“Of all the kinds of men, the farmer is the greatest speculator. He does not think of himself as a gambler, but he lives every day subject to such risks as would give a professional Wall Street operator nervous chills.” Those words were written in an introduction by Rexford G. Tugwell, Under Secretary of Agriculture in 1934, and Professor Harry J. Carman to “Essay Upon Field Husbandry in New England.”

As this quote implies, cannabis farmers take the most risk. No logical argument against this statement exists. They bet on each crop, and they often are the last to be paid. There is a certain intelligentsia emerging in cannabis which seems to dismiss farmers as the invisible component of what they fashion as the cannabis business. You will hear statements like “it is just farming,” or, “it is all about brands,” or the dismissive, “Starbucks doesn’t grow their own coffee.” This is the environment in which farmers live.

When looking at the current revenue-linked arrangements from farm to bowl, it is apparent that the cannabis supply chain breaks down without a stable and prospering grower community. When the dispensary doesn’t pay the wholesaler, the wholesaler doesn’t pay the farm, and the farmer may not be able to pay its employees and suppliers; in worst-case scenarios, the farm shuts down. Put more simply, if the farmer doesn’t get paid, then the farmer doesn’t grow.

Working backwards from the point-of-sale with the customer who innocently buys his eighth for the week, let’s assume a wholesaler provided the dispensary terms for its purchase. A typical arrangement might be Net 30; meaning, upon delivery, the dispensary has 30 days to pay for the product. When 30 days comes and goes, the ripple effect is tremendous. Using a basic understanding of the velocity of money, the more money turns over (gets handed from one party to another) the more economic activity is generated. (As an aside, the size of any economy is the amount of money in the system multiplied by the number of times the money turns over.)

This situation raises numerous issues of risk management. But working through those issues can lead to business practices that dramatically reduce risk. Cannabis risk management is the most hard-won wisdom a cannabis business will acquire. It is the result of the classic school of hard knocks curriculum.

Though we have given a simple grower, wholesaler, retailer mechanism as our example, the lessons to be learned are fairly generic and apply across the whole spectrum of cannabis verticals. Payment risk is the first truly systemic risk in the cannabis business.

SACRAMENTO – PRESS RELEASE – The Bureau of Cannabis Control (Bureau) has announced that it has awarded $29,950,494 in public university research grant funding to universities across California. 

“The research conducted through these public university grants will provide critical information for evaluating our legal cannabis system and its impacts,” Bureau of Cannabis Control Chief Lori Ajax said. “This research will be a valuable tool to inform future cannabis policy in California.”

Research proposals had to fall within one of the several specified categories, including public health, criminal justice and public safety, economic, environmental impacts, and the cannabis industry. A detailed description of the list of research subjects for grant funding can be found in Revenue and Taxation Code section 34019.

In total, the Bureau received more than 100 applications for grant funds up to $2 million for any specific proposal. After a thorough review process, the nearly $30 million was awarded to the following public universities for the following research proposals:

