MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press

GG Strains co-founders Joesy Whales (left) and Lone Watty (right)

Don Peabody, also known as Joesy Whales, the co-founder of Nevada-based GG Strains and co-creator of the Original Glue (GG4) cannabis variety, passed away May 6 at the age of 66.

“GG Strains has lost a legend this week, and the world has lost an amazing man,” the company announced in an Instagram post.

Peabody co-founded GG strains with the late Ross Johnson (aka Lone Watty), and the pair co-created the Original Glue cannabis variety (formally known as GG4), which rose to popularity after taking first place in the 2015 World Cannabis Cup.

The cultivar was also the focus of a now infamous trademark infringement lawsuit.

“Joesy popped a seed that has contributed to the transformation of the cannabis community in the last decade,” the company wrote on Instagram. “Joesy is known … as The Godfather/Co-Creator of ‘The Original Glue GG4 (fka Gorilla Glue 4).’ Those of us who were fortunate enough to know him personally, professionally, and [had] the privilege to work with Joesy have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor.”

Many states are lifting coronavirus restrictions, signaling new opportunities and challenges for the industry, if not a complete return to “normal.”

In Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt announced that salons, barbershops and spas could reopen on Friday, April 24, the same day he permitted elective surgeries to resume.

As Oklahoma’s economy opens back up, dispensary Likewise Cannabis has seen more patients coming inside its stores instead of utilizing curbside pickup and drive-thru services, said Corbin Wyatt, CEO. This follows the governor’s announcement of a “safer-at-home order” for “vulnerable populations” on March 24.

Likewise Cannabis runs five retail locations—two in Oklahoma City, one in Edmond, one in McAlester and one in Stillwater. The business plans to open a third location in Oklahoma City and also aims to vertically integrate to add cultivation and processing, Wyatt said.

“We're back to stocking vapes more as sales have been rising on those significantly in the past few days,” Wyatt said on May 4. “Flower is seeing an uptick as well, edibles are down a few percentage points. I think people are beginning to rotate back to their usual regime.”

Likewise saw edibles purchases increase from about 20 to 25% of monthly sales prior to the state’s coronavirus pandemic response to about 35% during the first roughly five weeks of the safer-at-home order, Wyatt said April 30.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Rubicon Organics Inc. has announced that it has received its sales amendment from Health Canada to sell dried and fresh cannabis products for recreational use. With the receipt of the sales license, Rubicon Organics is now able to directly sell its organic certified flower to all provincial and territorial distributors. 

“Today marks an important milestone for Rubicon Organics on our journey to become Canada’s leading organic cannabis company,” stated Jesse McConnell, CEO. “This sales license will enable us to launch our full portfolio of super-premium brands, into new provinces such as Alberta and Quebec, whilst extending our offerings in our already supplied provinces, Ontario, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.”   

Together with the Health Canada site amendments previously announced on May 6, 2020, Rubicon Organics’ Delta, BC facility is now fully licensed to cultivate, process and sell cannabis products from both its 125,000-square-foot hybrid-greenhouse and 11-acre outdoor grow site for recreational and medical use.

An investigation into the roll out of Missouri’s medical cannabis program has reached Gov. Mike Parson’s office, as a House committee seeks records involving Parson’s chief of staff, chief operating officer and a longtime adviser, according to an Associated Press report.

The Missouri House Special Committee on Government Oversight sent a letter to the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) May 7, requesting records of the department’s interactions with cannabis industry stakeholders and insight into how key decisions were made in the medical cannabis licensing process, the news outlet reported.

The committee’s chairman, State Rep. Robert Ross, indicated in the letter that the records request is a result of “too many unanswered questions” after DHSS officials testified during earlier public hearings related to the investigation, according to the Associated Press.

Ross received a whistleblower complaint in March in the form of an unsigned letter from someone claiming to be a DHSS employee, the news outlet reported. The complaint accused the department of lying to legislators during the hearings and raises questions about the qualifications and salaries of those overseeing Missouri’s medical cannabis program.

