news outlet reported.
Toigo, a minority owner in Organic Remedies MO Inc., which holds three dispensary licenses, one cultivation license and one manufacturer license in the state, argued in his lawsuit, which was filed Dec. 11 against the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and its director, Randall Williams, that the state is discriminating against non-residents and violating the dormant clause of the U.S. Constitution by enforcing the residency requirement, St. Louis Public Radio reported.
Toigo alleged that the residency requirement prohibits him from investing any additional funding into a Missouri company if it increases his ownership stakes above 49%, which limits his “economic opportunities in Missouri’s nascent marijuana industry,” according to St. Louis Public Radio.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott is calling for applicants for the new, three-member Cannabis Control Board that will establish and regulate an adult-use cannabis industry in the state, according to a WRGB report.
The board will be comprised of one chair and two members, which will be appointed by the governor after being vetted by the Cannabis Control Board Nominating Committee, the news outlet reported.
Vermont legalized the commercial production and sale of adult-use cannabis in October, after decriminalizing the possession and cultivation of small quantities of cannabis in 2018.
Trenton, NJ -- PRESS RELEASE -- Members of the New Jersey state Assembly and Senate have given final approval to legislation permitting the possession of marijuana by adults and regulating its commercial production and retail sales. Each of the measures now awaits the signature of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.
“I commend lawmakers for working quickly to implement the will of the voters, who made their mandate clear at the ballot box." said NORML State Policies Coordinator Carly Wolf. "While this legislation is not perfect and our work is far from finished, it is a crucial step forward toward repairing the decades of damage done to New Jersey’s most vulnerable communities as a result of the enforcement of marijuana prohibition. Historically, law enforcement in New Jersey has arrested more people per capita for marijuana law violations than almost any other state in the nation. Most notably, going forward, tens of thousands of otherwise law-abiding New Jerseyans will no longer be subject to arrest, incarceration and a criminal record for their personal use of marijuana, and that is a reason to celebrate.”
Senate Bill 21 and Assembly Bill 21 establish regulatory guidelines for the marijuana market. Under the bills, adults may legally purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis. The measures cap the number of commercial cultivators permitted under the law at 37 for the first two years. The measures direct 70% of the revenue derived from sales taxes on retail marijuana purchases toward reinvestment in designated communities that have been most adversely impacted by prohibition.
The Assembly approved A21 by a 49 to 24 vote with six abstentions, and the Senate later approved S21 by a 23 to 17 vote.
Legislative leaders reached an agreement on the final details of the legalization implementation plan last week, which was then approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday and the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.
2020 was a big year for the cannabis industry as four states—Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota—legalized adult-use in the general election, potentially setting the stage for more states to legalize in 2021. Voters also ushered in medical cannabis in South Dakota, marking the first-time both adult-use and medical legalization were approved in the same election, and medical cannabis in Mississippi also passed.
And, there is evidence that this momentum will influence more states to come online in 2021. Here, we look at the states most likely to legalize as we head into the New Year.
Connecticut
Gov. Ned Lamont renewed his legalization push at the beginning of 2020, with the introduction of a bill that would have legalized adult-use for Connecticuters 21 and older, tested for impaired drivers, and supported racial and ethnic minorities in their participation in the market.
While that legislation, S.B. 16, ultimately stalled in committee, Lamont has said he will try again in 2021, according to a Patch.com report, especially since nearby New Jersey has legalized.
State House Democrats have vowed to vote on legalization in 2021, according to NBC Connecticut, in part because of the growing number of nearby states with regulated adult-use markets, as well as a projected state budget deficit heading into next year.
2020 was full of surprises, to say the least, from a global pandemic that saw cannabis businesses designated as essential during coronavirus-related shutdowns, to the industry’s big win on Election Day, when five states—Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota—passed legalization measures.
As we head into 2021, we reflect on Cannabis Business Times’ top 10 most popular articles of 2020, which cover everything from state and federal policy reform efforts to the international landscape.
10. Platinum Confronts Counterfeit Products in Michigan, California
When George Sadler, president of Platinum, a California-based cannabis product manufacturer that distributes products in both California and Michigan, started receiving messages on social media from its Michigan customers about vape cartridges not meeting their expectations, he suspected that counterfeits of the company’s products were being sold at unauthorized retailers. He immediately started looking for ways to stay one step ahead of the illicit producers. At the beginning of the year, Platinum set to work alongside law enforcement to get illicit products removed from store shelves and launched a QR code solution to help customers verify the authenticity of its products. Read more
9. 5 Cannabis Trends to Watch in 2020
In January, Amy Steinfeld and Jack Ucciferri of law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck outlined what cannabis cultivators could look forward to in 2020. From expanded legalization to the concept of big cannabis and craft cannabis, here are the trends they said the industry should pay attention to during this tumultuous year—before everything changed. Read more
8. New CBD Regulations Take Effect in Florida
On Jan. 1, 2020, new CBD regulations issued by Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried took effect in Florida to address pesticide use, product labeling and the inspection of products produced or sold in the state. The Florida Legislature approved legislation that paved the way for a regulated hemp industry in the state in 2019, and lawmakers charged Fried’s office with establishing a regulatory framework for hemp and CBD products. Read more
PRESS RELEASE - Following a vote in a key Senate committee, a “yes” vote on A21, a bill to implement the constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis in New Jersey advanced in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, bringing New Jersey a full floor vote away from heading to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk for final approval.
RELATED: New Jersey Senate Committee Advances Cannabis Legalization Legislation
The new version of A21/S21 includes significant community reinvestment provisions through two income streams dedicated to social and racial justice: 100% of the cultivator excise tax and 70% of the sales tax to fund reinvestment into communities hit hardest by the drug war, which has disproportionately targeted Black and brown communities.
The bill also reinstates a severe cap on the number of licenses, awarding only 37 cultivator licenses for the first 24 months after the bill is enacted. The bill did not include several important justice measures, such as: restoring dedicated funding for expungement, limiting random workplace drug testing, and, crucially, closing a loophole that allows well-resourced businesses to claim and benefit from impact zone applicant status rather than residents.
ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha said, “The Assembly Committee’s vote sends cannabis legalization to a full floor vote that can make history for its strides forward in community investment, with 70% of sales tax revenue and 100% of the excise tax going toward those communities hit hardest by the racially inequitable drug war. The current bill leaves advocates’ work unfinished, and we will continue our push for a legalization scheme that addresses the injustices of cannabis prohibition and builds an inclusive industry at every level.