Lafayette, Colo., (April 13, 2020) – PRESS RELEASE – urban-gro, Inc., an engineering design services company that integrates equipment systems into indoor cannabis cultivation facilities around the world, has announced gro-care, a virtual support solution for cultivator equipment and facilities across North America.

The gro-care Managed Services offering focuses on preventing downtime while driving business continuity for cultivation facilities via remote monitoring, optimizing yields and labor resources with staff training and workflow audits, and minimizing avoidable emergencies through offsite support from urban-gro’s team of experts in maintenance, commissioning, design, IPM, procurement, and IT engineering.

The urban-gro gro-care monthly subscription includes the following suite of solutions:

Remote Engineering: A dedicated team of maintenance and cultivation experts help customers set, monitor, and analyze all types of digital cultivation equipment, from fertigation controllers to HVAC equipment.Resource Optimization: Our cultivation space planning team will help customers to assess labor allocation after reductions/expansions in workforce, while taking on non-core tasks, like product procurement, recurring consumable purchasing, setting maintenance schedules, and more.IPM Support: urban-gro’s team of plant scientists help customers integrate proactive plans to prevent pathogen emergence, with recommendations for nutrients and pesticides that have been screened by the compliance team.Commissioning: Our commissioning personnel will support your team by both teaching them how to operate and repair equipment in your cultivation, as well as providing troubleshooting support, by leveraging our years of experience with a diverse set of assets.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has required everyone to act quickly to ensure the safety of their employees and their communities. As a North American leader in complex equipment systems, urban-gro quickly recognized that we needed to change our approach to business,” remarks Bradley Nattrass, CEO of urban-gro. “I asked our leadership, operations and cultivation teams to create a solution that will work in today’s world of social distancing.  As the saying goes ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ and today we offer gro-care to our customers in the United States and Canada. The gro-care team will operate virtually while our design, engineering and Environmental Sciences divisions continue to operate efficiently during the pandemic.”

“The gro-care service gives our customers the ability to leverage all of urban-gro's expertise through a monthly subscription, at a fraction of the cost of full time, in house operations,” says Colin Ferrian, Director of Enterprise Solutions. “From setting up and operating your environmental controller, to sourcing compliant products that help protect our customers’ crops from powdery mildew, we will equip our customers to handle issues remotely.”

As 2019 came to a close, tens of thousands of customers across multiple U.S. cannabis dispensaries were impacted by a data breach linked to a point-of-sale software company.

Cannabis businesses are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks due to the vast amount of personally identifiable and protected health information that they are required to collect and store, as well as any trade secrets they maintain in their company databases.

Here, HUB International, an insurance broker that provides business and personal insurance as well as employee benefits across North America, outlines some cybersecurity best practices for cannabis cultivators and distributors to help them combat cybercriminals.

1. Limit the number of people that have access to your secret sauce.

This is especially important when sharing details with third-party vendors. When workers are harvesting crops, or a cultivator is renting land from farmers and planting on it, proprietary information should be kept in the hands of just the few who need it—and no one else.

2. Secure your R&D process.

If cultivators have created a cannabis formula that boosts energy, or reduces anxiety or pain, these “recipes” are their intellectual property—it’s what gives them a competitive advantage. Growers should consider the way they store the information behind the R&D of their cannabis crops. Is it on an electronic file, or a computer desktop? What type of credentials do people need to access it? While most businesses will use a third-party cloud service, many growers maintain their own servers because of this risk.

In the latest of a series of layoffs in the cannabis industry, Canadian LP Canopy Growth announced the closure of two greenhouse facilities and the elimination of roughly 500 employees in British Columbia.

When these significant events occur in a turbulent marketplace, businesses should consider their employee hiring and termination practices to avoid employment discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuits.

While it may be tempting for businesses to hastily hire staff and launch their operations, traditional human resources functions should not be forgotten. Establishing policies and procedures for hiring and terminating employees is critical to protect businesses from employment practices liability (EPL) claims, according to HUB International, an insurance broker that provides business and personal insurance as well as employee benefits across North America.

Here, the company outlines seven best practices for hiring and terminating employees.