The state’s Auditor’s Office has received two additional whistleblower complaints about DHSS operations and the medical cannabis program’s licensing process, the Associated Press reported.

The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission plans to launch its adult-use cannabis delivery application May 28, according to a MassLive.com report, as some regulators have said that delivery is a priority during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cannabis Control Commission Executive Director Shawn Collins made the announcement during the commission’s May 7 virtual meeting, the news outlet reported.

The licenses will be granted to social equity and economic empowerment applicants for at least the first two years, according to MassLive.com. Both programs are meant to bolster industry participation from businesses owned by minorities, those with prior cannabis-related convictions and individuals who have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.

Commissioners are considering a precertification process for the delivery applications before granting applicants a provisional license, MassLive.com reported. This would include verification of business and tax information and insurance plans, according to the news outlet, and then additional factors, such as a host community agreement and capital resources, would be considered before the commission grants a provisional license to pre-certified businesses.

The Cannabis Control Commission approved regulations last fall to allow adult-use cannabis delivery services and cannabis cafes, or establishments where people can legally consume cannabis in a social setting, MassLive.com reported.

Several states looked poised to vote on cannabis legalization this year, and while some secured initiatives on their ballots before the coronavirus hit the U.S., a campaign in Montana was the latest to falter in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Approach Montana is making a comeback, however, after officially launching its statewide signature drive May 9, as Montana loosened some of its restrictions in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

“As our state reopens for business, we must also reopen for democracy,” Pepper Petersen, New Approach Montana’s political director, said in a public statement. “Our signature drive will allow Montana voters to exercise their constitutional right to a ballot initiative in a safe and responsible way.”

Early this year, before COVID-19 reached the U.S., the state approved the campaign’s two complementary ballot initiatives for circulation.

Statutory Initiative 190 would establish a system to regulate and tax cannabis for adult use, while Constitutional Initiative 118 would authorize Montana to set the legal age for consumption at 21.

This week, a recently released 2018 memo advises the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to change its program regulating the legal production of cannabis for research purposes in order to comply with international drug laws. Elsewhere, in Minnesota, the state’s House Majority Leader introduced an adult-use cannabis legalization bill after months of discussion on how to approach legalization in the state.

