MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, the elected official overseeing the state’s election, publicly announced his opposition to an adult-use cannabis ballot measure last week.

The state’s chief elections officer told KSDK News that he will vote “no” on Legal Missouri 2022’s proposed constitutional amendment, listed as Amendment 3 on the statewide ballot, in part because he believes there’s a problem with the dichotomy between state and federal cannabis laws, and also because he thinks the current proposal would make too many changes to the state constitution.

“I don’t think that this amendment is good for the state,” Ashcroft said in an Oct. 26 interview with the NBC affiliate. “It’s way too much to put in our constitution. If you think that marijuana should be decriminalized under state law, the amendment should say something to the effect of, ‘The recreational use of marijuana in the state of Missouri is not unconstitutional and may be regulated by general statute.’”

The 39-page proposal, if passed, not only would allow Missourians 21 and older to possess, consume, purchase and cultivate cannabis, but it would allow individuals convicted of nonviolent cannabis-related offenses to petition to be released from incarceration and/or have their records automatically expunged.

2022 Election Preview: Dodging Supreme Court Interference, Missouri Voters Get Crack at Legalization

In addition, the ballot measure includes provisions to establish a lottery to award new licenses distributed equally among eight congressional districts; to require a registration card for personal cultivation; to impose a 6% tax on cannabis sales to fund various programs like veterans’ services and drug addiction treatment; to strengthen the state’s medical cannabis program; and to allow for municipal opt-outs on adult-use sales, among other policy intentions.

Cannabis stocks quickly rallied after President Joe Biden’s surprise announcement on Oct. 6 that the federal government will pardon simple cannabis possession offenses and that Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra will review cannabis’s current status as a Schedule I drug in the Controlled Substances Act.

The move sent shockwaves through the industry, which largely welcomed the news, hailing it as a “step in the right direction” amidst a difficult year of falling prices, increasing competition, and unwavering state and federal legal restrictions.

Please see our statement about today’s news from the Biden Administration. $CCHW $CCHWF #ColumbiaCare pic.twitter.com/vFy3645zab

Although cannabis stocks are still trading well below their peak pandemic-era levels in 2020, “this rally, percentage-wise, was biggest in the year,” said Frank Colombo, director of data analytics for Viridian Capital Advisors. In fact, the 32.4% gain measured by Advisorshares Pure Cannabis ETF (MSOS) was the “largest one-week gain since the ETF began in September 2020,” according to the Viridian’s Deal Tracker. 

“The fact that President Biden did follow through with that messaging and with the direction to the agencies to really get moving on this, I think sent a strong statement and [provided] confidence in the market to investors and all stakeholders that the government was taking this seriously,” Curaleaf CEO Matt Darin told Cannabis Business Times.

BALTIMORE, MD, October 24, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE: GreenLab Packaging by FILAMATIC is thrilled to showcase the CartRunner system at MJBizCon – Vegas 2022 – BOOTH #7927. The CartRunner is an end-to-end filling and capping solution for cannabis cartridges and disposable pens. This one-of-a-kind, fully automated, and high-volume system offers the cannabis industry a truly complete packaging experience.

Key features of the CartRunner system:

The CartRunner can accommodate fill volumes from 0.25g to 1.0g and gives you complete control of your production temperature – a range of 50’ to 200’ degrees Fahrenheit. The system is a robust, workhorse solution that can dispense a wide variety of your oil recipes (terpene-rich oils to heavy distillates). Dorjee Tenpa, Business Development/GLAB, says, “Its full automation, small footprint, and less touchpoints makes it an ideal solution for companies looking to scale quickly without sacrificing quality or operational efficiencies.”

GreenLab Packaging is proud to represent over 70 years of FILAMATIC experience, innovation, and overall design within the cannabis industry. The CartRunner is one offering within an extensive product portfolio developed for the cannabis industry.

Josh Rosen, President/CEO/FILAMATIC notes, “The CartRunner will provide cannabis packagers a new level of quality and reliability, all at high volumes, across multiple SKUs. ... Whatever your manufacturing or compliance requirements may be, the CartRunner has you covered.”