1. Build out a formal onboarding process.

Cannabis businesses should take the hiring process out of the hands of a single individual and create a uniform process that can be replicated as the company grows. Make sure the process is the same, whether the company is hiring a cultivation technician or an accountant. Businesses should know and comply with their state’s employment regulations. For multi-state operators, the policies and procedures will have to include those of all states in which the business operates. Companies should consider their employee base and the protected classes they may belong to; for example, businesses with more than 50 employees are subject to Family and Medical Leave Act and other regulations.

Across many jurisdictions, cannabis businesses have been deemed essential and are required to stay open as states respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This unprecedented situation has changed the way cannabis businesses operate.

While business owners should of course follow all applicable federal, state/provincial and local guidelines, here are some additional best practices for cannabis cultivators and dispensaries to navigate these uncertain times.

For Cultivators

First and foremost, cultivation operations should review personal hygiene requirements and provide refresher training for their employees. The current production sanitation procedures should also be reviewed and adjusted to focus on high touch points or any potentially contaminated surfaces that are not currently addressed in the existing protocols.

Management should review the company’s sick policy with employees and let them know that they cannot work while sick. Ensure employees are washing their hands with soap and water frequently, and review the policy on wearing gloves. There should be an adequate supply of gloves, masks and other personal protective equipment for all employees.

Non-production equipment—such as phones and keyboards—should be also sanitized often, and a bio-hazard plan should be implemented.

As confirmed coronavirus cases have passed 500,000 in the U.S. and the country enters a likely recession, lawyers around the country are filing civil complaints against businesses, citing hardships from the coronavirus outbreak or related actions that businesses took—or didn’t take—in response. Among them are allegations on behalf of cruise passengers who had contracted COVID-19, eventgoers that haven’t received refunds for canceled events and travel; and an employee of a Walmart near Chicago who died after contracting the virus.

Kent Schmidt, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney and author of the Left Coast Law blog, said he receives an alert whenever a lawsuit including the words “coronavirus” or “COVID” is filed in the country. Although he hadn’t received any filings related to cannabis and the coronavirus as of April 9, he said he receives about 20 alerts per day.

Cannabis Business Times spoke with Schmidt and Mike Sampson, partner in Reed Smith’s Insurance Recovery Group and co-vice chair of its Cannabis Law Team, about some of the most common types of claims that have come up in recent weeks and that could affect the cannabis businesses.

Consumer claims

Businesses need to be aware of decisions that could lead to injury, Sampson said. “If the state says you can only have no more than 10 people gathering, but you decide that you don't care about that and there's 100 people in your store at a time and somebody gets sick, that's the type of bad judgment that can lead to a third-party claim,” he said.

If a consumer becomes ill after using a certain product and makes a product liability claim, Sampson said it’s likely that dispensaries, cultivators and other brands and companies in the supply chain could get sued.

To protect themselves against these claims, businesses need product liability insurance, which is sometimes a component of commercial general liability (CGL) insurance.

As anyone in the agricultural community will attest, weather plays a huge role in the success or failure of a crop. However, Mother Nature is not the only factor, and there are many steps growers can take to plan and be ready for whatever conditions the season brings. Luke Burmeister, Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico territory sales manager for Keirton, a provider of professional cannabis and hemp trimmers, explains why diversifying end products is important and how good planning, preparation and automation can help growers maximize their harvest.

Q: What are the most common methods for harvesting hemp and outdoor cannabis?

A: There are two sides of hemp. You can do milling for hemp fiber and biomass, or you can [trim] it, implementing bucking or trimming machines to [extract] CBD from hemp flower. Hemp flower has been in such high demand right now; for instance, in Colorado, we’re seeing price per pound going right around that $300 to $400 per pound range for top shelf, premium CBD hemp flower. For the milling process, you’re taking the whole plant, molting it down to biomass for plastics, fiber pellets or hemp concrete, insulation for homes, the car industry, furniture, toilet paper, Tupperware; there’s a lot you can do with biomass. In Colorado right now, biomass is [priced] right around that $25 to $35 a pound range. So, there’s some variation on getting the most you can out of your crop if it’s an outdoor facility with a very high plant count with hemp rather than cannabis.

