MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press
Oct. 17 marked the first day of medical cannabis sales in Missouri, and the state’s two operational cannabis retailers, N’Bliss and Fresh Green, have had quite the journey to serving patients in the nascent market.
N’Bliss, a subsidiary of Nirvana Investments, opened its first two stores in Manchester and Ellisville on Oct. 17, while Fresh Green opened for business in Lee’s Summit on Oct. 19.
“It was exciting—the energy is real,” N’Bliss Managing Partner and CEO Bradford Goette tells Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary of opening weekend.
Goette says the dispensary could have opened earlier, but the N’Bliss team took their time to ensure a great experience for its first customers.
“Your first sale and transaction should be memorable, but it should be right,” he says. “You should be doing this for the patient, and we want that to go smooth. We know with all the software systems, moving parts [and] compliance, there’s a lot of room for error. We wanted to test things and make sure things were working prior to opening.”
Ganja Goddess CEO Zachary Pitts joined the Southern California Coalition and the California Cannabis Couriers Association in filing a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles over its latest cannabis delivery licensing plan. As the head of a delivery service that spans the state, Pitts has been working closely with officials in LA to get the city’s delivery licensing program up and running.
In July, however, the city altered its plan and focused its program on social equity applicants—barring non-social equity applicants from the LA delivery license until 2025.
It’s the latest in a number of twists and turns in Los Angeles, each one seemingly reversing course on a plan to include as many prospective businesses as possible in this booming marketplace.
We spoke with Pitts to learn more about the lawsuit and about the larger picture of cannabis delivery this year.
Eric Sandy: Why was it important for you to be attached to this lawsuit?
Zachary Pitts: We had the trade organizations, and I'm part of both of them actually. We felt like i[the lawsuit] needed a face of someone who was working with city, who was in the original system, who would be applying for the license and had material losses because of the city going back and changing the law after years and years of delays. There were particular circumstances that we felt like I represented very well. And there are plenty of delivery services in a similar situation as me, but we felt it needed someone who had invested in leases and employment and in setting up a license in the city of LA.
One Plant Florida, a subsidiary of Bluma Wellness, is hosting a beach cleanup at Jensen Beach Park Oct. 25 to give back to the local community and help a cause that is important to Bluma Wellness CEO Brady Cobb.
“I went to high school at Martin County High School,” Cobb told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary. “I grew up surfing Jensen Beach and Stuart and Stuart Rock. That’s such a coastal community with the beach and the river and the water. … Getting the community together and having our team members show up in the Jensen Beach area to help clean up that beach was something we thought would be a great event and a great way to give back to the community.”
Cobb expects 50 to 60 people at the event, which will be held from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
“For us, it’s about becoming a part of people’s daily lives and becoming a part of the community that we’re in,” Cobb said. “As a surfer myself, I’m still in the water as much as I can, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the water in Martin County. … Most of our team are Florida born and bred. I’m Florida born and bred, and we take what we do in Florida pretty seriously.”
RELATED: Meeting the Cannabis Demand in Florida: Q&A with Brady Cobb of One Plant
On Thursday, Oct. 22, at 9:30 a.m. E.T., members of the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee will discuss Question 1, the ballot initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state.
Industry members can register to testify here or submit written testimony to [email protected].
New Jerseyans will vote on Question 1 on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, and many of them have voted already.
“However, even if passed, the responsibility still falls upon lawmakers to craft and implement adult-use legislation,” according to a statement from the National Organization for the Reform Marijuana of Laws (NORML). Cannabis industry members can share their thoughts about what effective adult-use legislation would look like.
]]>New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is renewing his push for cannabis legalization in 2021, and also plans to issue new CBD rules in the state, according to a NYup.com report.
WORCESTER—PRESS RELEASE—Following a public comment period that closed Oct. 15, the Cannabis Control Commission on Oct. 20 approved additional policy changes to its draft regulations that establish two Marijuana Establishment types authorized to provide limited delivery services to adult-use cannabis consumers in the Commonwealth. A final vote on all modifications to Massachusetts’ adult and medical use of marijuana regulations will occur at a subsequent public meeting slated for Oct. 29.
Thomas Hobbes famously stated that life can be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” Hobbes could have well been predicting the state of the 21st century cannabis industry, with all its brutishness and nastiness. But we hope this article puts us in solidarity with you and other cannabis business owners, mitigating the solitude, and we hope our advice results in your experience in cannabis being neither poor nor short.