UC San Francisco - $2,000,000.00 - Comprehensive Analysis of Developmental Cannabis Exposure on Brain, Immune, and Sensory SystemsUC Santa Barbara - $1,999,191.00 - Surface Water Emissions from Cannabis Cultivation Sites: Quantity, Quality, Toxicity, and Relationships to Farmers' Practices CSU Dominguez Hills - $1,866,311.00 - Cannabis Industry in South Bay Los Angeles UC Berkeley - $1,827,596.00 - Local Regulation of Cannabis in California UC Los Angeles - $1,429,001.00 - Impact of Cannabis Potency on The Properties, Composition, and Toxicity of Inhaled and Second-Hand Smoke UC San Francisco - $1,384,466.00 - Effects of Chronic Cannabis Use on Endothelial Function UC Irvine - $1,351,556.00 - Exploring Cannabis Policies and Practices That Influence Adolescent Use: Evolution of Local Cannabis Law, Products, Sales, and Marketing UC San Diego - $1,321,833.00 - The Public Health Impact of Cannabis Legalization in California: A Comprehensive Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis by Age, Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Regions UC Los Angeles - $1,082,815.00 - Assessing the Feasibility and Consequences of Implementing a Cannabis Potency Tax in California UC San Francisco - $1,067,483.00 - The LEAF Study: Lung Effects and Function Associated with Cannabis Use UC Los Angeles - $1,048,857.00 - Study of Employment Conditions and Equity in California's Cannabis Industry UC San Francisco - $1,038,782.00 - Public Health Impacts of State Policies Mandating Point-of-Sale Warning Signs Regarding Cannabis Use During Pregnancy UC Davis - $1,034,730.00 - Understanding the Impact of Cannabis Use in Early Psychosis UC San Diego - $987,738.00 - Evaluating the Impacts of Packaging and Labeling on Cannabis Edible Use among Youth UC San Francisco - $952,540.00 - California Cannabis Poisonings Under Proposition 64 UC Los Angeles - $896,794.00 - Assessing the Impact of Proposition 64 on Cannabis Use, Maladaptive Cannabis Use, Cannabis Use Disorder Treatment, and Public Health UC San Diego - $887,101.00 - The Role of Cannabidiol in Anandamide-Related Improvement in Alexithymia and Health Outcomes UC Los Angeles - $781,707.00 - A Demographic Analysis of the California Licensed Cannabis Industry and Consumer Market UC Los Angeles - $758,517.00 - The Impact of Cannabis Marketing on California's Youth: Neuro-Behavioral Studies for Informing Policy UC Davis - $726,816.00 - Cannabis Industry: Assessment of the Location, Structure, Function, and Demographics of Licensed Cannabis, Focusing on Geographical Price Differences, and Differential Impacts of Local Prop-64 Related Regulations on the Competitiveness of Licensed Businesses UC Berkeley - $658,306.00 - Transformation of Unregulated Cannabis Cultivation Under Proposition 64 UC Davis - $655,564.00 - Economic Impacts: Market Prices for Licensed and Unlicensed Cannabis and the Effects of the Current and Alternate Cannabis Tax Structures and Tax Rates on the Private and Public Sectors in California, Including Government Administrative Costs and Revenues UC Davis - $562,240.00 - Environmental Impacts of Cannabis Cultivation in California As Affected by the Farm Economics of Licensed and Unlicensed Cannabis Production, Including Effects of Testing Regulations and Compliance with the Criminal Prohibition of Unlicensed Cannabis UC Berkeley - $489,762.00 - Assessing Environmental Impacts of Cannabis-Related Noise and Light Disturbance to Inform Management of California WildlifeUC Berkeley - $465,902.00 - Examining Tribal Sovereignty Over Cannabis Permitting on Native Ancestral Lands CSU Humboldt - $464,997.00 - Cannabis Business Entrepreneurs and Jobs UC Los Angeles - $414,183.00 - Understanding the Impact of Cannabis Marketing on Cannabis Use Disparities Among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth UC Berkeley - $328,916.00 - Cultivation Bans, Local Control, and the Effects and Efficacy of Proposition 64  UC Berkeley - $319,091.00 - Cannabis and Wildfire: Current Conditions, Future Threats, and Solutions for Farmers UC Berkeley - $314,417.00  - Cannabis Water-Use Impacts to Streamflow and Temperature in Salmon-Bearing Streams UC Berkeley - $270,269.00 - The Effect of Local Cannabis Regulation on Property Prices UC San Diego - $235,039.00 - Evaluating Risks and Benefits of Cannabis Use by Older Adults: A Pilot Study CSU Humboldt - $183,015.00 - The Economic Impact of Cannabis Legalization in Rural Northern California UC Davis - $144,949.00 - California Cannabis Workers: Perceptions, Beliefs, and Knowledge of Occupational Health and Industry Hazards

Mexico’s senators are considering a cannabis legalization bill ahead of a Dec. 15 deadline set by the Supreme Court to pass legislation to regulate adult-use cannabis, according to a Reuters report.

The Senate’s health, justice and legislative studies commissions took up the bill Nov. 13, the news outlet reported.

