MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press

Sozo Illinois, Inc., whose parent company operates vertically integrated cannabis operations in Michigan, has sued Illinois over the state’s revised cannabis licensing regulations, which Gov. J.B. Pritzker unveiled July 15.

Under the revised licensing plan, Illinois will hold a series of lotteries in late July and early August to award 185 new cannabis dispensary licenses to social equity applicants.

The new licensing rules give priority to social equity applicants who are majority-owned by people from communities deemed disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, which deviates from the state’s initial regulations that allowed applicants to commit to hiring a certain number of employees from these communities.

In its lawsuit, Sozo said that it structured its business and prepared its application under the initial rules that allowed the company to qualify for a license by employing a certain number of individuals from disadvantaged communities, and argued the change in regulations has now made it impossible for Sozo to qualify for a license.

Sozo alleges in its complaint that Illinois’ new rules discriminate against out-of-state operators and violate the commerce, due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution, according to a Law 360 report. The company is seeking a temporary restraining order, as well as preliminary and permanent injunctions that prevent the state from moving forward with its latest licensing plan.

The New Mexico cannabis industry is watching closely as the state’s new regulator works through its rulemaking process to have regulations in place for adult-use sales to launch April 1, 2022.

The Cannabis Regulation Act, which cleared the New Mexico Legislature and received Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s signature this past spring, became effective June 29 and allows adults 21 and older to possess 2 ounces of cannabis flower, 16 grams of cannabis extract and 800 milligrams of edible cannabis. Adults may also grow up to six plants at home for personal use, with a maximum of 12 plants per household, and cannabis odor and cannabis containers can no longer be used as probable cause for law enforcement to stop, detain or search a person.

The law also includes additional social justice and social equity provisions, such as automatic expungement and specific language that instructs the state to develop a plan to encourage and promote equity in the industry.

“There’s language in there to make sure that people who were formerly incarcerated and who had charges for cannabis-related offenses are able to participate in the new marketplace,” said Emily Kaltenbach, senior director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “We don’t want those individuals to be left out.”

New Mexico’s adult-use cannabis law also created the Cannabis Control Division to regulate and oversee the state’s medical and adult-use cannabis markets. The division published its first round of rules on June 29 and kicked off a public comment period to receive feedback on the proposed regulations. Regulators are currently revising the rules based on the comments received and will hold another hearing Aug. 6.

Curtis Anderson had seen his fair share of opportunities during three scattered terms as chairman of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe. But nothing ever came close to what the 75-year-old former school bus driver caught in his fourth term.

NuWu Cannabis Marketplace opened as the world’s largest legal cannabis store back in 2017, just months after Nevada launched its adult-use market. By the time Anderson took the reins from former chairmen Benny Tso and Chris Spotted Eagle in 2019, NuWu and the recently opened NuWu North were bona fide cash cows—landing the tribe some $4 million in sales each month and funding medical care, scholarships and a host of other benefits for its 62 local members.

The dispensaries helped the tribe get featured front-and-center across marijuana publications and international mainstream media outlets. When Anderson took over, the Paiutes were just opening their own tasting lounge and had plans for a massive cannabis dayclub-style pool venue—complete with thumping DJs, bottle service and all the swimsuit-clad young-20s staffers you could imagine.

“NuWu was already an empire by then,” he said. “And the sky was the limit for us.”

Almost as soon as the veteran chairman stepped back into the tribe’s top position, though, he ran into a challenge nobody could have foreseen.

Feeling Out the Virus

House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore) announced July 15 that voters will decide whether recreational cannabis should be legal in the state next year.

According to DCist, Jones said the House of Delegates would introduce the legislation to legalize recreational cannabis early next year, putting it on the 2022 general election ballot. 

Additionally, Jones also announced that she is forming a 10-person group to establish legal adult-use cannabis sales regulations if voters pass the measure, DCist reported. The 10-person group will also be responsible for the licensing and overseeing expungement for previous cannabis convictions, equitable ownership in cannabis businesses, and cannabis sales and production.

