MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press
Out-of-state buyers made up about a third of the total sales in February.
Recreational marijuana sales for February weren’t as high as they were in January, according to new numbers released by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
Not including taxes collected, statewide cannabis sales in February totaled $34,805,072.01 over the 29-day period.
That’s down about $5 million from January, which was the first month of sales in the state.
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Florida Rep. Ray Rodrigues has filed legislation that would impose a 10% THC cap on medical cannabis products for patients under the age of 21, according to a CBS Miami report.
Rodrigues introduced his bill the day after similar legislation stalled in the Senate, the news outlet reported. Rodrigues’ measure is an amendment to H.B. 713, a Department of Health legislative package.
The proposal would limit doses of smokable medical cannabis, as well as edibles, but doctors could order cannabis with a THC level above 10% for patients under 21 if they get permission from the Department of Health, and the cap would not apply to terminally ill patients, CBS Miami reported.
H.B. 713 is expected to be heard on the House floor March 5, according to the news outlet.
This will be the first time the House takes up a THC cap, after House Speaker Jose Oliva announced last month that he would like to pass legislation this year to limit the THC content in medical cannabis products.
Adult-use cannabis sales in Illinois totaled nearly $35 million in February, a decline from January’s sales, which reached almost $40 million.
Statewide sales in February totaled $34,805,072.01, according to a CBS Chicago report.
The state’s dispensaries sold 831,600 items, the news outlet reported.
The sales figures do not include taxes collected, but tax revenue from adult-use sales surpassed $10 million in January.
As the cannabis industry matures and improves, we have its women to thank for numerous contributions—everything from improving processes in getting clones or seed to sale, to consulting startups on how to launch their businesses.
Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, we are reflecting on women’s achievements and contributions in the industry.
At Cannabis Conference 2020, taking place April 21-23 in Las Vegas, these women will speak on subjects as far-ranging as pest and disease challenges in growing hemp, tips for hiring and retaining dispensary staff, and cannabinoid and terpene science—all to help the industry continue to progress.
We'd like to thank them for speaking at Cannabis Conference 2020 and for continuing to make impactful and far-reaching contributions to the market.
Dr. Leslie Apgar, Greenhouse Wellness
An illicit-market vape cartridge buy-back program set in motion by Platinum and Miramar, Calif.’s Mankind Dispensary has revealed that the majority of unregulated vapes collected are unfit for consumption.
During the month of September, Mankind’s customers were invited to turn in vape cartridges that had been purchased from sources other than a legal cannabis dispensary in exchange for a Platinum vape cartridge.
“Our partner, Platinum Vape, came to us and said, ‘We want to do something about this vape crisis and we want to learn a little bit more,’” John Butters, VP of Strategy for Mankind, tells Cannabis Business Times. “We had similar goals. We heard about some of the scary things that are out there in some of the illicit-market vapes and some of the problems they were causing, and we wanted to get an idea of how it was affecting our local community. So, we said yes, and we allowed customers to come down with any illicit market vape they had and [they] could trade it in with a small cost for a Platinum vape cart. There has to be a small cost for it to be legal.”
Two dozen cartridges collected during the program were viable for testing and were released to Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs to undergo testing for potency, pesticides, heavy metals and vitamin E acetate. Samples passed or failed these tests based on the California Bureau of Cannabis Control’s testing regulations for the legal cannabis market.
“We saw that 79% of them were deemed as unfit for consumption overall,” Josh Swider, co-founder and CFO of Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs, tells Cannabis Business Times. “About 80% wouldn’t have passed the California compliance regulations.”
Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency announced a plan to phase out caregiver-sourced cannabis in its medical cannabis dispensaries. Effective immediately, licensed cannabis businesses may no longer purchase cannabis concentrates, cartridges or other infused products from caregivers in the state.
Cannabis flower is a different story—for now. The final day for caregiver-sourced cannabis flower transfers will be Sept. 30. Between now and then, the state will impose certain regulatory rules on how to track cannabis flower inventory purchased from caregivers. Along the way, growers and processors will be mandated to decrease the amount of cannabis flower they purchase from those sources.
