MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press
What does it take to become a farmer? Those who are successful often exhibit grit, hard work and perseverance in the face of adversity.
For Anthony Sullivan, a television pitchman, becoming a farmer has also included a huge investment, a full TV production crew and an inspiration worth fighting for.
All weekend and all day Monday, the team at Mana Supply Co.’s Edgewater, Md., location was moving patients and their vehicles through the new drive-thru lanes—keeping the traffic flow even and safe off State Rt. 2 and keeping new social distancing measures in mind every step of the way. The drive-thru opened on Friday, just in the nick of time.
Co-owner Christopher Jensen says business has increased about 30% in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak and the vigorous spike in demand for cannabis products. The sudden move into crisis mode across the globe has put businesses like Mana Supply Co. on the lookout for new efficiencies, new ways of engaging their patient base and ensuring everyone has access to products they need.
Last week, the state of Maryland issued its “social distancing” measures, which greenlit curbside pickups for medical cannabis dispensaries. It was an immediate help, but Jensen and Volz still had reservations about sending employees to cars for cash exchanges. The drive-thru cuts down on some of that up-close interaction. And it is part of a plan that’s been in the works at Many Supply Co. for a lot longer than just the past few days and weeks. Jensen credits the state’s diligent response to the many nuanced business concerns for getting the drive-thru lanes open in a time of great uncertainty.
“This has been changing almost on an hour-by-hour basis,” Jensen says. Monday morning, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued an order on further business closings. The Mana Supply Co. team worked with the state’s Office of Legal Counsel to ensure that medical cannabis businesses would remain “essential” and able to keep the doors open during this crisis—and they are.
Co-owner Matt Volz was in the parking lot this morning, directing traffic and helping answer patients’ questions. The company’s drive-thru service is working on a pre-order basis now, mimicking the CVS prescription pick-up window next door.
Near-Term Operational Impact
Like all other businesses, the cannabis industry is having to quickly adjust. The good news is that no states, so far, have shut down cannabis operators, as they have been deemed as essential service providers, like drug stores.
We recently interviewed Kim Rivers, CEO of Trulieve, the dominant medical cannabis company in Florida with 45 dispensaries. She detailed the steps that the company has taken to keep customers and employees safe, including scanning temperatures of employees when they arrive and immediately sending workers home if they aren’t feeling well. The company has also offered free delivery to patients who are 65 or older and is piloting a mobile drive-up program for all patients.
A few public companies have commented on their operations, including Cresco Labs, which issued a press release describing its response, including heightened sanitation measures and an effort to drive traffic to online ordering. Green Thumb Industries, which, like Cresco, is headquartered in Illinois, issued a statement that it will prioritize medical cannabis patient access. Curaleaf informed its customers that it would devote the first hour of each day to customers 60 and older, and it also began offering a new service called WaitlistMe so that customers could wait in their car rather than in dispensaries or in line outside.
Planet 13 Holdings, which operates a superstore in Las Vegas that caters primarily to tourists, had said on Thursday that it would provide online ordering and delivery in addition to core dispensary services while closing its restaurant and secondary activities. On Friday, however, Nevada ordered all cannabis stores to close, while permitting delivery.
From the demand side, cannabis purchases have surged. Cannabis software company Akerna reported that legal cannabis sales rose 19.2% across its point-of-sale (POS) customers on March 18 compared to a week earlier, as patients stock up ahead of potential disruptions in their ability to buy.
The Colombian government issued a new regulation that establishes the regulatory framework to commercialize master cannabis preparations for Colombian medicinal cannabis, a market estimated to comprise some 5 million patients.
On March 2, the Ministry of Health issued Resolution 315, which not only opens up the Colombian market for medicinal cannabis but also allows the transformation of dry cannabis flower into derivative products for companies that set up industries at free trade zones.
“The resolution benefits the sector because it provides clarity on narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors that are subjected to be controlled, and differentiates them from those that do not require oversight,” Rodrigo Arcilla, director of the Colombian cannabis association Asocolcanna told Cannabis Business Times.
Master cannabis preparations with 0.2% of THC or higher, including oils, non-psychoactive and psychoactive cannabis, must be registered to the country’s National Narcotics Fund, according to the resolution.
For the magistral formulations derived from cannabis with less than 0.2% of THC, the derivative products will not be audited by the National Narcotics Fund.