The legislation would allow licensed businesses to sell cannabis and legalize the possession of up to 28 grams, while also allowing adults to grow up to four plants at home, according to Reuters.

The bill also establishes the Mexican Institute for Regulation and Cannabis Control within the country’s Health Ministry, the news outlet reported.

The Mexico Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that an absolute ban on adult-use cannabis was unconstitutional, which forced lawmakers to regulate it at the federal level.

This week, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced plans for a December vote on the MORE Act, which would federally decriminalize cannabis by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act. Elsewhere, in New Jersey, Sen. Nicholas Scutari introduced legislation to implement the state’s adult-use cannabis program, just days after voters passed a legalization initiative on Election Day.

Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is over.

Federal: The U.S. House is planning a December floor vote on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, legislation that would federally decriminalize cannabis by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act. In a Nov. 9 letter to colleagues, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer outlined the legislative schedule for the lame-duck session in November and December, and said lawmakers will take up the bill next month after postponing a September vote on the legislation. Read moreNearly seven in 10 Americans support legalizing the possession and use of cannabis by adults, according to nationwide polling data compiled and reported by Gallup. Sixty-eight percent of respondents endorse legalization—the highest percentage of support ever reported in a national Gallup poll. Read moreNew Jersey: New Jersey Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) has introduced legislation to implement the state’s adult-use cannabis program, just days after voters passed a legalization initiative on Election Day. The bill, S.21/A.21, outlines how the state’s newly legal cannabis industry will operate, and largely mirrors an unsuccessful legalization bill Scutari sponsored last year. Read moreIn another effort to roll out the state’s adult-use cannabis market, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has named two members to the state’s five-member Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which will oversee the state’s medical and newly legal adult-use cannabis industries. Murphy has named Dianna Houenou, associate counsel and senior policy adviser to the governor and former policy counsel for the ACLU-NJ, as the chair of the commission, and Jeff Brown, the current assistant commissioner of the Department of Health who oversees the state’s medical cannabis program, as the executive director of the commission. Read moreTennessee: Sen. Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) has announced plans for a new medical cannabis legalization bill. Bowling, who has backed legislation to legalize medical cannabis in the state for years, plans to introduce the new bill when the state legislature re-convenes in January. Read moreMassachusetts: Gov. Charlie Baker has issued an executive order to implement a coronavirus-related business curfew that requires all adult-use cannabis sales to end at 9:30 p.m., although medical cannabis sales can continue past the curfew under the order, which went into effect Nov. 6. The rules are part of a new stay-at-home advisory, which aims to address a second wave of COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts. Read morePennsylvania: The Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Advisory Board held a quarterly meeting this week, where it rejected adding insomnia to the state’s list of qualifying conditions. The board voted 7-4 to reject insomnia as a new qualifying condition, and tabled a discussion on whether to add traumatic brain injuries to the list. Read moreTexas: State lawmakers have pre-filed several bills that would expand Texas’ medical cannabis program and legalize adult-use ahead of the 2021 legislative session. New legislation introduced by Sen. Jose Mendez, S.B. 90, would allow doctors to recommend medical cannabis to patients with any condition they deem necessary, while Rep. Roland Gutierrez has pre-filed S.B. 140 to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state. Read moreIllinois: Sangamon County Judge Adam Giganti has allowed Illinois regulators to rescore cannabis applications as part of the state’s controversial licensing process to issue 75 new dispensary licenses. On Nov. 12, Giganti denied a request to bar officials from rescoring the applications, ruling that the plaintiffs have not shown that they will be irreparably harmed by allowing the licensing do-over to continue. Read moreMontana: The Montana Department of Revenue has announced preparations for licensing adult-use cannabis businesses. The department will make cultivation and retail licenses available by Oct. 1, 2021, and under Montana’s recently approved adult-use cannabis law, only licensed medical cannabis businesses can apply for adult-use licenses for the first 12 months after they become available. Read more

While the industry likely focused on the five states that had cannabis legalization measures on the ballot Election Day, as well as the presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, several other issues, including shifts in Congress and gubernatorial races, also have the power to shape the market.