Cannabis consumption establishments will soon join the social likes of the bar scene in Nevada.

State regulators from the Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) released the final figures Oct. 31 from a 10-day application window that closed four days earlier, revealing that they received 100 completed applications of consumption lounge licenses.

Based on the number of submissions for two different application types (retail and independent), and on parameters outlined in state law, CCB officials can now issue up to 40 licenses for consumption lounges—20 for retail and 20 for independent—meaning at least 60 applicants will be left out.

Per state law, CCB officials may issue 20 independent licenses, half of which are designated for social equity applicants. There were 30 social equity applicants and 50 nonsocial equity applicants for that license type, and board members will now review all of those submissions to ensure they’ve met the necessary requirements.

“The CCB anticipates conducting two drawings via a random number selector in early December to determine the issuance of independent cannabis consumption lounge licenses for nonsocial equity and social equity applicants,” board officials stated in the Oct. 31 release.

Meanwhile, there were 20 applications submitted for the retail license type, allowing for established dispensaries to have a lounge attached or adjacent to their current facility. State officials did not cap the number of consumption lounge licenses for retailers, so all 20 could potentially get awarded.

Comparing water activity (Aw) to moisture content. Understanding the presence of ethylene in cannabis dry/cure rooms. The ways in which freezing (or non-freezing) methods impact terpene composition post-harvest.

Whether your cultivation operation is harvesting multiple times a year, or if this outdoor harvest season has you busier than ever—these drying and curing concepts could be important to the overall quality of your product.

In the research-backed session “Master the Art of Drying and Curing” at Cannabis Conference 2022 (produced by Cannabis Business Times) on Aug. 25 in Las Vegas, Dr. Allison Justice outlined recent studies conducted via Cannabis Research Coalition—a farmer-funded professional group including Justice’s hemp genetics company The Hemp Mine and Dr. Jim Faust’s Flowering Physiology Laboratory at Clemson University—which present findings and pose serious questions about these concepts.

Keep reading for key takeaways and a video link to Justice’s full recorded presentation.

Drying and Curing Desirables

In the immediate aftermath of Canopy Growth Corp.’s Oct. 25 announcement that the company intends to accelerate its plans to enter the U.S. market through a new holding company, Canopy USA, excitement ran rampant on the stock market.

RELATED: Canopy Growth to Acquire Acreage, Wana, Jetty in US Entrance

In just a couple short hours, the Ontario-based company’s share price increased 20% and continued to run into the next day, peaking at a 43% jump post-announcement. But that rally came to a halt mid-day Oct. 26 when questions arose regarding how Canopy Growth would legally maintain its U.S. listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market upon entering the federally illegal U.S. marketplace.  

Initially, there were implications of a possible loophole for current U.S.-based operators to somehow “reverse engineer” their company financials out of the country while creating a new holding company for exchangeable share purposes here at home.

“Dumb question, but if [Canopy Growth] can maintain their U.S. listing with this strategy, why couldn’t most U.S. cannabis reverse engineer this to have a [holding company] that owns ‘exchangeable shares’ that effectively accomplishes the same thing,” Mindset Capital CEO Aaron Edelheit questioned Oct. 25 on social media. “The whole thing is just so absurd to me.”

But the day after the announcement, Oct. 26, it became clear that Canopy’s Nasdaq listing could be in jeopardy upon closing acquisitions of Wana Brands, Jetty Extracts or the fixed shares of multistate operator Acreage Holdings: Nasdaq objected to Canopy consolidating the financial results of Canopy USA in the event of those transactions, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing by Canopy.

The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) has named the cannabis manufacturer and transporter applicants selected to advance in the licensing process.

The three cannabis product manufacturers and one transporter were chosen from a pool of social equity applicants, and the DCP will now conduct background checks on the businesses before issuing provisional licenses, according to the Hartford Business Journal.

