MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press
Almost three years after filing a lawsuit over patent rights, United Cannabis Corporation (UCANN) has dropped its complaint against Pure Hemp Collective.
The basic contention, according to UCANN in the summer of 2018, was that Pure Hemp Collective had infringed on the company’s patent for “[a] liquid cannabinoid formulation wherein at least 95% of the total cannabinoids is cannabidiol (CBD).”
At the time, the dispute was seen as a legal broadside in the emerging intellectual property rights conversation in the cannabis industry. Depending on where the case went, CBD-rich concentrates would be in the crosshairs of a major IP fight.
“It could be construed as an over-broad patent that's going to impact a lot of companies creating these types of products,” David Gold, intellectual property attorney at Cole Schotz, told us in 2018. “The second question ... is whether any of these products—there could be a very sophisticated, unique, new, novel, non-obvious product that is very much patentable that there's no prior art on that at some point is going to be the subject of litigation. Are the courts going to hear it? How is the judge going to treat it when it's clearly used in connection with these controlled substances?”
For the cannabis industry, this case won’t provide the resolution that other businesses may seek.
Last year, UCANN filed for bankruptcy. That case didn’t get far, either, as a judge dismissed the bankruptcy filing due to UCANN’s work in the federally illegal cannabinoid space.
ORLANDO, FL – (April 5, 2021) – GIE Media Inc., the publisher of Hemp Grower magazine, announced today the launch of Hemp Grower Conference, which will take place Nov. 8-10, 2021 at Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Fla. The event will feature three days of education and expo, bring together hemp growers, industry experts, solutions providers, and more.
“The inaugural Hemp Grower Conference will be an opportunity for hemp industry stakeholders to come together to learn valuable market insights and discover grower-specific innovations and technology solutions that will bolster their businesses,” said Group Publisher Jim Gilbride. “GIE Media and the team behind the event have a deep history of creating successful events that bringing together industry constituents to help advance agricultural markets and the businesses in them.”
“Hemp growers—whether they’re growing hemp for grain, fiber or CBD—face many hurdles in this young industry. But they also have great opportunities,” said Editorial Director Noelle Skodzinski. “The Hemp Grower Conference will bring together industry pioneers, successful businesses, leading researchers and regulators to help all hemp growers navigate the cultivation, business and regulatory challenges they face, as well as understand the coming market trends and opportunities that can help shape the future of their businesses. Attendees will come away motivated with new tools in their toolbox that will help them find success.”
The Hemp Grower Conference education program will be created by the editors of Hemp Grower magazine and a conference advisory board of professional hemp growers and other industry leaders.
Members of the Hemp Grower Conference 2021 Advisory Board include:
Jeff Kostuik, Director of Operations for Hemp Production Services and Hemp Genetics InternationalRachel Berry, Farmer and CEO of the Illinois Hemp Growers AssociationBear Reels, Senior Director of R&D Cultivation for Charlotte’s Web Alyssa Ann Collins, Director of Penn State University Southeast Agricultural Research & Extension Center Luke Zigovits, Owner and Farm manager for Higher Level Organics Louis Vega, Founder and CEO of ¡WEPA! Farms Marty Mahan, Farmer and President of the Heartland Hemp Co-OpMaureen West, Chief Compliance Officer for Functional Remedies LLCIn addition, an expo hall will feature leading technologies and solutions providers dedicated to helping hemp growers succeed.
BOCA RATON, Fla., April 5, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – PRESS RELEASE – Jushi Holdings Inc. (CSE: JUSH) (OTCMKTS: JUSHF), a vertically integrated, multistate cannabis operator, announced that its subsidiary, Production Excellence, LLC, has completed the previously announced acquisition on July 25, 2019 of 100% of the equity of Franklin Bioscience NV, LLC (FBS Nevada). FBS Nevada holds medical and adult-use cannabis cultivation, processing and distribution licenses issued by the Nevada Cannabis Control Board and currently operates cultivation, production and distribution facilities in North Las Vegas. Jushi also owns the real estate associated with FBS Nevada’s facilities in North Las Vegas. The facilities acquired include two adjacent buildings with cultivation, manufacturing and distribution capabilities.
In July 2019, the Jushi’s subsidiary, Production Excellence, entered into the Nevada market under a management services agreement with FBS Nevada. FBS Nevada operates one of the two 7,500-square-foot adjacent facilities and has upgraded the facility with state-of-the-art, indoor, double-stacked cultivation that yields approximately 2,500 pounds of high-quality dry flower per year. FBS Nevada has partnered with third-party extractors to produce a suite of high-quality vape products and concentrates, under the award-winning brand The Lab, and offer pre-packaged flower and infused blunts, under the award-winning brand The Bank. Jushi has also introduced new products, including edibles, under the brand Tasteology, and fine flower and pre-rolls, under the brand Sèche.
