MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press

Canada’s cannabis retailers experienced record sales throughout 2021, but that market growth is showing signs of slowing down from its rapid pace.

The world’s second-largest cannabis market hauled in a whopping CA$3.9 billion in 2021 sales among its eight largest provinces that regularly report monthly figures, according to federal data agency Statistics Canada. That figure represents 50% year-over-year growth from 2020’s CA$2.6 billion in sales.

While Canada’s most populated province, Ontario, represented the country’s largest cannabis market with CA$1.47 billion in 2021 sales, the fourth-largest province by population, Alberta, came in second with CA$716.7 million in sales.

Following suit were Quebec, CA$601 million; British Columbia, CA$556.2 million; Saskatchewan, CA$158.3 million; Manitoba, CA$148.8 million; Nova Scotia, CA$95.5 million; New Brunswick, CA$80.4 million; and Newfoundland, CA$60.7 million.

Editor’s note: Prince Edward Island and Canada’s three territories (Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories) did not regularly report monthly sales figures in 2021.

While record retail months may continue, to some degree, 2021 trends indicate year-over-year growth is slowing. For instance, January 2021 sales increased 81.3% over January 2020 sales, but a steady decline progressed throughout the year to the point where December 2021 sales increased 28.5% over December 2020 sales.

February 23, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE – A new nationwide study commissioned by SICPA North America, a provider of regulatory compliance solutions, shows overwhelming support among cannabis users for more in-depth information about the products they may use. The poll was conducted online by The Harris Poll among 2,056 U.S. adults. Key study results include:

“Cannabis users clearly crave a greater depth of information about the safety of cannabis products, whether they’re using flower, concentrates, edibles, tinctures or topical products,” said Karen Gardner, chief marketing officer at SICPA US. “The desire among consumers for more safety information about the cannabis products they consume aligns with SICPA’s survey last fall that showed a broad appetite for secure, tamper-proof labeling of cannabis products to provide assurance that cannabis products are legitimate and safe.”

When it comes to improving social equity in the industry, the survey also shows large support exists for buying cannabis products from historically disadvantaged businesses, with 63% of cannabis users in support of buying cannabis products from groups who have been historically disadvantaged, such as people of color, women, veterans or small businesses, over buying from groups who have not. Social equity has been a priority for cannabis legalization and licensing in many states, with some states creating programs to provide reduced fees and mentoring to encourage historically disadvantaged groups to enter the market. New York, for example, which legalized cannabis in 2021, has set a goal of having 50% of licenses go to minorities and other social equity applicants. 

Similar to the growing interest in organic products in the food industry, the SICPA survey also shows significant support for organic products; more than three in four (77%) cannabis users would rather buy cannabis products that are developed with organic principles, over ones that are not.

The SICPA survey also measured cannabis use among Americans, finding that 50% of Americans have used cannabis products at some point in time, with more than 1 in 3 (36%) stating they’ve used cannabis products in the past 12 months, and 13% saying they consumed cannabis products for the first time in the past 12 months. This is the second SICPA-The Harris Poll survey on cannabis; the first poll, released in fall 2021, showed broad support among Americans for securely labeling cannabis products to verify their legitimacy and safety in the marketplace.   

Although New Jersey voters approved adult-use cannabis via Question 1 in the November 2020 election, they still have no place to legally buy it.

Among the four states that passed adult-use measures in that election, Arizona launched sales on Jan. 22, 2021, Montana launched sales on Jan. 1, 2022, South Dakota had its ballot amendment struck down, and New Jersey has missed multiple deadlines geared toward launching its licensed retail program.

Most recently, the Garden State missed a self-imposed Feb. 22 deadline to open dispensaries. But there was no enforcement mechanism for that date, which was more of a symbolic target to get the ball (and the joints) rolling.

Last month, the executive director of the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC), Jeff Brown, said there were still a lot of moving parts associated with the deadline, adding there was no firm commitment to meet that target. 