RELATED: 6 Cannabis Business Lessons We Learned Too Late
1. BUDGET FOR THE UNKNOWN
Do not forget to budget for the “Oops, we forgot about...” In our prior article we emphasized understanding the revenue and expense cycles of the particular verticals you operate within (grow, processing, retail, etc.) and to pull them together into a pro forma. Almost every significant expense line will have unanticipated situations come up.
Let’s say you are designing an indoor grow and you are ready to install all your lighting and air management equipment. Your electrician says you need to upgrade the electrical capacity to handle all the equipment you identified. This could easily be a $50,000 additional expense.
Or, as another common example, labor expenses are often underestimated and can drain your cashflow before you start monetizing your crop. If, for example, you are delayed in planting your crop or processing by only a few months, your payroll budget still needs to cover the people you already hired. When doing your pro forma, and before you give any rosy scenarios to investors, it is best to add an additional six months of payroll expense as a “contingent payroll cost” (aka cover your assets (CYA)).
TORONTO, Oct. 6, 2020 /CNW/ - PRESS RELEASE - Namaste Technologies Inc., a platform for cannabis products, accessories and education, has announced the expansion of its Cannabis 2.0 product offering with the launch of a new butane hash oil (BHO) live resin product line to be sold under the Phyto Extractions brand. In addition, Namaste also announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, CannMart Inc., has entered into an exclusive agreement with Stigma Grow, a licensed producer and processor, to distribute shatter, crumble and live resins through CannMart's B2B channel of provincial body supply agreements and its B2C online medical channel.
"Our ongoing mission is to align with cannabis growers, distributors and retailers to ensure the highest-quality cannabis concentrates are available wherever savvy consumers are looking for something exceptional," said Travis McIntyre, CEO of Stigma Grow. "This agreement with CannMart is in perfect alignment with our promise to Canadians and builds on the success and momentum that we have already seen in the provinces where our products are currently sold. We're excited to bring our unique live resin, full-spectrum BHO products to as many stores across Canada as possible."
"With our new Phyto branded BHO live resin and Stigma Grow's shatter, crumble and live resins, we are leading the marketplace with high-quality Cannabis 2.0 products," said Meni Morim, CEO of Namaste Technologies. "Stigma Grow's shatter, crumble and live resins are known for their quality and are an excellent addition to CannMart's line of cannabis products and accessories. Phyto is a leading legacy brand in Canada and their hydrocarbon extracts are a hit with cannabis enthusiasts. Stigma and Phyto products will be available across Canada online at CannMart.com medically, and through our business-to-business distribution channels throughout our provincial customers starting in BC and Saskatchewan. We believe there is pent up demand for these high-quality, higher-margin products and we will look to leverage the past success of the Phyto brand to continue to grow our sales."
In December 2019, Namaste's subsidiary CannMart Labs Inc. entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Phyto Extractions to use Phyto trademarks on certain cannabis products such as cannabis vaporizing pen cartridges and batteries, cannabis capsules, and cannabis tincture bottles and jars. Phyto is a well-known and award-winning legacy brand which has strong brand recognition with cannabis aficionados seeking high-quality cannabis products. Phyto vaporizing pen cartridges have experienced significant growth since their introduction in 2019 and are now one of CannMart's best sellers on its medical platform.
Stigma Grow, a subsidiary of CanadaBis Capital Inc., holds cultivation and processing licenses from Health Canada and uses leading-edge BHO cannabis extraction techniques, product development and R&D to produce consistent high-quality shatter, crumble and full-spectrum live resins capable of offering the purity, potency and precision that cannabis customers demand. Stigma Grow uses a state-of-the-art butane hydrocarbon extraction system at their Red Deer, AB facility to process some of the only full-spectrum concentrate products available on the legal market today.
NEW YORK, Oct. 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Acreage Holdings, Inc. has announced that both its new Class D “floating” shares (OTCQX: ACRDF) and Class E “fixed” shares (OTCQX: ACRHF) will commence trading on the OTCQX Best Market operated by OTC Markets Group on Oct. 7, 2020.
The OTCQX is the highest market tier of OTC Markets Group. The OTCQX market is reserved for established U.S. and global companies that meet high financial standards, provide timely news and disclosure to investors, and have a professional third-party sponsor introduction.
Acreage was sponsored for its OTCQX trading by Dorsey & Whitney LLP, a qualified third-party firm responsible for providing guidance on OTCQX requirements and recommending membership.