Q: How can cultivators determine what portion of their hemp crop should be allocated to CBD extraction versus biomass?

A: There are various hemp products, so it’s crucial to understand which end product provides the most value, what your end goal is and how you are going to achieve it before the harvest begins. Be realistic, have some diversity in your crop, and have a pretty set schedule and attainable goals before harvest begins. If you’re dealing with a crop that’s say 10 acres, and it’s got maybe 5,000 to 8,000 plants per acre, you want to have realistic goals. If you’re growing the hemp flower, only a portion of that I would designate to the actual CBD from the flower, the medicinal product you can make from that, which can include oils/edibles, skin care products, pet products. And then take a small portion of that and use that specifically for medicinal [products], and the rest for biomass milling.

Q: What are the benefits of trimming a harvest instead of straight milling, other than the fact that you’d be able to diversify your end product and extract CBD from the hemp flower?

A: If you are a farmer, you want to utilize your crop to full advantage. You're racing against the clock with Mother Nature; in Colorado for instance this year, we had an early snow that hit [in early October], so you’re racing against the clock to take down your harvest at the end of that flower cycle and schedule. [You have to consider] the ROI on how much man labor you’re going to have on your farm–that makes a big impact too. If you’re an outdoor cultivator, it’s typically mid-September to the end of October that you’re pulling down your plants and harvesting, so you’re not only racing the clock, you’re determining how many people you’re going to have to have to bring all this down. If the weather decides to turn, it’s go time.

Q: What automation technology is available to cultivators to manage this time crunch, and what are the benefits?

A: Implementing automation at the end of the day to save costs is huge. With hemp, you have such a higher plant count than you would for cannabis. With hemp, [growers] are growing on tons of acres. [With automation], you’re cutting down your man-labor cost but also production time, especially when you use automated machines for bucking the plant, which is just taking stocks, putting them into our bucker, and debucking the flower strictly off the stock. One person can [buck] 15 pounds an hour, (3 pounds of dry weight, 15 pounds of wet weight), so about 120 pounds of debucking one person can do per day. Using a bucker, [the machine can process] approximately 150 pounds per hour and 1,200 pounds a day in an eight-hour shift, with one person working that machine. That’s the advantage. With hand trimmers, whether it’s cannabis or hemp, even some of your best hand trimmers out of [Northern California] can do a pound a day. Depending on what machine you use, our best machine, the T-Zero, is capable of doing 600 pounds of wet product per hour or 200 pounds of dry product per hour with three people operating the machine.   

As the cannabis industry expands to a commercial scale, some operators in the market are searching for more efficient alternatives to hand trimming. Cultivators are turning to automated trimming technology to reduce labor costs, increase throughput and improve product consistency. Some machines can even increase an operation’s overall efficiency and improve workflow, although the biggest benefit, according to Josh Evans, head of engineering at Keirton, a provider of professional cannabis and hemp trimmers, is the processing power of today’s technology.

“The biggest challenge is the throughput—the amount of processing that needs to be done,” Evans says. “It typically takes one person a full day to trim one to two pounds of dry flower. … With our equipment, depending on the machine, we can do that in an hour or less than a minute. The biggest thing is just scale of your processing ability. With our large trimmer, T-Zero, we’ve done over 100 pounds an hour, where to do 100 pounds would take over 100 people all day long.”

Consistency is also a challenge when it comes to trimming, he adds. “If you have 100 people doing the trimming, you don’t always get the same output. You don’t get the same consistency in your product. You have one person that doesn’t trim it the same as another person, so you don’t get that consistent look and feel of your flower all the time. When you move over to automation, that’s one of the big benefits, is you can have the same look in every lot and you just continue to do the same process.”

Automating the trimming process can also significantly reduce an operation’s labor costs by decreasing the size of the workforce, Evans says. “If you typically need 100 people to trim 100 pounds in a day, [technology] can do that in an hour with only four or five people. So, if you’re paying an average [of] $25 an hour, that’s going to be a pretty big expense versus the equipment.”

