MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press

SACRAMENTO – PRESS RELEASE – The Bureau of Cannabis Control (Bureau) announced today that the Cannabis Advisory Committee will hold a two-day virtual meeting on Thursday, August 20 and Friday, August 21, 2020. The focal point of the meeting will be to discuss and provide recommendations for consolidating the three licensing authorities regulations into one comprehensive set of regulations applicable to California’s cannabis industry. 

The agenda for these meetings can be found on to the Bureau’s website at the following link: https://bcc.ca.gov/about_us/meetings/agendas/2020082021_cac.pdf 

WEBEX INFORMATION: Those looking to participate in this meeting and provide public comment can join the WebEx meeting by following the instructions posted here - https://bcc.ca.gov/about_us/meetings/materials/webex_howto.pdf 

This information will be used as part of the process for the plan announced by Governor Newsom in January to establish one Department of Cannabis Control to serve as the regulator for the cannabis industry and as the single point of contact for licensees and local governments.  

The Cannabis Advisory Committee advises the Bureau, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the California Department of Public Health on the development of regulations that help protect public health and safety and do not perpetuate the illegal market for cannabis. 

COLORADO: How big is Colorado’s legal cannabis business?  According to statistics reported on the official Colorado State website, there are more than 460 medical marijuana grows, and more than 700 adult use cultivations in the Centennial State; with more than 1100 retail stores: 430 medical dispensaries and 700 recreational shops. Here’s how the numbers break Read the full article...

The Montana Secretary of State has certified an adult-use cannabis legalization measure for the state’s November ballot, verifying that New Approach Montana’s two complementary initiatives have gathered enough signatures to appear before voters this year, according to a Great Falls Tribune report.

Statutory Initiative 190 would establish a system to regulate and tax cannabis for adult use, and Constitutional Initiative 118 would authorize the state to set the legal age for consumption at 21.

New Approach Montana gathered more than 50,000 signatures for the statutory initiative and more than 80,000 signatures for the constitutional initiative, and submitted the signatures for certification in June, Great Falls Tribune reported.

RELATED: Montana Legalization Campaign Looks Ahead to November Ballot Issue

The Governor’s Office of Budget and Program Planning has estimated that, if passed, the measure could generate $3.5 million in tax revenue in fiscal year 2022, with the market growing to $38.5 million in 2025, according to the news outlet.

When Kelly Perez and Courtney Mathis launched their consulting company, kindColorado, six years ago to help cannabis companies build social responsibility and social equity programs, they quickly realized that more was needed to advance the equity and racial justice conversation in the industry.

Through working with businesses to build their community engagement programs, Perez and Mathis were able to slowly introduce discussions about ways to more directly address equity. Then, two years ago, the duo went a step further to launch Cannabis Doing Good, a separate company dedicated to helping cannabis businesses craft their own unique approaches to racial justice, sustainability and social responsibility.

The goal is threefold, Mathis says. First, Cannabis Doing Good aims to build a network of purpose-driven companies through the launch of a membership program and a consumer-facing business directory.

“For example, if you’re in Illinois and you’re looking to shop a black-owned business, women-owned business or a LGBTQA business, you can do that,” she says. “If you’re looking for a brand that has sustainable packaging or you’re looking for a brand that contributes to your local food bank, you can find companies in our purpose-driven business directory [and] use your dollars to support them.”

The second goal, Mathis says, is to showcase companies that are supporting equity through a Cannabis Doing Good awards program.

When they transported her from one prison to another, the officers shackled her around her wrists, waist and feet. Evelyn LaChapelle shuffled in half steps.

“You're in the middle of a runway with no one else, with the world not even knowing you're there. They don't even allow you to tell your family ahead of time, like, ‘Hey, I'm being transported today,’” said LaChapelle, who served prison time for a non-violent cannabis offense. “So, I'm … getting on an unmarked plane … and we're getting moved like cattle.”

Prison wasn’t exactly what she expected. She didn’t constantly fear getting stabbed or killed, as many inmates in other lockups do. But she cried early on when she realized what her diet would consist of: meat sticks mixed in ramen noodles. The outlook was grim. “Surviving is almost null and void in there,” she said.

