MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press
CUMBERLAND, Md. – August 1, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE – RS BioTherapeutics, whose mission is to harness its strong and thorough understanding of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) to research, develop and commercialize interventions to address chronic and acute pulmonary (lung) inflammation-based diseases, has announced that it has appointed Jeremy Plumb as its Chief Cultivation Officer. Plumb will play an integral role in the company’s plans to develop a biotherapeutics cultivation and manufacturing site in the Cumberland, Md., area, which could potentially generate 100 high paying jobs within the next five years.
Prior to joining RS BioTherapeutics, Plumb served as the Director of Production Science at Groundworks Industries, one of the largest Oregon-owned and -operated cannabis companies, as well as its portfolio brand, Pruf Cultivar, which operates one of the most technologically advanced controlled environment agriculture (CEA) cultivation facilities in North America. At Pruf, Jeremy combined his decades of cannabis horticulture experience with cutting-edge technology to deliver previously unattainable consistency in product quality.
Plumb has also served as a cannabis consultant to Israel medical cannabis researchers and as a cannabis policy advisor for members of the U.S. Congress. He also serves on the Oregon Liquor Control Commission’s rule-making advisory committee, is a founding member of Smart Cannabis, and serves on the technical advisory committee of the Resource Innovation Institute. In addition, he is a board member of the MCRC (Multidimensional Cannabis Research Center) based at Kathmandu University and serves as an advisory board member of Node Labs, a botanical tissue culture company based in San Francisco, Calif. Plumb holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ecology from the New College of California and a Master of Arts in Psychology from the Pacific Graduate Institute.
Commenting on the appointment, Justin Molignoni, Chief Strategy Officer of RS BioTherapeutics, said, “We are honored to welcome Jeremy Plumb to our talented leadership team. Jeremy is one of the most well-respected CEA cultivators in the world and will play a vital role in helping RS BioTherapeutics establish and scale our cultivation and manufacturing operation to support the development of our first investigational compound, RSBT-001 as well as other endocannabinoid system-focused therapeutics.”
Responsible Growth Arkansas is one step closer to getting its adult-use cannabis legalization initiative before voters this fall after the secretary of state’s office verified that the group submitted enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Responsible Growth Arkansas submitted more than 190,000 signatures July 8, and officials announced July 29 that the group met the signature requirement of 89,151 valid signatures from registered voters, according to the Associated Press.
Next, the state Board of Election Commissioners must approve the proposal’s popular name and ballot title to qualify the measure for the November ballot, the news outlet reported.
RELATED: Voters in These 9 States Could Decide Cannabis Fate in 2022
The board is expected to review the proposal Aug. 3, according to AP.
Earlier this month, the Cannabis Center of Excellence (CCE) launched a research project to identify the ways in which U.S. veterans use medical cannabis. The Massachusetts-based nonprofit set out to determine where gaps might exist for veterans interested in accessing legal cannabis products in the state—and whether there may be opportunities to improve their lot.
The CCE is working with Patriots Helping Vets, licensed cultivator Gibby’s Garden and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Institutional Review Board to complete the project.
The groups are looking for 450 qualifying veterans in Massachusetts to sign up.
Here’s what happens next: “After completing a baseline survey, veterans will be able to purchase [at a discount] a cannabis product bundle consisting of Gibby’s Garden products and one of the four retail outlets in Massachusetts. The bundle includes two ? ounces of cannabis flower, 2 strains of pre-rolls, and 15 ml of cannabis tincture. As part of the research study, veterans will be asked to report on access to cannabis issues, product(s), and its impact on their health and wellness via paper-based forms or a mobile medical cannabis app called Tetragram.”
The idea is to bring veterans together and then provide a streamlined point of access to medical cannabis products. The Gibby’s Garden bundle will give each veteran a small variety of products to check out; from there, the individual note-taking will help direct the research.
The project came together in the wake of a 2019 study on veterans’ cannabis consumption.
Federal cannabis policy reform efforts have gained momentum this year; the U.S. House approved the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act for the second time in April and signed off on the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act for the seventh time last month, while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., formally introduced his long-awaited Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) July 21.
Now, lawmakers are taking steps to ensure that past federal cannabis-related misdemeanors can be expunged.
Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., introduced The Marijuana Misdemeanor Expungement Act July 29 to create a federal expungement process to clear non-felony offenses, according to a press release from Carter’s office.