To better serve the Nevada market, FBS Nevada plans to connect the two facilities to create a single production space for a total of approximately 16,600 square feet. The expansion is expected to more than double cultivation capacity and incorporate a CO2 and hydrocarbon extraction facility with a full kitchen to ensure a broad assortment of products across all categories.
“We are extremely pleased to complete this acquisition and solidify our presence in Nevada, particularly the Greater Las Vegas region,” said Jim Cacioppo, CEO, chairman and founder of Jushi. “We look forward to continuing to serve the Nevada wholesale market with high-quality flower and a full suite of cannabis brands including infused products. While Nevada, and specifically Las Vegas, has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we see great opportunities with the expansion of our facility and exploring attractive M&A prospects as we look to expand our footprint in this strategic limited license market.”
]]>NEW YORK, March 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- Thrive Agritech, Inc. announced today the market release of the new Pinnacle LED grow light.
Energy-efficient LED technology allows the 600W Pinnacle light to effectively replace the best 1,000W double-ended high pressure sodium lights commonly found in greenhouses and high intensity indoor cannabis operations. The new light can achieve the most demanding requirements, having demonstrated canopy intensities exceeding 1,500 PPFD in indoor flower rooms. Pinnacle utilizes leading-edge LED chip technology that generates an ideal combination of power and efficiency with a spectrum optimized for plant health and crop yield.
Thrive Agritech CEO, Brian Bennett, added, "We are truly excited about this announcement. Pinnacle makes it simple for our customers to replace their legacy lighting technology with state-of-the-art LED technology. And for customers designing a new facility, they will benefit from Pinnacle's ease of installation, low maintenance, high energy efficiency, and exceptional crop yields."
As with all Thrive Agritech products, Pinnacle is IP66 waterproof, UL8800 certified for safety, and comes with a standard 5-year warranty.
]]>In what was arguably the busiest week in cannabis legalization history, both New York and New Mexico pushed their bills across the finish line and became the 17th and 18th states, respectively, to greenlight an adult-use market. What comes next is a great deal of regulatory planning, but the excitement in the industry is tremendous right now—as it should be.
And it doesn’t seem like that political momentum is slowing down at all.
Other states on the road to legalization include: Connecticut, Delaware and Pennsylvania. We’re eager to see how state legislatures approach the question.
We’ve rounded up some of the key cannabis headlines from the week right here.
After years of debate, sudden and swift action in the legislature made New York the 17th state to legalize adult-use cannabis. Read more The New Mexico House and Senate members worked into the evening hours Wednesday to amend the adult-use legalization bill during a special session called by the governor—and ultimately passed it. Read moreOklahoma’s medical cannabis legislation and regulation is still a work in progress, despite the state legalizing medical cannabis nearly three years ago. Changes are coming. Read more The SAFE Banking Act is back in Congress, and political momentum is swinging in favor of the cannabis industry’s need to normalize its relations with financial institutions. We spoke with Safe Harbor Services Vice President Amanda McComb about some of the recent trends and changes that she’s seen in banking the cannabis industry. Read more
And elsewhere on the web, here are the stories we’ve been reading this week:
Frederick News-Post: “Green Goods is the retail brand of Vireo, a cannabis grower and wholesaler with more than 100,000 square feet of greenhouse space in Maryland,” and its next opening is the city Frederick. Read more Bloomberg: “Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing the Senate toward lifting the federal prohibition on marijuana with legislation that would represent the biggest overhaul of federal drug policy in decades.” Read more CNN: Cannabis legalization is expected soon in Mexico, where the president has signaled support for the move. Read more Marketwatch: “A key force in Wednesday’s [stock market] action was retail interest in MSOS, reflected in the monster trading volume on the ETF, which was well over its daily average and significantly higher than the sector.” Read moreForbes: “Latino entrepreneurs interested in opportunities in the cannabis industry have a new resource with last week’s launch of the National Hispanic Cannabis Council. The new nonprofit aims to promote participation and leadership in the legal cannabis industry by Hispanics while addressing the community’s underrepresentation in the sector.” Read more]]>
BOCA RATON, Fla., April 1, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – PRESS RELEASE – Jushi Holdings Inc. (CSE: JUSH) (OTCMKTS: JUSHF), a vertically integrated, multistate cannabis operator, announced the first phase of its previously announced expansion project at its Pennsylvania cultivation facility located in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Pennsylvania Medical Solutions, LLC (PAMS), has entered into an amendment of its existing lease with Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (IIP), making available an additional $30 million in funding for the first phase of property development of the facility. The funding will be used to complete the buildout of the existing 89,000-square-foot building and an approximately 40,000-square-foot expansion of the facility for a total of 130,000 square feet. The first phase of the expansion, with an estimated budget of approximately $40 million, is expected to add approximately 26,000 square feet of canopy for a total of 45,000 square feet and is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals.