Earlier this year, Maryland lawmakers failed to pass an adult-use legalization bill, but adding the measure to the 2022 general election would bypass the state legislature and allow the law to go into effect through just the public’s vote, DCist reported.

While Jones expressed concerns about cannabis use amongst young children and adults, she says she recognizes that the criminalization of Black people for cannabis convictions is a significant issue that needs attention, according to DCist. 

“The disparate criminal justice impact leads me to believe that the voters should have a say in the future of legalization,” Jones said. “The House will pass legislation early next year to put this question before the voters, but we need to start looking at changes needed to State law now.”

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General Hydroponics recently released new feedcharts for many of the company's base nutrient lines. Why?

The methods and cultural practices of customers have rapidly evolved in recent years. The fact is, growers have never achieved higher yields or been more efficient.

To support the increased growth and changes in methods, General Hydroponics' nutrient feed recommendations have also evolved. The latest feedcharts are more versatile, scalable and customizable than ever before. 

Each of the new charts now features three nutrient tiers, designed for growers of all skill levels, with optimized nutrient delivery for each nutrient tier to ensure maximum performance and nutrient balance.

Base Nutrient line

+ Pro Performance Pack

Whether growing indoors, outdoors or in greenhouses, one thing all cultivators strive for is more control. While outdoor farmers are at the whims of weather and are more vulnerable to pest outbreaks, controlled environment agriculture has its own challenges. One of the most pressing demands and perhaps the most puzzling for newer growers is how to establish the right nutrient balance. For decades, commercial growers have increasingly moved to using hydroponic systems to feed and water plants more effectively, and the cannabis industry has taken note.

“Cultivators are borrowing from conventional horticulture and agronomics, and learning to be more efficient,” says Ian Bateman, who works in professional technical services at Hawthorne Gardening Company’s Horticulture Division. “[Hydroponics] is a highly efficient way to grow crops. That, along with advances in lighting and tech, is why yields are up so much.”

Growing hydroponically using a soilless medium and relying on water to deliver nutrients helps cultivators control their irrigation and nutrient delivery more effectively and avoid some of the most common setbacks of new cultivators, Bateman says. When setting up a hydroponic system, there are choices growers can make to increase success, and it’s not a matter of “set and forget.” Here, Bateman shares his top tips for getting the most out of hydroponic systems.

1. Install a fertigation system.

A fertigation system is essential and standard when growing hydroponically, as nutrients are delivered via water, which gives growers much more control than when working with soil, Bateman says.

“Your nutrients are instantly available, and you can change them right away,” he says. “So, let’s say you are unhappy with the feed solution or recipe that you are using. The very next time you irrigate, you can theoretically change it and fix that problem right away.”

RICHMOND, Virginia, July 19, 2021 - PRESS RELEASE—Governor Ralph Northam announced appointments to the three newly-created boards responsible for overseeing the legalization of recreational cannabis in the Commonwealth. This spring, Virginia became the first Southern state to pass adult-use cannabis legislation, with changes going into effect on July 1, 2021. The new law legalizes simple possession and home cultivation for adults 21 and over, seals some marijuana-related records, and creates a new independent state entity, the Cannabis Control Authority (CCA), to regulate the cannabis market. In the coming years, the General Assembly must reenact sections of the bill, and the CCA must implement regulations before legal sales of cannabis can begin.

"Virginia is committed to legalizing cannabis the right way—by learning from other states, by listening to public health and safety experts and by centering social equity," Northam said. "There is a tremendous amount of work ahead to establish an adult-use marijuana market in our Commonwealth, and I am proud to appoint these talented Virginians who will bring diverse backgrounds, an incredible depth of expertise, and a shared commitment to public service to this important effort."

Information about each of the boards and the Governor's appointments can be found below. Answers to frequently asked questions are available at cannabis.virginia.gov.

