MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press
Las Vegas, NV, April 26, 2022 — PRESS RELEASE — Unfilled jobs in the food-service and hospitality industries are making it difficult for cannabis companies to retain entry-level employees, prompting some cultivators to change how they operate to gain a competitive advantage in the labor market.
Safari Flower Co.—a licensed cannabis producer in Ontario’s Niagara region—is combating the so-called “Great Resignation” with automated processing equipment from Mobius, a cannabis automation and technology firm.
Implementing their new automation equipment enabled Safari to reduce the amount of time spent on trimming by approximately 75% and improve working conditions for the processing team. The net result has been a smaller and happier workforce with the ability to apply compensation programs based on meeting production efficiencies.
“The impact of technology and automation on our labor force has been very well-recognized as a retention strategy,” said Brigitte Simons, Safari’s chief executive officer.
Before bringing automation to their processing operations, Safari would require two 8-hour shifts to buck and trim each harvest. The procedure involved separating the flowers from the stalks by hand and trimming each cannabis flower with scissors—a task that led to boredom, repetitive strain injuries, and high staff turnover.
TORONTO, April 26, 2022 - PRESS RELEASE – Humble & Fume Inc., a North American distributor of cannabis and cannabis accessories, announced that further to the company's press release on Nov. 15, 2021, it has formed HC Solutions Holdings Inc., a joint venture with Green Acre Capital Distribution Corp. (Green Acre), for distribution of cannabis throughout the United States. The joint venture focuses on accelerating Humble's expansion into cannabis distribution operations in California.
After forming the joint venture, Green Acre completed a $2 million investment directly in the partnership. Green Acre has funded its acquisition through an option agreement with Johnson Brothers, a wine, spirits and beer distributor in the United States.
"The additional $2 million investment by Johnson Brothers, funded through their Green Acre option agreement, demonstrates continued support for our U.S. expansion strategy. Humble is excited to launch in the California market, delivering something new to the cannabis brands in that area," Humble CEO Joel Toguri said in a press release. "We are actively executing on our growth strategy. As our business evolves and expands, we continue to be hyper focused on sustainable profit generation and positive cash flow to deliver long-term shareholder value."
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With nearly $3 billion in adult-use cannabis excise tax revenue accrued in 2021, business is certainly booming. To underscore the point, cannabis excise tax revenue eclipsed alcohol excise tax revenue last year, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Seven of the 11 states that oversaw legal adult-use sales in 2021 helped account for that measure with particular clarity. In California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada, cannabis tax revenue outpaced alcohol tax revenue.
In California, for instance, cannabis excise tax revenue equaled $832 million, with alcohol coming in at $415 million. And in Colorado, cannabis sales brought in $396 million in excise taxes last year. Alcohol delivered just $53 million.
“While Colorado represents a relatively extreme case, low alcohol tax rates are the norm across much of the country as their real value has been eroded substantially by years of inflation and policy inaction,” according to institute authors Carl Davis and Mike Hegeman.
Cannabis is clearly showing its capacity for growth.
Pair the tax takeaways with this statistical projection from BDSA: “Global cannabis sales will surpass $61 billion in 2026.”
When eight workers at Root 66’s South Grand medical cannabis dispensary in St. Louis unanimously voted to unionize earlier this month, they were a couple of team members short in in their effort.
RELATED: Workers Vote to Unionize at Medical Dispensary in St. Louis
That’s because Em Holmead and Joanna Njama were fired in March, alleging that their union leadership was the root cause of losing their jobs, Riverfront Times reported. They started their team’s unionization campaign in early January.
Roughly a month after Holmead and Njama were fired, Root 66 employees voted April 4 to authorize the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 655 to begin bargaining on their behalf for a union contract, according to a news release from the union chapter.
The Root 66 workers are employed by GF Wellness S. Grand LLC, according to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) documentation for the union election.
Holmead and Njama told Riverfront Times that Root 66 management claimed they violated company policy by viewing security camera footage. Neither worker denied viewing the security cameras, which they said was something they and other employees always had access to.
