MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press

LOUISVILLE,Colo., March 2, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE – Global cannabis sales for 2022 will reachjust over $35 billion, a jump of approximately 22% over 2021 sales of $29billion, according to BDSA’s most recent five-year rolling market forecastupdate. BDSA forecasts global cannabis sales will surpass $61 billion in 2026,a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 16%.

“Thoughmost legal cannabis markets saw sales soften in the second half of 2021, theglobal cannabis market is expected to see brisk growth in 2022, driven bystrong sales in new and emerging markets in the U.S., steady growth in Canadaand international markets lead by Mexico and Germany,” said Jessica Lukas,chief commercial officer at BDSA.

Lookingback at 2021, new markets in the U.S. experienced some of the strongest growth,especially in the Midwest. Illinois sales grew approximately 70% in 2021,totaling $1.8 billion, while Missouri’s medical-only market reached anunexpected high of $210 million.

Emergingmarkets are also expected to be a major driver of sales through 2026, as thenumber of non-legal states is rapidly dwindling. The pace of legalization couldeven increase as the latest wave of medical and adult-use bills are seeingunprecedented bipartisan support at the state level.

United States
Legal cannabis sales in the U.S. will surpass $28 billion in 2022, growth ofapproximately 20% over 2021’s $24 billion. BDSA forecasts U.S. sales to reach$46 billion in 2026, a CAGR of approximately 14% from 2021.

California,which launched its adult-use market in 2018, will remain the largestcontributor to overall U.S. sales growth. Several other markets are expected tobe major contributors to total U.S. legal sales by 2026, with the next top fourcontributors to growth being New York, New Jersey, Florida and Michigan.

The number of jurisdictions that are willing to house adult-use cannabis dispensaries nearly doubled overnight in Vermont.

More than 40 communities voted on whether to allow the state’s forthcoming retail industry to operate within their borders during “Town Meeting Day” on March 1, and 25 of those towns and cities approved their measures, VT Digger reported.

Those communities join more than 33 Vermont municipalities that have already approved retail cannabis operations before this week, according to the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT).

“It’s a very important moment for Vermont,” James Pepper, chair of the Vermont Cannabis Control Board, told VT Digger. “We want Vermonters to be able to access this product close to their home as opposed to having these cannabis deserts around Vermont.” 

Essex, the second-largest community in Vermont and the biggest to hold a cannabis-related vote Tuesday, approved the sale of adult-use cannabis, 3,589-2,473, on Tuesday, the news outlet reported.

Also among the larger localities to approve measures Tuesday were Barre, Bristol, Hartford, Manchester, Milton and Springfield.

Name: Chad McCoy

Rhode Island lawmakers will again take up adult-use cannabis legalization this year, but this time around, they are including a key detail in their proposal to help the legislation cross the finish line.

RELATED: Rhode Island’s Top Lawmakers Say Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization Bill Will Pass in 2022

Legislators in the House and Senate introduced identical legislation March 2 that defines who will regulate the new industry, a detail that held up last year’s legalization proposal, according to The Providence Journal.

The bill establishes an independent three-member cannabis control commission to oversee the adult-use cannabis market, the news outlet reported. Oversight of Rhode Island’s medical cannabis industry, which is currently regulated by the Department of Business Regulation (DBR), would also eventually transition to the new commission under the legislation.

Last year, the Rhode Island Senate approved an adult-use cannabis legalization bill that called for a similar commission, but the House’s version of the legislation charged the DBR with regulating the new industry, The Providence Journal reported.

The Georgia House Regulated Industries Committee unanimously approved legislation March 1 that would revive the rollout of the state’s medical cannabis program, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

State Rep. Alan Powell’s (R-Hartwell) House Bill 1400 would allow the state to license 16 companies that protested Georgia’s licensing process and have since held up the rollout of a regulated program to provide low-THC oil to registered patients.

After years of regulatory limbo that allowed registered patients in Georgia to legally possess—but not purchase—the oil (which must contain no more than 5% THC), the Legislature passed legislation in the spring of 2019 to legalize the production and sale of the oil in the state.

RELATED: Georgia Will Now Allow the Production and Sale of Low-THC Medical Cannabis Oil

The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission then licensed six companies in July 2021 to produce and sell the oil to the state’s patients, but 16 unsuccessful applicants challenged the licensing process, which has since delayed the rollout of the program.

Legislation being considered by the Ohio House would add autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a qualifying medical condition for the state’s Medical Marijuana Control Program.

House Bill 60 has bipartisan support, including primary sponsorship from Democratic Rep. Juanita Brent and Republican Rep. William Seitz, as well as 16 cosponsors.

During an unsuccessful effort to add ASD to the list of qualifying conditions last year in Ohio, proponents said allowing legal access to cannabis would help those with autism alleviate certain symptoms of ASD that other forms of medicine prescribed by doctors have fallen short on.