CANNABIS CONTROL AUTHORITY

The Cannabis Control Authority (CCA) is the regulatory agency for the legal cannabis market in Virginia. The CCA is led by a five-member Board of Directors responsible for the creation of the adult-use marketplace for cannabis and is statutorily vested with control of the regulated sale, transportation and distribution of cannabis and cannabis products in the Commonwealth. In the coming years, the Board will work to create a fair and equitable regulatory structure and provide critical guidance to the CCA's staff as they work to develop a workforce, establish regulations, and ensure that marijuana legalization accomplishes the health, safety, and equity goals established by law. Board members cannot have financial interests in the cannabis industry. The enacted legislation authorizes the Governor to appoint all five members of the Board.

"The diverse range of backgrounds and expertise will provide critical perspectives to the Cannabis Control Authority and the important work that is ahead," said Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, Brian J. Moran. "I look forward to working with the board members as we begin this process."

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (Board) voted 5-0 to support a proposal authored by County Supervisor Janice Hahn and co-authored by Supervisor Hilda Solis to reconsider the county's current ban on commercial cannabis cultivation in unincorporated areas in LA County.

The proposal came after law enforcement seized $1.2 billion of illegal cannabis in Southern California. 

According to a news article posted on Hahn's website, the Board enacted the ban following the passage of Proposition 64, the "Adult Use Marijuana Act," in 2018; however, the ban was intended to be temporary until proper regulations were established. 

When California passed Proposition 64, the Board established the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) who assembled a 'Working Group' to provide recommendations on how to regulate cannabis in unincorporated areas in LA County, according to the article. 

Following assessment, the Working Group provided 64 recommendations to the Board on regulating cannabis in unincorporated areas, but the Board did not take any action.  

At the time, Hahn said the Board did not remove the ban because there were too many uncertainties; however, three years later, the Board has agreed to revisit the recommendations report provided by the Working Group, the article states.

After the COVID-19 pandemic derailed efforts to place an adult-use cannabis legalization initiative on Missouri’s 2020 ballot, at least two groups are working to put the issue before voters in the 2022 election.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Legal Missouri 2022, formerly known as Missourians for a New Approach, the group behind the unsuccessful push to qualify a legalization initiative for the 2020 ballot, plans to file a new ballot question soon, while a separate coalition known as Fair Access Missouri filed multiple versions of its ballot question with the secretary of state’s office last week.

Both ballot questions will need approval from the state’s attorney general, and would then go to a public comment period before the groups behind the efforts could set to work gathering the roughly 171,000 signatures needed to qualify the initiatives for the ballot, according to a KSHB report.

In the March 2019 Cannabis Business Times cover story, Dr. Andrea Small-Howard, co-founder and chief science officer of GB Sciences, said, “My personal mission is to take cannabis-based therapies to the U.S. FDA.”

Just over two years later, Small-Howard, who was promoted to president of the Las-Vegas company in June, is close to her goal.

GB Sciences has completed animal studies on a treatment for Parkinson’s disease and is finalizing another animal trial of a slow-release, cannabis-based pain medication that Small-Howard calls a “game-changer” for people suffering from chronic pain. The next step is to get FDA approval on human trials, which Small-Howard hopes will be in 2022 for the Parkinson’s formulation and shortly thereafter for the pain management drug.

RELATED: Clinical Cannabis: How GB Sciences is Redefining the Industry Through Research

She also co-invented a “drug discovery platform” using artificial intelligence (AI) that is programmed to identify novel, plant-based formulations to treat multiple symptoms of conditions. The company is using the proprietary technology, known as “Phytomedical Analytics for Research Optimization at Scale,” or PhAROS, to expedite plant-based medicines that contain a combination of active ingredients and get them to market sooner. 

"The PhAROS platform is a new version of the software that we developed earlier when we were exclusively studying cannabis-derived mixtures," Small-Howard said. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., hinted earlier this year that some sort of “comprehensive” cannabis reform legislation was coming. The country had a newly inaugurated president, although his stance on cannabis wasn’t the most promising. But still, just by looking at the wave of state-by-state legalization unfolding in late 2020 and early 2021, it certainly seemed like momentum was (and is) on the side of cannabis.