RELATED: Connecticut Names Cannabis Product Packager Applicants Chosen to Advance in Licensing Process

State officials selected Bay Breeze Botanical Inc., Golden Hanuman Inc. and High Regard CT LLC to receive the cannabis product manufacturer licenses, the news outlet reported, and selected Grow Green Girls Inc. to advance in the process for a cannabis transporter license.

The DCP has notified the applicants that they can complete the next steps to secure a provisional license, including submitting additional information for a background check, the Hartford Business Journal reported.

In January 2022, an official at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) quietly confirmed that, yes, cannabis seeds fall under the legal definition of hemp and, yes, they can be sold openly and without criminal liability.

Breeders and growers haven’t exactly taken the administration up on that suggestion yet, however.

“Marihuana seed that has a delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis meets the definition of ‘hemp’ and thus is not controlled under the CSA,” wrote Terrence Boos, chief of the Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section of the Diversion Control Division of the DEA. The official determination invoked the regulatory language of the 2018 Farm Bill. Read Boos’s full letter below.

Boos was responding to a letter from Vicente Sederberg attorney Shane Pennington, who sought clarity on this matter.

“This is one of the areas that I get a lot of questions about,” Pennington told Cannabis Business Times, referencing the vagaries of seed and genetics sourcing in the industry. He felt that the 2018 Farm Bill, with its definition of hemp as any aspect of the plant containing less than 0.3% THC, should give licensed business buying and selling cannabis seeds some degree of cover—“and nobody believed me.”

So, he wrote a letter and sent it straight to the top brass at the DEA. He knew the DEA was under no obligation to answer him, but on Jan. 6 Boos penned his response. Marijuana Moment first reported on the news.

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Gb Sciences, Inc., a plant-inspired, biopharmaceutical research and drug development company, has co-published a study in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology that demonstrates the potential of selected cannabinoids and terpenes to reduce inflammation. Finding cannabis compounds with anti-inflammatory properties may be useful in decreasing inflammation associated with a wide range of serious human disorders, and these cannabis compounds potentially have more favorable side effect profiles than NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs), which currently lead the anti-inflammatory market based on sales. Largely because of the increasing prevalence of chronic and auto-immune inflammatory disorders, the market for anti-inflammatory therapies is expected to grow to $191.42 billion by 2027.

"We believe that this is the first demonstration of the anti-inflammatory potential of some very potent minor cannabinoids and terpenes derived from cannabis," said Dr. Andrea Small-Howard, President, Chief Science Officer, and Director of Gb Sciences. "The identification of cell type-specific immune modulating effects by different individual cannabinoids and terpenes was an important first step in designing our novel anti-inflammatory therapies. The results from our second study on the anti-inflammatory effects of proprietary mixtures of these ingredients will be published subsequently with our collaborators at Michigan State University and Chaminade University."

Gb Sciences selected the specific cannabis constituents for this study based on their prior activity within chemovar studies. To determine whether these cannabinoids and terpenes could reduce inflammation, Gb Sciences' colleagues at Michigan State University tested the individual cannabis constituents over a wide range of concentrations in human, primary immune cells in a co-culture system that mimics the complex interactions that regulate the human immune system. Three immune cell types were chosen as representatives within these native human immune cell mixtures based on their important roles in modulating the inflammatory cascade.

This study demonstrated that delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) had the greatest effect on reducing inflammatory biomarkers and processes in all three immune cell types. Following THC, the greatest immune activity modulation was measured by cannabidivarin (CBDV), cannabigerol (CBG), cannabichromene (CBC), cannabinol (CBN), and lastly, cannabidiol (CBD) in decreasing order based on the number of statistically significant changes measured in inflammatory bioassays relative to the control. Some of these minor cannabinoids and the terpenes tested had very 'selective' anti-inflammatory effects, which targeted a single cell type and/or caused a change in only a single inflammatory bioassay.