October 15, 2020, Frederick, MD – PRESS RELEASE – A2LA has announced the accreditation of ECC Test Lab to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for cannabis testing. East Coast Cannalytics (dba ECC Test Lab), based in Blacksburg, Va., is the first cannabis testing laboratory accredited to the standard in the state by A2LA.
“ECC is thrilled to be ISO/IEC 17025 accredited! In the cannabis industry ISO/IEC 17025 is a beacon for labs that have rigorously validated methods and hold the highest standards for quality,” said Becky Hobden, CEO at ECC Test Lab. “As a leading cannabis lab in the southeast, we are honored to work with A2LA and demonstrate that we meet the quality standards set forth in ISO/IEC 17025. Thank you!”
“We congratulate East Coast Cannalytics on being the first laboratory to be accredited for cannabis testing in the state of Virginia,” said Anna Williams, Accreditation Supervisor at A2LA. “A2LA is excited to have assisted ECC Test Lab in achieving this milestone. We are glad to see the continued growth of our cannabis program in another state, which further promotes the value that accreditation adds in ensuring quality in this emerging industry. We look forward to our continued relationship with ECC Test Lab in serving their accreditation needs.”
Achieving ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation by A2LA is the pinnacle in third-party laboratory accreditation, as it confirms that laboratories have management, quality and technical systems in place to ensure accurate and reliable analyses, as well as proper administrative processes to ensure that all aspects related to the sample, the analysis and the reporting are standardized, measured and monitored.
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- With unemployment amassing in the wake of a global pandemic, Caliva, a consumer brand in cannabis, has announced details of its career training and mentorship program aimed at supporting more diverse and fair hiring practices within the industry. To alleviate immediate concerns exacerbated by the spread of COVID-19 in California, this initiative first prioritizes assisting the inmates recently released early from the California state prison system, many of whom now find themselves displaced, without a home or source of income in the midst of an economic crisis. Long-term, Caliva will open program eligibility to all individuals struggling to find income or shelter within the L.A. and Bay Area communities, where poverty and homelessness are on the rise.
Building upon their commitment to social justice, Caliva has collaborated with Chrysalis and Success Centers, two nonprofit organizations dedicated to creating pathways to self-sufficiency for homeless and low-income individuals. Together, each entity plays a role in guiding eligible candidates through every step of the reentry process, ultimately working to hire some individuals as Caliva employees. In the very initial stages of the partnership, Caliva has already successfully hired multiple individuals for open job positions within the company and is excited to expand the program to a larger number of candidates.
RELATED: Success Centers Helps Fill Dispensary Jobs in the Bay Area with a Focus on Social Equity
"Since its inception, Caliva has been a company focused on increasing the economic participation of citizens returning from incarceration through advocacy, job training, and overall employee and workforce development," said Caliva CEO Dennis O'Malley. "When we heard the news that California state prison systems would be releasing hundreds of thousands of people to slow the spread of COVID-19, we knew we had to take action to help make a difference in our community. We're fortunate enough to be in a position where we were able to hire some candidates already and have been extremely impressed by the talent thus far. As we continue to expand our business throughout California, we will definitely be looking to fill newly created jobs with individuals who have been recommended by Chrysalis and Success Centers."
While the goal of this initiative is to help improve the lives of all individuals looking to reenter the workforce, it is necessary to recognize that the War on Drugs has disproportionately affected BIPOC communities. As a leader in the cannabis industry, this is a prevalent issue that Caliva feels at its core. Caliva has always made a significant effort to support expungement and criminal justice reform through several different avenues, each of which drives change in a distinct and purposeful way. To learn more about Caliva's social impact, please visit Caliva.com/Social-Impact.
Two cannabis trade organizations, Southern California Coalition and the California Cannabis Couriers Association, filed a lawsuit Oct. 19 against Los Angeles over the city’s delivery licenses, according to an AP News report.
The suit, which was filed alongside Zachary Pitts, CEO of delivery service Ganja Goddess, says restrictions on the licenses have barred the plaintiffs from participating in the market until 2025, the news outlet reported. The plaintiffs are asking a judge to overturn rules approved earlier this year that gave only social equity applicants initial access to the delivery licenses.
While the lawsuit does not seek to limit social equity applicants’ access to the licenses, it is asking the court to allow other standalone delivery business to apply, according to AP News.
The lawsuit claims that the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation was initially required to issue 20 licenses to non-social equity applicants under a delivery pilot program, but that the agency never accepted applications for those licenses, the news outlet reported.