How to Choose the Right Equipment for Your Facility

When selecting an automated trimming solution, cultivators should first determine how much material they need to process per day, Evans says. “You don’t want a massive facility with a small, little machine that can only do 30 pounds an hour. [Understand] your outputs or what your requirements are for processing and [match] the machine up to that.”

TORONTO, April 14, 2020 /CNW/ - PRESS RELEASE - The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (TGOD), a producer of premium certified organic cannabis, has announced that it has signed a letter of intent with the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) ahead of the upcoming launch of its lineup of teas made with only certified organic ingredients.

"Entering the Quebec market is an important milestone for TGOD as we continue ramping up sales and production volumes," commented Brian Athaide, CEO of TGOD.  "Our teas leverage the same fast-acting technology used for TGOD Infusers, and a proprietary know-how, which eliminates the need to use sugar when infusing cannabinoids in whole leaf teas.  Our Science team successfully developed a lineup of great-tasting tea blends that are organically grown and sustainably sourced."

As Canada's second largest province, Quebec plays an important role in TGOD's national roll out strategy.  The company now has agreements in place with every province except Prince Edward Island, with plans to broaden the portfolio of products offered as it ramps up production.

Denver City Council approved a new cannabis research and development license April 6 as part of the city’s efforts to update its cannabis laws, according to a report from Denverite, an affiliate of Colorado Public Radio.

The city council voted 12-1 to approve the new R&D license, which will allow studies involving the plant, the news outlet reported.

"We think it’s an important license type,” Ashley Kilroy, executive director for the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses, told Denverite. “It will help to continue to keep Denver at the forefront of marijuana legalization and preserve our reputation as a leader in the regulated cannabis industry.”

Denver City Council also approved a lottery cap for new dispensary licenses April 6 and plans to eventually roll out a social equity plan as part of its updated cannabis rules, Denverite reported.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration published a March 30 report that shed light on pertinent changes for cannabis businesses. From the jump, no, IRS Code 280E isn’t going anywhere just yet. 

“Industry sources projected that the U.S. legal marijuana industry took in nearly $11 billion in sales in 2018 and are expected to rise to $13 billion in 2019 and $25 billion by 2025,” according to the report, which cites the ongoing wave of state legalization measures. This business boom is leading to more interest on the part of the IRS.

The report does lay out two important points that business owners should note in the midst of tax season. For one, cannabis business owners should expect renewed pressure for records and tax audits in the future. The report cites millions of dollars left on the table and a generally high rate of “noncompliance” with 280E among cannabis businesses on the West Coast. In the 2016 tax year, “the IRS could have issued $48.5 million in tax assessments,” according to the report. Extrapolate that across the next five years, and the report warns the IRS that $242.6 million could be escaping the federal government’s grasp. And that’s just Washington, Oregon and California.

The report stresses that other areas aside from those legacy markets out West deserve further scrutiny, as well, now that cannabis markets are maturing in places like Massachusetts and Illinois. The title of the report, after all, is “The Growth of the Marijuana Industry Warrants Increased Tax Compliance Efforts and Additional Guidance.”

“They found that there were a lot of errors with the way tax returns were being prepared in a number of states,” Rachel Gillette, partner and chair of Greenspoon Marder’s Cannabis Law Practice, says. “The long and short of it is that, it appears, the industry should plan for more audits—not fewer audits—in the future.”

The second point is that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 may have opened the door to some tax relief for small cannabis businesses.

CHICAGO and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Green Thumb Industries Inc. (GTI), a national cannabis consumer packaged goods company and owner of Rise and Essence retail stores, has announced that Armen Yemenidjian has stepped down from his role as president in order to spend more time with his family in Nevada.

Yemenidjian will continue to work with the company for the next six months to ensure a smooth transition, particularly focusing on Green Thumb’s business in Nevada and California.

“Armen is an early pioneer in the industry and built a great company that we acquired and integrated into our business last year,” said Green Thumb Founder and Chief Executive Officer Ben Kovler. “I am grateful to Armen for the contributions he made to the company, and I look forward to working with him during the transition period.”