This study entitled "Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory effects of selected cannabinoids and terpenes from Cannabis Sativa employing human primary leukocytes" was co-authored by Gb Sciences' own President and Chief Science Officer, Andrea Small-Howard, and her collaborators Lance K. Blevins, Anthony P. Bach, Robert B. Crawford, Jiajun Zhou, Joseph E. Henriquez, Michael D. Rizzo, Sera Sermet, D.M. Isha Olive Khan, and Norbert Kaminski from Michigan State University (East Lansing, Michigan, USA) and Helen Turner from Chaminade University of Honolulu (Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA). The second part of this study measured the effects of proprietary mixtures of cannabinoids and terpenes on inflammation within this human, primary immune cell model, and this second study will be published next in collaboration with our colleagues at Michigan State University and Chaminade University.

MIAMI,Nov. 1, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE – Ayr Wellness Inc., a leading vertically integrated multistatecannabis operator, announced the opening of two new retail stores in Florida,located in Daytona Beach and Lake Worth, as well as the expansion of LEVIAwater-soluble cannabis tinctures to its Florida retail menus.

Ayr’snewest stores in Daytona Beach and Lake Worth join more than 50 other retaillocations throughout the state. Through this robust retail footprint, Florida’srapidly growing community of more than 761,000 qualified patients have accessto Ayr’s growing menu of cannabis products.

“Weare excited to see the results from the progress we’ve made in Florida sinceacquiring Liberty Health Sciences in 2021. We’ve opened more than 20 newlocations, with our store count now at 52, and have introduced several brandsfrom our national portfolio to the market,” Ayr founder and CEO JonathanSandelman said. “On our mission to produce the highest quality cannabis atscale, Florida has been instrumental in bringing that vision to life.”

Atall Liberty Health Sciences locations, patients can now enjoy LEVIAwater-soluble cannabis tinctures, the latest addition to its menus followingthe recent introduction of hydrocarbon-extracted concentrates brand HAZE, aswell as the award-winning premium whole flower brand, Lost in Translation(LIT).

LEVIAtinctures come in three unique offerings: the indica Dream, the hybridCelebrate, and the sativa Achieve. Featuring high bioavailability and 300 milligramsof THC per bottle, LEVIA tinctures are water-soluble, allowing for flexibledosing and easy mixing with water and other beverages based on consumers’preference. The tinctures are fast-acting, providing a unique intended effectfor the consumer within minutes.

Nowoperating in eight states throughout the country, Ayr continues to reaffirm itscommitment to the state of Florida, employing more than 800 people across itsheadquarters office in Miami, 52 retail locations throughout the state, a 745,000-square-footcultivation facility in Gainesville and other field and corporate positions.

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 31, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE - Libra Design, LLC (Libra) announced the official launch of its horticulture lighting design services and Mid-Flux (MF) and High-Flux (HF) LED Modules for the Controlled-Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry, specifically for commercial indoor and greenhouse farming. Based on a customizable platform and a transparent, function-based pricing model, the new LED systems are designed and priced to ensure farmer cultivation and financial success. 

“LED technology has taken greenhouse growing to new levels of production and transformed vertical farming from science fiction to a modern reality,” said Travis Williams, Libra co-founder & CEO. “Yet today’s LED systems are still cost-prohibitive and inadequately designed for most crop producers. Our goal with the launch of the Libra Design Mid-Flux and High-Flux LED Modules is to remove the financial barrier to CEA by providing indoor and greenhouse growers access to premium LED technology without the premium price tag.” 

Designed for CEA and Certified to the Latest Safety Standards

The Libra MF and HF LED modules are specifically engineered for indoor and greenhouse farming environments where dust, water, chemicals, and workers are present, and are now certified to the latest UL 8800 standard for horticulture lighting equipment and systems. With an all-metal construction, passive cooling, and a wet-location IP66 rating, the LED modules are designed for years of efficient, maintenance-free operation reinforced by passing the construction and testing requirements for the Supplement SA to UL 8800. 