Missouri-based cannabis operator Illicit Gardens has partnered with Last Prisoner Project to launch the Freedoms Campaign, where the two organizations will fight for cannabis criminal justice reform at both the local and national legislative levels.
The Freedoms Campaign will provide financial support to individuals imprisoned under cannabis possession charges and will feature eight cannabis “prisoners of war” throughout the year-long campaign, in reference to the U.S.’ war on drugs. The campaign will share stories and perspectives from each of the eight
cannabis prisoners.
“We believe Missouri and the United States as a whole have reached an important tipping point in our collective consciousness around cannabis reform,” said Adam Diltz, CEO at Illicit Gardens. “The Freedoms Campaign drives forward our mission to free the more than 40,000 cannabis prisoners convicted of an activity that’s no longer a crime.”
Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) officials have ceased issuing new cannabis licenses to those who submitted applications after Jan. 1, 2022, saying their hands are tied in the matter.
The license moratorium comes as Oregon’s cannabis market has experienced exponential growth, which has led to a crowded marketplace, according to OLCC officials.
Legislation that went into effect earlier this month leaves leeway for OLCC officials to restart licensing at some point in the future, based upon market supply, but language in a subsequent subsection specifically directs the commission to discontinue processing applications submitted after Jan. 1.
Passed by the Oregon Legislature in March, House Bill 4016 authorizes OLCC officials to, based on supply and demand for cannabis, refuse to issue initial cannabis production, processing, wholesale and retail licenses for an amount of time the commission determines necessary.
Specifically, the four-page bill states the OLCC may refuse to issue the licenses. Later on, the bill also states the commission shall inactivate an application for a license that was received after Jan. 1, 2022.
Gov. Kate Brown signed the bill into law April 4.
Lowell Farms and Zippo Manufacturing Co. have entered into a non-binding letter of intent to expand each company’s product presence throughout licensed cannabis dispensaries in California.
The 18-month collaboration between Salinas, Calif.-based Lowell Farms and Zippo makes Lowell the exclusive distributor of Zippo products throughout California dispensaries. The companies will partner on new Zippo lighter designs, including customizable options for dispensaries, such as an exclusive Lowell Farms-branded lighter.
Lowell will process and administer all orders from its Monterey County, Calif., headquarters.
RELATED: A View From The Golden State: Q&A With Lowell Farms Chairman George Allen
“To its congregation of loyal patrons, Zippo is much more than a lighter. It’s a lifestyle choice and a personal statement. Together, we are going to further integrate that statement, that lifestyle choice, within the cannabis community,” said George Allen, chairman of the board at Lowell Farms. “This is one of the most exciting partnerships we’ve ever formed and we look forward to introducing this celebrated brand, and all-new lines of Zippo products, to our California consumers.”
A South Carolina lawmaker has introduced legislation to pardon inmates convicted of simple cannabis possession each year on April 20.
House Bill 7614, introduced by Rep. JA Moore, D-Berkeley County, would designate April 20 as “420 Day” and require the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon to each year pardon 20% of incarcerated South Carolinians who are serving time for cannabis possession, according to a WCIV report.
“Possession of marijuana is a nonviolent offense, and it’s a crime that has been enforced unjustly since its inception,” Moore told the news outlet. “We need to force a conversation on this issue, and that is the intention of my bill.”
Currently, the possession of 28 grams of cannabis or less is a misdemeanor offense punishable by up to a 30-day jail sentence for a first offense, WCIV reported. Subsequent offenses, also classified as misdemeanors, are punishable by up to one year of imprisonment and fines of up to $1,000.
South Carolina lawmakers are also considering a medical cannabis legalization bill this year; S. 150, the SC Compassionate Care Act, cleared the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee earlier this month and can now be considered on the House floor. The South Carolina Senate approved the legislation in early February.
Michigan’s adult-use retailers participated in their third 4/20 last week, and initial sales data for the day showed that the state’s most popular products—flower and vape cartridges—soared off the shelves.
