MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press

WAKEFIELD, Mass., May 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- Curaleaf Holdings, Inc., an international provider of consumer products in cannabis, has announced plans to open three new dispensaries in Florida over the coming weeks. Curaleaf's latest expansion will increase the company's retail footprint to 50 dispensaries in the Sunshine State and 133 locations nationwide.

Curaleaf Bradenton East, located at 4227 E SR 64, is an expansive, 5,000-square-foot retail facility that joins Curaleaf Bradenton as the second dispensary in the Central Florida town. The company will celebrate the location's soft opening on May 6, followed by a grand opening on May 13, featuring on-demand commissioned poetry by Florida "poet-for-hire" Giovanni Cerro of Gios Typos. New and returning patients will also have access to exclusive promotions and double reward points on purchases.

Curaleaf Tampa Midtown, located at 612 Dale Mabry, will become the company's sixth location in Hillsborough County. The 5,821-square-foot dispensary's soft opening will take place on May 12, pending regulatory approvals, with a grand opening ceremony to follow on May 20. The celebration will feature half-priced products, opportunities to earn double reward points and a live Potcast recording, hosted by former Tampa Bay Buccaneers lineman Ian Beckles.

Curaleaf Orlando University, located at 11311 University Blvd., near the University of Central Florida, will open by the end of May, pending regulatory approvals. The 3,156 square-foot storefront joins Curaleaf Orlando East and Curaleaf Orlando South as the company's third location in Orange County, Fla.

With a 21+ population expected to surpass 16 million by 2025 and the potential for an expansive adult-use market, Florida presents continuous growth opportunities for the Company. To meet growing patient demand and preferences, Curaleaf has continued to introduce innovative and tailored products, including Select Squeeze, Select X-Bites, Select Nano Bites, BlueKudu Chocolate, Select Live Rosin and its breakthrough vape hardware Cliq by Select. The company's Florida growth strategy has allowed its statewide market share to increase to fifteen percent and laid the groundwork for future developments.

ILLINOIS, Chicago, May 6, 2022 - PRESS RELEASE - Verano Holdings Corp., a multi-state cannabis company, announced the opening of MÜV Fort Myers Beach, its 46th Florida location and 97th nationwide. MÜV Fort Myers Beach, located at 11340 Summerlin Square Drive, is open Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday ET.

MÜV is located in the Fort Myers Beach community within greater Fort Myers. With the opening of MÜV Fort Myers Beach, medical cannabis patients will enjoy unparalleled convenience, as both MÜV Fort Myers Beach and MÜV Fort Myers (10993 Colonial Blvd) offer drive-through shopping and pickup.

“Opening MÜV Fort Myers Beach adds another convenient location for our southwest Florida patients, complementing our existing area dispensaries in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, and Marco Island,” said John Tipton, president of Verano. “We look forward to continuing serving our valued patients as the wonderful Fort Myers community and surrounding area continues to grow and prosper in the years ahead.”

MÜV dispensaries feature online menus for effortless browsing of their extensive product selection, including the company’s signature Verano Reserve flower line. For additional convenience and accessibility, patients can choose to order ahead at muvfl.com for express in-store pickup.

MÜV offers one-on-one virtual and in-store consultations at no cost to the patient. MÜV’s comprehensive product selection includes edibles, chocolates and lozenges, flower, pre-rolls, an array of vaporizer pens, concentrates, metered-dose inhalers, topicals and oral sprays; along with patented encapsulation formulations in its EnCaps capsules, tinctures, 72-hour transdermal patches and transdermal gels.

For more information about the new MÜV Fort Myers Beach medical cannabis dispensary, visit muvfl.com.

]]>

The list of hemp farmers approved to cash in on New York’s forthcoming adult-use cannabis market grew by 36 on April 5.

The state’s Cannabis Control Board (CCB) members voted in favor of issuing the conditional adult-use cannabis cultivation licenses for the list of three dozen farmers during a short meeting Thursday, bringing the total number of approved licensees to 88. The board members approved 52 hemp farmers during their regular meeting on April 14.  