“Decades of experience in LED systems, optics, and horticulture lighting went into the development of our Mid-Flux and High-Flux LED systems,” said Dung Duong, Libra co-founder and CTO. “Being certified to the UL 8800 standard and having passed the requirements set forth in the new Supplement SA, affirms our commitment to developing a no-compromise lighting platform which delivers the exact performance, reliability and affordability growers need to succeed in today’s challenging industry.” 

A Unique Approach to Horticulture Lighting 

Colorado State University’s (CSU) Cannabinoid Research Center (CRC) has been operating for a full year, with its work so far largely focused on identifying and quantifying various cannabinoids, laying the foundation to support clinical studies.

CSU received a $1.5 million donation in early 2020 from an alumna who wanted to create a research center dedicated to studying the chemical compounds in hemp. The CRC was born and now operates in collaboration with Panacea Life Sciences, a Colorado-based cannabinoid research and certified GMP manufacturing company.

RELATED: Inside Colorado State University’s Plans for a Cannabinoid Research Center

The CRC aims to solve industry-wide issues and gain a better understanding of how cannabinoids work in the body. In the past year, researchers have discovered how to remove common contaminants from hemp products and purify cannabinoids that are present  in low concentrations in the hemp plant, as well as created the foundation for future clinical studies.

“You see people who say such-and-such a cannabinoid has this effect, and then there’s no data,” CRC Director Melissa Reynolds says. “You don’t know how much, you don’t know which cannabinoid [and] you don’t know which applications. So, that’s what we’re really working on, is getting the science right.”

More provisional business licensees are coming online in Mississippi’s medical cannabis program.

State officials recently outlined licensing figures and other updates for the state’s medical cannabis industry during an Oct. 27 press conference.

Kris Jones Adcock, director of the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program, said the state has issued provisional licenses to 47 cultivators, 138 dispensaries, eight processors, three waste disposal businesses, two testing labs and four transporters. As of Oct. 3, Mississippi had announced 38 cultivation provisional approvals, according to Memphis, Tenn., NBC affiliate Action News 5.

Additionally, Adcock said Mississippi’s medical cannabis program now has 406 patients, 117 practitioners who can provide medical cannabis recommendations, and 491 work permits for people to work in the cannabis industry. The state had approved 367 work permits with 50 in processing as of Oct. 3, per Action News 5.

Adcock and two other state officials—Dr. Dan Edney, Mississippi’s state health officer and a physician, and Jim Craig, senior deputy and director of health protection at the Mississippi State Department of Health—said state officials are working diligently to prevent product from being diverted to the illicit cannabis market.

 “We’re not going to be able to get that to zero,” Edney said of diversion. “But we’re getting it as low as we can through our regulatory authority based on the statutory conditions that we’re given …. I have full confidence that we’re doing more than a reasonable job of protecting against diversion, and we will continue to do the very best of our ability.”

The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) is implementing a statewide seed-to-sale tracking system for medical cannabis to ensure product quality and safety.

AMCC External Affairs Director Brittany Peters told 1819 News that the tracking system will allow "the Commission to track cannabis throughout cultivation, transportation, processing, testing and dispensing of medical cannabis."

RELATED: Alabama Regulators Send Medical Cannabis License Applications to Business Hopefuls

The system will help hold licensees accountable and will help track how much cannabis is produced, processed, and sold in the state, Peters said.

The commission is also implementing a system for state and local law enforcement to validate medical cannabis cards and enforce driver license suspensions for patients "who have been recommended a daily dosage of medical cannabis that exceeds 75 milligrams THC," according to 1819 News.

The AMCC is in the process of rolling out the state's medical program, which should be operational by late next year, according to the commission's timeline.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose recently entertained the idea of making it more difficult for Ohioans to pass an adult-use cannabis legalization ballot measure in 2023.

The state’s chief elections officer told The Plain Dealer last week that he thinks the Ohio Legislature should consider raising the bar to require a 60% supermajority for voters to pass constitutional amendments on the ballot instead of the simple majority currently required.