RELATED: How U.S. House, Senate Results Could Influence Cannabis Legislation

Among the notable gubernatorial races were those in Vermont, New Hampshire and Indiana, where all three of the states’ incumbent governors were up for—and won—re-election.

Vermont

In Vermont, voters re-elected Gov. Phil Scott (R), who recently permitted legislation to become law that will establish a taxed-and-regulated adult-use cannabis market in the state.

Senate Bill 54 cleared the Vermont House and Senate in September, and Scott let the measure become law without his signature.

The Montana Department of Revenue has announced preparations for licensing adult-use cannabis businesses, according to an NBC Montana report.

The department will make cultivation and retail licenses available by Oct. 1, 2021, the news outlet reported.

“There’s a lot of work ahead before the first legal sale of non-medical marijuana in Montana, and before the first license is issued,” Department of Revenue Director Gene Walborn told NBC Montana. “We look forward to working with the public and all interested parties as we develop guidelines around this new industry to move it forward, while also protecting public safety and raising revenue for the state of Montana.”

Under Montana’s recently approved adult-use cannabis law, only licensed medical cannabis businesses can apply for adult-use licenses for the first 12 months after they become available, according to the news outlet, and the Montana Legislature is expected to address additional regulations for the program during the upcoming legislative session.

Ohio regulators are considering whether the state needs more medical cannabis dispensaries, according to a Cleveland.com report.

Officials announced Nov. 12 that they will base their decision on the distance of existing retailers from patients’ homes, the news outlet reported.

According to a recent state survey, 38.25% of patients enrolled in Ohio’s medical cannabis program travel up to 10 miles to a dispensary, while 42% of patients travel 10 to 30 miles, Cleveland.com reported.

Officials from the Ohio Board of Pharmacy are analyzing data from the state’s prescription drug database, which includes information about medical cannabis purchases, to compare the locations of dispensaries to patients’ addresses, according to the news outlet.

When Ohio legalized medical cannabis in 2016, the Board of Pharmacy divided the state into regions and allocated a set number of dispensaries to each, Cleveland.com reported. The state currently has 52 operational dispensaries and five more that are working toward opening.

Sangamon County Judge Adam Giganti has allowed Illinois regulators to rescore cannabis applications as part of the state’s controversial licensing process to issue 75 new dispensary licenses, according to the Chicago Tribune.

On Nov. 12, Giganti denied a request to bar officials from rescoring the applications, ruling that the plaintiffs have not shown that they will be irreparably harmed by allowing the licensing do-over to continue, the news outlet reported.

Giganti’s ruling comes after three finalists included in a licensing lottery to win one of the coveted retail licenses filed a lawsuit over Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s plan to offer unsuccessful applicants a second chance to qualify for the lottery.

Illinois regulators announced in September that 21 social equity applicants would be included in the lottery. A group of companies behind some of the unsuccessful bids then filed a federal lawsuit, alleging political motivation behind the number of businesses included in the lottery. Pritzker then announced that unsuccessful applicants could amend and resubmit their applications, or ask the state to rescore them if they believed a mistake was made during the initial scoring process, which caused the three finalists to sue.

After the Illinois Supreme Court declined to hear the case, the plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in lower court, where a judge ordered regulators not to rescore the applications while the case played out.

“Build innovative products, operate sustainably, and inspire the best among our industry”

Those words are not just platitudes, they are the way the folks at the Fohse Company have approached their craft since day one. They knew that taking on the High-pressure Sodium (HPS) legacy in the grow lighting industry would be a challenge, but one that needed to be undertaken. In 2016, it was time to take down this dogma and unearned loyalty to HPS lighting and reimagine what LED lighting could do at the same time.

Fohse’s Chief Technology Officer, Alex Gerard along with his partners Ben Arnet (President) and Brett Stevens (CEO) got to work on solutions to the deficiencies they found in the landscape of grow lights for the cannabis industry. Gerard, bringing almost two decades of experience from the medical industry and the military, took his engineering and automation skills that had been honed while working on defibrillators, welding components, and laser markers and set them loose on building a prototype of a highly efficient LED grow light. After two years of research and development, resulting in the creation of a suite of grow lighting fixtures, the team at Fohse was ready to introduce their product, along with their vision of what grow lighting should be able to deliver to folks in the horticultural industries.