PAMS is also in the design stage for the second phase of the planned expansion, which would add approximately 60,000 square feet to the building and increase total canopy to approximately 110,000 square feet. Jushi expects PAMS to begin the second phase of the expansion in the third quarter of 2021, with a revised preliminary budget between $25 million – $30 million and an estimated completion date of the second quarter of 2022, subject to regulatory approvals. The estimated combined cost of the two phases of expansion has increased to $65 million – $70 million, from its prior preliminary total of $50 million, as Jushi has increased the size and scope of the proposed expansion. The facility is expected to be approximately 190,000 square feet after both phases of the buildout have been completed. In addition to these two contemplated phases of buildout, PAMS continues to assess and develop further expansion opportunities at the facility to meet the needs of patients and wholesale market demand, now and in the future.
“We are excited to officially commence the first phase of expansion at our subsidiary’s Pennsylvania grower-processor facility,” said Jim Cacioppo, CEO, chairman and founder of Jushi. “We continue to see strong growth in the Pennsylvania medical market and this expansion will allow PAMS to significantly increase its canopy space and production capacity to solidify availability of its award-winning, high-quality branded suite of products to both our 11 BEYOND / HELLO medical marijuana dispensaries as well as into the wholesale market across an approximately 100 medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the commonwealth. This expansion is also expected to create over 100 new jobs and generate additional tax dollars in the Scranton region. We appreciate the strong support of IIP as a long-term real estate capital partner, teaming with us to provide strategic real estate capital at an opportune time for our continued expansion in Pennsylvania.”
The facility produces high-quality, indoor grown flower, extracts and concentrates, and is strategically located within minutes of Interstate 81, Interstate 84 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, enabling efficient distribution to the 111 dispensaries currently operating across the commonwealth, including Jushi’s 11 operational BEYOND / HELLO dispensaries.
]]>Galloway, N.J., April 1, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE – A new Cannabis and Hemp Research Institute at Stockton University (CHRIS) will provide education, research and resources for the local and national market.
The new institute builds on the Cannabis Studies academic programs at Stockton to develop research focusing on hemp cultivation practices, non-medical cannabis research, lab testing and the creation of hemp and cannabis educational materials.
“As the first university in New Jersey to offer a Cannabis Studies minor in 2019, Stockton is poised to do important research into areas that can provide opportunities for our students and emerging industries, and enhance the economy of the state,” said Professor of Biology Ekaterina Sedia, coordinator of the Cannabis Studies minor.
Robert Mejia, an adjunct professor of Cannabis Studies at Stockton, said the institute will host educational and career fairs and help set the standard for hemp and cannabis education in New Jersey and the nation.
Initially, the CHRIS testing lab’s focal point will be to provide testing services to hemp growers, processors and finished product manufacturers. Although New Jersey was the third state to institute guidelines for hemp cultivation, the state’s hemp industry is barely in the beginning stages.
Opportunities to create a whole host of environmentally friendly hemp consumer products, including building materials, food, and ethanol and plastic replacements will lead to a more sustainable future, Mejia said.
BURLINGTON, Mass., April 1, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – PRESS RELEASE – Agrify Corporation (NasdaqCM:AGFY), a developer of highly advanced and proprietary precision hardware and software grow solutions for the indoor agriculture marketplace, reported financial results for its fourth quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2020.
2020 Highlights
Total revenue increased 195.7% to $12.1 millionBegan realizing higher-margin software as a service (SaaS) revenue as customers commenced operations utilizing the Agrify Insights™ software solutionCompleted the development of and started taking pre-orders for the newest generation of Agrify's Vertical Farming Units (VFUs), which offer improved lighting efficiency, greater light output, and a wider range of environmental control and reproduction, furthering the company's mission to deliver consistency to the industryAcquired TriGrow Systems, Inc., which was the exclusive distributor of Agrify’s indoor grow solutions, giving Agrify full control of sales, product marketing and customer relationshipsAcquired Harbor Mountain Holdings, LLC (HMH), an agile manufacturer and installer of many of Agrify’s products, giving Agrify direct access to HMH’s research and development, testing and flexible manufacturing plant located just outside Atlanta, along with key engineering talent and equipmentManagement Commentary
“We are pleased with the growth we achieved in 2020,” Agrify CEO Raymond Chang said. “On many fronts, last year was a pivotal turning point for Agrify. We successfully executed several strategic initiatives such as accelerating market adoption, focusing on customer success and building our team, and all of these efforts provide us with the opportunity to deliver sustained revenue growth and profitability. Additionally, we advanced our technology and software platforms and expanded our customer offerings, which enabled us to significantly increase our order backlog and sales pipeline.