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

Federal: The DEA’s program regulating the legal federal production of cannabis for research purposes has been non-compliant with international drug laws for decades, according to an advisory from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). A recently released 2018 memo from the OLC advises the DEA to “change its current practices and the policy it announced in 2016 to comply with the Single Convention.” Read moreEthos Cannabis, a Pennsylvania-based multistate cannabis operator, announced May 5 that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire the rights to 4Front Ventures’ dispensary locations in Pennsylvania and Maryland, which currently operate under the Mission brand. The acquisition furthers Ethos’ goal of developing a strong presence in the Mid-Atlantic, East Coast and Midwest cannabis markets, according to President and CFO David Clapper. Read moreHightimes Holding Corp. will see former Green Growth Brands Executive Peter Horvath step in as CEO at a critical time for the company, following the departure of former CEO Stormy Simon. Long the publisher of High Times, the holding corporation is in the midst of a strategic move into the retail segment of the legal cannabis industry with the acquisition of two dispensaries (in Los Angeles and Las Vegas) and a pending deal for 13 more in California. Read moreCalifornia: Regulators have released proposed rules for the OCal Program, a statewide certification program focused on comparable-to-organic standards for cannabis. CDFA is required by state law to establish an organic certification program for cannabis by Jan. 1, 2021, and public comment on the proposed regulations will be accepted through July 7, 2020. Read moreOhio: The state has officially secured the testing equipment it needs to tell the difference between marijuana and hemp. Up until recently, most of Ohio’s crime labs, if not all, could only detect the presence of THC, but not the concentration, which is key in determining whether the cannabis in question is hemp or marijuana. Read moreIllinois: The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced May 4 that adult-use cannabis sales surpassed $37 million in April. The state’s dispensaries sold 818,954 items for total sales of $37,260,497.89. Read moreOklahoma: The state collected $9.8 million in medical cannabis tax revenue in April, which breaks the previous record of $7.8 million that was set in March. Oklahomans spent roughly $61.4 million on medical cannabis in April, which equates to nearly $217 per registered patient. Read moreMinnesota: House Democratic Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) introduced an adult-use cannabis legalization bill May 5 after months of public discussions on how to approach legalization in the state. The legislation would create a regulatory structure with the goal of establishing a craft market with micro-businesses, and also includes a home grow provision. Read moreGeorgia: The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission has appointed Andrew Turnage, the leader of the state boards that oversee cosmetology and nursing, as its executive director. The commission is responsible for establishing rules to regulate Georgia’s medical cannabis program, and Turnage’s appointment comes more than a year after Gov. Brian Kemp signed the program into law in April 2019. Read moreInternational: The New Zealand government has published legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis ahead of a nationwide vote on the proposal this September. The Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill would broadly legalize cannabis use and sales for adults 20 and older, and would allow adults to grow two plants or up to four total plants per household for personal use, among other provisions. Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. – PRESS RELEASE – A group of cannabis advocacy and industry organizations sent a letter to Congress today urging lawmakers to include the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act or similar language in the next pandemic relief package which would create a safe harbor for banks and other financial services providers to work with cannabis and ancillary businesses that are in compliance with state law. The letter cites the ability of cash to carry contagions and the personal proximity required by cash transactions as reasons for urgency in correcting the lack of banking access in the cannabis industry, beyond the pre-existing safety and transparency concerns addressed by this legislation. It was signed by Americans for Safe Access, Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce, Marijuana Policy Project, Minority Cannabis Business Association, National Association of Cannabis Businesses, National Cannabis Industry Association, National Cannabis Roundtable, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Policy Center for Public Health and Safety, and Safe and Responsible Banking Alliance.

“Collectively, we represent consumers, patients, and thousands of state-regulated and ancillary cannabis businesses,” the letter reads. “This industry, composed primarily of small to medium-sized businesses, continues to provide safe cannabis medicine to more than 3 million medical cannabis patients in the United States. Despite the essential designation in most states, these essential businesses lack access to the financial services necessary to optimize social distancing measures to ensure the safety of medical cannabis patients, workers, and the public.”

Due to current federal laws and financial regulations, most banks are unwilling to take the risk of prosecution or sanction to work with state-legal cannabis businesses and often ancillary businesses that service the cannabis industry. This forces many businesses in this space to operate almost entirely in cash, creating public health and safety issues that have been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic. These policies hinder the efforts of regulators and law enforcement to effectively monitor the legal cannabis market, and severely limit access to capital for small businesses that are increasingly in need of assistance. Business owners are also becoming more concerned that the presence of cash on their premises will make them larger targets for crime as unemployment rises throughout the nation.

“Locking legal businesses out of traditional banking services—leaving them with no option but to operate exclusively in cash—has long put workers in danger,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, the lead Senate sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act. “And now in the face of this pandemic, it’s making it increasingly difficult for these businesses to keep their workers and customers safe while they fight to stay afloat. The SAFE Banking Act is more important than ever to these businesses and the families who rely on them, and I’m committed to doing everything I can to get it passed.”

The SAFE Banking Act would prevent federal banking regulators from punishing banks for working with cannabis- and hemp-related businesses that are obeying state laws. The bill would protect ancillary businesses that work with the cannabis industry from being charged with money laundering and other financial crimes, and requires the Financial Institution Examination Council to develop guidance to help credit unions and banks understand how to lawfully serve cannabis businesses.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture received 198 applications for hemp production licenses for the 2020 growing season, the state’s first shot at a legal hemp market. It may be a lower number than industry stakeholders expected, but certain elements of the Ohio climate and the regulatory landscape may offer great promise.