“When everyone else was trying to figure out how to make their lights more efficient to lower the electric bill, we were trying to get higher yields” the leadership team at Fohse recounted. The Fohse team refused to take part in the losing strategy of just trying to make cheaper fixtures and instead vowed to design fixtures that operate with higher efficiency “pound for pound” than anything out there on the market. They unveiled their first product line at Toronto’s 2019 Lift and Co. Cannabis Expo and have hardly been able to keep up with the overwhelming response and demand for their innovative product line. The Fohse folks have been in a growth mode ever since. They have designed lighting solutions for large growing operations across the United States and North America and are going more global every day with their network of distributors.

After taking on the cannabis industry by storm less than two short years ago, the Fohse Corporation is now breaking into the greenhouse grow space with their lighting fixtures, the O6i and the brand-new Pleiades lights. Field tested and modified in a real-world hemp greenhouse; these lights were designed with one goal: increase yields. In addition to their proven performance in the cannabis industry, these models are perfect for the indoor produce and floriculture industries as well. Whether growing fruiting crops like tomatoes or cucumbers or foliar and floral crops like poinsettias or mums, these products will become the industry standard just like Fohse products have become in the world of indoor cannabis production. Either of these innovative fixtures can be incorporated into existing greenhouse architecture or are perfect for new design-builds.

Now, the Fohse company manufacturers innovative grow lighting for all types of crops and growing spaces. “Fohse,” an acronym for the Future of Horticultural Science and Engineering, is also a play on the Greek word for light, “fos.” The future of grow lighting is exactly what American-engineered Fohse products are. The O6i and the Pleiades fixtures are just the latest in a string of innovative lighting products for the horticultural industry.

PORTLAND, OR. – PRESS RELEASE – State cannabis regulators from across the United States have announced the formation of a non-partisan organization, the Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA), to better share institutional knowledge and regulatory best practices. Cannabis regulators from 19 states have joined in filing documents to establish CANNRA, which is being created in order to assist federal, state and local jurisdictions that have approved or are weighing legalization of cannabis.

“The Cannabis Regulators Association will provide a much needed forum for regulators to engage with each other to identify and develop best practices, create model policies that safeguard public health and safety, and promote regulatory certainty for industry participants,” said Norman Birenbaum, CANNRA’s inaugural president.

For years, cannabis regulators across the country have relied on each other to share regulatory experiences, institutional expertise, and to provide assistance navigating the numerous evolving policy and regulatory issues associated with legalizing and regulating cannabis. Often the first step for state and local jurisdictions weighing legalization is to engage with regulators from established markets and programs. However, there has never been an organization to facilitate these interactions or help stakeholders find objective data and evidence-based approaches to policymaking and implementation.

The Cannabis Regulators Association is not an advocacy group and takes no formal position for or against cannabis legalization, but rather seeks to provide government jurisdictions with unbiased information to help make informed decisions when considering whether or how to legalize or expand regulated cannabis.

CANNRA will facilitate communication and information sharing between subject matter experts in regulatory approaches for industrial hemp, medical cannabis and adult-use cannabis. This will include exchanges with research organizations, public health officials, policymakers, legal authorities, advocacy groups and cannabis industry participants.

Highwood, IL— November 12, 2020 — PRESS RELEASE — Grow America Builders has announced the newest member of their team. David Shutan will handle all aspects of the sales process, from gathering requirements through developing detailed bids based on each company’s specific requirements and ensuring clients’ needs are met.

“We knew after our first meeting with Dave that he would be a perfect fit for Grow America Builders. We consider ourselves truly fortunate that we found someone with his work ethic, talent and skill. We are confident that Dave will be instrumental in facilitating collaboration in the complex process of going from concept to completion in the building of facilities to support cannabis businesses,” said David Fettner, managing partner of Grow America Builders.