“As we look towards 2021, we note that we have already made progress on a number of key initiatives, including launching our Agrify Total Turn-Key (TTK) Solution, the industry’s first total turn-key solution. Through this program, we aim to help our customers by providing them with access to capital, leading-edge technology and the industry expertise they need to consistently cultivate high-quality products. This should enable our customers to get to market faster, with consistent, high-quality products that are grown in a controlled and replicable environment, all at a lower cost of production. We passionately believe this new partnership opportunity will be highly desirable to customers in this rapidly evolving industry, which is experiencing a favorable shift in the regulatory landscape. We are seeing many positive signs of potential cannabis reform in new markets, and as demand continues to grow, we believe there will be an increasing number of potential customers looking to partner with us due to our premium solutions. The Agrify TKK Solution especially enables us to partner with customers early and help establish their cultivation systems to position them as well as ourselves for long-term growth, together.”
Chang concluded and said, “I would like to thank each member of the Agrify team for their hard work and dedication. All of their efforts have set Agrify up for a great year in 2021. With the right team and technology, combined with a strong balance sheet and significant customer pipeline, we are well-positioned in our drive to capture additional market share and to enhance long-term shareholder value.”
The SAFE Banking Act is back in Congress, and political momentum is swinging in favor of the cannabis industry’s need to normalize its relations with financial institutions.
Safe Harbor Services’ credit union banked $3 billion in cannabis funds last year, part of a vast but fairly under-the-radar ecosystem where businesses are building rapport with smaller independent financial institutions like regional credit unions. There’s a lot to know to make sure that it’s a productive relationship, and federal reform is only one piece of the puzzle. Much of the work falls to the cannabis business, of course.
Here, we spoke with Safe Harbor Services Vice President Amanda McComb about some of the recent trends and changes that she’s seen in banking the cannabis industry.
Eric Sandy: Could provide a bit of a biographical sketch of Safe Harbor, as of early 2021, and the scope of how the business is interacting with cannabis businesses?
Amanda McComb: We started our cannabis banking program in 2015 and have since gone through 15 state and federal exams. So, it's been a long haul, most specifically just for the cannabis program to make sure that we were staying in compliance and doing it in a safe and sound way. We also started a national [cannabis] program back in 2017. A lot of our clients that we bank here in Colorado were going out of state, and we wanted to follow them out of state because it's really important for us to see all of their business—to be able to stand in front of the money and say that they're legitimate businesses and that they're operating within compliance, within their regulations. So, we started following them out of state and realized really quickly that we couldn't be the only financial institution to bank the nation as a whole. We started working with other financial institutions to give them a compliance program that had obviously gone through multiple exams and had feedback from our regulators that we'd really tried to fine-tune.
So, we have about seven or eight different financial institutions that we work with throughout the nation. Here in 2021 we’re actually consolidating all of our cannabis-related initiatives into a new company called Safe Harbor financial. It’s combining those relationships with financial institutions and our relationships with cannabis clients and putting it all together in one company and then expanding the services that we offer to the industry. We're working on lending and other initiatives to support the industry and bring them more normalized banking, because, as I'm sure you know, they just haven't had a lot of normalized banking or lending or investments. The CEO of [Safe Harbor’s] credit union is essentially stepping down from the credit union and running this new company, focusing all of her efforts on all things cannabis-related and then moving into other ventures like virtual currencies and things that might be of use to the cannabis space at some point.
This is a developing story. It has been updated to reflect the Senate’s amended passage of House Bill 2 at 8:30 p.m. Mountain Time March 31.
The New Mexico Legislature worked overtime, but adult-use cannabis legalization is now steered toward Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk after the House and Senate voted to pass legislation during a special session March 31.
The lower chamber cleared the three-time amended adult-use bill, 38-32, Wednesday afternoon, while the upper chamber added one more amendment before passing the bill, 22-15, Wednesday night on the Senate floor, where the bill previously stalled during the legislature’s 60-day regular session that concluded March 20, which sparked Lujan Grisham’s call for the special session.