Those approvals come as the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) works to process nearly 200 applications in total to submit to the CCB for consideration as the 2022 growing season arrives.

At last month’s meeting, OCM Director Chris Alexander said, “We’re going to continue to process applications on a rolling basis and working to get them to the board for approval as quickly as possible.”

The resolutions to approve the issuance of those first two batches of licenses come on the heels of Gov. Kathy Hochul signing legislation in late February to allow hemp businesses to grow cannabis to help jumpstart the adult-use market and ensure there’s adequate supply when commercial sales possibly launch later this year.

“New York’s farms have been the backbone of our state’s economy since before the American Revolution, and now, New York’s farms will be at the center of the most equitable cannabis industry in the nation,” Hochul said in a public statement announcing the first batch of 52 approved applications last month.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, May 5, 2022 - PRESS RELEASE - Planet 13 Holdings Inc., a vertically-integrated multi-state cannabis company, announced that on the back of a successful shop-in-shop partnership in Orange County, STIIIZY is expanding the partnership to include a shop-in-shop experience at the Las Vegas SuperStore.

"STIIIZY is an absolute force in California, taking the number one brand spot according to Headset, and their shop-in-shop in our Orange County SuperStore has been a huge hit," said Larry Scheffler, Co-CEO of Planet 13. "It is an honor to expand that partnership and continue our tradition of being an entry point and brand partner for the top California brands looking to expand to Nevada. It's a key differentiator that we intend to repeat as we build out our Florida and Illinois operations."

Other shop-in-shop partners in Las Vegas include CANN and in Orange County STIIIZY, SELECT.

]]>

After Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill to legalize medical cannabis in the state in February, agencies like the Department of Health and the Department of Revenue began writing regulations for the marketplace that will materialize later this year. Not every rule is set in stone just yet, but already prospective business owners have a sense of what’s needed to get in on the action. 

License applications may be submitted to the DOH in early June (for cultivation, processing, testing, research, disposal and transportation operations) and to the DOR in early July (for dispensary operations). 

Those dates are coming soon: But industry observers caution against haste. There will be time aplenty to submit paperwork. The important thing is what’s contained within that paperwork. Clare Millette, partner at Cosmich Simmons & Brown PLLC, says that it’s vital to think through the full business plan—long-term. 

“[Applicants] need to know there's so much information, and there are so many different ways that you can participate in this industry,” she says. “You need to have a clear vision for where you see yourself entering this industry.”

Mississippi is the 37th state to legalize a commercial medical cannabis market without low-THC restrictions, and this timing confers some regulatory advantages (even as the perceived delay has disadvantaged the state’s patients in need). Where other states have walked relatively blindly into the regulation of a new market like medical cannabis, Mississippi agency representatives have had a chance to learn from past successes and mistakes elsewhere in the U.S. 

For instance, the state will offer two tiers of “micro” cannabis cultivation licenses (2,000 square feet of canopy or less), and the state will not cap the number of business licenses it will issue.

South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML) submitted signatures to the Secretary of State May 3 to place an adult-use cannabis legalization measure on the state’s November ballot after the last voter-approved legalization initiative was struck down by the South Dakota Supreme Court.

The Secretary of State will now go through the certification process for the petitions, but through an in-house screening process, campaign officials are confident their measure will reach the ballot this year, according to an Argus Leader report.

"We are very proud of the signature drive we ran and we’re confident we’re going to qualify," SDBML Director Matt Scweich told the news outlet. "With that being said, we have to respect the process and let the Secretary of State do its job."

SDBML had to gather roughly 17,000 valid signatures to get its measure before voters, the Argus Leader reported.

RELATED: Voters in These 9 States Could Decide Cannabis Fate in 2022

New Mexico state regulators are calling the first month of commercial adult-use cannabis sales a success on the heels of more than $22.1 million recorded by licensed retailers.

That figure is in addition to $17.3 million in medical cannabis sales, bringing the combined total to nearly $39.5 million, according to the state’s Cannabis Control Division (CCD).