Carter said the legislation, which is co-sponsored by Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., “will restore justice to millions of Americans who have suffered inordinate collateral consequences associated with marijuana-related misdemeanors.”
“These misdemeanors—even without a conviction—can result in restrictions to peoples’ ability to access educational aid, housing assistance, occupational licensing and even foster parenting,” Carter said in a public statement. “Delivering justice for our citizens who have been impacted by marijuana-related misdemeanors is a key component of comprehensive cannabis reform.”
During the House AgricultureCommittee Subcommittee hearing on hemp July 28, industry professionalsaddressed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) lack of regulation onCBD and hemp-derived compounds.
House Agriculture SubcommitteeMembers, U.S. Hemp Roundtable (USHR) Vice President and CEO of Kentucky-basedEcofibre, Eric Wang, and Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture, Ryan Quarles,all testified during the hearing, which “aimed to explore opportunities to improve thecurrent rules on hemp production,” according to a USHRpress release.
The 2018 Farm Bill, whichlegalized hemp at the federal level, is set to expire in 2023. (The farm billexpires and is updated every five years). Wang and Quarles’ testimonies bothurged Congress to regulate CBD and other hemp-derived compounds in the upcoming2023 Farm bill, adding that the FDA’s inaction on regulating such products isnegatively impacting the industry, according to the release.
“The hemp industry has beenseverely hampered by the slowness of the federal Food and Drug Administrationto create a regulatory pathway for hemp-derived cannabinoids, particularlycannabidiol,” Quarles said during his testimony. “Without clear direction fromFDA regarding products containing hemp-derived CBD, large retailers will notcarry the products and many business leaders are reluctant to move forward withthe development and manufacture of CBD-related products. That reluctance, inturn, has dampened industry demand for harvested hemp material.”
“In passing the 2018Farm Bill, Congress made clear its intent to support the production and sale ofhemp and hemp derivatives such as CBD. Thousands of U.S. growers planted hempin response, with farming for CBD representing most of all hemp acreage,” Wangsaid in his testimony. “However, public statements by FDA officials statingthat it is unlawful to sell ingestible hemp-derived CBD products have takentheir toll on the industry. CBD commerce and investment have been chilled dueto continued inaction at the federal level, impairing economic opportunity forAmerican farmers.”
Wang also noted that the lackof regulation impacts consumer's’ safety, as many companies sell productswithout appropriate safeguards and misleading claims.
The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) “has grown tired of ‘bad actors’ gaming the system when they’re caught breaking the law or violating OLCC rules."
That’s according to a July 29 press release from the commission announcing plans to crack down on these licensees by limiting their ability to monetize their licenses.
At their July 21 meeting, commissioners discussed a new approach against cannabis operators who, facing license cancelation, want to sell their businesses through a “change of ownership,” which requires the OLCC to use its discretion in issuing a new license to the buyer.
The change of ownership option is available to all licensees, even those facing criminal charges for diverting cannabis into the illicit market, for example, or knowingly selling cannabis to minors.
While commissioners are not advocating to halt the sale of licensed cannabis businesses—a ban they have no authority to enact, according to the press release—they are concerned that the value of the cannabis business is based on the ability of the new owner to receive a new license through a change of ownership, despite Oregon’s current license moratorium.
Officials in Denver, Colo., are hatching a plan to reserve all cannabis delivery licenses for social equity applicants.
A proposal put forth by the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses would issue the licenses to social equity businesses and require all cannabis operators to use the social equity transporters to conduct deliveries, according to a Denverite report.
“There has not been as much participation in delivery partnerships between stores and transporters as we would have liked to have seen,” Department of Excise and Licenses Executive Director Molly Duplechian told the news outlet. “We’re hoping that this proposal will give them some certainty going forward.”
RELATED: Denver Set to Break the Ice on Cannabis Social Equity Technical Assistance Program
The department will accept feedback for the next two weeks on the proposal, which the Denver City Council will review next month, Denverite reported.
On the heels of a federal RICO lawsuit alleging cannabis potency inflation in Arkansas, the issue is top of mind for many industry members.
While a ruling in that case remains to be seen, Cannabis Business Times recently spoke with cannabis testing lab executives about the topic of purposely altered lab results. Potency inflation is one of those issues, though sources told CBT that they also include hemp growers requesting potency deflation, as well as cannabis businesses seeking lower contaminant percentage results.