Before joining Grow America Builders, Shutan served as Senior Business Development Representative for Evive, a technology company focusing on employee engagement and as National Proposal leader for Cordant Health Solutions.

This new hire underscores Grow America Builders’ commitment to deliver the highest level of service in the cannabis facility construction field.

Grow America Builders offers over 25 years of expertise in construction projects of all types and has completed projects for industry leaders throughout the country.

Jesce Horton’s newest cannabis brand, LOWD, launched the week of Oct. 26 at 28 dispensaries in Oregon’s adult-use cannabis market. Cultivated in a 7,500-square-foot facility in Portland by 12 employees, LOWD cannabis’ brand and flower products have been years in the making. (Horton made a facility and brand pivot after his first cannabis business—Panacea Valley Gardens—which operated within the medical market, didn’t qualify for an adult-use license because of zoning restrictions.)

In this Q&A, Horton—a former engineer for Siemen’s, founder and former director of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, board member for the Resource Innovation Institute and Cannabis Conference 2020 advisory board member—discusses the road to officially launching his adult-use cannabis business, what the LOWD brand means to him and his team, and the steps the company is taking to build a strong culture and high-quality products.   

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

Cassie Neiden: Could you provide us some background into your journey of launching LOWD?

Jesce Horton: I am one of the people in the industry that started growing from their basement—actually just a clone in my backyard. Like many people, through the different regulations, from moving from an unregulated market to a medical [market], here in Oregon there were a lot of changes. And then [when] moving from medical to recreational, we experienced even more in that the facility we built while being medical no longer qualified [for recreational cultivation] from a zoning perspective.

So throughout that time I was doing a lot of nonprofit work. I decided to step down from the nonprofit [Minority Cannabis Business Association] and focus 100% on finding another facility and building it out steadily over about a year and a half. And then we waited for about a year for licensing. We started again from the bottom with a big, empty warehouse. And from that point, we steadily built it out, using a lot of energy-efficient equipment, a lot of process design, and moved from 10 lights up to 100 flowering lights here at our new facility in Portland.

CHICAGO and SARASOTA, Fla, Nov. 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Verano Holdings, LLC, a multi-state cannabis owner, operator and manager, has announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement to acquire and combine operations with Alternative Medical Enterprises, LLC, Plants of Ruskin, LLC, and affiliated companies (collectively, AltMed), vertically-integrated cannabis companies that apply pharmaceutical industry standards to developing, cultivating, producing and dispensing medical cannabis and medical cannabis products in Florida and Arizona. The transaction is expected to result in a highly-accretive combination of Verano and AltMed with the resulting company operating under the Verano name.

Two Industry Leaders Join Forces

Verano is a multi-state owner, developer, operator and manager of cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and dispensing licenses offering innovative products to the discerning, high-end customer market. Verano produces a full suite of premium, artisanal cannabis products sold under its consumer brands, including Encore Edibles, Avexia and Verano. Verano’s Zen Leaf branded dispensary environments deliver an elevated cannabis shopping experience in both medical and adult-use markets. Active in 12 U.S. states, with 17 active retail locations and approximately 440,000 square feet of cultivation facilities, Verano has been profitable each year since its founding.

AltMed, founded in 2014 and profitable in recent years, is a fully-integrated medical cannabis company known for its robust research and development pipeline exemplified by its award-winning MÜV products and dispensaries. AltMed offers a full range of premium cannabis options developed in its vertically-integrated operations in Arizona and Florida. With 27 active retail locations, AltMed has 220,000 square feet of cultivation facilities in Florida, and 30,000 square feet in Arizona, which is rapidly expanding by an additional 50,000 square feet to meet increased demand.

This transformative transaction is expected to create a market leader in the United States by combining two profitable, fully-integrated platforms with the ability to scale by entering new markets and expanding deeper into existing key markets. The combination will accelerate Verano’s expansion into Florida and Arizona, currently among the largest and fastest-growing cannabis markets in the United States. Following the consummation of the transaction, the combined group of companies will operate under the Verano name and will have the ability to operate in 14 states, with eight cultivation facilities and 44 active retail locations. Approximately 32 additional retail locations are planned.