RELATED: Is New Jersey Going to Miss Another Cannabis Deadline?

It wasn’t the first deadline New Jersey missed, symbolic or otherwise. The CRC was scheduled to begin accepting and processing business license applications on Sept. 18, 2021, but had to delay that effort too.

Legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis lives to fight another day in one of the most conservative states in the country. 

The South Dakota Senate voted 18-17 on Feb. 23 to pass Senate Bill 3, which aims to legalize up to 1 ounce of cannabis for those 21 and older. An earlier version of the bill called for double that possession limit.

The legislation now heads to the House, where it has six Republican and two Democrat sponsors, but the lower chamber has been less receptive to adult-use reform. Earlier this week, the House rejected a separate measure that aimed to set up a tax structure and regulatory framework for a possible program. In addition, House Republicans have pushed for tighter restrictions on medical cannabis.

The legislative actions come as a result of Amendment A, a voter-approved ballot initiative to legalize adult use from November 2020, which passed with 54.2% majority, being struck down by a circuit court judge on the basis of the state’s single-subject rule. The South Dakota Supreme Court upheld that decision in November 2021.

RELATED: Seven Months Later, South Dakota Supreme Court Says ‘No’ to Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization

In addition to legalizing adult-use sales and possession, S.B. 3 aims to ban home cultivation, despite that proposal being approved by voters via Amendment A.

Despite unreliable THC testing, multiple procedure violations and an owner-client conflict of interest, one Arizona cannabis testing lab is buying its way out of trouble to retain one of the state’s 20 licenses.

OnPoint Laboratories, of Snowflake, a small town in eastern Arizona, has agreed to a nearly $470,000 settlement with the Arizona Department of Health and Services, the Arizona Republic reported.

The agreement comes after ADHS regulators sent a notice to OnPoint in August, threatening to revoke its license following a report from inspectors that the laboratory was using methods that could inflate the reported potency of cannabis samples it was testing, as well as other violations.

“The potency scaling person weighing a sample portion for potency testing stated, ‘I pick the top of the bud where the crystals are,’” according to ADHS documents obtained by the Republic. The worker told an inspector she was trained to prepare the potency samples that way, according to the newspaper.

But OnPoint Labs isn’t the only Arizona licensee facing regulatory issues.

ADHS officials sent a similar intent to revoke notice to Pure Labs, of Phoenix, in January. The company is currently negotiating a settlement agreement to keep its license, according to the Republic.

A decision on adult-use legalization in Maryland is one step closer to reaching voters in November after state lawmakers advanced legislation Feb. 23.

The early momentum comes on the heels of House leaders announcing earlier this month they wanted to first find out where voters stand on legalizing adult-use cannabis through a 2022 ballot initiative, before enacting legislation.

RELATED: Maryland House Leaders Smooth the Way For Adult-Use Legalization

On Wednesday, the House gave preliminary approval for the complementary measures.

Del. Luke Clippinger, a Democrat from Baltimore City who chairs the Judiciary Committee, sponsors House Bill 837, which he said would serve as companion legislation to House Bill 1, the ballot question for November’s election that he also drafted.

A final House vote could come Friday, The Associated Press reported, but the Maryland Senate would still need to approve it.

California may be one of the largest cannabis markets in the world, but opportunities abound in the Northeast, especially now that New Jersey and New York have legalized adult-use, according to Jay Czarkowski, founding partner and licensing expert at cannabis business consulting firm Canna Advisors.

The Canna Advisors team, which recently opened an office in the Empire State Building, expects New York to issue draft regulations on adult-use cannabis business licensing by the end of March.

“I’ve heard over a period of time, from multiple sources, that there may be somewhere around 750 business licenses that the state’s going to issue, which is a good number,” Czarkowski says. “It’s not a lot by any means. I think there could certainly be many more, but it’s a fair number of licenses.”