Craig Schuttenhofer, research assistant professor at Central State University in Xenia, Ohio, says that the state’s glaciated soils will be nice for the crop. At the eastern edge of the Corn Belt, great swaths of Ohio’s landscape will be terrific for hemp. There are wet regions in the state, but, by and large, the long growing season should prove beneficial to the hemp crop.

“We do have a good amount of seasonal moisture, but at the same time it’s not an excess during the natural growing season,” he says.

Notably, Ohio will be operating under the federal guidance of the 2018 Farm Bill. Many states—including major players in the industry, like Kentucky, Oregon and Colorado—are continuing this year to work under 2014 Farm Bill pilot program auspices. The differences between those states’ pilot program oversight measures and the 2018 Farm Bill can be vast. This may give Ohio farmers a leg up on the competition, Schluttenhofer says.

Next year, before the 2021 growing season really gets under way, those other states will need to get in line with the 2018 Farm Bill. Schulettenhofer says that this first year may give Ohio an advantage; the switch to the new regulations will be a complex adjustment.

“All of those programs now have to re-educate their growers and re-adjust to how they’re doing things,” Schluttenhofer says. This adjustment involves “hot” crop testing (for THC content) and other processing issues.

TORONTO, May 7, 2020 /CNW/ - PRESS RELEASE - The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd., a producer of premium certified organic cannabis, has announced that it has received Health Canada's approval for the totality of its main Valleyfield hybrid greenhouse.

With all 24 zones now licensed, TGOD has the flexibility to quickly expand its operations at Valleyfield as the market develops. The company also plans to leverage parts of the newly licensed space to shift a portion of its processing activities currently being handled at Ancaster or intended to be outsourced to third parties in order to optimize costs and production timelines of its 2.0 products. This will accelerate its supply chain timelines and reduce bottlenecks in production of high-demand products such as Infusers and teas.

Designed specifically for organic growing, the facility boasts cutting-edge climate control systems, water recapture networks and LED lighting.  As the market develops, TGOD intends to gradually recommence growing operations at Valleyfield which have temporarily been paused.

The licence amendment is valid until June 8, 2021 and is subject to customary terms and conditions.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PRESS RELEASE--Cresco Labs, one of the largest vertically integrated multistate cannabis operators in the United States, has announced that it has completed the expansion project for its cultivation and manufacturing facility located in Brookville, Pa. The expansion project provides an additional 66,000 square feet of indoor and greenhouse cultivation area, bringing the total cultivation space in the facility to 88,000 square feet. The Brookville site supplies Cresco’s house of brands to 100% of the licensed dispensaries in Pennsylvania and the company currently maintains one of the largest wholesale market shares.

The company also concluded a significant expansion of its manufacturing capabilities with new and advanced extraction booths and integrated safety systems. The expansion project provides a 300% increase in capacity for butane extraction and a 90% increase in ethanol extraction which enables Cresco to efficiently process its increased biomass to manufacture its full portfolio of brands, including Cresco, Remedi and Reserve, with new brands launching soon. As a result of tripling the site’s capacity in a phased approach, the company expects products from the third, 22,000-square-foot phase to enter the market this month, with production from the fourth, 22,000-square-foot phase starting in July 2020 and gradually increasing throughout the remainder of the year.

Charlie Bachtell, Cresco Labs’ CEO and co-founder, said, “Pennsylvania continues to be one of the most attractive and highly coveted markets in the country. Today’s announcement marks a strategic milestone towards building our leadership in this high-growth market. This expansion enables us to more efficiently cater to patients across the Keystone State and increase our operating leverage. This expansion project follows the recently completed scale up of our cultivation facilities in Lincoln and Kankakee, Ill. It is testament to our stated strategy of going deep in key states and focusing on branded products and wholesale distribution.”

Pennsylvania is a high-barrier, limited license market that is expected to become one of the biggest medical markets in the U.S. and has already witnessed rapid demand acceleration with over 284,000 registered patients and nearly 80 operational dispensaries as of April 2020.