DIMONDALE, Mich., Nov. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- SKYMINT Brands, a Michigan-based, vertically integrated cannabis company, has announced its establishment of SKYMINT Farms, a 200-acre sungrown cannabis farm nestled in the Huron-Manistee National Forest and focused on the values of regenerative farming, sustainable agriculture, premium cannabis cultivation, and community enrichment.

"Michigan is known for its 3,000 acres of wine grape vineyards and nearly 10 million acres of farmland that give our state a dynamic food and agriculture industry. With SKYMINT Farms, we are on a mission to additionally put Michigan on the map for cultivating some of our nation's best sungrown cannabis," says SKYMINT Brands' CEO and co-founder Jeff Radway.

Joining SKYMINT Brands' two state-of-the-art, sustainable cultivation facilities, SKYMINT Farms aims to receive Sun+Earth status within the next two years. The coveted seal certifies cannabis brands that farm using beyond organic methods, holistically, responsibly, and regeneratively for the well-being of all people, farmers, and the planet.

SKYMINT Farms ensures that its cannabis is grown using the sun as the primary source of power, rain water as the primary source of irrigation as well as crop rotation, intercropping, and cover crops to create a nutrient-rich living soil. Within the next two years, SKYMINT Farms will additionally include grazing animals to make the farm truly biodynamic.

"Elon Musk once said in a TED Talk, 'We have this handy fusion reactor in the sky called the sun. You don't have to do anything. It just works," says James Barr, SKYMINT Farms' lead cultivator and project overseer. "Natural light is much more complex than what even the best indoor lights can mimic. Cannabis loves the sun and expresses itself very differently when farmed outdoors. Cannabinoid and terpene production is greater, and the plant is more resilient."

TORONTO, Nov. 10, 2020 /CNW/ -  PRESS RELEASE - The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. has announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2020 ended Sept. 30, 2020, and leadership changes.  These filings are available for review on the company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Leadership Changes

The company announced that Brian Athaide has left his positions as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and board director effective immediately. TGOD Chief Financial Officer Sean Bovingdon has been appointed Interim CEO. In addition, Michel Gagné, Vice President of Operations, has been appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO), overseeing the company's cultivation and processing operations, supply chain and product development. In his new role as COO, he will work closely with the CEO on the company's overall strategy and execution.

The board of directors decided that a change in leadership was necessary to drive the company forward as it enters its next phase of growth and continues to work towards achieving positive EBITDA and cash flow as rapidly as possible. Under the company's new leadership, TGOD will operate with a renewed commitment to executional excellence and cost discipline as the company drives revenue growth and operational stability.

"On behalf of the board of directors, we thank Brian Athaide for his contribution to TGOD and I am pleased that Sean has agreed to lead the company at this critical juncture," commented Jeff Scott, chairman of the board.  "He recognizes the challenges we must confront, and I look forward to working with him and the rest of the TGOD team to pave a new way forward for the company."

WASHINGTON – PRESS RELEASE – Incoming Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) is open to supporting legislation that would provide cannabis businesses with access to banking services, according to recent reports in Politico.

“I am sympathetic to the idea that people who are involved in [the] cannabis industry—in an entirely legal fashion, in the state in which they operate—ought to be able to have ordinary banking services,” Toomey said. “That's my starting point, and then there's a lot of details to work out, but I am open to that.”

“We are encouraged by Sen. Toomey’s words and look forward to working with him and the Senate Banking Committee. It’s clear that cannabis reform can cross party lines and lead to sound, modern approaches to unlocking the industry’s potential,” said Kim Rivers, National Cannabis Roundtable second vice chair, and chief executive officer of Trulieve Cannabis Corp.

Providing access to banking services for cannabis companies has broad support among elected officials and policymakers, and the SAFE Banking Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives last year with bipartisan support.

Texas lawmakers have pre-filed several bills that would expand the state’s medical cannabis program and legalize adult-use ahead of the 2021 legislative session, according to a FOX 7 Austin report.