LaChapelle served four years of her seven-year sentence for depositing profits from an illicit cannabis operation into her bank account. She was released Feb. 1, 2019, and given four years’ probation. She now works as an event planner, as she did prior to her time in prison.

LaChapelle is an adviser with the Last Prisoner Project (LPP), a nonprofit founded by Steve and Andrew DeAngelo and Dean Raise. In that role, she shares her story, brings awareness to the issue of people being incarcerated for cannabis and promotes the work of LPP.

Registered as a 501(c)(3) in 2019, LPP’s mission is to free the approximately 40,000 prisoners incarcerated for non-violent cannabis offenses in the U.S, with the help of individuals, organizations and the cannabis industry. Its team engages in multiple initiatives, such as lobbying and gathering petition signatures to convince government to release prisoners, and seal and expunge their records; and setting up scholarships for inmates and their family members.” LPP refers to the prisoners it works with as “constituents.”

Vermont lawmakers are hoping to consider legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis sales in a budget session that begins Aug. 25, according to a Seven Days report.

Earlier this year, both the House and Senate approved versions of a bill that would establish a taxed-and-regulated system for legal cannabis sales, but both chambers had to work out the differences in their legislation before sending a final bill to Gov. Phil Scott.

RELATED: Vermont Legislature Getting Close to Legalizing a Tax-and-Regulate Adult-Use Cannabis Market

The COVID-19 pandemic largely derailed lawmakers’ efforts to finalize their proposal, Seven Days reported, but now, ahead of the upcoming budget session, some legislators are looking to legal cannabis sales to aid Vermont’s economic recovery.

Lawmakers have until the end of September to finalize the state’s spending plan, and if legal cannabis sales are ultimately excluded from the proposal, the legislature would have to restart the process to establish a taxed-and-regulated cannabis market next year, according to Seven Days.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has established a tiebreaker process for awarding 75 conditional adult-use cannabis dispensary licenses, according to a Daily Herald report.

The permanent rules were filed in June and approved by a legislative rules committee Aug. 11, the news outlet reported, which will allow the state to issue the conditional licenses in the coming weeks.

Illinois’ adult-use cannabis law mandates that dispensary applicants can score up to 250 points on their applications, and there are a limited number of licenses available in each of the state’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Regions, according to the Daily Herald.

The new rules establish a randomized tiebreaker process in the event that two or more applicants in a given region receive the same score, the news outlet reported. The first name pulled will have the first right to the conditional license, the second name will have the second right and so on, and if some or all of the chosen applicants abandon their claim, the leftover licenses will go to the applicants with the next highest scores.

Conditional licensees will have 180 days to find a location for their dispensaries, pass a final inspection and pay a licensing fee, at which point they will receive a permanent license to open their retail locations, the Daily Herald reported.

Long-term business plans can easily fall to the back burner when you’re busy tackling what’s right in front of you. But poor planning always manifests in one way or another: Just ask anybody who’s stuck in rush hour gridlock on a highway system that’s decades past its prime. 

The same goes for hemp and cannabis cultivation facilities.

Before breaking ground on a new facility or renovating an existing one, you’ll want to have a fully fleshed-out plan in place for scaling up your operations down the line. Success in this industry requires a long-term vision. 

When you’ve already put your time, sweat and money into securing that coveted license and grow site, you want to be sure your efforts aren’t wasted. Because when wholesale prices drop and competition gets fierce, your days will be numbered if you’re not equipped to make up for lost revenue.

The initial capital required to design and build a cultivation facility is steep, to be sure. Understandably, it can be very tempting to spend the bare minimum required to get your facility up and running and start generating cash flow as quickly as possible.

But trust me, that mindset won’t do you any favors. Cutting costs up front doesn’t set you up for sustainable, long-term growth—something that just about every business needs to stay on a successful trajectory. Having the ability to scale up without taking your business offline for lengthy facility renovations always proves critical.

Auxly’s Kolab Project is bringing vape recycling bins to Canadian dispensaries—Superette and Inner Spirit, to start—in a partnership with Greentec, one of the country’s electronic waste recycling businesses.