“I am the mother of a 15-year-old with severe autism who has been using medical cannabis successfully in [Pennsylvania] for four years,” Erica Daniels said in a March 2021 testimony to the Ohio House Health Committee. Daniels is an autism advocate and founder of Hope Grows for Autism.

“There is a body of research to support this in addition to empirical data and testimony of thousands of parents and self-advocates,” she said. “Without medical cannabis, my son would be in an institution right now.”

Focusing on three clinical trials from 2016 that examined the effects of medical cannabis on individuals with ASD, an October 2019 article published by peer-reviewed journal BMC Psychiatry stated, “Results from these groundbreaking clinical trials have the potential to help build support for evidence-based recommendations regarding medical cannabis use amongst patients with ASD.”

Adult-use cannabis sales are scheduled to launch April 1 in New Mexico, and that’s no joke. 

Albuquerque, the state’s largest city with more than a half a million people, has already approved 25 retail locations among 36 businesses that have submitted applications so far, according to the city’s Planning Department.

The department requires businesses seeking to operate within the city to first obtain a state-issued cannabis license. There are currently no fees involved with the online application process for retail locations to be approved by the city.

Applications for another five locations are under review, four are awaiting review and two have been denied. A map of those locations and names of businesses is available here.

So far, Urban Wellness has secured five locations in the city, while Canvas Organics Enterprises LLC, Enchanted Botanicals LLC and FCI of New Mexico have been approved for two locations apiece.

Albuquerque’s Integrated Development Ordinance provides that a cannabis retail establishment shall not be located within 300 feet of a school or child care facility, or within 60 feet of another cannabis retail establishment. However, state-licensed cannabis microbusinesses can be located within 600 feet of another retail business.

Costa Ricans may soon have access to medical cannabis after the nation’s Congress approved legislation that would authorize not only a medical cannabis program, but also the cultivation of industrial hemp.

Costa Rica’s Congress passed the bill March 1 after years of discussion and a presidential veto on an earlier version of the proposal, according to a Reuters report.

President Carlos Alvarado said the legislation is “of great benefit to Costa Rica” after legislators from Costa Rica’s ruling party and several opposition groups signed off on it in an effort to boost the country’s economy and reduce the illicit market, the news outlet reported.

The bill requires medical cannabis producers to register with health institutions and submit to reviews by the Costa Rican Drug Institute (ICD), according to Reuters.

Alvarado is expected to sign the legislation into law as early as this week, the news outlet reported.

It’s no secret that California’s legal cannabis industry has struggled to thrive since the commercial adult-use market launched in January 2018.

For Graham Farrar, co-founder and president of Glass House Brands, a Santa Barbara-based cannabis operator with more than half a million square feet of cultivation space, high taxes and a shortage of retail outlets are straining the world’s largest cannabis market.

“Right now in California, surviving is thriving, but I think the opportunity on the other end makes it more than worthwhile,” he says.

California’s two-tiered licensing system has, from the outset, created challenges for the market, Farrar says. The state has not set a cap on the number of cannabis licenses it will issue, but businesses cannot get a state license without first securing a municipal license—and more than 60% of California’s municipalities still ban cannabis operations in their jurisdictions.

Local bans on cannabis have created a shortage of dispensaries for the state’s cultivators to supply with product. Farrar says that before California voters passed Proposition 64 to legalize adult-use cannabis, there were 3,500 to 5,000 dispensaries operating under Proposition 215, the state’s medical cannabis law. Now, he says, there are roughly 1,000 retailers.

Two proposed bills–one in Utah and another in California–would give veteranarians greater freedom to discuss hemp- and cannabis-based medicines with animals’ owners.

Senate Bill 209 in Utah would clarify that licensed veterinarians are “not prohibited from discussing the effect of cannabis on an animal with the animal’s owner,” according to the bill text. This includes treatments with THC or other cannabinoids from industrial hemp or medical cannabis.

Meanwhile, Assembly Bill 1885 would give veterinarians the right to discuss and recommend cannabis and cannabis products as medicine or supplements for pets. The bill would protect veterinarians from disciplinary or financial penalty for discussing cannabis-based treatments with pet owners. It also proposes veterinarian board-certified guidelines and cannabis industry quality control standards and guidelines to be developed and followed.

Both bills are currently moving through their state legislatures.

The bills fall in line with a growing trend of consumers looking to try pet CBD products for their animals. A recent survey from Brightfield Group showed discussions with professionals are key to helping them feel comfortable enough to purchase and use pet CBD products.

Dead yesterday. Alive today.  

After South Dakota House State Affairs Committee members voted 8-3 on Feb. 28 to defeat an adult-use cannabis bill, the legislation is back up and kicking on March 1 via a “smoke out” vote.