Then, this past week, the senators unveiled their proposal. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act builds on earlier attempts at wholesale reform (The Marijuana Justice Act, The MORE Act) by combining a hands-off, back-to-the-states policy on regulation with a high-stakes insistence on diversity and social equity across this industry. It will be imperative, the senators suggested, for any legislation coming out of Congress to deal with the problems of the war on drugs head-on.

It remains to be seen whether the senatorial trio’s colleagues will get the message.

That said, we’ve rounded up some of the key cannabis headlines from the week right here.

The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act has arrived in Washington, D.C. What now? Read more “More than 400 law enforcement personnel from city, county, state and federal agencies seized $1.2 billion of illegal cannabis harvests and plants in Southern California during a 10-day eradication operation resulting in 131 arrests last month.” Associate Editor Tony Lange has the story. Read more Senior Digital Editor Melissa Schiller reports on the opening of Planet 13’s Santa Ana, Calif., dispensary. Read more Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office announced July 15 that a series of lotteries to award the licenses are planned for later this month and August. Read more U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen has led a group of her colleagues to submit a letter to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee requesting that cannabis businesses gain access to Small Business Administration loans. Read more 

And elsewhere on the web, here are the stories we’ve been reading this week:

CBS4Local: Las Crusces, N.M., residents “will have multiple opportunities to weigh in on how the City of Las Cruces will manage land use and zoning related to cannabis growers and retailers now that the New Mexico Legislature has legalized cannabis for recreational use.” Read more OPB: “Sen. Ron Wyden looks to Oregon’s cannabis industry to lead the way in showing the rest of the nation what ‘cannabis common sense’ looks like. Read more 
NBC News: “Women are turning to cannabis in droves, constituting 59 percent of new cannabis users in 2020, according to research conducted by Brightfield Group, a cannabis market research company.” Read more WKBW: “The city of Jamestown is launching a new initiative aimed at bringing the commercial cannabis business into the city and it could generate millions of dollars in tax revenues.” Read more Santa Monica Mirror: CPC Compassion Inc plans to open the first medical cannabis dispensary in Santa Monica in December 2021 if approved by the Planning Commission. Read more ]]>

Many factors affect plant growth and development when it comes to cultivation, such as nutrition, soil, lighting, water, temperature and humidity.

There are certain steps growers can take when monitoring plants' nutrition, pH balance and water intake to get better results, says Ian Bateman, who works in professional technical services at Hawthorne Gardening Company's Horticulture Division.

For optimal growth, plants must have all 14 plant essential nutrients in appropriate quantities to support balanced healthy growth; however, growers should not think of nutrients in isolation, Bateman says. Instead, he encourages growers to consider nutrients as interrelated "building materials" that work hand-in-hand with other inputs that help run the “machinery” of a plant. 

If a plant lacks essential nutrients, growers can utilize fertilizer to restore what's missing, but over- or underfeeding can cause damage or even kill plants, he says.

Here, Bateman describes how to use fertilizer to improve plant health, as well as determining when and what to feed them.

Flex Fertilizer Levels

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 13, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE – HERBL, California’s largest cannabis supply chain company, announced its exclusive distribution partnership with Henry’s Original, a vertically integrated craft cannabis brand. HERBL will aid Henry’s Original in scaling its current collection of products, including craft flower and pre-rolls throughout California.

Henry’s Original was launched by co-founders Jamie Warm and Joshua Keats, two farmers who have cultivated cannabis in the Emerald Triangle for over two decades each. Henry’s Original grows its own flower across multiple farms in Mendocino County to bring small-batch, craft cannabis to the California market. All Henry’s Original flower is sun-grown using sustainable, organic methods and is Clean Green Certified.

