MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press

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:

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

More than 400 New York municipalities have opted out of adult-use cannabis sales ahead of a Dec. 31 deadline to do so, with many officials deciding to hold off on hosting dispensaries until regulators provide more clarity on the program, according to an NBC New York report.

The state’s adult-use cannabis law allows local municipalities to opt out of hosting cannabis retailers and consumption lounges when sales start next year, although local governments cannot ban cannabis possession within their jurisdictions, NBC reported.

As of Dec. 10, 252 towns and 164 villages have opted out of hosting adult-use dispensaries, according to the news outlet, while 279 towns and 179 villages have opted out of hosting consumption sites.

These municipalities represent more than a quarter of New York’s towns and 31% of the state’s villages, NBC reported.

Only a few of New York’s cities have opted out, and none of the state’s largest cities have officially said no to cannabis sales, according to NBC.

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 29, 2021 /CNW/ - PRESS RELEASE - Harborside Inc., a California-focused, vertically integrated cannabis enterprise, has announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire UL Holdings Inc. (Urbn Leaf), a California cannabis retailer with a dominant position in Southern California, and  LPF JV Corporation (Loudpack), a manufacturer, cultivator and distributor of award-winning cannabis brands in California. Following completion of the transactions, Harborside is expected to be renamed StateHouse Holdings, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

Management believes that StateHouse, which is expected to trade under a new symbol, will be the largest and most developed cannabis platform in the state of California with retail, brands, processing, manufacturing, distribution and cultivation. Management believes that StateHouse will have the highest estimated annual revenue and brand market share among its current publicly-listed California peers, providing the company with a strong platform for growth as a consolidator of California's cannabis industry. Through the first nine months of 2021, Harborside, on a pro-forma basis including revenue of Sublimation Inc. (Sublime) for the entire period, had gross revenue of US$57.8 million, while Urbn Leaf and Loudpack had revenue of US$45.9 million and US$61.4 million, respectively. Therefore, on a pro forma basis, management estimates that StateHouse would have generated gross revenue of approximately US$165 million for the same period.

Ed Schmults, the current CEO of Urbn Leaf, is expected to be appointed as CEO of StateHouse upon completion of the Urbn Leaf transaction and will be joining the Board of Directors of StateHouse. Marc Ravner, the current CEO of Loudpack, is expected to be appointed as president of StateHouse upon completion of the Loudpack transaction and will be joining the Board of Directors of StateHouse. Matthew Hawkins, current chairman and interim CEO of Harborside, will remain as Chairman of the Board of StateHouse. 

"Since reconstituting the company's board of directors last year, our team embarked upon an ambitious mission to create a unique platform capable of consolidating California and driving significant growth through added scale. With these transactions, we are working to create a west coast cannabis powerhouse," said Hawkins. "The combination of high-quality assets, increased scale and experienced leadership will drive tremendous value for shareholders. California is one of the world's largest legal cannabis markets, with sales expected to reach US$7.4 billion by 2025. StateHouse will have a unique ability to navigate the operating challenges in the state and capitalize on the combined potential of the businesses we are acquiring. We are building what we believe is the ideal platform to consolidate the California cannabis sector, positioning us for long-term growth in both market share and profitability. Ed Schmults, an experienced leader with a proven retail and cannabis track record, is the right person to lead StateHouse into the future."

The transaction was structured based upon the relative enterprise values of Harborside, Urbn Leaf and Loudpack. The aggregate consideration for the transactions will be met through the issuance of 151,427,786 subordinate voting shares of Harborside (SVS) and the assumption and restructuring of debts and other obligations as well as the issuance of 2,000,000 warrants at a strike price of US$2.50 per SVS. Harborside, Urbn Leaf and Loudpack noted that the structure of the transaction and overall consideration contemplates both a return to normalized enterprise valuations for California-focused cannabis companies and the potential for StateHouse to become a leading participant in that market.  Based upon the relative enterprise value of each party, following closing of the transactions, existing Harborside, Loudpack and Urbn Leaf shareholders will own approximately 35%, 39% and 26% of StateHouse, respectively, on a fully diluted basis and assuming conversion of all multiple voting shares of Harborside (MVS) to SVS.