In any case, a limit on the number of licenses issued means it will be a competitive licensing process in the Empire State, and Czarkowski says there are ways for entrepreneurs to increase their chances of securing a license, even before the regulations are finalized.

RELATED: 4 Ways to Prepare for the Cannabis Licensing Process

One of the biggest cannabis companies in Texas now has the highest-dosage medical cannabis product available on the state’s market.

Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation expanded its gummy lineup to now include 20-milligram THC units, the highest dosage allowed under the state’s recently updated program.

The new product dosage was approved during last year’s legislative session, when state lawmakers also expanded qualifying conditions—to include cancer patients and those with post-traumatic stress disorder—and raised the THC limit for medical cannabis from 0.5% to 1%.

RELATED: Texas Cancer Patients, Those With PTSD Gear Up For Medical Cannabis Access

Offering stronger products will benefit the state’s medical cannabis patients, many of whom are veterans or suffering from cancer, Texas Original CEO Morris Denton told NBC-affiliate KNAX.

“We needed to make a stronger product that would allow them to get to their target dose as prescribed by their doctor, without consuming a whole lot of byproducts,” he said.

Once again, South Dakotans were at risk of losing their voice on effecting public cannabis policy, but a legislative bullet was dodged on Feb. 23.

Senate Bill 20 would have undone protections included in the state’s medical cannabis program, which 70% of voters approved in the November 2020 election, but the legislation was defeated by an 8-5 committee vote Thursday.

Under voter-approved Initiative Measure 26, an affirmative defense provision allows those who don’t have medical cannabis cards to defend themselves against punitive action for possessing certain amounts of cannabis by arguing they’ve met a qualifying health condition under the state’s medical program.

S.B. 20 would have eliminated that defense measure, Keloland reported.

“S.B. 20 was about the medical purpose defense, after the fact that I could have had a medical card,” Sen. Helene Duhamel, a Republican senator from Rapid City, told the media outlet.

Duhamel’s sponsorship of the bill came after South Dakota began issuing medical cannabis cards, which the senator indicated as a reason to eliminate the protective measure for those who do not have cards.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Feb. 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- The New Mexico Supreme Court has determined medical cannabis purchases should be treated like any other medication and not have been subject to New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax. Ultra Health, a New Mexico cannabis company, submitted an Amicus Brief to the New Mexico Supreme Court last year to demonstrate the legal basis for medical cannabis to be untaxed exactly like any other prescription in the state.

“WHEREAS, having considered the petition, response, and briefs of the parties, the judgment of the Court is that the writ shall be quashed as improvidently granted,” the New Mexico Supreme Court’s Feb. 23, 2022, order states.

Issues are dismissed as improvidently granted when the Court acknowledges it should not have accepted the case. Now, the New Mexico Court of Appeals ruling stands as the determining order that previous cannabis purchases by medical cannabis patients should have never been subject to New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax.

“To paraphrase, the Compassionate Use Act was intended to make medical [cannabis] accessible to those with debilitating medical conditions who might benefit from the use thereof,” Judge M. Monica Zomara stated in the Court of Appeals opinion. “It is reasonably self-evident that the deduction from gross receipts for prescription drugs was similarly intended to make medical treatment more accessible, by lessening the expense to those who require it. These statutes should be read harmoniously, to give effect to their commonality of purpose.”

Ultra Health will receive a $7.4 million refund plus interest following the New Mexico Supreme Court’s decision.

According to a report published Wednesday by Leafly, the U.S. cannabis industry now boasts more than 428,000 jobs. That’s a 33% increase from the 321,000 U.S. cannabis jobs cited in the media organization’s 2021 report. 

Read Leafly’s full report here. 

The relationship between American businesses and the American is fraught with tension—and bracketed by more anxieties now than we’ve seen in decades. And yet, for a variety of reasons, the cannabis space is hiring and retaining talent at a good clip. Part of that is due to the simple growth trajectory of a new legal market emerging from an unregulated landscape. Part of that is due to the cultural intrigue of cannabis. And yet another part of that story is due to many employers and employees building a cohesive, stable workplace that turns daily actions into shared goals and achievements.