It’s a collaborative solution to a problem that has vexed the young cannabis industry. Vape cartridges run dry, and the empty products constitute electronic waste (“e-waste”) because of the battery connection. If a customer simply tosses them in the trash, e-waste products like vape cartridges may contribute to soil and water pollution.

“Vape recycling poses the same challenges that all e-waste poses,” Auxly CEO Hugo Alves says.

But the scale of this particular issue is growing. Alves is quick to point out the significant market share held by the vape category in Canada and the U.S. He estimates that vape carts account for 14% of cannabis sales in Canada, and that upwards of 10 million vape carts will have been sold by the end of next year.

To solve the problem, Alves and his team turned to Greentec, which maintains a suite of certifications for handling e-waste. Alves says that this is key: Cannabis remains a tightly regulated industry, of course, and businesses that are interested in striking up these sorts of recycling partnerships must work with an organization that has the credentials to do so. 

“By working directly with producers through this program,” Greentec president and CEO Tony Perrotta said in a public statement, “we ensure these materials are recycled to the highest health, safety and environmental standards.” 

Industry groups have come together in collaboration with UMass Dartmouth to develop the Cannabis Corporate Social and Environmental Sustainability Survey to gather input from cultivators in the U.S. and Canada about attitudes toward sustainability practices and corporate social responsibility.

Study partners include Enlighten Your Grow, Trella and Cannabis Center of Excellence.

The project’s overall goal is to better understand cannabis cultivators’ corporate responsibility efforts to address the harm cased by the war on drugs, as well as reduce the industry’s energy and environmental footprint.

Information collected through the study, which has been approved by the UMass Dartmouth Institutional Review Board, will be used to develop best practices, education materials and policy memos to facilitate positive change.

The anonymous survey will remain open until Dec. 31, and insights will be shared publicly in early 2021.

Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana advisory board held a virtual meeting Aug. 11 to discuss permanently adopting temporary regulations that were established earlier this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a FOX43 report.

The possible changes include allowing dispensaries to permanently provide curbside service to deliver medical cannabis to vehicles, the news outlet reported, as well as removing a rule that one caregiver may only support a maximum of five patients.

In addition, regulators considered allowing doctors to conduct remote consultations with patients to certify them for medical cannabis, as well as allowing patients to purchase a 90-day supply of cannabis rather than a 30-day supply, as is allowed under current law, according to FOX43.

Since the launch of Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis program in February 2018, 390,000 patients have registered in the program and 230,000 have active certifications, the news outlet reported.

NEW YORK: Acreage Holdings, Inc., a vertically integrated, multi-state operator of cannabis licenses and assets in the U.S., today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with an undisclosed buyer, pursuant to which the Buyer, when permitted by state law, will purchase all of the issued and outstanding membership interests of Maryland Medicinal Research Read the full article...

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential election, announced U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his vice president pick yesterday.

The move rallied political voices on social media (both positive and negative) and generally brought the spotlight back onto the Democratic ticket for a moment, a rare opportunity in the midst of both a global pandemic and a vocal incumbent campaign. And while cannabis hasn’t played much of a role in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, it remains an underlying open question: Will the U.S. legalize cannabis sometime during the next four years? 

The question was posed during the Democratic debates, by which point Harris had established herself as a new voice on Capitol Hill in favor of legalization and reform.

Most notably, Harris cosponsored the Marijuana Justice Act in 2018 (and again, in a new version of the bill, in 2019) and sponsored the MORE Act in 2019. Both of those bills seek federal legalization with a specific social justice bent. The U.S. House, according to industry chatter, is planning a vote on the MORE Act next month.

“Times have changed—marijuana should not be a crime,” Harris said when the MORE Act was introduced in the U.S Senate and House. “We need to start regulating marijuana, and expunge marijuana convictions from the records of millions of Americans so they can get on with their lives. As marijuana becomes legal across the country, we must make sure everyone—especially communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs—has a real opportunity to participate in this growing industry.”

In her time as California attorney general, however, she wasn’t articulating such a clear-eyed vision of a just and equitable cannabis industry. She took a “top cop” stance on law enforcement (her words) and prosecuted nearly 2,000 cannabis cases during her time in the AG’s office. Cannabis is illegal, her record would argue, and so her work was to go after men and women possessing and selling it.  