In connection with the transactions, management has entered into a letter of intent with Pelorus Equity Group to complete the Real Estate Financing (as defined below) of US$77.3 million of non-dilutive real estate debt financing, which unlocks significant value from the StateHouse real estate portfolio and provides significant growth capital for the business. See "Concurrent Financing" below for further details. 

Sixty Four & Hope will open its second of 21 planned dispensary locations in South Los Angeles.

The second location will open to the public Dec. 20 in LA’s Melrose District.

Each Sixty Four & Hope business is owned by social equity cannabis licensees from South Los Angeles, with the goal to open all 21 locations by summer 2023, according to a company release.

The Sixty Four & Hope dispensary concept, named after Proposition 64, which legalized adult-use cannabis in California, was developed to provide economic opportunities to those affected by the war on drugs. Each of the 21 planned business is developed with the goal of increasing each licensees’ income from $46,600–below the poverty live in LA–to more than $450,000 annually, while also creating 30-plus jobs with benefits.

Funding for the businesses comes from a range of celebrity investors, including Queen Latifah, Nas, Troy Carter, Julius Erving III and Anthony Selah, who raised a combined $19 million.

SAN RAMON, Calif., Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- Accela, a provider of cloud-based solutions for state and local government, has announced that the South Dakota Department of Health will use two components of Accela's Cannabis Regulation ecosystem to regulate and support the state's new medical cannabis program.

South Dakota began accepting and issuing patient and caregiver card applications for medical cannabis last month, following the passage of Initiated Measure 26 in fall 2020. Accela's Cannabis Regulation software application, coupled with an expert partner ecosystem, including Accela's gold partner Byrne Software Technologies, Inc., allows South Dakota to easily process patient and caregiver card applications, as well as business cannabis license applications. State officials utilize Accela to review all applications, and licensed businesses and dispensaries can readily identify qualified medical cannabis cardholders through cloudPWR's web-based portal.

"Accela is pleased to partner with the state of South Dakota's Department of Health to provide cost-effective tech solutions that optimize workflows, enhance patient and staff ease-of-use, and allow for system flexibility to meet ever-changing cannabis regulations," said Greg Felix, vice president of strategic solutions sales at Accela. "Our modern cloud platform, pre-configured cannabis regulation solution, and expertise in both government and the cannabis industry allowed our partners, cloudPWR and Byrne Software Technologies, Inc., to complete the cannabis business licensing and HIPAA HiTrust compliant patient and provider registry installation in just 35 days. Accela software, powered by Microsoft Azure, also ensures the highest level of system security."

"The Accela Cannabis Regulation solution best met our needs by enabling effective qualification and identification of our patients and providers, proper vetting of businesses, and quick installation that met our statutory deadline. We look forward to providing our residents with a simple, fast, and compliant experience," said Lynne Valenti, deputy secretary of the South Dakota Department of Health.

Accela Cannabis Regulation eases agency burdens in licensing cannabis cultivation, processing and retail businesses as well as medical patient and provider management. With automated workflows, flexible license types, and strong compliance functionality, Accela Cannabis Regulation makes regulatory agencies more efficient and responsive. To learn more about Accela's platform and solutions, please visit https://www.accela.com/solutions/.

Louisville, Colorado, Dec. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) PRESS RELEASE -- CEA Industries Inc., doing business as Surna Cultivation Technologies, today announced it has become a value-added reseller of Air Sniper air sanitization products.

“Surna Cultivation Technologies has added another product line to its expanding list of proprietary and curated offerings and is proud to announce our partnership with Air Sniper as a value-added reseller of their high-quality air sanitization products,” said Troy Rippe, Surna’s Vice President of Operations and Development. “With Air Sniper’s sanitization solutions, we are able to deliver our HVACD systems alongside a proven UVC technology to help our customers’ plants thrive in a clean environment.”

Air Sniper uses powerful bulbs and reflective paneling to control the intensity, dwell time, cubic feet per minute (CFM) of air movement, and irradiation proximity within the equipment creating a pathogen destruction environment. Together, these elements form an environment within the Air Sniper unit that is rich with Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI). Traditional air purifiers work by trapping harmful particles in filters, but they gradually become ineffective as they get saturated and eventually clogged. Air Sniper offers a more effective method to eliminate airborne contaminants. These units go beyond air filtration by using UVC bulbs (UVC light disrupts the DNA and RNA of pathogens, eliminating their ability to replicate) keeping the air and plants clear of damaging contaminants such as mold, allergens, and even viral pathogens.