Instead, new regulations were adopted, and only social equity applicants could apply for new retail and delivery licenses until 2025, according to AP News.
A bipartisan group of Massachusetts lawmakers has voiced opposition to the Cannabis Control Commission’s (CCC) cannabis delivery regulations, according to a MassLive.com report.
The draft regulations, which were established last month, would create two types of delivery licenses—a “limited delivery license,” which would allow a licensee to charge a fee to deliver from licensed cannabis dispensaries, and a “wholesale delivery license,” which would allow a licensee to buy cannabis wholesale from licensed cultivators and manufacturers, store it in a warehouse and sell it to consumers.
Nineteen state lawmakers drafted a letter to the CCC last week, indicating that they “believe that the wholesale delivery license was not contemplated, nor supported, by the enabling legislation,” MassLive.com reported.
The lawmakers asked the CCC to reconsider its final vote on the proposed delivery regulations, which is expected to take place Oct. 20, according to the news outlet.
This year, Canndescent’s leadership decided to address cannabis incarceration and its disproportionate effects on black and brown people. To determine how best to do that, the company looked within.
Adrian Sedlin, founder and CEO of the California cultivator, said the May 25 death of George Floyd was “a flashpoint” to him and the business, as it was to many people, of the terrors of racial injustice and police brutality. Individuals, businesses and organizations in the cannabis industry have acknowledged that they benefit from legalization while minorities continue to be disproportionately incarcerated for marijuana convictions.
“We had a very long internal conversation, and sometimes there were tears in the room, to be honest, where people want[ed] us to act faster and [felt] like we have to do something,” Sedlin recalled to Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary.
At Canndescent, that flashpoint became a call to #sparkchange. The company’s core values, such as “excellence,” “gratitude” and “boldness” have enabled it to become a formidable player in the legal cannabis market. In 2020, they’ve led the company to launch Justice Joints, a preroll collaboration with the Last Prisoner Project (LPP). All profits from the product line of sativa, indica and hybrid prerolls will fund LPP’s efforts of prisoner release, reentry into society and criminal record expungement.
RELATED: Last Prisoner Project Works to End Cannabis Incarceration
With an internal “on-shelf” date of Oct. 27, Sedlin said Canndescent’s distribution team may start transporting Justice Joints to California dispensaries as soon as Oct. 28. About 30 to 40 dispensaries will begin selling the product in early- or mid-November. Six to nine months afterward, Sedlin anticipates selling the product to approximately 200 stores.
Several organizations have filed amicus briefs in support of Dr. Sue Sisley, who is petitioning the Ninth Circuit to rule that the DEA’s five-part test to assess if a drug has medical use and can be rescheduled is arbitrary and capricious.
Rice University’s Baker Institute, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and several doctors filed the amicus briefs Oct. 6 in support of Sisley’s petition, which ultimately seeks to facilitate medical cannabis research for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The briefs urge the court to grant Sisley’s Petition for Review, which would allow researchers to study the effects of cannabis as a treatment for PTSD.
Cannabis has long been classified as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, which severely limits researchers’ ability to access cannabis for clinical trials.
“The Veterans Administration can’t do anything with medical marijuana because it’s a Schedule I substance, [and] Sue Sisley and her company couldn’t go and get marijuana for her clinical trial from anyone other than a government-authorized supplier because it is a Schedule I drug,” Susman Godfrey attorney Erica Harris, who represented IAVA in its amicus brief in support of Sisley’s petition, told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary.
AUSTIN — PRESS RELEASE — Texas could collect more than half a billion dollars per year in new tax revenue and create upwards of 40,000 new jobs if it legalizes and regulates cannabis for adult use, according to an economic analysis released Oct. 19 by Vicente Sederberg LLP, a national firm specializing in cannabis law and policy. The state could also save millions of taxpayer dollars per year in criminal justice costs.
"States across the country are seeing the benefits of legalizing and regulating cannabis," said Shawn Hauser, a partner at Vicente Sederberg who heads the firm's Austin office. "It is inspiring lawmakers in prohibition states to reexamine the efficacy and costs of their current policies and take a closer look at the alternatives. The goal of this report is to provide a snapshot of the economic benefits Texas would experience if it started treating cannabis more like alcohol for adults 21 years of age and older."