The resolution states that all magistral formulations based on cannabis must be sold only with a medical prescription at pharmacies in this South American nation with a population of 50 million residents.
Across the country, state legislature and gubernatorial offices are taking a hard look at their state workforces, productivity measures, and the rapidly climbing statistics associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. Naturally, each respective state has different needs and protocols depending on its population distribution, prevalence of travel/interaction, and its infrastructure. However, certain tenets remain constant; critical infrastructure sectors must be preserved to permit citizens to retain a semblance of normal life during periods of quarantine.
This begs the question, does the cannabis industry qualify as a critical component of a permissive state’s infrastructure? Here, we take a look at an East vs. West approach to maintaining the established Cannabis ecosystems in coastal states California and New York.
California Progression
On March 4, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a State of Emergency in California as a result of the threat of COVID-19. As of March 19, 2020 the Executive department of the State of California issued Executive Order N-33-20 (hereafter, “CEO”) based on the rapid spread of COVID-19 throughout California. Under Government Code Section 8567, 8627, and 8665, it was Ordered:
…all individuals living in the State of California [are] to stay home or at their place of residence except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of the federal critical infrastructure sectors… In addition, and in consultation with the Director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, I may designate additional sectors as critical in order to protect the health and well-being of all Californians.
A simultaneous memo was issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”) to define 16 separate categories that were considered critical infrastructure sectors essential to maintain continuity of society:
(1) Chemical;
The Iditarod is an annual sled-dog race held in Alaska that spans an approximately 1,000-mile stretch. Racers and their teams of 14 dogs depart with their team in Anchorage, in the state’s southeast, heading to Nome, to the northwest. It is a challenging and dangerous trek that puts to the test each racer and attracts hundreds of spectators to the Anchorage start.
Cannabis aficionados might notice something a bit different at this year’s edition: Greatland Ganja’s logo is plastered on one of the racers, as the Kasilof-based cannabis cultivation operation is sponsoring Monica Zappa, another Kasilof resident and cannabis advocate.
Most racers participate because they love the sport, relying on sponsors to cover the cost of supplies and registration. Leif Abel, co-owner of Greatland Ganja, saw this year’s event as an opportunity to get some added visibility for his company while supporting a sport in which his family participated, once upon a time.
“We grew up dog mushing, it's one of the most Alaskan sports in existence, one of the biggest things that binds Alaskans and Alaska together,” Leif says.
Zappa participated in her seventh Iditarod this year (although she’s done the trail eight times, having completed it last year without the race’s support). The significance of this moment is not lost on her, especially given the race’s history. The Iditarod, Zappa explains, is “meant to commemorate the Serum Run back in 1925 that was to stop this diptheria outbreak in Nome, where children were dying.”
Zappa sees a historical connection between the race’s origins and her decision to seek out Greatland Ganja’s sponsorship. In the same way that mushers brought medicine to save the children of Nome, Zappa sees herself as bringing a positive message about the cannabis plant and the local industry to villages.
Portland, OR -- PRESS RELEASE -- The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has approved a temporary rule that supports social distancing to promote prevention of the spread of the COVID-19 virus, by allowing licensed marijuana retailers to conduct limited transactions outside their licensed premises. The action will permit retail licensees to take orders and deliver product from the retail store to a person who is outside of the store and within 150 feet of the retailer’s licensed premises.
At an emergency meeting to consider temporary rules impacting the business activity of OLCC licensees in the alcohol and marijuana industry, the Commission took its action to promote social distancing in the wake of the COVID-19 virus. The Commission’s action aligns with the Governor’s Executive Order that prohibits public gatherings of 25 people or more, and encourages people to distance themselves by at least 3 feet while in public.
The temporary rule also increases the amount of flower that OMMP cardholders and caregivers can purchase to 24 ounces per day and no more than 32 ounces per month. This change temporarily increases the daily purchase limit for OMMP cardholders to match their personal possession limit. This rule does not change the total monthly amount a cardholder or caregiver is currently permitted to purchase from an OLCC-licensed retailer.
The temporary action that the Commission has taken is designed to balance the protection of public health while at the same time helping struggling businesses. Marijuana industry guidance can be found here.