The product line includes:

Standalone Air Sanitization Solutions - Eliminates airborne contaminants that pose a threat to plants. Kills mold, mildew, and bacteria. These plug-and-play units are easily mounted and are Wi-Fi enabled for easy installation and monitoring.

System Integrated Air Sanitization Solutions - Can be easily incorporated into new or existing HVAC systems to protect plants from harmful mold, bacteria, and other contaminants. These units are placed on the return and/or supply side of the system and use the power of the mechanical system rather than having their own internal fan. Third party test results show that over 99.9% of airborne viruses, bacteria and molds, including botrytis (grey mold) and powdery mildew, are completely eliminated before they can harm plants.

We talk a lot about the importance of hemp and cannabis testing and how to read certificates of analysis (COAs) to determine the results. True, those are critical components of creating high-quality products. But accurate testing and analysis rely on the preceding step that we often fail to discuss—sampling of the finished goods. Proper hemp and cannabis sampling is essential to ensure a consistent and homogenous end product that consumers expect and patients rely on.

Let’s dive in.

The Importance of Random Sampling and Minimum Quantities

Medical cannabis, unlike commercial hemp products, is highly regulated for patient protection. That means most states require licensed third-party laboratories, like ACS Laboratory, to conduct the sampling on behalf of the manufacturers. Moreover, in states like Florida, it means labs can only test finished goods or shelf-ready products that are fully packaged and ready for sale.

Most importantly, stringent regulations in the state require laboratories to select random samples per batch, and multiple selections at minimum quantities to ensure they’re getting an accurate picture of the product’s quality, potency and components across the entire batch.

Random sampling of multiple products at minimum quantities is critical to accurately determine consistency and homogeneity. Consistency ensures that every gram of flower or oil contains just as much THC or CBD as the gram before it. Homogeneity, or uniformity, ensures that every piece of a consumable, such as an infused chocolate bar, has an even amount of THC and CBD throughout.

Sioux Falls, S.D., Dec. 9, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE — South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML), the campaign that has worked since 2019 to legalize adult-use and medical cannabis in the state, announced it has collected over 15,000 signatures for its proposed 2022 adult-use cannabis legalization initiative.

“We have collected a large number of signatures in a short space of time, but we need to keep working. Our goal is to collect a total of 25,000 signatures to ensure that we safely qualify for the 2022 ballot,” said Matthew Schweich, campaign director for SDBML. “Over two-thirds of our signatures came from volunteers, which demonstrates the very strong public support for our issue.”

SDBML needs roughly 17,000 valid signatures to qualify for the 2022 ballot, but the statewide ballot question committee hopes to collect above and beyond that mark to provide a buffer in case some of the signatures are not validated (i.e., signees who do not write their information legibly or who think they’re registered to vote when in fact they are not), Schweich told Cannabis Business Times last month.

Also last month, the South Dakota Supreme Court overturned Amendment A, the adult-use cannabis legalization law approved by 54% of South Dakota voters in 2020, in a ruling that Schweich described as a “far-fetched legal theory based on no logical or evidentiary support.”

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

“In light of the extremely flawed Amendment A ruling, we hope that the South Dakota Legislature will enact a cannabis legalization law in the upcoming session,” Schweich said. “But if that does not occur, we will give South Dakota voters the opportunity to approve legalization at the next election. We will not stop working until the will of the people is respected.”

California Sen. Mike McGuire may soon introduce a bill that would do away with the state’s cultivation tax, according to the North Bay Business Journal.

On Dec. 8, McGuire said he plans to introduce legislation in early 2022 to eliminate the tax.

“The bottom line is this: Cultivation taxes are crushing small farmers throughout the North Coast,” McGuire said, according to the paper. “Basing it off the weight doesn’t account for when the market collapses. It’s simply not sustainable.” (The state taxes cultivators per an ounce-weight basis.)

This comes on the heels of a recent vote by the board of supervisors for the city and county of San Francisco to suspend the local cannabis business tax through the end of next year. Market observers and trade associations have noted cash flow issues throughout the entire state as illicit operators rake in billions more compared to the regulated industry.

In 2019, according to Statista, California’s legal cannabis industry was valued at $3.1 billion, while its illegal market was valued at $8.7 billion.