CCD officials commended the first-month benchmark as an indication of a strong market and supply that have made the new industry a boon to New Mexico’s economy.

“New Mexicans showed up on April 1 ready to support local businesses selling high-quality New Mexico products,” CCD Director Kristen Thomson said. “And they’re still coming. Thanks to hard work by the dedicated people working in the industry, supply easily met consumer and patient demand. New Mexicans have a lot to be proud of in the launch of this new industry, which is already adding value to the state’s diverse economy.”

The state’s most populous city of more than 560,000 residents, Albuquerque recorded the highest numbers with $8 million in adult-use cannabis sales and nearly $6.9 million in medical cannabis sales, or roughly 38% of the state’s overall sales figures for April.

Meanwhile, Las Cruces, with roughly 110,000 residents, recorded nearly $2.1 million in adult-use and $1.6 million in medical sales for the month. Santa Fe (87,500 residents) recorded more than $1.8 million in adult-use and $1.6 million in medical sales.

Multistate operator MariMed recently locked down two new acquisitions: Kind Therapeutics, in Maryland, and Green Growth, in Illinois.

The company, which already had a footprint in Maryland through other licensed business acquisitions, had been eyeing Kind Therapeutics for the past few years. MariMed owned Kind’s cultivation and production facility in Hagerstown, as well as a 6,000-sq.-ft. building in Anne Arundel County that was being developed as a Kind Therapeutics dispensary location. Kind had been leasing those facilities from MariMed.

The intention now is to expand those Kind operations and layer them into MariMed’s existing Maryland infrastructure. For instance, at the cultivation site, MariMed plans to add another 40,000 square feet of canopy, as well as a GMP kitchen for cannabis edibles.

Some 630 miles to the west, the newly closed Green Growth acquisition will allow MariMed to vertically integrate its cannabis operations in Illinois. Green Growth held cultivation, manufacturing and distribution licenses; MariMed had only claimed a retail license in that state until this point.

"In this new licensed manufacturing facility, we will produce cannabis flowers and products that will be sold in our four Thrive retail dispensaries as well as into the robust Illinois wholesale marketplace,” CEO Bob Fireman said in a public statement. “Being vertically integrated in Illinois will improve our margins in our retail stores and create new wholesale revenue. We are exploring adding an additional six dispensaries in the state as Illinois allows up to 10 for a single owner."

MariMed is now building out a cultivation and processing facility (with 14,000 square feet of canopy space) in Mt. Vernon, Ill., with operations anticipated to begin at the end of this year.

The Connecticut Senate approved legislation May 4 that takes aim at cannabis advertising, gifting and zoning, sending the bill to Gov. Ned Lamont.

The Senate approved House Bill 5329 in a 22-13 vote, according to a CT News Junkie report.

The legislation, which cleared the House in a 98-48 vote last month, includes several tweaks to Connecticut’s adult-use cannabis legalization measure, which Lamont signed into law in June 2021.

RELATED: Looking Ahead to Adult-Use Sales, Connecticut Cannabis Business Take Stock of What’s Needed

One provision would prohibit cannabis bazaars, events where attendees can purchase cannabis even though it has not yet become available for regulated, commercial sales, according to CT News Junkie.

After an adult-use cannabis legalization proposal failed in Delaware earlier this year, the lawmaker behind the push for policy reform has split his legislation in half in a move that is gaining some traction in the statehouse.

The House Health and Human Development Committee voted May 3 to pass Rep. Ed Osienski’s House Bill 371, which now heads to the full House for consideration, according to Time Square LIVE.

H.B. 371 would legalize the possession of an ounce or less of cannabis, while a separate bill from Osienski, House Bill 372, would allow cannabis to be grown and sold in the state for adult use, Time Square LIVE reported.

H.B. 372 has been released from the House Revenue and Finance Committee and now awaits a hearing in the House Appropriations Committee, according to the news outlet.

Osienski filed a more traditional adult-use cannabis legalization bill, House Bill 305, earlier this year, but the legislation ultimately died last month when it was defeated in the House.