With this partnership, the HERBL catalog will now feature a full line of Henry’s Original craft and value-priced flower and pre-rolls in a variety of convenient offerings. This includes flower available in eighths, half ounce and 1-gram jars as well as eighths and half-ounce mylar pouches. Pre-rolls come in 1-gram singles and 2-gram multipacks with four half gram pre-rolls.  

“Henry’s Original’s handcrafted and premium-quality products will be met with high demand as more conscious consumers gravitate toward sustainable brands,” HERBL founder and CEO Mike Beaudry said. “Henry’s Original is a welcome addition to our portfolio of unique and thoughtfully cultivated brands, and we are excited to offer products that honor Mendocino County’s strong cannabis heritage.”

“This partnership with HERBL is a tremendous opportunity to put a spotlight on Mendocino County, which has played an instrumental role in the American cannabis story,” Henry’s Original co-CEO Joshua Keats said. “Our team is dedicated to showcasing the region’s exceptional flower to the wider legal market.”

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After lawsuits and lengthy delays, Illinois is finally set to award 185 new cannabis dispensary licenses.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office announced July 15 that a series of lotteries to award the licenses are planned for later this month and August, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. State officials have also notified the preliminary winners of 213 cultivation, infuser and transporter licenses, which were awarded to social equity applicants, according to the news outlet.

Seventy-five retail licenses were initially announced in May 2020, and 110 new licenses were created this past spring.

The 110 new licenses will be doled out first in two lotteries on July 29 and Aug. 5 that will award 55 licenses in each round, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The July 29 lottery will be for social equity applicants who previously received 85% of a total of 250 points on the state’s scoring scale, and the Aug. 5 lottery will be for applicants who qualify for “Social Equity Justice Involved” status, which gives licensing priority to those who live in an area disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs or who have past arrests for cannabis-related offenses.

A third and final lottery will be held Aug. 19 to award the original 75 dispensary licenses, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission received its final appointments this week, and the 14-member board is now fully staffed and ready to oversee the state’s forthcoming medical cannabis program.

State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris has appointed Dr. Jerzy P. Szaflarski, professor and director of the UAB Epilepsy Center in the Department of Neurology, according to an AL.com report. Szaflarski was also a member of a study panel that recommended medical cannabis legalization in 2019, the news outlet reported, and was a lead investigator in a UAB study on using CBD oil to treat seizure disorders.

In addition, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) Secretary Hal Taylor has appointed Dion Robinson, an ALEA special agent senior, to the board. Robinson has worked in the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) since 2018, and also works with the U.S. Marshals’ Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force as an SBI special agent.

These final two appointments follow 12 others by Gov. Kay Ivey, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate and Attorney General Steve Marshall. Those appointments were:

Dr. William Saliski Jr., a pulmonologist from Montgomery;Sam Blakemore, a pharmacist at Children’s of Alabama hospital in Birmingham;Dwight Gamble, a bank executive from Headland;Dr. Angela Martin, a pediatrician from Anniston;Dr. Eric Jensen, a biochemist from Brownsboro;Loree Skelton, a healthcare lawyer from Birmingham;Rex Vaughn, a farmer in Madison County and north region vice president for the Alabama Farmers Federation;Charles Price, a retired circuit judge from Montgomery;Dr. Steven Stokes, a radiation oncologist from Dothan;Taylor Hatchet, operator of Boozer Farms in Chilton County; andJames Harwell, former executive director of the Alabama Nursery and Landscape Association and president of Green Thumb Nursery in Montgomery.

Marshall also appointed Katherine Robertson, chief counsel for the attorney general’s office, for a non-voting advisory position.

Two Democratic Ohio state representatives have introduced a bill to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state, marking the first time that the legislature will consider the issue, according to Cincinnati.com.

The legislation, introduced by Reps. Casey Weinstein and Terrence Upchurch, would not only legalize the personal and commercial cultivation of cannabis, as well as its sale, but it would also seal the records of those convicted of past low-level, cannabis-related crimes, the news outlet reported.