RELATED: South Dakota Adult-Use Bill Defeated; Ballot Measure’s Weight Amplifies

Rep. Greg Jamison, a Sioux Falls Republican, gathered 25 colleagues in the 70-member chamber for the political maneuver that has revived Senate Bill 3, which aims to legalized up to 1 ounce of cannabis for adult use in the state. It was passed by the Senate via an 18-17 vote last week.

Under the smoke-out rule, 24 members needed to be onboard with bringing the bill back to life.

Jamison now needs a 36-member majority for the full House to consider the bill, according to Keloland’s Bob Mercer.

A bill moving through the Illinois state legislature would create a commission to study and improve equity in agriculture, including in hemp and cannabis production.

H.B. 5201 would establish a task force to advise the state on policies and programs that would bolster socially disadvantaged producers and create more equity within the industry.

“We know agriculture is the largest job-producing industry in the state of Illinois,” says State Rep. Sonya Harper, who introduced the bill. 

However, the loss of Black and other minority farmers in the industry has led to issues with food security, health, and the economy, especially in disadvantaged communities, according to the bill text.

If created, the committee would include around 30 members who come from diverse backgrounds both demographically and professionally, including a representative from a nonprofit organization aimed at increasing healthy food access, an attorney or legal expert in property law, and six socially disadvantaged farmers or agribusiness owners.

The bill specifically highlights hemp and cannabis as an area of focus for the commission. Harper says H.B. 5201 is one of several bills she has introduced and helped pass as it relates to agricultural equity and increasing opportunities for farmers of color. 

If other states already made mistakes, then Pennsylvania does not have to repeat them. 

That was the tone among state lawmakers during a Senate Law & Justice Committee hearing Feb. 28 to discuss implementing an adult-use cannabis program in Pennsylvania.

The hearing was the second in a series on the issue that kicked off last month, when the committee became the first legislative body in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly to begin planning for legalization beyond the state’s current medical program.

RELATED: Pennsylvania Lawmakers Take First Step Toward Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization

This week’s hearing included testimonies from individuals who played active roles in legalization efforts elsewhere, such as California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York.

Sen. Mike Regan, the committee’s chair and a former law enforcement officer who represents part of Cumberland and York counties, said Monday that there has been demand from many of his colleagues in both the Senate and the House that any adult-use legislation needs to be comprehensive and include best practices from other states.

Multistate cannabis operator MedMen Enterprises Inc. has announced plans to sell its Florida assets while agreeing to license its trademarks in the state for a limited time.

The company will sell its medical cannabis license, dispensaries, inventory and cultivation operations to Florida-based Green Sentry Holdings for $83 million, according to a press release.

MedMen has also agreed to license its trademarks in the state for a two-year period for a quarterly, revenue-based fee.

“As MedMen continues to transform its business model and position itself for future growth, our go-forward strategy is going to include an asset-light model that enables us to leverage the power and strength of the MedMen brand,” said MedMen’s chairman and interim CEO, Michael Serruya, in a public statement. “We feel confident this model will deliver strong financial results and opportunities for growth across many states and will continue to identify trademark licensing opportunities that will introduce the MedMen brand and retail experience to other markets across the United States and internationally.”

The transaction is expected to close in late April or early May, pending regulatory approval.

We are deep into the first quarter of the new year, and federal legalization of cannabis remains a pipe dream, an ambition located further into the imaginable future than it seemed a year ago. 2021 was called a cannabis “nothing burger” by Forbes Magazine in its own year-end reflection on the federal cannabis legalization movement, which aptly describes the federal inactivity of last year.  

Federal action was initially thought by some to happen quickly after the November 2020 watershed election which brought feather-thin Democratic margins in the U.S. Congress and in which five states (all over the geographic and political map) saw cannabis legalization efforts pass with healthy voter margins.

But with the world entering year three of a global pandemic, Russia invading the country of Ukraine, and Americans bickering about mask mandates, federal cannabis legalization has had to take a backseat to other major issues in the crosshairs of the Biden administration. Even though the U.S. House of Representatives at the beginning of February 2022 “advanced” provisions of the SAFE Banking Act (which would permit access to banking by cannabis businesses). That bill, like the previous SAFE banking bills, is expected to go nowhere in the U.S. Senate, however. This latest vote was the sixth such passage of the SAFE Banking Act in the House. 

Has the Lack of Federal Legalization Impacted the Market?

This stymied and stalemated federal impasse is now obvious to cannabis multistate operators and M&A specialists. Federal legalization fervor has waned and is reflected in the market. Cannabis stock prices (once soaring) took significant hits in 2021.

However, a downturn in stock value or performance does not tell an industry’s whole financial story. Brad Sodowick, a finance professor at Drexel University’s LeBow School of Business, and who teaches the “Emerging Business of Cannabis,” explained that “the failure to federally legalize is but one factor to be considered when investing in publicly traded cannabis companies. Many other variables are in play as investment in cannabis has always been risky. Thoughtful investment in this industry requires a long-term, multiyear strategy.” 