We’ve certainly put the spotlight on that last narrative in our recent Best Cannabis Companies To Work For issue, but, indeed, the state of the cannabis workforce has many layers. Plant-touching businesses find themselves at the center of the story, but there’s more going on in this bustling industry.  

Here’s a bit more context from the team at Leafly:

“Those 428,059 jobs include direct cannabis jobs like cultivation and retail sales—what are often called “plant-touching jobs”—as well as indirect ancillary jobs that serve licensed companies or depend on legal cannabis sales. Ancillary jobs include work in accounting, human resources, legal affairs, regulatory compliance, security, maintenance, and construction. Also included are indirect jobs in cannabis media, technology platforms, public relations, lobbying, non-cannabis product suppliers, and industry associations.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed legislation to help jumpstart the state’s forthcoming adult-use cannabis market.

Signed into law on Feb. 23, Senate Bill S8084 will allow hemp farmers to apply for a new Conditional Adult-Use Cannabis Cultivator license to grow cannabis during the 2022 growing season to supply the adult-use market.

RELATED: New York Legislature Approves Proposal to Allow Hemp Businesses to Grow, Process Adult-Use Cannabis

Once conditionally licensed, hemp growers must meet certain requirements outlined in the law, including safe, sustainable and environmentally friendly cultivation practices; participation in a social equity mentorship program; and engagement in a labor peace agreement with a bona fide labor organization, according to a press release announcing the bill signing.

“I am proud to sign this bill, which positions New York's farmers to be the first to grow cannabis and jumpstart the safe, equitable and inclusive new industry we are building,” Hochul said in a public statement. “New York State will continue to lead the way in delivering on our commitment to bring economic opportunity and growth to every New Yorker in every corner of our great state.”

California’s adult-use retail market had its best year on record, netting more than $5.2 billion in sales in 2021, according to year-end data released Feb. 23 by the state’s Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA).

The $5.2-billion benchmark represents a 17.1% year-over-year increase from 2020’s $4.4 billion in sales.

Overall, nearly $1.3 billion in total tax revenue was generated in 2021, which includes excise, cultivation and sales taxes. Specifically, California collected $163.2 million in cultivation taxes in 2021, at a time when that tax is currently on the chopping block.

RELATED: New California Bill Proposes an End to the Cannabis Cultivation Tax

The cultivation tax “makes absolutely no sense,” Graham Farrar, co-founder and president of Glass House Brands, told Cannabis Business Times last month after Gov. Gavin Newsom called for cannabis tax reform in his budget proposal. Glass House’s Santa Barbara-based operation encompasses more than a half a million square feet of sustainably grown, craft-at-scale cannabis.

“It’s weight-based, which means it goes up as a percentage as prices compress, and [it] hits outdoor farmers the hardest,” Farrar said of the cultivation tax.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Feb. 22, 2022 – PRESS RELEASES – Trulieve Cannabis Corp., a leading and top-performing cannabis company in the U.S., announced an exclusive partnership with multiplatinum-selling, GRAMMY Award and Golden Globe Award-nominated recording artist Wiz Khalifa's brand, Khalifa Kush. Through the agreement, Trulieve becomes the exclusive producer, processor and retailer of Khalifa Kush branded products in Florida and other northeast markets, beginning this summer.

"We're excited to partner with the undisputed leader in the Florida market," Wiz Khalifa said. "Trulieve’s dedication to working with the community and creating an amazing customer experience perfectly lines up with our brand values, making them a great fit for our first expansion to the East Coast."

Valda Coryat, chief marketing officer of Trulieve, said, "Trulieve is committed to delivering a broad selection of the highest-quality cannabis brands to better serve our patient communities. Khalifa Kush is a respected brand known for top-tier genetics among cannabis connoisseurs. We look forward to becoming the exclusive home of the brand's premium products in Florida and eventually in other markets."