The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CDC) has lifted a cease and desist order from a producer that was involved in a medical cannabis recall last month.

Regulators allowed Santa Fe-based Sacred Garden to resume operations April 27, after the operator remedied or initiated plans to remedy violations previously cited by the CDC, according to NM Political Report.

The CDC issued the cease and desist order and a product recall March 24, after investigating patient complaints about mold found on Sacred Garden’s products.

RELATED: New Mexico Issues Recall of Medical Cannabis Products from Sacred Garden

The investigation uncovered conditions at Sacred Garden’s that regulators said would pose a risk to the public, according to NM Political Report.

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE --WM Technology, Inc., a technology and software infrastructure provider to the cannabis industry, today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022.

“Our first quarter results demonstrate how we’re playing offense and continuing to drive outsized growth as well as creating distance from the pack as the leading cannabis technology provider and commerce-driven marketplace. We grew our revenue 40% year-over-year to reach $57.5 million for the quarter, which was above the top end of our guidance, as we continued to grow our user and client base,” said Chris Beals, CEO of WM Technology. “We continue to deliver what we believe is outsized value to our clients and this allows us to grow faster than our end markets as businesses rely on our marketplace and solutions to grow their own businesses. At the same time, we are accelerating the pace of new features and integrations throughout our WM Business software platform. We are driving innovation in ways that will be more visible over the course of this year as we invest in large opportunities designed to accelerate growth. Our team remains hard at work and focused on executing against driving deep client engagement, establishing Weedmaps as the center of commerce for Cannabis consumers and expanding the adoption of our products.”

First Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights

Revenue increased to $57.5 million, up 40% from the first quarter of 2021.Monthly active users (“MAUs”) increased to 16.4 million at March 31, 2022, up 52% compared to the prior year period.MAU growth of 73% when adjusting the current period to exclude the MAUs attributed to the Learn section of weedmaps.com that we were not able to track during the prior period.Average monthly revenue per paying client increased to $3,810, a 9% increase compared to the prior year period.Average monthly paying clients increased to 5,026, a 28% increase compared to the prior year period.Gross Profit was $53.7 million implying a 93% margin rate, which reflects a 200bps margin reduction from the prior year given previously discussed growth investments and initiatives.Net loss was $(31.2) million as compared to net income of $7.7 million from the prior year period.Adjusted EBITDA(5) was $(1.0) million as compared to $9.0 million from the prior year period.Basic and diluted net loss per share was $(0.19) based on 72.5 million of Class A Common Stock weighted average shares outstanding.Total shares outstanding across Class A and Class V Common Stock is 144.3 million.Cash totaled $55.9 million as of March 31, 2022 and the Company remains debt-free.

First Quarter 2022 Operational Highlights

Added over 250 Average Monthly Paying clients in the quarter including in new states like Montana, which opened for recreational sales in January.Completed the roll-out of our Admin 2.0 portal. This surface includes a data and analytics dashboard to help our paying clients understand the significant value they derive from their spending on Weedmaps as well as local market trends. Admin 2.0 also lays the groundwork for future updates like our self-serve toolset, which will automate onboarding of new clients onto our marketplace and enable cross-product adoption and purchase upsell opportunities.Continued to improve our Deals offering with new enablement features to allow clients to publish deals at scale across their listings. We also created a new “Promotions Hub” within Admin 2.0, allowing clients to create and manage all promotions including online promo codes, in-store deals, and online deals from one place. We also rolled out new Promotions features within our WM Store eCom embed allowing clients to showcase promotions more easily on their own channels powered by WM Store.Completed the acquisition of Eyechronic, LLC. Enlighten’s ‘SmartHub’ subscription offering powers in-store digital menus and kiosks, and its ‘AdSuite’ in-store digital solution allows brands to reach consumers at the point of purchase. Enlighten adds to the value included in our WM Business platform.Expanded our available Menu and Order integrations. We now have Menu integrations in live or beta state with the key point-of-sale systems serving Cannabis and are continuing to roll-out Orders integrations with these same partners.Piloted several promising new user enhancements, including ‘express reorder’ and ‘order again’ features, along with ‘order-type’ preferences, allowing users to more easily filter through available delivery versus pickup options. We also continue to test menu personalization leveraging our first-party user affinity data.As part of our efforts to stitch our solutions more closely together, we launched an in-app messaging feature beta where businesses using our Sprout CRM solution are able to directly reach and message their followers on the Weedmaps marketplace.Continued to invest in headcount, with over 150 new hires in Q1, mostly in our Engineering, Product & Design teams as well as across our regional go-to-market teams.