For this story, CBT spoke with Josh Wurzer, president and co-founder of SC Labs, a cannabis and hemp testing lab that operates in California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas, and Ben Rosman, a licensed attorney who is CEO and co-founder of PSI Labs, which operates in California and Michigan. Wurzer is based in California, while Rosman is based in Michigan.
CBT also spoke over email with a representative from the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), who forwarded us this July announcement and stated the DCC will be answering our questions. (Refer back to CBT’s site for updates on this topic.)
Photo courtesy of SC LabsJosh WurzerWhat’s Going On With Potency Inflation?
Ongoing testing issues across the industry come in the forms of potency inflation, when cannabis businesses in the supply chain and testing labs report a higher THC percentage than is accurate, and the related problem of lab shopping, when cannabis businesses search for labs that will deliver inflated potency results.
Green Meadows, a Massachusetts-based vertically integrated cannabis operator, named several executive leadership changes.
Bob Patton, co-founder and CEO of Green Meadows, will transition to chairman of the company while Chris Zawacki, Patton’s son who is also a co-founder and formerly served as COO, was promoted to CEO.
In turn, Max Jones replaces Zawacki as COO, becoming the first non-family member to be appointed to Green Meadows’ C-Suite, according to a company release.
Jones joins the company with more than 30 years of experience in manufacturing and operations, most recently serving as COO at Maitri Holdings, a vertically integrated medical cannabis operator in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Green Meadows also appointed Dan Donahue to vice president of cannabis operations and named Josh Turner as vice president of cultivation.
Millions of dollars in additional cannabis tax revenue could become available in Sacramento County, Calif., following this November’s election.
That’s because the county’s board of supervisors voted, 3-2, on July 26 to allow voters to decide the fate of a proposed ordinance that would tax cannabis and hemp business operations in unincorporated parts of the county. Since the proposal would authorize a new tax, it needs a two-thirds majority to pass. All voters in the county are eligible to cast ballots on the measure.
Should the ballot question pass, the board of supervisors would still hold the authority to establish (or not to establish) a regulated industry in the unincorporated parts of the county.
Currently, the county only allows cannabis businesses to operate within city limits, including Sacramento—California’s sixth-largest city of roughly 500,000 people.
Revenue generated from the tax would go solely toward funding Sacramento County’s homeless services, including those benefiting the American River Parkway—a 23-mile stretch that covers 4,800 acres and has been designated both a state and national wild and scenic river. The board of supervisors would not be able to divert the tax revenue elsewhere.
“I know local governing bodies want to maintain discretion over how they use funds, but to specifically dedicate these funds to deal with a crisis that is the biggest crisis this county probably ever faced, frankly, or any municipal body, I think is important,” District 3 Supervisor Rich Desmond said during the July 26 board meeting.
APOPKA, Florida, July 29, 2022 - PRESS RELEASE - Sanctuary Cannabis announced the opening of its 10th medical cannabis dispensary in Florida.
Continuing the company's statewide expansion, Sanctuary Boca Raton will be holding its grand opening celebration July 29. The fourth operational Sanctuary location in Palm Beach County and fifth in southeast Florida, the 2,500-square-foot facility formerly served as an office and retail space before being converted into a state-of-the-art dispensary following a full interior renovation planned and executed by Vantage Builders. It is located at 877 E Palmetto Park Blvd. at the end of the Boca Beach Shops shopping center, just a block from the beach.
"We're thrilled to be opening the first of two Sanctuary Cannabis locations here in the city of Boca Raton," said Jason Sidman, CEO of Sanctuary Medicinals. "Opening on East Palmetto Park Road and within walking distance of the city's beautiful beaches presents us a fantastic opportunity to establish a key foothold in a community that has limited dispensaries to serve patients. We're thrilled to get to know the Boca patient community and, in turn, provide them with our full complement of patient-oriented products and services."
The first Sanctuary Boca Raton location is now open on East Palmetto Park Road and less than a quarter mile from SR-A1A. Situated within walking distance from beach parking at 1S Ocean Blvd. and just a couple miles from the Florida Atlantic University campus, Sanctuary Boca Raton is geographically located between the Intracoastal waterway and the beach on Boca Raton's main commercial corridor. The second Boca dispensary, located further inland on Powerline Road is currently under construction and is scheduled to open later in the fall.
"We're excited to continue Sanctuary's Florida expansion with what is now the third consecutive opening that extends our footprint farther south," said Bill Dewar, chief operating officer. "Boca Raton is unique for us because it will be the first municipality where we have two operational locations. I'm eager to learn more about the community and its patients so we can smartly leverage both dispensaries to maximize our positive impact."