In a court petition filed July 20, the federal government is suing the California Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) for cannabis business records in connection with a criminal investigation that Harris Bricken attorney Hilary Bricken says took an interesting turn after the BCC refused to provide the information.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) served an administrative subpoena to the BCC at the end of last year, which it later withdrew and re-issued in January, requesting information about six “entities,” which includes three state-licensed cannabis businesses and each company’s owner. The information, which includes cannabis licenses, license applications and shipping manifests for the licensees from Jan. 1, 2018 through Jan. 9, 2020, will be used as part of a federal criminal investigation into alleged violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

In response to the subpoena, the BCC indicated in a letter that it would not turn over the requested documents because the subpoena doesn’t show relevance and its scope is not reasonable.

“States are free to check the feds and ensure that they’re following procedure, that everything’s constitutional,” Bricken said, adding, “I’m surprised there’s a fight over this particular subpoena, though. They just don’t have the facts, and they don’t have the law. It makes me question why the California [attorney general] is spending time and taxpayer dollars fighting off the inevitable because the bar is very clearly so low for the DEA [and] DOJ to get this information to mount a criminal investigation when the conduct is already federally illegal.”

The DEA has, for the last several months, urged the BCC and California attorney general to cooperate, to no avail, which is why the matter has landed in federal court, where the feds are asking a judge to enforce the subpoena against the BCC.

BOCA RATON, Fla., Aug. 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -PRESS RELEASE- Jushi Holdings Inc., a multi-state cannabis and hemp operator, announced the closing of a previously announced agreement to acquire 100% of the equity of Pennsylvania Medical Solutions, LLC (PAMS), a Pennsylvania grower-processor previously owned by a subsidiary of Vireo Health International, Inc.

Through this acquisition, Jushi adds PAMS and its 90,000 square-foot cannabis cultivation and processing facility, enabling efficient wholesale distribution to the 89 dispensaries currently operating across the Commonwealth, including the company’s eight operational BEYOND/HELLO dispensaries. The facility is currently being upgraded to increase the total amount of high-quality, indoor cultivation area to approximately 45,000 square-feet with the property having the capacity to further expand the indoor cultivation by an additional 25,000 square-feet bringing the total to 70,000 square-feet.

"We are thrilled to close this acquisition ahead of our original schedule. The acquisition will allow us to provide high-quality, indoor-grown dried flower and concentrates products to the Commonwealth’s patients, who continue to experience constrained supply and high prices," said Jim Cacioppo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Jushi. “With our successful recent financing, we are well capitalized to optimize the Facility’s production and continue to build-out our Pennsylvania retail footprint. Jushi, through its subsidiaries, has the collective rights to operate up to 15 dispensaries.”

Upon closing, Jushi paid Vireo US $16.3 million in cash, a US $3.8 million seller note, and assumed a US $17 million facility associated with a long-term lease obligation. No equity was issued in connection with this acquisition. Jushi funded the cash portion of the Agreement with the proceeds from the debt financing, which Jushi announced on June 22 and July 31, 2020. Further to our July 31 announcement, approximately US$30.3 million in cash proceeds have been received and have been released from escrow. Navy Capital Green Management, LLC led the debt financing round with an US$11.5 million investment. 

As part of the Agreement, upon closing Jushi received an assignable purchase option to acquire 100% of the equity of Pennsylvania Dispensary Solutions, LLC, a Pennsylvania medical marijuana dispensary permittee in the Commonwealth’s Northeast region. PADS currently operates two medical marijuana dispensaries in Scranton and Bethlehem, with the right to operate one additional dispensary in the region. The option expires 18 months from closing, and is subject to certain closing conditions, including approvals from all applicable regulatory authorities.

Every business is potentially profitable, if know how to operate it. The most important quality you need to have as a businessman is the love for the work you do. It’s not a myth or quote by some old man. All experienced businessmen believe that you are unlikely to fail if you love your business. Read the full article...