“Every single decision that this agency is making, both for the liquor and the marijuana industries, are there for the consideration of helping people make a living and continue to make a living,” said Paul Rosenbaum, OLCC Commission Chair.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend its regulations to comply with the requirements of the Controlled Substances Act in an effort to approve pending cannabis cultivation applications and allow entities to move forward with cultivation for research purposes.
Public comment must be submitted electronically or postmarked on or before May 22, according to the notice.
The notice signals that the DEA is starting a formal investigation—called a 303 investigation—to vet the 35 entities that have applied for a cultivation license to grow cannabis for research, according to a Forbes report.
Last summer, a federal court ordered the DEA to explain why it had not responded to the pending applications after Dr. Sue Sisley and the Scottsdale Research Institute (SRI) filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department and the DEA in June 2019. Phoenix-based SRI had applied for a DEA manufacturing license in 2016 to grow its own cannabis for an ongoing study on medical cannabis as a treatment for veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In August 2019, the DEA entered a filing in the Federal Register indicating that it intended to establish regulations to evaluate the applications and the federal court dismissed Sisley’s lawsuit.
For home cooks and aspiring bakers alike, a week or two stuck inside presents a perfect opportunity to try your hand at cooking with cannabis.
In the last couple weeks, concerns over coronavirus have meant social distancing and increasing isolation for more and more individuals around the world.
For individuals who can manage it, staying home is the best tool we currently have against the spread of COVID-19.
Click here to read the complete article
Ian Chant ~ Leafly.com ~
Never has it been more clear than during the current COVID-19 pandemic that marijuana has arrived at the forefront of mainstream American society.
In state after state, governors and public health officials are deeming cannabis businesses “essential” operations that can stay open amid coronavirus-related forced closures and stay-at-home mandates.
People might not be able to go bowling or see a movie in theaters, but they can still stock up on marijuana.
Click here to read the complete article
Tom Angell ~ Forbes.com ~
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is taking steps to maintain patients’ access to medical cannabis during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state’s medical cannabis growers/processors and dispensaries have been deemed life-sustaining businesses that are allowed to remain open under Gov. Tom Wolf’s order for non-life-sustaining businesses to close, according to a local Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 report.
The state has also announced the suspension of certain statutory and regulatory provisions as of March 20 in order to implement a series of changes to allow patients enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program to continue receiving medication, the news outlet reported.
The changes allow dispensary employees to provide medical cannabis to patients in their vehicles, as long as they are on the facility’s property, according to Action News 4. The state has also removed a cap that limited how many patients one caregiver could have, and has eliminated background checks for the renewal of caregiver applications to expedite the renewal process, the news outlet reported.
The state will also waive in-person consultations for the renewal of patients’ medical cannabis cards to allow for remote consultations between certified practitioners and medical cannabis patients for certification renewal, according to Action News 4. Practitioners may also request that patients receive a 90-day supply of medical cannabis from a dispensary, as the state has temporarily waived its 30-day limit.
Under an emergency declaration issued March 20 by Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak in the wake of the nationwide coronavirus outbreak, all medical and adult-use cannabis dispensaries must close their storefronts to the public, although deliveries will still be allowed, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
Dispensaries were ordered to shut down by midnight on March 20, according to the news outlet, and curbside pickup of cannabis products will not be allowed.
The Marijuana Enforcement Division has rolled out new virtual delivery vehicle inspection procedures to allow cannabis licensees to meet an increased demand for cannabis delivery services, the Reno Gazette Journal reported. Thirty-eight dispensaries in the state currently offer delivery services, but the new procedure will allow all dispensaries to deliver their own products, according to the news outlet.
Meanwhile, Nevada’s cannabis cultivation facilities, production facilities, distributors and testing labs will be permitted to continue their operations, but must adhere to strict social distancing guidelines, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.
CANADA: FSD Pharma Inc. today announced that it has taken steps to mitigate the impact of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on its wholly-owned subsidiary, FV Pharma Inc., a licensed producer under Canada’s Cannabis Act and Regulations, and its facility in Cobourg, Ontario. The Company’s actions are aligned with evolving guidance from provincial and local Read the full article...
Temporary Rule Aligns With Governor’s Executive Order to Promote Social Distancing OREGON: The Oregon Liquor Control Commission approved a temporary rule that supports social distancing to promote prevention of the spread of the COVID-19 virus, by allowing licensed marijuana retailers to conduct limited transactions outside their licensed premises. The action will permit retail licensees to Read the full article...