As the leading medical cannabis provider in Florida, the second-largest medical cannabis market in the U.S., Trulieve offers the largest selection of THC and CBD products in a variety of delivery methods, including edibles, smokable flower, concentrates, tinctures, topical creams, vaporizers and more. Trulieve also offers statewide home delivery, convenient online ordering, and in-store pickup.

For more information, please visit khalifakush.com and www.Trulieve.com.

When I think of Black History Month, I think of looking to our past to inform our future. We need to know our history in order to learn from it and not make the same mistakes. In fact, our mistakes of the past can become blessings for our future, but only if we are courageous enough to face them, learn from them, understand them, and ultimately grow from them.

As a black American who has dedicated the last 20 years of my life to fighting cannabis prohibition, I have lived the realities of our history on both the race front and the cannabis legalization front, and I believe both have a great deal to teach us. Unfortunately, we continue to ignore it and or deny it. This is true of both the black American experience and of cannabis probation in this nation.

My personal story started in Bronx, N.Y., circa November 1971. My parents emigrated from Haiti to the U.S. in the mid 60’s. This, at times, made me both “African American” and also “a foreigner.” While not often discussed, Caribbean Americans grow up with a very different culture than African American culture. Consequently, I didn’t fit in the “African American” box either.

Growing up, I remember feeling like a minority many times over. This feeling pushed me to grab on to the only thing I was taught was available to every American—the American Dream. I truly believed that as long as we were willing to work for it, the right for each and every American to pursue life, liberty, and happiness in a fair and equitable way was possible. I was very pro-American in my youth. The strong images of our “cowboy” President Ronald Regan and movies like Top Gun convinced me that joining the military was a sure way to earn my place in the American Dream. I was ready to “pull myself up by my bootstraps,” serve the nation, and reap the rewards of capitalism.

Being born in New York City, however, did not prepare me for my military experience. NYC is a true melting pot of world cultures and, even back in the 80’s, I believed the United States to be a very diverse country. My first day in boot camp showed me how ignorant my big city life had left me. The facts were that most of the guys in my boot camp class were white and from the Midwest, and most of them had never met a person of color. My first roommate after boot camp had gone to a segregated high school–and this was 1987. My worldview certainly took a hit, but I was still gung-ho on the American Dream. The military came through for me in my pursuit. I received an ROTC scholarship and was able to go to college.

MedMen Enterprises Inc., a multistate cannabis retailer, will withdraw accusations previously filed against Ascend Wellness Holdings Inc. executives in an ongoing New York lawsuit.

The forthcoming legal record adjustment is the latest in Ascend’s legal battle with MedMen, which stems from a roughly $73-million definitive investment agreement between the two companies on Feb. 25, 2021. Ascend is a multistate, vertically integrated operator that still wants the deal to go through, with plans to secure one of New York’s 10 medical cannabis licenses.

While Ascend intended to acquire MedMen’s subsidiary operations in New York through the agreement, MedMen backed out of the deal, announcing Jan. 3, 2022, its decision to terminate the arrangement.

RELATED: Ascend Wellness Files Amended Complaint Against MedMen

After Ascend filed a suit in the New York Supreme Court last month, seeking to enforce MedMen’s “contractual obligations,” MedMen responded by filing counterclaims that Ascend exerted political pressure on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration to help obtain regulatory approval for the transaction. 

Specifically, the counterclaim alleged that one Ascend executive attended a fundraiser for Hochul on Dec. 8, 2021, and that Ascend founder and CEO Abner Kurtin met with the governor’s senior staff on Dec. 10, 2021.

Alberta’s online cannabis market will change overnight March 8, shifting government responsibilities to more than 700 licensed cannabis retailers in the private sector.

Currently, the province’s only legal, non-medical online cannabis store is operated through a website run by government-owned cannabis wholesaler and regulator Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC).

But under a legal change passed by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in last year, the online orders section of the website will be shut down permanently next month.