A higher excise tax for point-of-sale transactions could replace the state cultivation tax, McGuire said, per the North Bay Business Journal.

CLEVELAND, OH (December 8, 2021) – The award-winning trade magazines Cannabis Business Times and Hemp Grower announce the promotions of Patrick Williams to Managing Editor of Cannabis Business Times, and Andriana (Andi) Ruscitto to Associate Editor of Hemp Grower. These promotions will help support the continued growth of the publications, which serve the burgeoning cannabis and hemp markets. 

Williams, who joined the magazines’ parent company GIE Media in 2017, worked as Associate Editor and Senior Editor for sister publications Greenhouse Management and Produce Grower. He then worked as Senior Editor for Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary before taking on the role of Managing Editor of Hemp Grower in February 2021. Previously, he was a freelance writer for B2B and consumer media and an editorial intern on the GIE Media publication Golf Course Industry. Williams graduated from Kent State university in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

“Patrick has brought forth tremendous skill and enthusiasm to his work since he began his career at GIE Media. His background combines strengths in traditional horticulture and cannabis, and his talents range from precision editing to conceptualization of timely and influential article ideas that will help continue Cannabis Business Times’ significant industry impact and growth trajectory,” Editorial Director Noelle Skodzinski said. “We look forward to his future achievements in his new role of Managing Editor.”

“I’m very much looking forward to returning to Cannabis Business Times in this exciting and fast-paced role,” Williams said. “We’re already working ahead on 2022 content that will highlight the stories of industry innovators and provide valuable insights to cannabis cultivators, retailers and manufacturers.”

Ruscitto joined GIE Media as an assistant editor of Cannabis Business Times, Cannabis Dispensary and Hemp Grower in January 2021. Before joining GIE, Ruscitto attended Kent State University, where she worked in the university communications and marketing department as an editor for the Kent State Today. Ruscitto graduated from Kent State in December 2020 with a bachelor's degree in public relations and a minor in marketing.

“Andi’s reporting and writing skills are strong, and she has quickly proven what an asset she is to our cannabis and hemp publications,” Hemp Grower Editor Theresa Bennett said. “We’re looking forward to seeing her career develop through her contributions to our print magazine.”

A recent vote to suspend the San Francisco local cannabis business tax through the end of next year earned unanimous support for the measure, as KPIX reports. It was a proposal that city supervisor Rafael Mandelman said would help licensed businesses compete and, ideally, thrive against the pull of the illicit market.   

The tax was set to go into effect Jan. 1, the result of a 2018 ballot measure that local voters approved. The original ballot language proposed a 1-5% tax on gross receipts, citywide.

However, a lot has happened in the last three years in California.

Increased taxation—from the state level on down to counties and municipalities—has tied up cash flow and handcuffed licensed operators to a hefty financial imbalance, according to market observers and trade associations monitoring the post-Prop. 64 situation. Meanwhile, illicit operators are raking in $8 billion annually—double the market size of the licensed, regulated and taxable cannabis landscape in the state.  

“Cannabis businesses create good jobs for San Franciscans and provide safe, regulated products to their customers,” Mandelman said in a public statement. “Sadly, the illegal market is flourishing by undercutting the prices of legal businesses, which is bad for our economy as illegal businesses pay no taxes while subjecting workers to dangerous conditions and consumers to dangerous products. Now is not the time to impose a new tax on small businesses that are just getting established and trying to compete with illicit operators.”

If you walk into The Kremlin, you can be hit by the warm, welcoming smell of cannabis—just make sure you’re in the Bay Area around harvest time, not Moscow.

The Kremlin is Unrivaled Brands’ cultivation facility in Oakland, Calif., where the vertically integrated multi-state operator recently harvested its first crop.

The company launched The Kremlin in September. The facility is set to become the main production hub for the company’s Korova brand, which is positioned as high-quality, high-potency indoor flower in California’s market, and features exotic genetics like Alien Blackout, Russian Doll, and Baby Yoda. The company expects the facility to produce 3,500 pounds of cannabis annually, per a Dec. 6 press release.

“The facility has performed tremendously right off the bat and we couldn’t be happier with it,” Uri Kenig, Unrivaled Brands’ COO told Cannabis Business Times.

Unrivaled Brands has cultivation and distribution operations in both California and Oregon, as well as retail and delivery services in the Golden State. In Nevada, Unrivaled is a partner with NuLeaf, an indoor cultivation operation.