Customers purchased 4,619 pounds cannabis flower, representing a 141.6% increase from the 1,912 pounds sold in 2021, according to Andrew Brisbo, executive director of the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA).
Continuing an upward sales trend, the 1,912 pounds sold last year was a 344.7% increase from the 430 pounds sold in 2020, Brisbo announced.
“Consumers purchased more than $15.5 million of marijuana product from [Michigan] retailers yesterday,” Brisbo said April 21 on social media. “Overall sales continue to increase despite significant price decreases year over year.”
RELATED: Michigan Cannabis Flower Price Dips $171 Per Ounce in One Year
Reigning king among retail products in Michigan’s adult-use market, flower sales accounted for $652.2 million in 2021, or roughly 49.7% of the state’s $1.31-billion market, according to CRA monthly data reports. Overall, Michigan sold 186,128 pounds of adult-use cannabis flower last year.
Legislation that aims to restore voter-approved access to medical cannabis in California is making progress in the state’s Senate.
Senate Bill 1186, introduced in February by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, passed the Senate Governance and Finance Committee April 20 in a 4-1 vote, according to a press release from Wiener’s office.
The legislation would require all cities and counties to provide medical cannabis access through brick-and-mortar dispensaries or delivery services.
The California Cannabis Industry Association is sponsoring the legislation, which is also supported by California NORML.
For the past several years, cyberattacks on private businesses and public agencies alike have been on the rise. What that means, specifically, varies from case to case, but generally these events compromise a company’s data or hold certain information “hostage” for a proposed ransom.
With the ratcheting war in Ukraine, warning signs are flashing over the threat of even more cyberattack activity in the weeks and months to come.
Businesses remain vulnerable to attacks that remain hard to predict and hard to perceive.
Michael Sampson, partner at Leech Tishman and member of the firm’s litigation practice group, says that cannabis businesses (and businesses of all stripes) would do well to assess the risk of those attacks to the best of their ability—and to prepare. He outlines three ways to think about that.
“Cyber risk remains very significant across the cannabis industry and across the U.S. commercial landscape generally, because this is really an area where the cannabis industry faces the same types of risks that many other businesses face,” he says. “The risk to the cannabis industry may be greater in some respects, but it's certainly no less than any other business.”
Communicate
Legal Missouri 2022 has reached the signature requirement to put adult-use cannabis legalization on the state’s November ballot.
The group announced April 19 is has gathered 200,000 signatures supporting its constitutional amendment, according to the Associated Press.
Legal Missouri 2022 plans to continue collecting signatures ahead of the May 8 deadline to ensure the issue can go before voters this year, the news outlet reported.
Petition gatherers in Missouri must collect signatures from 8% of voters who cast ballots for governor in the previous general election in six of the state’s eight congressional districts, amounting to about 170,000 total signatures for an initiative to qualify for the ballot, according to AP.
“While the number of signatures collected already exceeds the legal minimum required to qualify for the ballot, our campaign will continue to collaborate with voters in the coming days and weeks to collect the tens of thousands of additional signatures needed to ensure our proposal exceeds the required threshold,” John Payne, campaign manager for Legal Missouri 2022, told KMOV.
Open for business on 4/20 for the first time, New Mexico’s adult-use cannabis retail market cashed in with more than $1.1 million in sales on Wednesday, according to figures from the state’s Cannabis Control Division (CCD).
That one-day total represented a roughly 85% increase from the more than $600,000 adult-use retailers recorded the previous Wednesday.
Since commercial adult-use sales officially launched on April 1, licensed dispensaries have sold more than $15 million of cannabis throughout New Mexico, KRQE reported. That’s in addition to more than $11.5 million of medical cannabis sales since the start of the month.
“Legal cannabis sales have brought 420 out of the shadows and into the mainstream of our state’s economy,” CCD Director Kristen Thomson said in a press release. “From a strong opening and reliable supply to the sales bump on 420, New Mexicans have worked together to create a thriving industry that is part of the state’s diverse economy.”