“Starting March 8, 2022, licensed cannabis retailers in Alberta will be able to offer online sales of cannabis products,” AGLC stated on its website. “Licensed cannabis retailers will continue to offer choices in legal, high-quality products for consumers. With over 700 licensed cannabis retailers there is sure to be one close to you.”

AGLC generated roughly CA$200,000 per year in government revenue through the website’s cannabis sales, according to Legislative Assembly member Sarah Hoffman.

Hoffman spoke in opposition to the change during last year’s legislative session, equating that money to the salaries of two teachers.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law to establish a regulated medical cannabis program in 2019, but three years later, the state’s registered patients are still waiting for legal access to the low-THC oil they were promised.

State Rep. Alan Powell’s (R-Hartwell) House Bill 1400 could help jumpstart the state’s medical cannabis program and get the oil, which can contain no more than 5% THC, into the hands of patients, according to a WABE report.

After years of regulatory limbo that allowed registered patients in Georgia to possess—but not purchase—the low-THC cannabis oil, the Legislature passed House Bill 324 in the spring of 2019 to legalize the production and sale of the oil in the state.

The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission then licensed six companies in July 2021 to produce and sell the oil to the state’s patient base, but the licensing process was challenged by 16 unsuccessful applicants.

RELATED: Georgia’s Small Farmers Shut Out During ‘Secretive’ Cannabis Licensing Process, Advocate Says

Is Arizona doing enough to promote social equity in its adult-use cannabis market?

According to plaintiffs in a recently dismissed lawsuit, the answer is no.

Proposition 207, the 2020 voter-approved initiative that legalized adult-use cannabis in Arizona, mandates that 26 of 169 total adult-use cannabis retail licenses be awarded to applicants impacted by prohibition, leaving leeway in the actual implementation of a social equity program.

The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) has since announced that the 26 social equity dispensary licenses will be awarded to applicants who meet three of four qualifying criteria, which focus on household income, adverse impacts from the war on drugs and residency requirements.

In October, ADHS announced that applicants who have recently lived within 87 qualifying ZIP codes, which appear heavily focused on or near Native American reservations in the state, would meet the residency criteria for the licenses.

MIAMI,Feb. 22, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE – Ayr Wellness Inc., a leading verticallyintegrated multistate cannabis operator, announced the launch of Changing Legacies, a series of recordexpungement clinics scheduled to take place Feb. 27, 2022.

Aspart of the series, Ayr has partnered with numerous not-for-profit andcommunity organizations with expertise in social justice and legal and criminaljustice reform. The company and its partners specifically designed each clinicto assist individuals in expunging cannabis and other nonviolent crimes fromtheir records, allowing an opportunity for a fresh start.

“Despitethe legalization of [medical] cannabis across 35-plus states—two-thirds of theU.S. population—the criminal justice system still grapples with a host ofissues related to the war on drugs, which continues to disproportionatelyimpact Black and Brown Americans,” said Jonathan Sandelman, founder, chairmanand CEO of Ayr. “We believe it is critical to be part of the solution to theseissues, addressing the harms of the past and creating opportunity for thefuture. The main objective of our Changing Legacies program is to create anecosystem of support, partnership and hope for that better future. We thank ourpartnering organizations for making an event like this possible.”

Ayrwill host these expungement events in conjunction with local community partnersin multiple states across the country, including Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey,Illinois and Nevada. These events will serve as models for similar events goingforward, expressing Ayr’s ongoing commitment to righting harms of the past andcreating opportunities for the future.

Communitypartners play an essential role in promoting equity and fairness in cannabis inAmerica, and Ayr is actively seeking more partnership opportunities for similarevents in the future. If you are interested in collaborating with Ayr, pleasereach out to [email protected].

Moreinformation regarding Ayr’s ChangingLegacies events, along with Ayr’s latest social impact activations,can be found on the Ayr Wellness Social Impact Instagram page, @ayrsocialimpact.