LaRose’s recommendation comes five months after initiative organizers from the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CRMLA) struck an agreement with state lawmakers to suspend their 2022 ballot campaign and aim for 2023. Included in the settlement, the 135,000-plus certified signatures that CRMLA advocates gathered will be preserved for next year.

“We have casinos and medical marijuana and all manner of things that now have found their way into the Ohio Constitution,” LaRose told Plain Dealer reporters Oct. 27 during an endorsement interview that also included Chelsea Clark, his Democratic challenger for the Nov. 8 election.

Those comments came despite LaRose voting in favor of House Bill 523, which legalized medical cannabis in Ohio, during his time as a state senator in 2016.

“And so, I think the signature threshold may be one thing to look at,” LaRose said. “But another one might be, it takes a supermajority vote in the Legislature to refer a question to the ballot; why not require a supermajority vote of the citizens in order to pass a constitutional amendment?”

DETROIT, Oct. 31, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE – Gage Cannabis, subsidiary of TerrAscend Corp. and a leading high-quality cannabis brand and operator in Michigan, announced its fourth social equity grant recipient, Midwest CannaNurses (MCN). MCN is a Detroit-based minority-owned holistic health and wellness education consulting company dedicated to health advocacy, education and inclusion with a focus on cannabis as an alternative therapy.

"Midwest CannaNurses is extremely grateful to receive Gage's generous grant, which will aid our mission to educate the community about cannabis as an alternative therapy for health and wellness," said Biyyiah Lee, co-founder and CEO of Midwest CannaNurses. "With this contribution, we will be able to provide professional development for nurses and allied health professionals and expand our community outreach efforts by holding more educational seminars for the public. We're glad to see companies like Gage seeking opportunities to support organizations that uplift diverse communities, and this social equity grant will enable us to continue advocating for safe and informed cannabis use.”

Founded in 2020 by a group of licensed nurses who recognized their unique position and duty to normalize cannabis as medicine, Midwest CannaNurses has strived to close the current gap in the public's knowledge through education efforts including their "Outgrow The Stigma" initiative. Across Michigan, MCN offers consulting services with a focus on cannabis as medicine, and provides education on topics such as dosing titration, safe consumption, routes of administration and Individualized CannaPlans.

"Gage and TerrAscend are proud to award our social equity grant to Midwest CannaNurses, a valuable organization focused on advocating for safe, effective cannabis use while demanding destigmatization and decriminalization in communities of color," said Mike Finos, president and EVP of Operations at Gage Cannabis. "Biyyiah and MCN are an exceptionally talented group of health experts providing education and resources to patients and medical professionals throughout Michigan. We look forward to supporting MCN as it continues to eliminate disparities of access and improve their patients' quality of life for years to come."

The grant recipient's launch event, Midwest CannaNurses Presents: Let's #OutgrowTheStigma: Healthcare, Cannabis, and Metro Detroit, is free and open to the public and will be held on Nov. 3, 2022, at the Durfee Innovation Center (2470 Collingwood St.). AJ Williams of the Michigan Chronicle will host and moderate an educational panel of industry leaders, including James Tate, Detroit City Council president pro tem; Biyyiah Lee, MCN co-founder and CEO; and a retail cannabis representative. Register for the event here.

For more information about Gage's social equity program, visit www.gagesocialequity.com.

Various hemp cannabinoid products in the marketplace may not have the same cannabinoid content as their labels state, and they may contain harmful contaminants, sources tell Cannabis Business Times.

As CBT has reported, “lab shopping” is an issue that occurs in state-legal cannabis markets. There is evidence that some cannabis producers look to work with labs to inflate THC potency results to meet consumer knowledge and demand for high-THC products, and some producers search for labs that will provide favorable test results for microbiological contaminants, pesticides or residual solvents, according to CBT’s sources.

But lab shopping is also happening in the hemp industry, with some producers searching for lab partners that will deflate hemp THC potency results to below the 0.3% delta-9 THC federal limit, mislabel content of other cannabinoids—such as CBD, CBG, delta-8, delta-10, THC-O acetate or hexahydrocannabinol (HHC)—and/or not test for contaminants.