The Alberta Cannabis Council (ACC), a not-for-profit industry trade group serving the province’s cannabis industry stakeholders, shared a letter with the Canadian government calling for it to grant the same access to economic relief programs to the country’s cannabis industry.
The letter, signed by 74 industry members, calls for the “equal and fair access to significant supports for all cannabis companies working to keep employees employed, including access to wage subsidies as announced on March 18, 2020 by the Prime Minister and Finance Minister.”
Additionally, the letter asks that federal agencies offer “equal and fair access to funding through federal agencies, EDC [Export Development Canada] or BDC [Business Development Bank of Canada] as other industries have for credit instruments. Presently, for example, BDC has indicated that the regulated cannabis sector can not access the $10B in stimulus funding, part of which is available through that crown corporation.”
John Carle, the executive director for the ACC, along with the letter’s signatories, writes “We are not asking for special treatment, but rather equitable treatment.”
The letter also highlights the recent, non-COVID-19 related challenges the industry has faced in recent months, including difficult access to investor capital and the loss of more than 2,000 jobs across the industry.
“We are asking that this industry, which has added a cumulative total of $8B to the Canadian GDP over the course of the last year, specifically and explicitly be included in all economic stimulus measures and provided the support that is being offered to every other Canadian business at this time,” the letter reads.
Posted by Lise Millay Stevens
According to a recent report, China's flower industry is already picking up, despite the havoc wrought on the country's economy by the coronavirus. Floral Daily reports that the number of businesses — and flower markets in particular — reopening increases daily; the number of shoppers is also up.
Savio Ma, Chief representative for grower Armada China, says, "Since the beginning of March, the borders opened — except for Wuhan — which enabled flower markets to open their doors too. Many are now still relying on online buying, but the number of visitors to these markets is increasing as well," according to the report. "For the coming three months, our orders are at about 80% of what they were last year during this time."
For more, read the article here.
The+Source announced March 19 that the company’s two Las Vegas dispensary locations will voluntarily transition to medical-only cannabis sales as an additional safety measure for its patients amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
All adult-use sales will be halted until further notice, and the dispensary is also reducing its business hours.
“We made that decision for consideration of the safety of our team,” Brandon Wiegand, The+Source’s regional general manager, told Cannabis Dispensary. “We felt it was a judicious action to take, given the circumstances.”
The day before the company made the decision to temporarily stop adult-use sales, it saw more traffic than usual, which Wiegand attributes partly to the ambiguity businesses experienced while waiting to see if Nevada would allow its cannabis dispensaries to remain open amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The state has ordered all non-essential businesses to close, but the governor’s office provided clarification March 18 that allowed the state’s licensed cannabis dispensaries to remain open as long as they enforced the strict social distancing protocols that have been encouraged by the CDC.
TILT Holdings’ Blackbird technology powers cannabis delivery services in California and Nevada, where the states’ governors have deemed the industry “essential” and open for business—with some caveats. Certain dispensaries may now only permit medical cannabis patients in the store, for instance. Much of the market, then, has quickly flipped over to delivery and pickup orders.
Tim Conder, TILT Holdings COO, says that Blackbird data shows a 400% increase from one week to the next, citing sales numbers from mid-March—just as the coronavirus outbreak was settling the U.S. into widespread shelter-in-place dictates. Delivery had suddenly become more important than ever in this nascent industry.
“The situation this week has been rapidly evolving,” Conder says. “Our first and foremost concern is protecting the safety of our employees, but also keeping them working so that everyone can continue to be paid and not use up paid leave. We’ve been really trying to balance those two things, which has been pretty difficult.”
The key is adaptability.
The Blackbird team typically offers a two-hour delivery window. In short order, that was bumped back to same-day. Now, the team is working with next-day delivery.
“The situation is conducive to next-day delivery because the lion’s share of the population is required to be at home,” Conder says. “We can route all the deliveries that were placed the previous day. It’s allowing us to keep up with the surge in demand.”
As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to shutter businesses and confine people to their homes, many employers are faced with difficult decisions about keeping sick employees at home, providing paid sick leave and, in some cases, layoffs. As the global coronavirus epidemic continues to evolve and federal and state laws shift to protect public health, cannabis business owners have much to consider, with one of the main concerns being their employees’ safety.