While that $1.1-million figure was notable for April 20, it wasn’t the state’s largest grossing day this month.
New Mexico dispensaries participating during the state’s opening day on April 1 recorded $1.96 million in adult-use sales in 24 hours, according to the CCD.
As the Kentucky General Assembly—specifically the Senate—has sat idle on enacting medical cannabis policy reform for yet another session, Gov. Andy Beshear said April 21 that he’s considering taking executive action to effectuate change.
House lawmakers cruised to passage of a bill that aimed at allowing doctors to prescribe medical cannabis to patients for six qualifications by way of a 59-34 vote on March 17. The legislation was sponsored by GOP Rep. Jason Nemes and attracted the co-sponsorship of 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats.
But the Senate killed the bill, again—an earlier version of the legislation passed the House in 2020, before stalling in the Senate, which continued to resist consideration of the issue in 2021 and now in 2022.
Beshear called out that inaction by the upper chamber in his weekly news conference on Thursday.
“This session, like the last one and many before it, the General Assembly did not get the job done despite broad support from the public,” he said.
According to a February 2020 Kentucky Health Issues Poll, nine out of 10 Kentucky adults favor legalizing cannabis for medical purposes.
The USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is funding research projects aimed at "creating knowledge that will help make hemp a viable and lucrative crop in the U.S."
According to a NIFA press release, the organization has invested over $20 million in fiscal 2021 and 2022 years for hemp-related research.
"From large multistate efforts to grants supporting small businesses developing innovative technologies, these projects are seeking to develop the know-how that will help producers, processors, regulators and officials make the best decisions about cultivating industrial hemp," NIFA stated in the release.
According to the release, NIFA is funding four projects aimed at looking at the economic opportunities and risks associated with cultivating hemp. These projects will be led by professors and researchers at North Carolina A&T University, Bay Mills Community College in Michigan, Oregon State University and the University of Vermont.
NIFA is also assisting projects focused on filling the gaps around the knowledge of hemp production in the U.S. These projects will be conducted by researchers at the University of Kentucky, the University of California, Rutgers University in New Jersey, Auburn University in Alabama, Utah State University and Cornell University in New York.
In addition, NIFA is funding a handful of other projects that explore ways to "extract value from the plant beyond its traditional utilizations,” according to the release. These projects will be led by researchers at Central State University in Ohio, North Carolina A&T University and Oregon State University.
Nevada adult-use consumers and cannabis companies have been patiently waiting for consumption lounges to come online in the state, and they may have to wait a little longer.
After years of setbacks, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed Assembly Bill 341 into law in June 2021, authorizing the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) to license and regulate consumption lounges across the state.
In Clark County, which houses Las Vegas, officials are working to establish ordinances for consumption lounges, and the county Commission held a public input meeting Tuesday to discuss regulations.
But News 3's Steve Wolford, who attended the public input workshop, said it's pretty clear from the meeting that there's "still a long way to go to get these finalized."
One challenge Clark County faces is staying in tandem with the CCB, which has yet to finalize consumption lounge regulations from the state level, News 3 reported.
"The key, I think, is to have the local governments and the state government work in tandem," said District E Commissioner Tick Segerblom. "We don't want to get too far behind and have this thing delayed, so hopefully, we can get on board, work closely with the state and make sure that we aren't the delay. We want to get this moving as fast as possible."
New Jersey launched commercial adult-use cannabis sales April 21, 534 days after the state’s voters passed a legalization initiative in the November 2020 election.
Now that this long-awaited market is up and running, the state’s 13 operational adult-use dispensaries, which are owned by seven of the industry’s largest companies—Acreage Holdings, Ascend Wellness, Columbia Care, Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries, TerrAscend and Verano—have much to consider as they transition from medical-only sales.
RELATED: New Jersey Adult-Use Cannabis Sales Have Commenced
HR and employment issues should not be at the bottom of this list of considerations, says Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr Partner Ruth Rauls.