Josh Wurzer is president and co-founder of cannabis testing laboratory SC Labs, which operates hemp and cannabis testing labs in several states. He says a portion of hemp producers ask labs for lower potency figures so they can meet the federal 0.3% delta-9 THC limit. He says SC Labs doesn’t honor these requests, but some other labs do.

“So, you have [state-legal cannabis] customers calling and saying, ‘Hey, I need higher THC results,’ or implying that, and going to another laboratory that will give to them,” Wurzer says. “But then you also have your hemp customers saying, ‘I need lower THC results to pass my 0.3% threshold for hemp products.’”

Roger Brown is founder and president of ACS Laboratory in Sun City Center, Fla., which tests hemp from 48 states and 16 countries, as well as Florida medical cannabis. He also spoke with CBT about potency inflation in state-legal cannabis markets, but says “lab shopping is quite rampant in the hemp industry, as well.”

Mississippi regulators are taking disciplinary action against Mockingbird Cannabis, LLC, a medical cannabis grower that allegedly used plastic- and cloth-covered greenhouse structures to begin cultivation operations.

The structures, commonly referred to as hoophouses, violate Mississippi’s medical cannabis law, which requires indoor cultivation.

As Cannabis Business Times previously reported, some of Mississippi’s other medical cannabis growers commented on Mockingbird’s alleged violations during the Board of Health’s public meeting Oct. 12. The Department of Health said at the time that it planned to respond with “corrective actions,” allowing licensees that violate state regulations time to fix their infractions.

However, department officials announced Oct. 27 that Mockingbird, one of the largest medical cannabis operators in the state, must now destroy roughly $1 million worth of plants and temporarily cease operations until structural improvements are made at one of its sites, according to a Mississippi Today report.

Mockingbird had allegedly been growing medical cannabis at a secondary site roughly 12 miles from its main operations near Raymond, the news outlet reported, and the company had not been registering the plants in Mississippi’s seed-to-sale tracking system.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) estimates that more than 6,500 Americans are eligible to receive pardons under President Joe Biden’s federal cannabis policy reform plan.

Biden announced earlier this month a sweeping, three-part plan to pardon all federal simple cannabis possession offenses, urge all state governors to pardon state-level offenses of simple cannabis possession, and initiate a review of how cannabis is scheduled under federal law.

RELATED: Biden's Order to Review Cannabis 'Truly Historic,' But What's at Stake?

The USCC has since issued a news advisory announcing its estimates on who may be impacted by the federal pardons.

The USCC’s analysis, which includes federal data dating back to 1992, estimates that 6,577 U.S. citizens will receive forgiveness under Biden’s pardon.

Beverly, Mass. (October 24, 2022) – Real Isolates LLC, a private Greater Boston area biotech company is pleased to announce that it has been issued a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a novel method used to extract cannabinoids and other compounds from cannabis smoke. The extracted oil created by this method, sold, and licensed under the brand name Smokenol™, is rich in common and rare cannabinoids and enables a new category of oral, topical, and inhaled cannabis products.

“Our solventless method is not just a simpler and safer alternative to CO2 or hydrocarbon extraction.” said Michiel Westerkamp, Real Isolates CEO. “The majority of experienced cannabis users prefer the effects of cannabis smoke to conventional edibles. This patented method allows hemp and cannabis product manufacturers to deliver edible, topical, and inhalable products that combine convenience, duration, and dose consistency with effects similar to those from smoking.”

The cannabinoid composition of the cannabis plant is transformed by the high heat necessary to generate smoke. Conventional cannabis extracts use low temperatures and do not contain the richer diversity and balance of cannabinoids found in Smokenol™ smoke extracts and cannabis smoke.

Real Isolates licenses this intellectual property to product manufacturers. Examples of hemp-derived topicals and tinctures can be found at www.ProfoundNaturals.com.