“I am committed to helping the company do what it takes to continue to achieve its goals. I intend to continue to be a substantial long-term shareholder of Green Thumb,” said Yemenidjian.

The list for pesticides that can be used on cannabis without being a violation of the Pesticide Applicators' Act has been updated. Please note the following products have been added:

CrestLifeGard WGMammoth CannControlPromoteSugar Mover PremierThymox Control Organic Fungicide and Bactericide ConcentrateTyphoonWeed Warrior Concentrate Grass and Weed KillerWeed Warrior Concentrate Grass and Weed Killer (Ag Use)Wizard's Brew Concentrate

To view the updated list, click here for a pdf or click here for an Excel form. For questions regarding this change, contact Laura Quakenbush at (303) 869-9060 or email Laura.Quakenbush@state.co.us.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) is currently reviewing pesticide labels upon request and maintaining a list of products whose label it has reviewed that it believes could be used on marijuana without violating 35-10-117(1)(i), as long as the applicator follows the label directions.

RELATED: How Colorado Maintains Its List of Approved Pesticides for Cannabis Crops

Please be sure to review the list; pesticide products may be removed from the allowed products list if the registrant has not renewed their pesticide product with the department. Use of unregistered pesticides on cannabis would be a violation of the Pesticide Applicators' Act.

LAS VEGAS, April 13, 2020 /CNW/ - PRESS RELEASE - Planet 13 Holdings Inc. (Planet 13), a vertically-integrated Nevada cannabis company, has announced the termination of its definitive agreement to acquire a cannabis sales license and lease for a dispensary in Santa Ana, Calif., from Newtonian Principles. The acquisition was terminated due to unmet conditions in the definitive agreement.

"While we are disappointed to be walking away from this expansion, we know that preserving our capital is the right thing to do at this time. We have offered to renegotiate the acquisition with the seller to fairly reflect the delays in closing the definitive agreement and the new macro environment," said Larry Scheffler, co-CEO of Planet 13. "We take comfort knowing that as one of the few operators with a strong balance sheet and a cashflow positive business, we will have plenty of opportunities to expand the Planet 13 brand in the future."

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New Hampshire announced April 10 that it will extend the deadline for patients to renew medical cannabis cards due to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) report.

Patients with cards expiring in April, May and June now have until July 31 to renew them amid concerns that patients will have a difficult time visiting their doctors for recertification, the news outlet reported.

“Hopefully that will ease patients’ anxiety about continuing their access to therapeutic cannabis during this crisis,” Michael Holt, an administrator of New Hampshire’s therapeutic cannabis program, told NHPR.

As of March 31, there were 9,800 patients enrolled in the program, according to the news outlet, and New Hampshire has deemed medical cannabis dispensaries as essential businesses in its COVID-19 response.

Regulators are encouraging patients to designate a caregiver who can pick up their medical cannabis products if they become ill, NHPR reported. The caregiver application fee has been waived, and regulators have implemented a streamlined process for caregivers’ background checks, according to the news outlet.

The Maine Office of Marijuana Policy (OMP) issued a letter to conditional and prospective adult-use cannabis licensees on April 10 that indefinitely postpones the launch of the state’s adult-use market due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to the coronavirus crisis, regulators planned to open the market in June, but issued a memo last month indicating that the launch could be delayed due to the pandemic.

In its latest update, the OMP cited safety and social distancing concerns in its decision to indefinitely delay the launch of adult-use sales, saying “it now appears as though a spring launch of Maine’s adult use industry is simply unrealistic.”

“Public health experts have clearly communicated that they cannot answer what social distancing or other guidance may be in effect as we approach late spring and early summer,” OMP Director Erik Gunderson wrote in the letter. “Additionally, we have heard from towns and cities, public officials and the general public that they expect that when the adult use program is rolled out, it will be done in a manner that is best in the nation at protecting the public’s health and safety. OMP will not sacrifice those standards.”

Although the OMP indicated in its letter that it is “unable to provide any concrete timelines in these uncertain times,” it said it will keep stakeholders updated on any future developments.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation April 12 to decriminalize the simple possession of cannabis, according to a WJLA report.