A gorand pening event will be held Friday, July 29, and Sanctuary Boca Raton will be keeping its usual hours of operation from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Patients can stop in and shop throughout the day, and all patients–new or registered–will receive a 50% discount. Special guests and entertainment kick off at 4 p.m. and will conclude around 7 p.m. with DJ Duss returning once again to provide music and energy inside the dispensary. SpringBig will be handing out swag and educating patients on how to leverage their loyalty program and platforms. Miracle Leaf of Boca Raton will also be meeting with patients to hand out swag and answer questions about product offerings, registrations, renewals and more.
]]>Regulators took another step toward establishing Connecticut’s adult-use cannabis market July 28 when the state’s Social Equity Council approved five dispensary licenses.
The successful applicants will now be referred to the Department of Cannabis Protection for the next step in the licensing process, according to the Hartford Courant.
The state has not yet released the names of the successful applicants, the news outlet reported, but they will be identified after they advance to the Department of Consumer Protection.
The council ultimately denied one social equity retail application and approved a recommendation to reject nine applications due to ownership and control issues.
The Social Equity Council approved 16 adult-use cannabis cultivation licenses earlier this month.
JERSEY CITY, N.J., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- Legendary actor, rapper and New Jersey native Ice T is awarded approval for a recreational cannabis dispensary from the Jersey City board. Ice T has partnered with longtime friend and cannabis expert Charis B, founder of The Medicine Woman, a leading cannabis brand and dispensary.
Slated to open later this year, the new dispensary is one of the few approved by the notoriously rigorous Jersey City Cannabis Control Board, which establishes and enforces the rules and regulations governing the licensing, cultivation, testing, and selling. With a fashion forward aesthetic and excellence in branding The Medicine Woman Jersey City will include 5,000 square feet of premium retail space. Featuring the best of New Jersey cannabis brands, limited edition merch, education, and inspiration.
"I've dedicated my life and career to giving back and paving the way for minorities. As a New Jersey native, I'm excited for the opportunity legalization offers our community, and I look forward to ushering in a new era for cannabis in the state," said legendary rapper and actor Ice T. "I've partnered with my friend of over 25 years, Charis B who is an authority in cannabis and founder of The Medicine Woman to ensure a premium experience for our customers and community."
Minorities and people of color have been disproportionately affected by unjust marijuana prosecutions in New Jersey and beyond. In fact, in New Jersey Black people are three times more likely to be charged with marijuana possession than white counterparts. The Medicine Woman Jersey City is committed to sourcing staff from the local community and has partnered with several local charitable organizations. Inaugural partnerships include The Last Prisoner Project, Jersey City Mural and Arts Program, Jersey City Employment and Training Program, Hudson County Community College, with more to be announced.
"The Medicine Woman started as a California non-profit delivery service, giving back to our community has and will always be a priority to us. We are passionately devoted to providing access to safe, affordable and quality plant medicinal remedies," said Charis B, founder of the Medicine Woman. "Partnering with Ice T to bring The Medicine Woman to New Jersey is a meaningful extension of our mission, to provide Nothing But The Best."
The Medicine Woman Jersey City is slated to open fall of 2022 and is currently accepting applications for employment for a variety of positions. To apply, send your resume to [email protected], they are committed to sourcing a local workforce with a focus on providing opportunities for former cannabis offenders.
]]>WAKEFIELD, Mass., July 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --PRESS RELEASE-- Curaleaf Holdings,Inc. (CSE: CURA / OTCQX: CURLF), a leading international provider of consumer cannabisproducts, announced today the opening of its Tampa Citrus Park dispensary,located at 10612 Sheldon Road, Tampa, FL 33626. Curaleaf Tampa Citrus Parkexpands the Company's retail presence to six locations in Hillsborough Countyand 51 across the Sunshine State.
Located on Sheldon Road near Citrus Park, the 4,023 square foot locationfeatures a drive-thru that offers patients on-the-go access to the dispensary'swide array of offerings. Patients can access a premium selection of vaporizers,edibles, and whole flower products, including BlueKudu Chocolate, SelectSqueeze, Select X-Bites, Select Elite, Elite Live and Live Rosin vapecartridges, as well as other concentrates by Curaleaf.
"It is a pleasure to continue to expand access to medical cannabis inthe Sunshine State, specifically Hillsborough County," said Matt Darin,CEO of Curaleaf. "Curaleaf Tampa Citrus Park is our ninth drive-thru inFlorida, which enables our team to provide a more convenient and streamlinedretail cannabis experience."