Sodowick’s strategy pointers also include looking at cannabis sales. He forecasts that “marijuana sales in legal states will continue to grow exponentially in 2022 and beyond.”

Patients enrolled in Minnesota’s medical cannabis program can now access flower after a new law went into effect March 1, according to a CBS Minnesota report.

Until now, the state’s dispensaries could only sell medical cannabis in pill, oil and topical form, but the new law, a result of legislation that passed last year, now allows them to sell smokable flower, the news outlet reported.

Two dispensaries, Green Goods in Minneapolis and LeafLine in St. Paul, have been approved by the Minnesota Department of Health to sell flower, according to a KARE 11 report, and patients must apply to obtain flower.

Flower will provide a cheaper alternative to other cannabis products, the news outlet reported, which will help alleviate pricing concerns in the market.

“The number one complaint we have heard from patients over the years is the price point, really,” Chris Tholkes, director of the medical cannabis office within the Minnesota Department of Health, told KARE 11. “[Flower is] cheaper because it's not concentrated like wax pens."

Oregon shoppers who purchased vape products that were allegedly mislabeled as 100% cannabis more than two years ago can begin filing $200 claims through the settlement of a class-action lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that Cura Partners Inc. failed to disclose that 186,000 units of certain Select brand oil products contained botanical terpenes, according to case administrators, who said Feb. 27 they are ready to begin processing claims, The Oregonian reported.

The claimants must be Oregon residents 21 and older who purchased products from the Select Elite, Select Pax and/or Select Dabbables product lines, including cartridges, disposable pens or pods, between Aug. 15, 2018, and Nov. 22, 2019, according to CPT Group, the case administrators.

Curaleaf signed a definitive agreement to acquire Portland, Ore.-based Cura Partners and its Select brand in May 2019 in a $948.8-million all-stock deal. Curaleaf completed that acquisition in February 2020.

The following year, Curaleaf became involved in a separate lawsuit for allegedly mislabeled products associated with a September 2021 recall by the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. Those products involved mislabeled CBD tinctures that actually contained THC.

UPDATE: Curaleaf to Face Wrongful Death Lawsuit Tied to Mislabeling CBD Products

Colorado officials issued a health and safety advisory Feb. 28 regarding potential lead contamination in adult-use cannabis products that were sold in the state.

The Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) issued the advisory in response to the identification of potentially unsafe levels of lead on pre-rolls produced by JEM Dutch Acres, LLC, doing business as Earls.

The pre-rolls were sold between Nov. 26, 2021, and Jan. 3, 2022, at JEM Dutch Acres’ dispensary in Leadville, Colo.

The affected products will have the following license number, batch number and product name on the label:

The advisory instructs consumers who purchased the affected products to destroy them or return them to the store where they were purchased for proper disposal. Those who experience adverse health affects from consuming the affected products should seek medical attention and report it to Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) using a MED Reporting Form.

LAS VEGAS – Feb. 28, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE – The Source+, an award-winning cannabis company with four dispensaries in Las Vegas Valley and Reno, recently launched sales of cannabis-infused syrups from Cannalean, available now at all locations.

“Cannalean syrups are both versatile and delicious, and we’re excited to give our customers another option for cannabis consumption, whether you add them to your favorite fizzy drink or right over your morning pancakes,” said Tina Ulman, director of brands for The Source+. “The work that this small, Black-owned local business has put into bringing such a distinct cannabis product to the market is inspiring and we are looking forward to supporting Cannalean.”

A unique addition to the growing cannabis drink market, Cannalean syrups are gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan and organic syrup offered in seven different flavors. Each 100 mg bottle contains 20 capfuls of syrup, yielding roughly 5 mg of THC each and 100 mg total. Cannalean syrups may be added to any beverage or food item of choice. 

Flavors offered at all of The Source+’s locations across Nevada include the Grape Drink, made from organic grapes grown in Central California; OG Watermelon, a fan favorite since its release in 2018, made with organic sugar baby watermelons; Pina Punch, crafted from organic pineapples grown in Oaxaca, Mexico; Plain Jane, an unflavored, simple syrup; and Strawblurry, the first flavor released in 2014, made from organic strawberries grown in Central California; all priced at $15.

The Source+ advocates for accessibility to cannabis, with an emphasis on health and wellness benefits, and always provides 10% off purchases for veterans and senior citizens. Offered at its four locations are more than 80 different strains of cannabis, as well as a variety of concentrates, edibles and related medical cannabis products. Customers are encouraged to utilize The Source+’s online ordering platform and in-house delivery services to minimize time spent shopping in-store. More information on store and delivery, curbside and pickup hours can be found here.