Under Texas’ current medical cannabis law, patients may access low-THC cannabis for serious conditions such as Alzheimer’s and cancer, but new legislation introduced by Sen. Jose Mendez, S.B. 90, would allow doctors to recommend medical cannabis to patients with any condition they deem necessary, FOX 7 Austin reported.

In addition, Rep. Roland Gutierrez has pre-filed S.B. 140 to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state, which he says would create 30,000 new jobs and create more than $3 billion in revenue, according to an ABC13.com report.

The legislature will reconvene in January.

The Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Advisory Board held a quarterly meeting Nov. 10, where it rejected adding insomnia to the state’s list of qualifying conditions, according to a TribLive.com report.

The board voted 7-4 to reject insomnia as a new qualifying condition, and tabled a discussion on whether to add traumatic brain injuries to the list, the news outlet reported.

There are more than 460,000 Pennsylvanians currently enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program, according to TribLive.com, and while there are currently 23 qualifying conditions, the vast majority of patients qualify under anxiety disorders, chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The public can apply for new conditions to be added to the list, and the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board considers the applications and makes recommendations, although Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine makes the final decision on which conditions make the list, TribLive.com reported.

In addition to legalization wins in multiple states and the presidency being called in favor of Joe Biden, who supports cannabis decriminalization, U.S. House of Representatives and Senate election results could impact federal cannabis legislation.

Sam D'Arcangelo, director of the Cannabis Voter Project at HeadCount, said both the successful state initiatives and some individual U.S. House and results could serve as a bellwether of more politicians expressing support for cannabis reform.

Meanwhile, VSS Strategies, Vicente Sederberg’s policy and public affairs consulting affiliate, is more focused on the bigger picture, said Steve Fox, managing partner of VSS Strategies.

“I wouldn't say there are too many races that we were specifically looking at in terms of the individual races,” Fox said. “It was more a question of overall control of the two chambers. With that in mind, I would say that we had a close eye on the Senate, and we're waiting to see which party would end up in control, since that will have a significant impact on the prospects for cannabis policy reform.”

In what was a very big night for cannabis industry, what struck Patrick G. Martin, principal and director for law firm Cozen O’Connor’s Midwest practice, is the bipartisan support for cannabis in an otherwise very divided country.

“You saw in ballot initiatives across the country that cannabis is an issue that penetrates some of that [division] and crosses ideological and partisan and generational lines. Cannabis ballot initiatives passed in every state from deep blue New Jersey to dark red South Dakota,” Martin said. “What we’re seeing is that this issue resonates with the public. It’s been my experience that the politicians have been a little bit late to it, and the public is pushing them along.”

PRESS RELEASE - Nearly seven in 10 Americans support legalizing the possession and use of cannabis by adults, according to nationwide polling data compiled and reported by Gallup.

“In national polls and at the ballot box, the American public has spoken loudly and clearly,” NORML’s Executive Director Erik Altieri said. “The overwhelming majority of Americans favor ending the failed policies of marijuana prohibition and replacing it with a policy of legalization, regulation, taxation and public education. Elected officials—at both the state and federal level—ought to be listening.”

Sixty-eight percent of respondents endorse legalization—the highest percentage of support ever reported in a national Gallup poll. In 1969, when Gallup first began surveying the question, only 12% of Americans backed marijuana legalization. In 1996, when California voters became the first state in the nation to legalize cannabis for medical use, only 25% of Americans said that marijuana should be legal for those ages 21 and older. Since 2012, when Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize marijuana for adults, public support for legalization has risen nationally some 20 percentage points. Legalization has enjoyed majority support among Americans since 2013.

Today, adult-use legalization holds majority support among Americans in every age group, including those ages 65 and older (55%), according to Gallup. By contrast, only 48% of Republicans endorsed legalization, a drop in support from past years. Eighty-three percent of Democrats and 72% of Independents say that “marijuana should be made legal.”

The poll results come just days after voters in four states, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota, overwhelmingly decided in favor of statewide ballot measures legalizing the adult use and retail sale of the plant.