Cresco Labs first entered the Pennsylvania market in February 2018, with the opening of its CY+ branded retail dispensary in Butler making the first-ever legal sale of cannabis under the state’s medical marijuana program. Cresco’s flagship location opened in June 2018 in the historic Strip District in Pittsburgh. A third dispensary opened in New Kensington in February 2019. The company has plans to open three more dispensaries in the Philadelphia area as well as rebrand all dispensaries in the state to its Sunnyside national retail brand.

The Georgia Medical Cannabis Commission has appointed Andrew Turnage, the leader of the state boards that oversee cosmetology and nursing, as its executive director, according to Saporta Report.

The commission is responsible for establishing rules to regulate Georgia’s medical cannabis program, and Turnage’s appointment comes more than a year after Gov. Brian Kemp signed the program into law in April 2019.

State officials appointed members to the commission late last year, including three doctors, a police chief, a health policy professor, the president of the Georgia Board of Pharmacy and a small business owner. The commission is chaired by Dr. Christopher Edwards, the principal surgeon for the Atlanta Neurological & Spine Institute.

The commission held its first meeting in December, and will ultimately license six companies to cultivate medical cannabis and turn it into low-THC cannabis oil (containing less than 5% THC) that will be distributed to qualified patients.

Minnesota House Democratic Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) introduced an adult-use cannabis legalization bill May 5 after months of public discussions on how to approach legalization in the state, according to a KSTP.com report.

The legislation would create a regulatory structure with the goal of establishing a craft market with micro-businesses, the news outlet reported, and the bill also includes a home grow provision.

The proposal allows for the expungement of past cannabis-related convictions, and provides funding for public health awareness, youth access prevention, and substance abuse addiction and treatment. Small businesses would also have access to grants, loans, technical assistance and training under the legislation, according to KSTP.com.

“Minnesotans have been loud and clear that our current cannabis laws are doing more harm than good,” Winkler told the news outlet. “By creating a regulatory framework, we can address the harms caused by cannabis and establish a more sensible set of laws to improve our health care and criminal justice systems and ensure better outcomes for communities.”

Winkler’s bill is the result of a series of “Be Heard on Cannabis” discussions that he hosted around the state last year to gather public input on legalization.

Oklahoma collected $9.8 million in medical cannabis tax revenue in April, which breaks the previous record of $7.8 million that was set in March, according to The Oklahoman.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission’s figures include traditional sales taxes and a 7% medical cannabis tax, the news outlet reported.

Oklahomans spent roughly $61.4 million on medical cannabis in April, which equates to nearly $217 per registered patient, according to The Oklahoman.

The tax revenue increase from March to April represents the highest month-to-month increase since last summer, the news outlet reported.

Massachusetts lawmakers met virtually May 5 to discuss a bill that could provide much-needed relief to the state’s medical and adult-use cannabis industry.

The hearing of the Joint Committee on Development and Small Businesses focused on a bill to establish a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) at the state level for companies that don’t qualify for federal assistance, such as cannabis businesses, as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been detrimental to cannabis companies licensed to cultivate or sell through Massachusetts’ adult-use program because, unlike most other states, Gov. Charlie Baker did not deem adult-use retailers essential like their medical counterparts. Dispensaries have been closed since the shutdown orders took effect March 24. Gov. Baker recently extended the nonessential business shutdown, which was scheduled to lift May 4, to May 18.

National cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg represented a group of cannabis companies and a military veteran in a lawsuit in response to Gov. Baker’s emergency orders not declaring adult-use businesses “essential,” but a judge ultimately denied the plaintiff’s request, noting that the governor was acting within his constitutional authority but that there were avenues he could have explored to keep citizens safe. Brandon Kurtzman, one of the attorneys representing the cannabis companies, says there is no update on whether they will appeal the decision now that the shutdown orders have been extended.