“It’s something to be top of mind for companies and businesses that are setting up,” she tells Cannabis Business Times. “That can’t be the bottom of the list or one of the things that you’re going to deal with later. There are a lot of laws in New Jersey for employees that employers need to know about, and so it’s better to educate themselves now and be aware of what those obligations are going into it as opposed to dealing with it later.”
As the U.S. business sector heightens its focus on tracking environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics, a growing number of cannabis companies are beginning to factor sustainability and other social goals into their business plans. Unfortunately, in their race to gain ESG bona fides, some are engaging in “greenwashing,” a mistake commonly made by consumer-facing companies across a variety of industries.
Greenwashing is typically defined as making exaggerated marketing claims about a company’s sustainability ethos or distributing misleading information about the environmental impact of the company’s products or services. The definition has recently been expanded to include a broader set of false or misleading statements, and activist investors and state and federal agencies are taking notice—and action.
Greenwashing in the cannabis industry often involves companies branding corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs as ESG initiatives without any real understanding of what an effective ESG program entails. In some cases, companies simply name a diversity and inclusion officer their de facto head of ESG. Claims of “sustainable packaging” based on misrepresentations and misinformation are another common example.
If your company is putting out an “ESG report” with flowery language about its community work and philanthropy or about how it recycles and uses LED lights in its nursery, but it fails to include any real data, benchmarking, third-party assurance, and reporting to regulatory agencies, you might be guilty of greenwashing.
On top of massive reputational risks, there is a host of legal risks for companies that misrepresent or fail to disclose material ESG issues to investors and government entities. State and federal consumer protection laws often pose ESG legal risks to offenders, and the Federal Trade Commission (through its Truth in Advertising and Green Marketing guides) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) have been clarifying disclosure requirements over the past few years.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the Sunshine State’s only statewide elected Democrat, has announced plans to sue the Biden administration over federal rules that govern medical cannabis and firearms.
Fried announced the lawsuit April 20, taking aim at a federal requirement that bars medical cannabis patients from purchasing guns or maintaining concealed-carry permits, according to an NBC News report.
The lawsuit centers on a federal form that asks whether a gun buyer is an unlawful drug user and specifies that cannabis is federally illegal, the news outlet reported. An individual enrolled as a patient in a state-legal medical cannabis program must check “yes” and the purchase must be denied, and checking “no” constitutes making a false statement on a federal form, an offense that carries the threat of a five-year prison sentence, according to NBC News.
“No patient should have to choose between their medicine and employment, or a roof over their head, or access to capital—or their constitutional rights,” Fried said in a public statement. “While we continue to call for full cannabis legalization to resolve the many issues caused by irrational, inconsistent, and incoherent federal cannabis policies, we are here today to announce we are filing suit against the federal government over its violation of patients’ Second Amendment rights due to federal law deeming it illegal for a medical marijuana cardholder to purchase a firearm.”
It’s been 534 days since New Jersey voters passed Question 1 to legalize adult-use cannabis in the November 2020 election.
Today, April 21, 2022, New Jersey became the 14th state to officially launch commercials sales at 13 dispensaries operated by seven of the largest companies in the industry: Acreage Holdings, Ascend Wellness, Columbia Care, Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries, TerrAscend and Verano.
Many New Jerseyans would have liked to have seen a faster rollout of the program, Gov. Phil Murphy said during a press conference Thursday morning in front of a Zen Leaf dispensary operated by Verano.
“I know there are some who expected to vote for legal cannabis on November 3, 2020, and be able to purchase it on November 4. If it only were that simple,” he said. “The overriding need was for us to make sure that we got this right the first time. It took long hours of working alongside our extraordinary legislative leaders and partners to ensure the statutory backbone for this industry was sound.”
Thursday’s launch came after numerous delays involving the application and licensing process that were loosely tied to self-imposed deadlines by the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC), including a missed Feb. 22, 2022, deadline to open dispensaries.
RELATED: New Jersey Misses Cannabis Launch; Governor Says Adult-Use Sales to Begin ‘Within Weeks’