The Kremlin consists of four flowering rooms decked with 60 high-pressure sodium (HPS) lights apiece. Plants are grown in 6-inch rockwool cubes, but Brian Linal, the company’s cultivation director, is experimenting with different media. In addition to producing sellable product, the first harvest at the Oakland facility set a baseline against which Linal intends to compare results from different inputs.

Tilray announced this week that the company will acquire Colorado-based Breckenridge Distillery for an undisclosed sum. The plan, executives say, is to launch THC-infused spirits whenever the U.S. legalizes cannabis.

Breckenridge Distillery was founded in 2008. The company is most well known for its bourbon whisky blends.

"Tilray’s strength lies in our ability to identify and significantly expand leading CPG lifestyle brands that resonate powerfully with consumers,” Tilray CEO and chairman Irwin Simon said in a public statement. “Breckenridge Distillery is an iconic addition to our platform in this respect based on its portfolio of award-winning spirits, passionate consumer engagement, and a strong sales and distribution network. We see tremendous potential for Breckenridge and our existing SweetWater brand to complement each other, expanding their respective reach and driving further profitable growth in our beverage alcohol segment.”

SweetWater is a Georgia-based brewery that Tilray acquired last year via the blockbuster merger with Aphria.

The Breckenridge Distillery announcement continues Tilray’s plan to “leverage [a] growing portfolio of U.S. CPG brands to launch THC-based product adjacencies upon federal legalization in the U.S.,” as Simon said in his public statement.

Texas hemp companies are fighting back against the state’s recent ban on delta-8 THC.

The ban stems back to a statement made by Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) in late October clarifying that delta-8 is a Schedule I controlled substance and is illegal under H.B.1325—legislation signed into law by Gov. Gregg Abbott in 2019 to legalize the cultivation of hemp in Texas, Hemp Grower previously reported. 

DSHS' statement reads: "Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 443 (HSC 443), established by House Bill 1325 (86th Legislature), allows Consumable Hemp Products in Texas that do not exceed 0.3% Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). All other forms of THC, including Delta-8 in any concentration and Delta-9 exceeding 0.3%, are considered Schedule I controlled substances."

Companies have since filed lawsuits in attempt to reverse that ban, and they succeeded temporarily. But the state and attorney general have worked to reverse that, leaving the parties to work out the issue through lawsuits currently moving through courts.

The state’s tumultuous and somewhat history with delta-8 is one that started even before the DSHS stepped in.

The Debate Over Delta-8’s Legality in Texas

In its THEMES 2022 handbook, which focuses on cannabis and 13 other areas, investment bank Cowen stated that its analysts view U.S. federal cannabis legalization as inevitable and provided various industry predictions.

Cowen analysts estimate in the report, published Dec. 6, that the U.S. cannabis industry’s total available market will reach $84 billion in 2026.

Below are some other observations, views and predictions outlined in the report.

States’ Growth

Whether U.S. federal legalization occurs in 2022, which as the THEMES report declares “is conceivable … either as a result of bipartisan legislation ahead of the November midterm elections, or potentially in the lame duck period,” states with large populations are still growing their cannabis markets and garnering public support, analysts say.

In addition, states have served as leaders in how they incorporate social justice into their legalization efforts, according to the report, which notes the policymaking intent of social equity programs.

The Cannabis Travel Association (CTAI) will host its annual virtual Cannabis Travel Summit from Dec.14-15.

The summit, Cannabis Travel: Now and Next, will feature a range of guest speakers, cannabis travel data, educational sessions and presentations, networking opportunities, and more, according to the association. Barb Newton, president and CEO of the California Travel Association, will be this year's keynote speaker.

The event will also share CTAI's 2021 State of Cannabis Travel Data Publication, with contributing sources from Headset, New Heights Cannabis, MMGY Travel Intelligence, and association team members.

"As a global travel industry rebuilds from the devastation of COVID-19, the essential cannabis-related travel trend offers a tremendous opportunity," said CTAI Founder and Chairman Brian Applegarth. "Our annual summit brings us together as a community to exchange information, network, voice concerns, share successes, and problem-solve together at the intersection of cannabis and travel."

Interested attendees can register for the event online here.

As federal legislators continue to debate the finer points of a broad spending bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a newly published version of the legislation excludes cannabis banking reform language that had been previously included. 