The bill would allow adults 21 and older to buy and possess up to 5 ounces of cannabis, as well as grow up to 12 mature plants for personal use. Ohio’s medical cannabis program would remain intact, and licensed operators in the medical market could pursue adult-use licenses under the legislation.

The bill calls on the Ohio Department of Commerce to oversee the adult-use cannabis industry, according to Cincinnati.com, and a 10% excise tax would be placed on sales, in addition to a state and local sales tax. The tax revenue generated would fund education, road and bridge repair, and local governments, and for the first two years, up to $20 million of the annual tax revenue would flow to research for treating veterans and preventing veteran suicide.

Weinstein and Upchurch have also included a social equity component in the legislation, Cincinnati.com reported, to encourage disadvantaged entrepreneurs to participate in the adult-use market.

Over the past 25 years, NationalLink has expanded their product and service offering in providing comprehensive cash management solutions, adding smart safes, cash recyclers and cash handling equipment to their product line. Sam explains, “We responded to customer demand for expanded services in reliable, secure and efficient cash logistics solutions.”

NationalLink serves a diverse B2B marketplace including: banks, financial institutions, credit unions, hotels, malls, convenience stores, gas stations, hospitals, universities, entertainment centers, and cannabis businesses across the nation.

As it stands, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act does not have enough votes to pass the Senate. That’s part of the reason why a final version of the legislation to end cannabis prohibition has yet to be formally filed in Congress.

In unveiling a preliminary draft of the federal cannabis bill on July 14, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.—the sponsors—are hoping to receive feedback from industry stakeholders between now and Sept. 1 as they fight to gain broader support among their colleagues in the upper chamber.

“This is going to be a process,” Schumer said during a joint press conference with Wyden and Booker on Wednesday, shortly after releasing their 163-page legislation.

RELATED: Senate Trio Unveils Federal Cannabis Legalization Draft With Provisions to Deschedule, Tax and Regulate

“This is a draft bill,” Schumer said. “We intend to show it to all of the stakeholders. We don’t have the votes necessary at this point. But we have a large majority of our caucus for it. We’re going to show it to the others and say, ‘Well, what don’t you like? What do you like?’ And we’ll see if we can get the support. We’re going to put our muscle behind it, our effort behind it, and we are going to get this done ASAP.”

Stakeholders aren’t shying away. By and large, early comments have been cautiously supportive—with much of the reaction underscoring the importance of social equity provisions in the proposal. 

The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office and law enforcement agencies seized more than 7,000 pounds of illegal cannabis plants and nearly 300 pounds of processed illegal cannabis over the last 8 days. 

RELATED: Law Enforcement Seizes $1.2 Billion of Cannabis in Southern California

Following law enforcement seizing $1.2 billion of illegal cannabis in Southern California, Monterey County buckled down on enforcement operations, targeting unlicensed grows, KION news reported.

The District Attorney’s Office said it’s in the process of screening and testing the cannabis that was seized to determine if it contains harmful toxins, pesticides and heavy metals, according to KION news.

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CORONA, Calif., July 14, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE – Advanced Container Technologies Inc. announced its customizable packaging solutions provide the foundation that allows cannabis and cannabidiol (CBD) companies to create beautiful brands at an affordable price.

The company offers a variety of packaging solutions, including complaint odor-proof vacuum sealable storage and exit bags, and the patented Medtainer—an air-tight, moisture-proof container manufactured with FDA-approved medical grade plastics, and a unique built-in grinder.

Some of the company’s most popular products are its packaging solutions for pre-rolls.

Jim Belushi, a film and television actor who recently started a cannabis business, said that at Belushi’s Farm in Southern Oregon, pre-rolls make up about 35% of the company’s revenue.

“Since the pandemic, our joint sales have jumped almost 22% since this time last year,” Belushi said. He added that the company rolled a quarter of a million joints in 2020.

Doug Heldoorn, CEO of Advanced Container Technologies, said the company is now providing customized pre-roll packaging to cannabis and CBD businesses throughout the nation.