Second Quarter Business Outlook

Based on current business trends and conditions, our outlook for the second quarter ending June 30, 2022, is as follows:

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

IsaridGargoil

To view the updated list, click here for a pdf or click here for an Excel form. For questions regarding this change, contact Jolynn Morris at (303) 869-9060 or email [email protected].

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

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

Stay Informed

South Carolina will remain one of 13 states where medical cannabis is illegal in 2022 following a bill’s demise May 4 on the House floor.

The legislation, the SC Compassionate Care Act, passed the Senate by way of a 28-15 vote in February, after a marathon that included seven floor sessions: More than 65 changes were considered during a three-week period in the upper chamber.

RELATED: South Carolina Medical Cannabis Marathon Finds Senate Approval

But Rep. John McCravy, R-Greenwood, challenged the bill’s constitutionality Wednesday on the House floor, arguing that the legislation creates a new tax and that revenue-raising bills must originate in the lower chamber.

The bill’s language states that all sales of cannabis products are subject to a 6% sales tax at the point of sale. After covering regulatory costs, the bill aimed to distribute revenue from the tax as follows: 3% for research and training to improve detection of impaired driving; 10% for alcohol and drug abuse prevention, education, early intervention and treatment; 5% to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED); 5% to medical cannabis research; 2% for drug safety education; and 75% to the general fund.

House Pro Tempore Tommy Pope, R-York, agreed with McCravy, reiterating that the 6% sales tax in the bill does involve a new revenue raise, and it is therefore unconstitutional because only the House holds that power.

Aurora, IL – PRESS RELEASE – May 4th, 2022: Spectrum Technologies, Inc., expands their broad product offering with the release of the WatchDog Wireless Plant Growth Station. Through the single portable station, growers can now receive real-time, crop-specific environmental data on their smartphone including

Indiana has had a rough past few years despite a strong start in the hemp and cannabinoid industry. After a pandemic, a smokable flower ban in 2019, and two attempts to ban delta-8 THC, business owners feel defeated, isolated, and hesitant to talk about cannabinoid legislation for fear of inciting bans on popular products including delta-8, which remains unregulated in the state.

In response, Indiana cannabinoid businesses and advocacy organizations are getting creative—showing up at the statehouse and bringing immersive educational experiences to those who want to learn more. Indiana businesses show how they can support each other through cooperation and networking to create a path to a strong cannabinoid culture and economy, unlike any other state, in true Hoosier fashion.

Indiana Businesses Roll With the Punches

In 2021, after two years of litigation, H.B. 1124, which sought to retract the ban on smokeable hemp flower in Indiana, died in the statehouse In the same session, a bill to criminalize delta-8 was blocked—a win for many Indiana cannabinoid businesses that thrive on delta-8 sales, a retail industry that exceeded $10 million in sales in 2020, according to New Frontier Data.

Business owners say that the back-and-forth struggle to keep cannabinoid businesses afloat in the state is exhausting. Minority businesses, especially, are scared to talk about legislation, fearing retaliation if they speak out.

“It’s difficult to have a conversation about cannabinoids because everyone is super secretive about it,” says LeShauna Carr-Kennedy, co-founder and owner of Dr. Blunt CBD + Apothecary. If Indiana doesn’t take steps forward, she’ll have to consider moving her business. “I’m doing research and data-gathering for myself to know what lies ahead of us. What obstacles will there be? We can’t say what Indiana will do. We’ve seen so many different bills on the table that have been shut down. If we don’t legalize [cannabis] in five years, I’ll be leaving. It just stunts our growth.”