Marijuana Moment first reported the news on Tuesday. 

The U.S. House has repeatedly passed the framework of the SAFE Banking Act, which would provide a legitimate legal avenue for financial institutions to work with private cannabis businesses. The addition of the banking reform language in the NDAA was the House’s latest attempt to get this policy approved as law.

The U.S. Senate, meanwhile, had not yet acted on any version of the banking reform bill. And as the NDAA works its way through the legislature, U.S. senators won’t have a chance to chime in on the SAFE Banking Act at this point, either.

“I'm disappointed #SAFEBanking is not included in the NDAA bill text released today,” U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a sponsor of the banking reform bill, tweeted. “The Senate insists on burying its head in the sand and deny every opportunity to reform our outdated cannabis laws to align state and federal law to improve public safety.”

Terpenes are responsible for individual plants' signature taste and smell.

For example, while cannabis plants produce hundreds of terpenes, some are more commonly expressed than others, said Shaye Donald, a horticulturist in the professional technical services team at Hawthorne Gardening Company. 

"We've got a lot of data from one of our partners up here in Canada, A&L Labs Canada. They conduct testing to show how much terpene content your flowers have," Donald said. "Some of the data that they have shows that the most common terpenes found in [plants] are myrcene, caryophyllene, limonene, humulene, linalool and pinene. There's a whole bunch of other ones, but those are the ones we are primarily concerned with." 

Donald said it's vital for growers, producers and breeders to know what the most common terpenes found in their cultivars are because the combination of the different molecules plays a crucial role in the final products' effects, scent and flavor.

"It is the combination of these different terpenes that contribute to giving the consumer that subjective experience of, ‘This strain smells like citrus,’ or, ‘This one smells fruity or skunky.’ These scents are largely driven by the terpene content," he said.

Aside from terpenes' role in the plant's flavor and smell, they also contribute to its growth and environment. For example, plants naturally produce terpenes to help protect themselves, as they work to prevent disease, restore damaged plants, attract pollinators, repel pests and more, Donald said.

Terpenes are complex organic molecules that are produced by an abundance of organisms. In plants specifically, they play a vital role in growth and development by attracting pollinators, repelling predators and preventing disease.

"Terpenes are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which means that they're airborne, and [will] dissolve into the air and travel pretty great distances," said Shaye Donald, a horticulturist in the professional technical services team at Hawthorne Gardening Company. "[This] is important for plants because they don't get the luxury of moving around. … They're very costly molecules for the plant to produce, … [and] they're very energy-dense molecules, so it takes a lot of energy to produce them."

Donald breaks down the critical role terpenes play in a plant's environment and development and describes how Hawthorne's Terpinator plant nutrient product is designed to help improve terpene concentration in plants.

Cannabis Business Times: Why do plants produce terpenes?

Shaye Donald: Plants produce terpenes for a wide variety of different reasons. One of the main purposes that plants create terpenes is in response to different types of stress. A big one is to deter or even poison pests. If pests such as insects are exposed to terpenes, they [can] get repelled or even die. Products containing terpenes have been used in many different pesticides, [such as] those based on essential oils. Essential oils are loaded with terpenes, which is the primary reason they smell so much.

Terpenes also are beneficial to plants when it comes to other biotic stressors like pathogens. Similar to pest prevention, certain terpenes will inhibit the growth or establishment of disease-causing organisms. 

In a court case involving a recent product recall in Michigan, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher Murray granted Viridis Laboratories a preliminary injunction for a recall of products that one of its labs tested, but denied a preliminary injunction for a recall at another of the company’s labs, according to the Detroit Free Press.

RELATED: Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency Issues Recall for Several Cannabis Products

The Dec. 3 decision means that about half the recalled product will be released from recall.

The recall pertaining to products tested at Viridis Laboratories, located in Lansing, was upheld. The recall pertaining to products tested at Viridis North in Bay City was overturned. Both labs share ownership but are separate LLCs, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) issued a bulletin on Dec. 3 stating that the recall on Viridis North products had been enjoined and that the agency “will release the administrative holds on all products” that were recalled after the lab tested them.

Previously, the MRA cited in its original Nov. 17 recall notice that consumers of the recalled products who have lung diseases or weakened immune systems are at the highest risk of developing aspergillosis.