]]>Cannabis Business Times regularly interviews cannabis cultivators to learn more about how they manage their growing operations, including top tips for success, tools and technologies they couldn’t live without, and how they deal with perennial challenges like burnout. In this installment, Anthony Romero, director of operations for Stratos in Pueblo West, Colo., explains what he learned moving from the pharmaceutical industry to managing commercial cannabis cultivation.
Name: Anthony Romero
Company: Stratos
Location: Pueblo West, Colo.
Title: Director of Operations
LAS VEGAS – July 29, 2022 – Cannabis Conference, the industry’s leading educational and expo event for plant-touching cannabis businesses, taking place Aug. 23-25 at Paris Las Vegas, is pleased to announce the Day 1 Keynote: “What It Takes to Make a Movement: A Conversation with Chris Conrad and Mikki Norris.”
Chris Conrad and Mikki Norris are legendary human rights activists, whose tireless work since the late 1980s has been instrumental in educating people around the world about the benefits of cannabis and hemp legalization.
Conrad has testified more than 350 times as an expert witness on cannabis cases in state, military and federal criminal and civil courts while consulting on thousands of legal cannabis cases. He portrayed “Johnny Marijuanaseed” on PBS, edited Jack Herer’s landmark book, “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” (1990) and was co-founder and first president of the Hemp Industries Association. Conrad authored “Hemp: Lifeline to the Future” (1993) detailing the economic, health and environmental processes of using cannabis hemp to “save the Earth,” as well as “Hemp for Health” (1997), which introduced readers to CBD, Ayurvedic ganja, hempseed nutrition and cannabinoid micro-dosing. He also published “Cannabis Yields and Dosage,” which used federal research to explain the fundamentals of marijuana cultivation, processing and use. His latest book is “The Newbie’s Guide to Cannabis and the Industry.”
As director of the Cannabis Consumers Campaign, Norris advocates for consumers to come out of the (cannabis) closet to end the stigma and stand up for their equal rights. From 1995 to 2002, she worked to put a human face on the injustice of the Drug War with her traveling photo exhibit project, Human Rights and the Drug War, and her compelling book, “Shattered Lives: Portraits from America's Drug War.” (1998, 2000). In 2006, she was a consultant on the California Cities Campaign, working with the political consulting group Next Generation (backed by the Marijuana Policy Project), which ran victorious initiative campaigns in Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, and Santa Cruz, Calif., and passed city ordinances in West Hollywood and San Francisco to make adult marijuana offenses law enforcement’s lowest priority. Norris was also a delegate to Beyond 2008 NGO Forum in Vancouver, BC Canada, to provide input on the United Nations drug policy.
Conrad and Norris were volunteer coordinators for California’s 1996 Prop 215 voter initiative that legalized medical use. Conrad helped write that state’s SB-420 legislation that legalized patient sales, and the couple worked on the unsuccessful Proposition 19 and then the successful Proposition 64, which legalized adult-use cannabis in California in 2016. Curators of Amsterdam’s Hash-Marihuana-Hemp Museum and the Oaksterdam Cannabis Museum, they teach at Oaksterdam University and run theLeafOnline.com news site.
In a special Cannabis Conference Keynote Fireside Chat on Aug. 23 at 2:15 p.m. PT, Conrad and Norris will share the amazing stories and actionable strategies behind their 30-plus years of activism, which propelled lofty ideals and dreams into real-life solutions that have slowly eroded the mindsets and policies of unjust prohibition and incarceration for cannabis and hemp production and use. The pair will also share tips for how individuals and companies across the supply chain can work to expand the protections of their consumer base, as well as move toward a more sustainable industry for all.
“It is a true honor to host these trailblazing individuals at an event filled with people who have directly benefitted from their courageous activism,” Noelle Skodzinski, Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Conference Editorial Director said.
On July 11, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed cannabis banking legislation to protect businesses' access to financial services, but what does this mean for the state's industry?
Michael Sampson, a partner with Pittsburgh-based law firm Leech Tishman, says ultimately, the legislation "allows financial institutions and insurance companies to transact business with the Commonwealth cannabis industry [in Pennsylvania], which is medical only, without fear of prosecution or adverse consequence, just because they're doing business with the cannabis industry."