  Making and cooking with THC coconut oil is not as difficult as it may sound. It is a nifty way to consume cannabis. You can bake cannabis coconut oil into different types of edibles or take it alone. Most cannabis strains complement the flavor of coconut oil. You can use Sativa, Indica, or other Read the full article...

Massachusetts’ updated medical cannabis regulations allow caregivers to support more patients, but the new rules sparked controversy among industry stakeholders at a public hearing last week, according to a MassLive.com report.

At an Aug. 3 hearing, officials from the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance (MPAA) voiced opposition to the Cannabis Control Commission’s new rules, which would allow caregivers to support up to 10 medical cannabis patients each, the news outlet reported.

MPAA President and Executive Director Nichole Snow said “an arbitrary number of patients per caregiver will likely open the door to a gray market that is indistinguishable from the legally-regulated market,” MassLive.com reported.

Still, others at the hearing, including patient advocates, were encouraged by the new regulations, which they said would allow caregivers to provide medical cannabis at a lower price, according to the news outlet.

A long-running dispute between a slate of California cities and the state itself landed in trial Aug. 6, with a Superior Court judge seeming to underscore that state law will prevail over local rule. At issue: whether cannabis delivery services may operate in jurisdictions that have otherwise banned commercial cannabis activity. The future of delivery in the world’s largest cannabis market is at stake here.

The collective of 24 California cities (as well as Santa Cruz County) argues that a moratorium on cannabis businesses should extend to delivery services that might pass through their borders.

The state insists that delivery is allowed under the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) and cannot be halted by local whims.

Fresno Superior Court Judge Rosemary McGuire wrote that the local governments would need some sort of ordinance on the books to override state law. As of now, “there is no dispute,” at least as far as legislative language is concerned. In fact, the state’s attorneys specifically point to the MAUCRSA language as an immediate non-starter for this type of litigation.

“A local jurisdiction shall not prevent delivery of cannabis or cannabis products on public roads by a licensee acting in compliance with [state law] and local law,” according to Section 26090(e) of the state code.

Read the original civil complaint here. 

New York, NY – PRESS RELEASE- Etain Health, New York’s only family-run, women-owned vertically integrated agribusiness and medical marijuana dispensary, will unveil its rebranding alongside their cannabis products at the opening of its new flagship facility In New York City on Aug. 6, 2020.  The Peckham family, which owns the company, transformed the 5,000-square-foot space into a dispensary and retail location for the commercial distribution of its medical marijuana as well as THC-free products.

The new Midtown East location is only a block from Sutton Place on the iconic Designers Way, and has elements such as a living green wall, an airy mezzanine and a retreat space. Designer Clodagh applied her minimalist approach by filling the space with simple, natural touches that simultaneously elevate and ground the customer experience. Etain has created a unique healthcare and concierge experience by merging this elevated environment with personal consultations and premium products so customers can feel good about investing in their health and wellbeing.

With the opening of the flagship location, Etain Health will continue to sell their cannabis products to licensed New York state patients alongside a variety of diverse non-THC New York based health and wellness brands. Brands featured include botanical wellness products from Nature of Things, organic teas by Rishi, Khushi handmade body balms and butters, Golde superfood face masks and Patriae handwoven hemp and linen textiles including face coverings. A rotating selection of limited-edition merchandise by diverse women-owned brands will also be featured with the first spotlight on BWFW (Buy Weed from Women). Store staff will be outfitted in custom aprons from local women-owned textile designer Utility Canvas and their canvas products will also be available for purchase.

The new retail space will also serve as a showcase of Etain’s renewed branding through the inclusion of a vibrant new logo, vividly-colored photography sourced from a floral photographer in the UK and by embodying the new brand mantra “Take a moment with Etain”.

“This represents the next step in Etain’s growth strategy moving into 2021,” explained Hillary Peckham, Chief Operating Officer and co-founder. “Over the past year we have been re-assessing, recalculating, and re-imagining the brand.  What has remained consistent is our commitment to the wellbeing of our clients by creating the highest quality and purest products to meet the needs of our customers.

Etain Health was one of the original five licensees in New York and now has dispensaries in Manhattan, Yonkers, Kingston and Syracuse.  Before years end, Etain Health will be unveiling all new product formulations and new consumption methods for patients.