The House reconvened shortly after the Senate’s passage to approve the upper chamber’s amendment to the bill, officially sending it to Lujan Grisham for signing—with her ink, New Mexico will become the 18th state to legalize adult-use cannabis.
One key amendment adopted in special session House Bill 2, which was a continuation of H.B. 12, the Cannabis Regulation Act that the body passed Feb. 26, includes raising the excise tax on cannabis products from 12% to 18% over the course of six years, beginning in 2024, according to chief sponsor Rep. Javier Martinez (D). Under the bill, roughly 4% of the excise tax would be distributed back to the local communities where the cannabis is sold, whether it’s a city or county municipality, Martinez said on the floor Wednesday.
The House Tax Committee approved the amended excise tax portion of the bill during the first day of the special session on March 30.
The New Mexico Legislature is working overtime, but adult-use cannabis legalization is now closer to reaching Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk after the House passed an amended bill and the Senate took up an expungement measure during a special session March 31.
The lower chamber cleared the adult-use bill, 38-32, while the expungement measure for certain low-level cannabis convictions drew a 23-13 vote in the Senate, where the overall bill previously stalled during the legislature’s 60-day regular session that concluded March 20, which sparked Lujan Grisham’s call for the special session.
One key amendment adopted in House Bill 2, which was a continuation of H.B. 12, the Cannabis Regulation Act that the body passed Feb. 26, includes raising the excise tax on cannabis products from 12% to 18% over the course of six years, beginning in 2024, according to chief sponsor Rep. Javier Martinez. Under the bill, roughly 4% of the excise would be distributed back to the local communities where the cannabis is sold, whether it’s a city or county municipality, Martinez said on the floor Wednesday.
The House Tax Committee approved the amended excise tax portion of the bill during the first day of the special session on March 30.
“As we embark on building a brand-new industry and we get to set the rules of the game for how this industry will play out … this is a good opportunity to actually raise revenue,” Martinez said. “If we’re going to do this, we might as well get the most we can get without overdoing it to the point where we are maybe undercutting our efforts to get rid of the illicit markets. So, that’s the number we settled on—18% excise tax.”
According to Martinez, economic projections indicate that adult-use legalization would create more than 11,000 jobs and generate $28.6 million in tax revenue in the first year of implementing a program, which H.B. 2 aims to activate no later than April 1, 2022.
PORTLAND, Ore., March 31, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE – Identifying opportunities to implement energy efficiency practices in cannabis cultivation environments can be a complicated and time-consuming process. Consequently, implementing those practices once they are identified can be a similarly arduous task.
“Creating a program from scratch can be daunting. Energy efficiency program managers planning, designing and implementing programs for emerging industries can sometimes feel that cannabis cultivators are challenging to effectively reach and serve,” said Gretchen Schimelpfenig, technical director of Resource Innovation Institute (RII). “But the building systems used in cultivation facilities have high-performance savings opportunities worth pursuing and utilities have the tools to support them.”
Capturing these opportunities and subsequently verifying the savings they produce requires securing funding and supporting programs for new high-performance technologies such as horticultural lighting and centralized heating, ventilation, air conditioning and dehumidification (HVACD) equipment and controls systems, according to Schimelpfenig. It is precisely why RII recently released its “Program Design & Market Engagement Primer for Energy Efficiency Utilities & Program Implementers Serving Cannabis Cultivators.” The Primer is available to utilities and implementers who join RII’s Utility Working Group and join in the collective effort to develop and promote utility best practices related to the rapid emergence of indoor agriculture, including the cultivation of cannabis and other crops in both greenhouses and warehouses.
The first-of-its-kind guide is a product of significant contributions by RII’s 2020 Utility Working Group and provides unique insights to implementers seeking to enhance their engagement with utility programs.
“In the Primer, members will find peer-reviewed overviews and guidance from leading utility programs serving cannabis producers in 11 key regulated markets throughout North America, from California to Massachusetts to Michigan to Quebec,” Schimelpfenig said. “It has a comprehensive and detailed overview of nearly 60 different efficiency programs. We hope that utilities and program implementers will come to rely upon it as a resource for the priority knowledge they need when working with cannabis cultivators.”
The Utility Primer includes:
Oklahoma’s House Bill 2646 would make minor changes to the state’s already established medical cannabis guidelines and regulations. It would clear up any uncertainty and provide more regulation for the growing industry.