RELATED: Pennsylvania Governor Signs Cannabis Banking Legislation Into Law
Sampson says he anticipates that if and when Pennsylvania legalizes cannabis for recreational use, the state will amend the legislation to apply to the adult-use industry.
He says that the measure is mostly symbolic, reaffirming the state's protection of the cannabis industry, adding that there was no real risk of financial institutions or insurance companies being prosecuted for doing business with the industry before.
He believes the bill was driven by the U.S. Senate’s inaction on the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which would provide protections to financial institutions doing business with the state-legal cannabis industry at the federal level. The cannabis banking legislation has "passed the U.S. House five times between 2019 and 2021, including twice as a standalone bill, but stalled before making headway in the Senate each time," Cannabis Business Times previously reported.
A social equity applicant is taking legal action after being denied an adult-use cannabis business license in Connecticut.
The state’s Social Equity Council approved 16 adult-use cannabis cultivation licenses earlier this month from a pool of 41 applicants.
The licensees meet Connecticut’s social equity requirements, which include specifications on income and residency, as well as a rule that the business is at least 65% owned by the social equity applicant.
The Social Equity Council was created by the Legislature through Connecticut’s adult-use cannabis law, which Gov. Ned Lamont signed last summer. The council is tasked with overseeing the rollout of the state’s adult-use market to ensure it benefits those most adversely impacted by the war on drugs.
After a false start in early June, Ascend Wellness Holdings is determined to officially launch adult-use cannabis sales by the first weekend in August at its existing medical dispensary in Montclair Township, N.J.
The New York-based multistate operator (MSO) prematurely began serving adult-use customers at its North Jersey location during a 3 1/2-hour window on June 7—believing it had the green light to do so—only to be informed by township officials that the company was in violation of a zoning ordinance for the new clientele base.
RELATED: Zoning Ordinance Halts Ascend Wellness Dispensary Sales in New Jersey
Ascend officials submitted their conditional use permit application to Montclair regulators June 6—the day before the premature sales launch. Despite having state approval to expand their Montclair operation to adult use, they have been waiting for final approval at the municipal level ever since.
In a letter written to interim township attorney Paul Burr on July 26, Ascend’s general counsel, Douglas Fischer, warned that the company would take legal action if the Montclair licensing approval process is delayed further, Montclair Local reported.
“Ascend desires to continue to work collaboratively with the township to commence adult-use cannabis sales by the first weekend of August,” Fischer wrote in the letter. “However, please keep in mind that Ascend is a publicly traded company with duties to its shareholders and other stakeholders, all of whom rightfully expect that Ascend will commence adult-use cannabis sales in Montclair imminently.”
BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. July 27, 2022 --PRESS RELEASE--Cogent Bank , a full-service financial institution and one ofthe leading banks in the southeastern U.S. region, today announced apartnership with Green Check Verified, a fintech provider of compliantcannabis banking solutions and services. Through this partnership, Cogent plansto offer their full suite of products and services to the entire supply chainof businesses within the cannabis banking ecosystem.
Asthe cannabis industry matures in Florida and federal legalization effortscontinue, the climate around cannabis banking has clearly shifted. Not only aremore FIs participating in the industry, but the financial offerings beingprovided to legal cannabis businesses continue to expand. Despite progress,these legal businesses still have substantial financial services needs thathave not been met.
Cogentis providing a solution by rolling out a program that treats cannabisbusinesses like any other client. This includes providing deposit and treasurymanagement services and even certain types of loans that have been notoriouslydifficult to obtain in the industry.
“Innovation,an entrepreneurial spirit, and the desire to help underserved businesses havealways driven the initiatives at Cogent Bank,” says Chris Hartman, ChiefDeposit Officer at Cogent Bank. “The cannabis industry is rapidly growing, andbusinesses need the same financial services as others. We are committed tobeing a financial partner to businesses in this space, and our partnership withGreen Check gives us tremendous confidence as we grow this program.”
Cogenthas already experienced significant interest in its program from regionalcannabis businesses who are excited about the innovative offerings from aninstitution of its size. Now Cogent’s clients can tap into GCV’s platform,which not only serves as a complete, end-to-end program management solution forthe bank, but also greatly reduces the compliance burden placed on cannabisbusinesses.
“GreenCheck is the leader in this space, providing a platform and oversight forCogent to be successful in this industry,” says Hartman. “The company’sflexibility in working with clients who utilize a wide variety of POS systemsallows us to easily monitor transactions and feel comfortable in our clients’compliance with state regulations.”