RELATED: Adult-Use Cannabis Dispensary Shutdown in Massachusetts 'Catastrophic' for Industry

If S. 2643 is approved, eligible recipients could use the loan for business expenses including payroll costs, various health care benefits and insurance premiums, employee salaries, mortgage interest payments and rent.

When it comes to Michigan’s cannabis supply chain, Allison Ireton, co-owner of Ann Arbor’s Bloom City Club dispensary, says supply has represented either a feast or famine as the rules governing the regulated marketplace evolve.

At the heart of the issue are the state’s regulations surrounding caregiver-sourced cannabis. Ireton says the rules regarding caregivers have changed several times already since Bloom received its state license in 2018, and last month, regulators abruptly tweaked them again.

On April 8, the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) issued an advisory bulletin saying that the state’s adult-use cannabis retailers can no longer purchase products produced by caregivers, who have been cultivating cannabis for patients since Michigan legalized medical cannabis in 2008.

Under the new regulations, only medical dispensaries can continue sourcing cannabis from caregivers.

This is a sudden shift from a plan that MRA outlined in a March 1 bulletin, which immediately barred licensed dispensaries from purchasing cannabis concentrates, vape cartridges and other infused products from the state’s caregivers, but which allowed retailers to continue sourcing flower from caregivers until Oct. 1.

Hightimes Holding Corp. will see former Green Growth Brands Executive Peter Horvath step in as CEO at a critical time for the company. Long the publisher of High Times, the holding corporation is in the midst of a strategic move into the retail segment of the legal cannabis industry. Hightimes Holding Corp. has acquired two dispensaries (in Los Angeles and Las Vegas) and is working on closing a deal for 13 more in California.

Horvath’s retail experience mostly stems from his time at L Brands, which owns Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. At Green Growth Brands, he served as CEO for a year. The Green Growth strategy was based largely on the mall retail business that drove L Brands’ sales; Green Growth’s Seventh Sense CBD kiosks were seen as the next step in the company’s retail plan.

“All of the retail industry has seen a massive shift in consumer behavior and it’s been accelerated by COVID,” Horvath told IPO Edge. “It’s going to be very exciting to really be the first post-COVID cannabis company.”

Hightimes Holding Corp. is in the middle of a Reg+ IPO, a type of pre-public capital raise that allows investors to maintain liquidity. The company plans to list on the OTC markets under the ticker symbol “HTHC.” 

“High Times is a unique brand with an important and rich heritage that deserves amplification and broader reach,” Horvath said in a public statement. “I think of brands like Glossier, who first earned high affinity followers through compelling and relevant content, and then demonstrated that you can also serve their followers through commerce. So, it’s been done before, I wouldn't suggest that it will be easy, but we have all the resources to succeed. I look forward to joining Adam’s accomplished team at High Times, and I am intent on understanding, protecting, and building on the High Times legacy.”

]]>

Smart and Safe Arizona has already collected more than the minimum number of signatures required to qualify its adult-use cannabis legalization measure for the state’s 2020 ballot, but the campaign is continuing its efforts in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure it has enough valid signatures to get the issue before voters this fall.

The statutory measure would allow adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, as well as grow up to six plants at home for personal use.

The Arizona Department of Health, which already regulates the state’s medical cannabis program, would oversee the adult-use industry, which would launch by June 1, 2021, under the initiative. The department would grant vertically integrated licenses to businesses to cultivate, process and sell adult-use cannabis, as well as issue licenses to adult-use testing facilities.

Existing medical cannabis dispensaries would be considered “early applicants,” as would applicants seeking to locate their business in a county with fewer than two existing medical cannabis dispensaries. Medical dispensaries ultimately awarded adult-use licenses would then have to co-locate medical and adult-use sales in one storefront.

The initiative levies a 5.6% sales tax and a 16% excise tax on adult-use cannabis to fund state agencies for expenses related to implementing the program, and any remaining funds would be divided among community college districts, police and fire departments, the Highway User Fund and a newly created Justice Investment Fund, which would support grants and programs related to public health, expungement, nonprofit services and social equity efforts.