According to the bill summary, some of the critical changes HB 2646 would make to the medical cannabis statute are as follows:
The State Department of Health (OSDH) would have 90 days to review a grower, processor, or dispensary license application instead of two weeks.The bill would allow an individual to put a medical cannabis dispensary near school properties that are not used for classroom instruction curriculum and are not on the same campus as a building used for such do not constitute a school.In addition to rehabilitation, the bill would allocate 25% of the 7% sales tax to the OSDH from drug and alcohol prevention.The bill would require medical cannabis businesses to submit a certificate of compliance with relevant zoning codes when requesting to change locations.The legislation would no longer require the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) or ODSH to notify a business 24 hours before inspection or investigation.It puts penalties in place for medical cannabis businesses who inaccurately or fraudulently report sales or purchases.Would permit the ODSH to issue a written order to any licensee suspected to violate rules and regulations unless he or she was given a written warning 30 days prior. Unless the licensee requests an administrative hearing within 30 days after receiving the order, the hearing becomes final.Prohibits individuals involved in management operations of a medical cannabis business or facility who had its license revoked, not renewed or surrendered from certain violations from receiving a business, research facility, education facility or waste disposal facility license.Forbid testing laboratories contracted with the OMMA from being owned or employing any individual who has interest in a medical cannabis business or any individual or family member who has a pending licensing application, is a member of the board of directors or is individually financially interested in any medical cannabis license or business.It would no longer require medical cannabis products to have a label indicating the product contains Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).RELATED: Oklahoma House Passes Bill to Limit Medical Cannabis Licenses
A complete list of revisions can be found here.
The legislation will head to the Senate Appropriations Committee next for approval.
]]>Following quick votes in Senate and Assembly committees Tuesday evening, the New York legislature passed the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act and sent it to Gov. Andrew Cuomo—who has pledged to sign it into law and make New York the 17th state to legalize adult-use cannabis. His signature is expected today.
The law will go into effect immediately, as of Cuomo’s signing, but the actual marketplace is expected to take upwards of two years to develop before sales are open to the eligible public.
"For generations, too many New Yorkers have been unfairly penalized for the use and sale of adult-use cannabis, arbitrarily arrested and jailed with harsh mandatory minimum sentences. After years of tireless advocacy and extraordinarily hard work, that time is coming to an end in New York State," Cuomo said in a public statement.
Since he reelection, when candidate Cynthia Nixon made cannabis a central issue of New York state politics, Cuomo has vocally supported the idea of cannabis legalization. Originally, it was part of the 2021 state budget plan, but lawmakers decided to tackle it as a separate issue.
“Make no mistake about it, New York has made history by ensuring marijuana reform is on track to become the law of the land," Melissa Moore, New York State Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said. "Through the hard work of people impacted by prohibition, advocates and championlawmakers, like Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Senator LizKrueger, New York has taken bold action to put a nail in the coffin of the waron drugs."
According to a state press release, the New York law contains the following provisions:
New York’s adult-use cannabis legislation efforts gained official approval in the Senate Committee on Finance during a brief meeting Tuesday morning, when the 23-member body opened Senate Bill S854A for discussion before voting to clear it.
In addition to acting as the committee chair, Sen. Liz Krueger (D) is the primary sponsor of the bill, the “Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act,” which she first introduced seven years ago. The bill recently picked up steam March 28, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders announced an agreement to move forward on it after months of debate, which included Cuomo’s 30-day amendment plan.
The Senate Finance Committee members united Tuesday morning to show their support of Krueger’s sponsorship efforts, but they remained mixed in their individual support of the legislation.
“Madam Chair, thank you very much,” Sen. John Liu (D) said. “I just want to congratulate you on a really long, persistent and hard-fought road, and I think this legislation is landmark for New York, as well as far beyond, and I’m in full support.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Thomas O’Mara (R) said he did not want to debate the legislation in committee, specifically regarding the finance issues related to the bill, but he said he anticipates a full and robust debate and discussion of the legislation on the floor of the upper chamber Tuesday afternoon.
O’Mara was one of five senators who opposed clearing the measure through committee; he was joined by Sens. George Borrello (R), Patrick Gallivan (R), Sue Serino (R) and James Tedisco (R).
S.B. S854 would provide the regulatory framework for adult-use cannabis, construct a licensing and taxation system for adult-use sales, create a social and economic equity program to assist individuals impacted by cannabis enforcement and expand the state's existing medical cannabis and hemp programs, as reported in a press release by ny.gov.
Cuomo’s administration projects that legalization could generate 30,000 to 60,000 jobs across New York and that tax collection from the program could reach $350 million annually, the release states.