The decriminalization measure, which is an amendment to House Bill 972, reduces the penalty for the possession of up to one ounce of cannabis to a $25 fine. Records and convictions will be sealed under the new law, and employers are now prohibited from looking into past convictions, WJLA reported.

Prior to the new law, those convicted of cannabis possession could face a 30-day jail sentence and a fine up to $500 for the first offense.

“Virginians have long opposed the criminalization of personal marijuana possession, and Gov. Northam’s signature turns that public opinion into public policy,” NORML Development Director Jenn Michelle Pedini, who also serves as the executive director of the state affiliate, Virginia NORML, said in a public statement.

The legislation also establishes a workgroup to study the impact of adult-use cannabis legalization in the state, according to WJLA, and Northam has requested a report from the workgroup by Nov. 30, 2021.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PRESS RELEASE--Cresco Labs, one of the largest vertically integrated multistate cannabis operators in the United States, has announced it is hiring retail positions for its Sunnyside dispensaries throughout Illinois in an effort to shore up its teams and provide patients and customers in its communities with the cannabis products they need. The company will focus recruitment efforts on local industries significantly impacted by COVID-19, including hospitality and restaurant service workers. In addition, the company has added an essential pay program and additional support to current employees working in cultivation centers, distribution facilities and dispensaries.

Charlie Bachtell, Cresco Labs’ CEO and co-founder, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the daily lives and disrupted the livelihoods of everyone in this country, with some communities, groups and individuals impacted more than others. As the states in which we operate have acknowledged cannabis as an ‘essential’ industry, we understand Cresco’s responsibility to continue operations, to be stewards of this industry and to be leaders in our communities. Cresco has a culture that focuses on, and prioritizes, the needs of all stakeholders – we are committed to do our part to maximize our impact and help those most affected by these unfortunate circumstances.”

Cresco Commits to Hire Displaced Service Industry Workers

Cresco will focus on hiring and training restaurant industry and hospitality service workers who have recently lost their jobs for 250 full-time positions at its Sunnyside dispensaries, including wellness advisors, inventory managers, managers, assistant managers and security personnel. The company is partnering with hospitality companies across the state to promote this opportunity to their employees affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During this time where the needs of patients and customers in Illinois is growing and demand continues to outpace supply, the ability for Cresco to continue to employ a robust workforce will ensure that medical patients and Illinois residents continue to have essential access to the products they rely on daily for their wellbeing,” said Bachtell.

EDMONTON, April 13, 2020 /CNW/ - PRESS RELEASE - Aurora Cannabis Inc., a Canadian licensed producer, has provided an update related to its balance sheet flexibility, business transformation initiatives and COVID-19 operational response plans.

Strengthened Cash Position:

Aurora has provided an update on its liquidity position:

(Unless otherwise stated, $ in Canadian dollars)

As of March 31, 2020, the company had approximately $205 million of cash. This includes all amounts raised under the existing, and now completed, US$400 million At-the-Market Offering program (ATM), initially announced in May 2019. Under the ATM, the company issues common shares at prevailing market prices without any new issue discounts, warrants or other dilutive securities; and To support the strength of the company's balance sheet and provide continued access to equity capital, the company today stated that it intends to file a new prospectus supplement for a renewed ATM program, to enable Aurora to raise additional equity capital pursuant to its outstanding base shelf prospectus dated May 14, 2019 under which approximately US$350 million remains available. The company intends to use a portion of this available capacity to provide further balance sheet strength and preserve flexibility given macroeconomic uncertainty caused by COVID-19.

Business Transformation Update:

When the team at Torrey Holistics realized that health care workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic were in dire need of face masks and other necessary medical supplies, co-owner Tony Hall leveraged his background in chemical and safety supplies to help fill the gap.

Since mid-March, Hall and Torrey Holistics co-owner Doug Gans have donated more than 7,000 N95 face masks and more than 10,000 units of hand sanitizer to various health centers and local organizations, as well as to the San Diego-based dispensary’s staff and customers.