Here, Adam Kemper, partner of Greenspoon Marder’s Labor & Employment and Cannabis Practice Groups, and Dean Rocco, partner with Wilson Elser, provide tips on employment practices during these uncertain times to ensure business owners handle the unprecedented situations that might arise in the best way possible.
1. Determine whether your business can remain open under state and local ordinances.
As states and municipalities order certain businesses to close in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, cannabis businesses are increasingly being deemed “essential” businesses that can remain open. However, cannabis operators should ensure this is the case in their location before continuing operations, Rocco says, and they should be talking with their local and state representatives to encourage them to deem cannabis businesses as “essential” to ensure access for their patients.
2. Maintain open lines of communication with employees.
When it comes to employers communicating their coronavirus-related policies with employees, Kemper says, “If they haven’t already done so, they need to do so immediately. This is an ongoing pressing issue that is affecting a lot of lives yesterday, today and going forward.”
First and foremost, employees need to know if the company plans to remain open, Rocco says. If the company does plan to continue operations during this time, employees need to know that employers are taking steps to stop the spread of the virus.
This week, Michigan’s governor announced that all licensed cannabis retailers may set up delivery services to accommodate sales during the COVID-19 outbreak, while Illinois regulators decided to allow curbside medical cannabis sales. Elsewhere, in Maine, the Office of Marijuana Policy issued its first round of conditional adult-use cannabis licenses.
Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is over.
Federal: President Trump has instructed the Small Business Administration (SBA) to allot $50 billion in aid to small businesses via low-interest loans during the historic coronavirus global pandemic, which would help small businesses stay afloat with current expenses, including payroll. While the total assistance SBA will offer in these low-interest loans is still unknown, one thing is certain: Cannabis businesses will not be offered relief by SBA. Read moreIn the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, cannabis businesses are increasingly being declared “essential.” A growing number of municipalities implementing quarantine measures are placing cannabis dispensaries along the same lines as grocery stores, pharmacies and police stations, allowing them to remain open. Read moreFlorida: A proposal to cap the THC content in medical cannabis products for patients under the age of 21 stalled in the Florida House as the state’s 2020 legislative session came to a close. Limiting THC content was a priority for House Speaker Jose Oliva this year, although the proposal was not as well-received in the Senate. Read moreMaine: The Office of Marijuana Policy has issued its first round of conditional adult-use cannabis licenses to 31 businesses for cultivation, manufacturing and retail operations. Ten cultivation operations, four manufacturing facilities and 16 dispensaries were granted provisional approval and must now obtain local authorization before they can receive a final active license from the state. Read moreWashington: The Washington Legislature has approved legislation aimed at bolstering social equity in the state's cannabis industry, sending it to Gov. Jay Inslee. The bill would create a task force to help establish a new Marijuana Social Equity Program and would allow the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board to award previously revoked or canceled cannabis dispensary licenses to applicants in the new program. Read moreMichigan: Following the general trend toward delivery services amid the COVID-19 outbreak (and, thus, the public health necessity), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced this week that all licensed cannabis retailers may set up delivery services to accommodate sales in this time of social distancing. Whitmer’s executive order also includes curbside pickup for all licensed dispensaries. Read moreMeanwhile, Michigan’s adult-use cannabis sales increased in February, reaching $14.8 million for the month. This is a 34% increase over January’s sales of $9.8 million. Read moreArkansas: The state’s medical cannabis sales have surpassed $50 million since the market launched less than one year ago. Arkansans have purchased more than 7,932 pounds of medical cannabis totaling $50.7 million in total sales since the first dispensary opened in May 2019. Read moreIllinois: As state regulators rush to maintain easy access to medical cannabis amid the crackdown on mass gatherings, Illinois will now allow curbside medical cannabis sales. “The exchange of cash and product must take place on the dispensary’s property or on a public walkway or at the curb of the street adjacent to the dispensary,” according to a memo from the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation. Read moreCanada: Canopy Growth Corporation has temporarily closed all corporate-owned Tokyo Smoke and Tweed retail locations across Canada, effective March 17, in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. “We have a responsibility to our employees, their families, and our communities to do our part to ‘flatten the curve,’” CEO David Klein said. Read more