"For generations, too many New Yorkers have been unfairly penalized for the use and sale of adult-use cannabis, arbitrarily arrested and jailed with harsh mandatory minimum sentences. After years of tireless advocacy and extraordinarily hard work, that time is coming to an end in New York state," Cuomo said. "Legalizing adult-use cannabis isn't just about creating a new market that will provide jobs and benefit the economy -- it's also about justice for long-marginalized communities and ensuring those who've been unfairly penalized in the past will now get a chance to benefit. I look forward to signing this legislation into law."
According to the release, New York's Cannabis Regulation and Taxation Act contain the following provisions:
The Office of Cannabis Management would be required to enforce a comprehensive regulatory framework regarding adult-use, medical and cannabinoid hemp, governed by a five-member board, with three members appointed by the governor, one appointed by each house. It would increase the number of allotted caregivers per patient, allow home cultivation of medical cannabis for patients and permit people with a substantial list of medical conditions to access medical cannabis.The agreement would establish a two-tier licensing structure that would allow for an extensive range of producers by separating processors and growers from owning licensing stores.It would establish a social and economic equity plan to assist individuals impacted by cannabis enforcement. It would also create a goal to have 50% of licenses go to a minority or women-owned business enterprise, service-disabled veterans or distressed farmers.The legislation proposes to establish a new cannabis tax structure. The wholesale excise tax would be moved to the retail level with a 9% state excise tax, the local excise tax would be 4% of the retail price, and counties would receive 25% of the local retail tax revenue with 75% going to the municipality.[AL2] The agreement would also permit the sale of hemp flower and smokable hemp forms only when adult-use stores are operating.Allow for adults 21 years and older to possess up to 3 ounces of cannabis and 24 grams of cannabis concentrate outside of their home. Permit individuals 21 years and older to grow three mature and three immature plants for personal use.Local governments are permitted to opt-out of retail dispensaries or on-site consumption licensing by Dec. 31, 2021, or nine months after the date the legislation is effective, the release states.
"I am very proud that we finally have a three-way agreed bill to legalize adult-use cannabis in a way that foregrounds racial justice, while balancing safety with economic growth, encouraging new small businesses, and significantly diminishing the illegal market," said Sen. Liz Krueger, the primary sponsor of the bill and chair of the Senate Finance Committee. "My goal in carrying this legislation has always been to end the racially disparate enforcement of marijuana prohibition that has taken such a toll on communities of color across our state and to use the economic windfall of legalization to help heal and repair those same communities. I believe we have achieved that in this bill, as well as addressing the concerns and input of stakeholders across the board. When this bill becomes law, New York will be poised to implement a nation-leading model for what marijuana legalization can look like."
DENVER, March 29, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE – Vangst, the cannabis industry’s premier talent resource, announced that it is now offering a new Executive Talent service, and Jennifer Bedford will join the company as the vice president of Executive Talent. In her role at Vangst, Bedford will support the emerging cannabis market with strategic executive searches to recruit rapid-growth leadership teams.
Today, more than 210,000 people are directly employed by the cannabis industry with a 75% growth in employment over the last two years. As cannabis companies increase their ranks and states continue to legalize, Vangst’s new Executive Talent service will secure leadership-level talent with Bedford’s expertise. Vangst now offers exec-level recruiting to assess the complex requirements, experiences and skill sets to scale the needs of these quickly evolving enterprises.
“Before hiring Jennifer at Vangst, we engaged her for our VP of Revenue search. It was hands down the best experience I’ve ever had with an executive recruiter,” said Karson Humiston, founder and CEO of Vangst. “She connected us with leaders at Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Vettery, LinkedIn, and all the major tech-hiring companies and presented us with so many ‘unicorn’ candidates that it was honestly hard to make a decision around who to hire. She was extremely thorough and included backdoor reference checks and performance assessments; I felt like I had the full picture on each candidate.”
As a 20-year veteran headhunter, Bedford is an expert in partnering with founders, executives and investors, and will execute leadership-level searches at Vangst. She comes from Signal Partners, a top Los Angeles executive search firm built to service investor-backed and owned operations, where she launched its cannabis practice. Prior to Signal Partners, Bedford serviced the consumer-facing tech sector and before that cut her teeth at Korn Ferry International.
“I’ve had my eye on Vangst since its inception and knew that Karson was in a unique class of founders ready-made for this explosive consumer sector,” Bedford said. “With the coming hyper-verticalization of labor marketplaces, I knew Vangst would be the one to watch in the cannabis industry. It’s such a privilege to join this killer team and complement Vangst with a recruiting offering at the executive level.”