MEDFORD, MA – May 6, 2020 –  PRESS RELEASE – The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) has released for comment draft Technical Requirements for LED-based Horticultural Lighting: Version 2.0,  an update designed to increase the efficacy threshold for the DLC’s Horticultural Qualified Products List (QPL), while continuing the transition to specific data and metrics that best represent horticultural lighting performance. The DLC is also seeking comment on proposed changes meant to reduce manufacturers’ testing burden, as well as application complexity and cost, by introducing “family grouping” and “private labeling” to the DLC’s horticultural lighting program.

Following consideration of stakeholder comments, the draft policy is scheduled to take effect in January. 

“This revision speaks to the need for a more appropriate and accurate way to measure and report the performance of LED horticultural lighting,” DLC Executive Director & CEO Christina Halfpenny said. “At the same time, we are seeking to drive greater efficiency in the expanding controlled environment agriculture industries that depend on horticultural lighting, including energy-intensive legal cannabis cultivation.”

According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the annual electricity consumption of all indoor U.S. horticultural installations is about 5.9 terawatt hours--approximately equal to the annual usage of more than half a million U.S. households. Consumption is estimated to grow between 15 and 25 percent between 2017 and 2025. A 2019 Strategies Unlimited report forecasted that the LED lighting market for cannabis alone will grow more than 300% in the next five years.

Against this backdrop, the DLC proposes to increase the efficacy threshold for Horticultural QPL listing by 10. 5 percent. This change is based on an analysis of all products currently on the QPL and set at a value that allows the top 85 percent of products in terms of photosynthetic photon efficacy to remain listed. Under the V2.0 update, LED products on the DLC’s Horticultural QPL would be approximately 40 percent more energy efficient, on average, than the most efficient legacy products--double-ended high-pressure sodium fixtures. 

VICTOR, N.Y. and SMITH FALLS, Ontario, May 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Constellation Brands, Inc., a beverage alcohol company, and Canopy Growth Corporation, a diversified cannabis company, have announced the exercise by Greenstar Canada Investment Limited Partnership, an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Constellation Brands, of an aggregate of 18,876,901 warrants to purchase common shares of Canopy Growth.

The warrants, which were originally issued on Nov. 2, 2017, were exercised at an exercise price of C$12.9783 per common share for an aggregate of approximately C$245 million. Upon issuance, the common shares represented approximately 5.1% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Canopy Growth. As a result of the acquisition of new common shares, Constellation Brands now indirectly holds, in the aggregate, 142,253,802 common shares, 139,745,453 warrants to purchase common shares and C$200,000,000 principal amount of senior notes. Collectively, the common shares increase Constellation Brand’s ownership of Canopy Growth to 38.6% of the issued and outstanding common shares. Assuming full exercise of all remaining warrants and full conversion of the notes (but for these purposes excluding any effect from a Canopy Growth exercise of its right to acquire Acreage Holdings, Inc. pursuant to its option under the plan of arrangement previously announced on June 27, 2019) Constellation Brands would own approximately 55.8% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Canopy Growth.

“While global legalization of cannabis is still in its infancy, we continue to believe the long-term opportunity in this evolving market is substantial,” said Bill Newlands, president and chief executive officer, Constellation Brands. “Canopy is best positioned to win in the emerging cannabis space and we are confident in the strategic direction of the company under David Klein and his team.”

"This additional investment validates the work our team has done since attracting the initial investment in 2017. It also strengthens our ability to pursue the immense market and product opportunities available to Canopy in Canada, the U.S. and other key global markets," said David Klein, chief executive officer, Canopy Growth.

Constellation Brands may from time to time acquire or dispose of common shares or other securities of Canopy Growth or exercise its warrants in the future, either on the open market or in private transactions, in each case, depending on a number of factors, including general market and economic conditions and other available investment opportunities. Depending on market conditions, general economic and industry conditions, Canopy Growth’s business and financial condition and/or other relevant factors, Constellation Brands may develop other plans or intentions in the future.