An attempt to ban delta-8 in Indiana came after an article about an Indiana University student who allegedly attempted to rape a female resident assistant. The young man cited his recent consumption of delta-8 gummy bears for his behavior.

2022 isn’t shaping up to match the highs of 2021 for Oregon’s adult-use cannabis retailers.

Through the first four months of the year, the state’s adult-use dispensaries have sold $319.7 million in products, a 14.4% decrease from the $373.7 million sold during the same time period last year, according to statewide sales data from the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC).

The 2022 retail troubles come as OLCC regulators recently implemented a licensing moratorium in response to a “crowded marketplace,” including 771 adult-use retail licenses, or roughly 18.3 dispensaries per 100,000 residents—the highest rate among continental adult-use markets in Western states.

RELATED: Oregon Regulators Implement Cannabis Licensing Moratorium

But there is hope.

Adult-use sales totals jumped to $83.7 million in April—Oregon’s largest grossing month since October 2021.

During a Monday hearing, the Colorado Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee voted 4-0 to pass an amendment to legislation that would regulate intoxicating hemp or THC products sold at unregulated retail stores.

Senate Bill 205, as introduced, would have required the "Marijuana Enforcement Division in the Department of Revenue to come up with rules that set limits for the amounts of THC and intoxicating cannabinoids in adult-use cannabis products, as well as establish procedures for designating and transferring an adult-use cannabis product as a retail marijuana product," The Gazette reported. 

Peter Marcus, communications director for Terrapin Care Station, a multi-state cannabis company, stressed the importance of regulating all psychoactive cannabinoids during Monday’s hearing, adding that the measure as introduced would have done exactly that, The Gazette reported.

But many in the hemp industry disagreed, arguing that the legislation as introduced would have hurt hemp farmers and given the state's cannabis industry too much control over the production of intoxicating hemp products, according to the news outlet. 

During Monday's hearing, Samantha Walsh, vice chair of the Colorado Hemp Association, said that the legislation would have hurt hemp farmers and disrupted the industry's supply chain, the news outlet reported.

Due to pushback from the hemp industry, one of the bill's co-sponsors, Sen. Steve Fenberg (D), amended the original bill for the Monday hearing, according to The Gazette.

Applicants for Vermont’s adult-use cannabis cultivation, testing and retail licenses will have to wait a little longer to hear back about the status of their applications after the state’s Cannabis Control Board missed a May 1 deadline to begin issuing the licenses.

The state had received more than 400 prequalification applications as of March 29, and Cannabis Control Board Chairman James Pepper told the Brattleboro Reformer that regulators have prequalified roughly 80 applicants from that pool.

No actual licenses have been issued yet, however, despite the May 1 deadline laid out in the legislation regarding the rollout of commercial adult-use sales in the state.

RELATED: Vermont Becomes Eleventh State to Legalize Adult-Use Marijuana Sales

“This is due to the fact that we don’t have a licensing staff here at the board,” Pepper told the Brattleboro Reformer. “We don’t have our compliance team in place. We thought it would be prudent to have those in place before we start issuing those licenses.”

Nepra Foods of Colorado, a plant-based and allergen-free food company, is introducing beef, chicken and pork made from its textured hemp protein (THP) to its product line.

In October, the company introduced its THP, stating that it would use it as a key ingredient in its future product development.

Nepra's plant- and hemp-based meats will be available for purchase by restaurant chains, institutions and private retailers seeking to add substitute meat options to their menus, according to a Nepra press release.

"Customers will be amazed by the authentic tastes and textures of our new lineup of allergen-free plant-based meat analogs," said Chadwick White, Nepra Foods co-founder and chief innovation officer. "We are convinced that the nutritional and environmental advantages of hemp protein will revolutionize the food industry and [are] proud that Nepra is taking a leading role in bringing healthy and sustainable options to restaurants.”

The company has also ventured into other hemp-based food products.

In late April, Nepra introduced egg-free vegan mayonnaise made with hemp heart protein, virgin hemp oil and lemon, according to a press release.