The Torrey Holistics staff is wearing masks and gloves to serve customers during the COVID-19 outbreak.

“[We] were just hearing all these stories from doctors and nurses who were having to reuse their masks, and how dangerous that was,” Ruthie Edelson, Torrey Holistics’ marketing director, told Cannabis Business Times.

The Torrey Holistics team visited six different hospitals and health clinics, including the American Red Cross, VA San Diego, Family Health Centers of San Diego, Scripps Hospital, UCSD Jacobs Medical Center, St. Paul’s Senior Services and Remedy RX, to deliver the supplies personally.

In addition, Torrey Holistics is distributing free hand sanitizer to its curbside pickup and delivery customers.

This week, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) descheduled GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex, an anti-epileptic drug that contains cannabidiol (CBD). Elsewhere, a coalition of U.S. senators sent a letter to leadership asking that cannabis businesses qualify for loans and other federal relief programs in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

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

Federal: Global Cannabinoids, one of the largest retailers of American-grown hemp and CBD, has transitioned its operations to hand sanitizer production to address the supply shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has formed a new entity, Global Sanitizers, and its line of hand sanitizers is now being sold to big box retailers under the “Medically Minded” brand. Read moreEffective immediately, the DEA has descheduled GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex, an anti-epileptic drug that contains CBD, in a move that may foreshadow a future of pharmaceutical drugs that contain the compound. Initially, following approval from the DEA in 2018, Epidiolex was listed under Schedule V. Read moreThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the day-to-day operations of cannabis cultivators, dispensaries and industry suppliers, according to recent survey conducted by Cannabis Business Times at the end of March. More than half of participants (54%) responded “a great deal” or “a lot” when asked “How much of an impact has the COVID-19 outbreak had on your operation?” Read moreA coalition of U.S. senators sent a letter to leadership, asking that the Small Business Administration (SBA) extend economic assistance to the cannabis industry. Last month, President Trump instructed the SBA to allocate $50 billion to low-interest loans to help small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, but cannabis businesses were excluded from these relief efforts. Read moreIndiana University researchers have presented data that suggest cases of electronic cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI) are more prevalent in states that do not have adult-use dispensaries. The study was published in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association on April 6 by researchers from Indiana University’s School of Medicine and O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Read moreOhio: The Ohio Board of Pharmacy has issued new guidance that allows the state’s medical cannabis dispensaries to offer curbside pickup to their customers during the COVID-19 crisis. Under the new rules, retailers can conduct medical cannabis sales in their parking lots or on the sidewalks outside of their stores, so patients do not have to enter the dispensary or even leave their cars. Read moreArizona: Smart and Safe Arizona—a campaign that aims to place a cannabis legalization imitative on the state’s November ballot—is one of four ballot initiative campaigns in the state that filed a petition to ask the Arizona Supreme Court to allow the campaigns to gather electronic signatures amid the COVID-19 crisis. The petition asks the court to allow Smart and Safe Arizona, Arizonans for Second Chances, Invest in Education, and Save Our Schools Arizona to collect signatures digitally through E-Qual, the state’s online signature collection platform. Read moreColorado: Charlotte Figi, the young girl whose medical condition inspired the Stanley Brothers to develop the low-THC strain Charlotte’s Web, has died due to COVID-19 symptoms at the age of 13. “Charlotte is no longer suffering,” photographer Nichole Montanez wrote on behalf of the Figi family. “She is seizure-free forever. Thank you so much for all of your love.” Read moreCanada: In an April 6 statement, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) issued a statement to clarify that all legal businesses—including cannabis businesses—will be eligible for the Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP), which includes access to the Canada Emergency Business Account and the SME Loan and Guarantee Program. Last month, Canadian cannabis operators were outraged when Export Development Canada (EDC) and the BDC initially said that the industry would not qualify for business loans and other assistance aimed at boosting the economy during the COVID-19 crisis. Read moreOntario’s cannabis retailers are allowed to reopen with delivery and in-store pickup services under an April 7 emergency order. This is welcome news for dispensaries that were told last week that they had been removed from the province’s list of essential businesses, which effectively shut the stores down until further notice. Read more