The report — which can be viewed and downloaded here — includes the following key findings:
There are more than 1.5 million adults 21 years of age and older in Texas who consume cannabis on a monthly basis. If the state regulated cannabis for adult use, it would see an estimated $2.7 billion per year in cannabis sales.If Texas taxed adult cannabis sales at the same rate as Colorado, it would generate more than $1.1 billion dollars per biennium in new state revenue. It could also raise an additional $10 million per year through a modest business license fee, which would help offset the costs of administering the regulatory program.A regulated adult-use cannabis market in Texas would result in hundreds of new businesses, creating an estimated 20,000-40,000 direct jobs in the cannabis industry, as well as tens of thousands of indirect and induced jobs.Ending misdemeanor arrests and prosecutions for low-level cannabis possession offenses in Texas would save the state an estimated $311 million per year."A regulated cannabis market would be an economic boon for the Lonestar State," Hauser said. "Hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenue and tens of thousands of new jobs would be especially helpful in overcoming the losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas is leaving an enormous amount of money on the table by keeping cannabis illegal."
The stakes are particularly high in Texas due to its size and population, according to Dwight Clark, a senior policy analyst at Vicente Sederberg who previously worked in the Texas Legislature.
OAKLAND, CA (October 19, 2020) – PRESS RELEASE – Hemp and cannabis infusion technology company Vertosa has announced it has teamed with Pabst Labs, the newly formed licensed cannabis company producing ready-to-drink beverages under the iconic Pabst Blue Ribbon name, to develop and launch Pabst Blue Ribbon Cannabis Infused Seltzer. The new non-alcoholic THC beverage infused by Vertosa is now available in a select group of California dispensaries and direct to California consumers via shop.PabstLabs.com.
“We at Vertosa are absolutely thrilled to partner with the historic, legacy American beverage company that is Pabst Blue Ribbon on their Pabst Labs products as they embark on their journey into the cannabis industry,” said Vertosa Chief Innovation Officer Austin Stevenson. “But this is more than a major milestone for our two-year-old company; the launch of Pabst Blue Ribbon Cannabis Infused Seltzer takes the entire cannabis infused beverage market to a whole new level of household name status and accessibility, paving the way for more innovative infused beverages to reach wider audiences.”
RELATED: Pabst Blue Ribbon Cannabis Infused Seltzer Debuts in California
Since its inception in 2018, the Oakland, Calif.-based company, which recently announced its expansion into Canada, has quickly become the go-to cannabis and hemp infusion partner for an ever-expanding roster of both mainstream and niche beverage brands from North America to the UK, including VitaCoco, Calexo, Lagunitas Hi-Fi Hops, Viv & Oak wine, and Soul Grind cold brew by Caliva. They currently infuse more than 100 hemp and cannabis products on the market, including two of the top three ready-to-drink brands in California. Vertosa’s team of scientists, led by CSO/Founder Dr. Harold Han, has designed emulsion systems for cannabinoids that are not only water-compatible, but taste great, are highly bioavailable and have a quick onset of less than 10 minutes.
Vertosa’s approach is never one-size-fits all. To infuse the Pabst Blue Ribbon Cannabis Seltzer, they worked diligently and closely with Pabst Labs for months to custom design an infusion solution to fit the PBR intended experience, including flavor, clarity, mouthfeel, stability and compatibility.
This week, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed multiple “clean slate” bills into law that will automatically expunge criminal records for those convicted of certain cannabis-related offenses. Elsewhere, in Illinois, the state announced that the first eight months of adult-use cannabis sales have generated more than $100 million in tax revenue.
Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is over.