]]>New Mexico lawmakers concluded their 60-day legislative session March 20, but Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham decided their work is not done without an adult-use cannabis bill on her desk. The Democrat executive announced Friday, March 26 that she will call the legislature into a special session on March 30 to take care of the unfinished business.
House Bill 12, which cleared the lower chamber of the state legislature, 39-31, on Feb. 26, would legalize adult-use sales and consumption for those 21 and older, allow possession of up to 2 ounces of cannabis flower or 16 grams of cannabis extract, levy a 12% excise tax on cannabis and provide reinvestments toward communities disproportionately affected by prohibition.
But the Senate ran out of time to act, as the upper chamber postponed floor debate on the measure to focus on other bills, according to the Associated Press. At the conclusion of the 60-day session, Lujan Grisham said rushing through amendments in the final hours of a session, when there’s a mountain of work to be done, is not the right way to accomplish something of the magnitude as adult-use legalization.
As a result, she called the March 30 special session to take up a pair of economic and job creation items that were left unfinished: legalizing adult-use cannabis and expanding the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA), Lujan Grisham announced in a press release Friday.
“I am grateful to those legislative leaders and members who have expressed enthusiasm about returning to the people’s work so soon after a challenging 60-day session,” she said. “The unique circumstances of the session, with public health safeguards in place, in my view prevented the measures on my call from crossing the finish line. While I applaud the legislature and staff for their incredible perseverance and productivity during the 60-day in the face of these challenges, we must and we will forge ahead and finish the job on these initiatives together for the good of the people and future of our great state.”
With a bipartisan agreement on the importance of the legalization initiative—lawmakers from both parties approached a balanced compromise measure in the final hours of the 60-day session—Lujan Grisham intends to see through final passage of the potentially significant economic driver, she said.
Political momentum is quickly picking up speed in some U.S. states, with the prospect of adult-use legalization shining brightly in New York and New Mexico—with more to come. Those two states may very well cast formal votes on the question of legalization as soon as next week. We’re eagerly anticipating some statehouse action.
But that’s not the only narrative we’re following.
We’ve rounded up some of the key cannabis headlines from the week right here.
New Jersey has set aside a solid portion of cannabis licenses for smaller operators. This week, we took a close look at what the state’s microbusiness license could accomplish for the market. Read more
The Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on the marketing messages that proliferate in the CBD space. A recent campaign, dubbed Operation CBDeceit, is moving in on certain companies. Read more New Mexico legislators will convene March 30 for a special session to tie up some loose ends on a cannabis bill that nearly jumped the hurdle this month. Read more
And elsewhere on the web, here are the stories we’ve been reading this week:
ABC News: “France’s government has launched a two-year nationwide experiment with medical cannabis with a view to eventual legalization.” Read more
Marijuana Moment: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signaled an interest in bumping up the decriminalization timeline of his state’s cannabis law—from 2024 to sometime this summer. Read more
FloridaPolitics: Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried voiced support for adult-use cannabis legalization. She is expected to run for governor next year. Read more
NMPoliticalReport: As New Mexico lawmakers gather in Albuquerque next week, rural residents are citing a need for social equity policies in any law that comes out of the legislative process. Read more ]]>
Democrats in the Delaware House and Gov. John Carney are on the same side of the political aisle, but whether they’re on the same side of the adult-use cannabis legalization aisle remains to be seen.
The Health and Human Development Committee cleared House Bill 150, the Delaware Marijuana Control Act, on March 24. The legislation would create adult-use legal framework, including opportunities for small businesses to be licensed. It would also ensure people living in areas disproportionately affected by prohibition have equal access to the market, according to a press release by chief sponsor Rep. Ed Osienski.
Behind the support of six other sponsors and nine co-sponsors—all Democrat—in the 41-member House, H.B. 150 also aims at shutting down the illicit market by diverting demand from illegal enterprises, and empowering law enforcement with the ability to ensure a safe, legal market for the cultivation, sale and adult-use of cannabis, Osienski said.
“Support for adult recreational marijuana has been growing for years in Delaware and across the country. We have seen other states successfully enact policies that established a safe and legal market for cannabis, and we have studied those laws to craft the best policy for Delaware,” he said. “We believe we have a solid bill that has the support of the public, and we believe we have the political will to pass this bill into law.”
A University of Delaware poll in 2018 indicated that 61% of Delaware voters support legalizing adult-use cannabis. Support for legalization has also reached 68% nationally, according to a November 2020 Gallup Poll.
Neighboring New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an adult-use cannabis legalization bill last month, following voters’ approval of a constitutional amendment in the November 2020 election. Up in New England, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine also have legalized adult-use cannabis.