Federal: A multi-disciplinary team of seven North American universities and federal laboratories, led by Dr. Jeb Fields at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, is seeking input from growers and growing media manufacturers/suppliers across the continent, representing multiple sectors and demographics, to identify needed innovations and constraints when producing specialty crops with soilless substrates. The United States Department of Agriculture Specialty Crops Research Initiative awarded the researchers a planning grant, which the group plans to use to reimagine and redefine soilless substrate science to better meet the expanding range of crops and productions systems that are transitioning from traditional field soils into soilless substrates. Read moreColorado: The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture program has granted Colorado State University Pueblo $275,000 to develop its Industrial Hemp Education, Agriculture and Research (InHEAR) program. CSU Pueblo started offering a Bachelor of Science in Cannabis Biology and Chemistry degree this fall, and the grant will allow the school to expand this degree to include hemp agriculture beginning in the fall of 2021. Read moreMassachusetts: A judge has sided with Cambridge, Mass., in the latest ruling in a lawsuit over the city’s cannabis ordinance, which bars existing medical cannabis operators from receiving adult-use cannabis licenses for two years in order to prioritize social equity applicants. Revolutionary Clinics, a licensed medical cannabis dispensary in Cambridge, sued the city over the two-year licensing delay, and while a judge sided with the company in January, Associate Justice Diana Maldonado has now ruled in favor of Cambridge. Read moreMichigan: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed multiple “clean slate” bills into law this week that will automatically expunge criminal records for those convicted of certain cannabis-related offenses. The new law will automatically clear the records of those convicted of cannabis-related offenses that would not have been considered a crime after Dec. 6, 2018, when Michigan legalized adult-use cannabis, although it does not apply to felony convictions that carried a sentence of 10 years or more. Read moreMissouri: The state is inching closer to launching its first medical cannabis sales as EKG Labs, the state’s first licensed testing facility, is testing cannabis for BeLeaf Medical, the state’s first licensed cultivator. BeLeaf co-founder John Curtis told St. Louis Public Radio that while the initial batch submitted to EKG is not large enough to stock dispensary shelves, he expects to send a second batch for testing and have product ready for sale at BeLeaf’s store within the next couple of weeks. Read moreMississippi: Gov. Tate Reeves has signed legislation that allows the state’s patients to access FDA-approved cannabis medications. The move comes weeks before voters head to the polls to decide on two competing ballot measures that would legalize medical cannabis in the state. Read moreNew Mexico: Ultra Health, a New Mexico cannabis company, has successfully filed a Writ of Mandamus against the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) asking the court to rescind an NMDOH mandate that added additional requirements for reciprocal patients to participate in the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program. Santa Fe District Court Judge Matthew Wilson prepared the Writ and signed it on Oct. 13, invalidating the NMDOH mandate and Emergency Rule that attempted to disallow qualified reciprocal participants from accessing New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program. Read moreIllinois: The first eight months of adult-use cannabis sales in Illinois have generated more than $100 million in tax revenue. Total adult-use sales have reached more than $431 million since launching in January, reaching a new monthly record of nearly $68 million in September. Read moreWashington, D.C.: D.C. councilmembers have introduced a bill that would allow returning citizens to work in the medical cannabis industry. The legislation would repeal a rule included in the Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1999 that prevents anyone with a felony conviction or misdemeanor cannabis offense from working at a medical cannabis cultivation center or dispensary. Read moreInternational: Colombia’s legislature is discussing several initiatives that seek to regulate production and consumption of cannabis for recreational purposes among adults, and the Congress of Colombia has advanced two bills that would regulate adult-use cannabis. On Sept. 16, the first committee of the Lower House approved the first debate with a narrow vote of 18-17, allowing the first bill to move forward to the plenary of the Lower House. Separately, a group of 38 lawmakers of the opposition and the center-right parties led by Sens. Gustavo Bolivar and Luis Fernando Velasco submitted a second congressional bill that aims to regulate marijuana production and consumption. Read moreMultistate cannabis operator Cresco Labs is committed to being a responsible player in the rapidly growing industry, and has now set out to help other companies build brands the right way through the release of its Responsible Advertising and Marketing Standards (RAMS).
The advertising and marketing code, which was made public Oct. 8, includes a set of guiding principles to ensure that Cresco markets and promotes its brands and products responsibly. The standards include guidance on commercial communications to help prevent underage appeal and ensure companies make appropriate claims about cannabis’s benefits. The code also offers best practices for consumer-facing promotional events and merchandising.
Here, Cresco COO Greg Butler and SVP of Brand Marketing Cory Rothschild share why the company developed and published these standards, as well as how they will ultimately benefit the industry as it continues to grow.
Melissa Schiller: Why did Cresco develop these standards? What was the company’s overall goal in releasing these to the industry?
Greg Butler: The reason why we wanted to publish this is, as we look to the end of this year and into next year, what we expect to see in the U.S. cannabis market is an increase in investment across all companies in building their brands. There are a couple key trends driving that. One is competition that continues to grow, so everyone is fighting to grow their brand with customers. The second is companies are strengthening their financial positions. They’re able to invest more in brands. And then the third is we’re also seeing more opportunities for cannabis brands to invest in marketing, so there are more ways they can spend money. With that, there are a lot of tailwinds that are driving toward more spend for brands in the space.
As we looked at it, as we’re competitive and we expect everyone to be competitive, we wanted to create some guidelines that set a series of best practices to ensure that we’re building brands the right way and that it’s always in service of what’s best for consumers.