“The flower is what there was a huge shortage of, and the caregivers kind of filled that gap so to speak,” Jordan Ezell, owner of Interlochen Alternative Health, told Michigan’s 9 & 10 News.
Read the full advisory bulletin below.
“We have always put patients first when we make decisions regarding medical marijuana,” MRA Executive Director Andrew Brisbo said in a public statement. “This phase out process is an important next step in implementing the will of Michigan voters and making sure that patients continue to have access to their medicine.”
Last spring, the question of supply and demand in the Michigan medical cannabis market spurred a debate over whether to allow longtime “caregivers” to sell products into the newly regulated marketplace. For years, Michigan had something closer to a gray-market cannabis setup, where caregivers would provide home-grown cannabis to registered patients. That changed in 2016, when state lawmakers developed a plan to license and regulated medical cannabis dispensaries. In 2018, voters approved a regulated adult-use market. But caregivers were left out in the cold, and licensed cannabis products were on short supply.
Advances in farming technology in general is leading to an industry that will be more sustainable and viable as a business moving forward, helping cannabis cast off its energy-hog reputation of the past.
The cannabis business is changing, and not just because of the laws allowing its sale, both nationally in the form of hemp and state-by-state in the form of marijuana.
The farming of these crops is being modernized with tech like hydroponics, robotics, and artificial intelligence, and this modernization is leading to a whole new market for the products produced from the harvest.
Click here to read the complete article
Brian Wallace ~ Grit Daily ~
Maine is planning to have its first recreational marijuana shops open in June, three months later than expected.
State budget forecasters are banking on a robust kickoff, however, estimating $5 million in sales by the end of the month.
Maine is “very close” to issuing the first round of conditional recreational business licenses, said Erik Gundersen, the director of the Office of Marijuana Policy.
Click here to read the complete article
Penelope Overton ~ Portland Press Herald ~
Feb. 25, 2020 – Cleveland, OH – Due to the continued expansion of its Cannabis Group, GIE Media is pleased to announce the addition of two new editors and the promotion of one of the brands’ digital editors to support the rapid growth of Cannabis Business Times, Cannabis Dispensary, Cannabis Conference and Hemp Grower, the Cannabis Group’s newest publication.
WilliamsPatrick Williams joined GIE Media’s Cannabis Group earlier this month as senior editor for Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary. He joined GIE Media in 2017 and worked as the associate editor and senior editor for sister publications Greenhouse Management and Produce Grower. Previously, Williams was a freelance writer for B2B and consumer media and an editorial intern on GIE Media’s Golf Course Industry magazine. Williams graduated from Kent State University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Melissa Schiller was promoted from assistant digital editor to senior digital
editor for Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary magazines in January 2020. She joined the Cannabis Group in June 2017, and previously worked as an audience development associate for GIE Media’s Ornamental Group of publications, where she managed the circulation for Cannabis Business Times, Garden Center, Nursery Management and Greenhouse Management magazines. Schiller has also worked as a contributing writer and editorial assistant for a community newspaper and as a freelance writer for Northeast Ohio Media Group and Modern Tire Dealer. Schiller graduated from Hiram College in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing.
Theresa Bennett joined the Cannabis Group as an associate editor for Hemp Grower and Cannabis Business Times magazines in November 2019 after working for GIE Media’s Recycling Group of magazines. Prior to joining GIE Media in 2018, Bennett was the K-12 education reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal. Outside of GIE Media, Bennett is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Modern Farmer, The Devil Strip and newspapers across the country. Bennett graduated from Kent State University in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
With spring training now in full swing, Major League Baseball is further clarifying its stance on marijuana.
Players can now consume cannabis without risk of discipline, the league explained in a new memo, but they can’t show up to work under the influence and -- at least for now -- are barred from entering into commercial arrangements with companies in the marijuana industry.
Click here to read the complete article
Ben Aldin ~ MarijuanaMoment.net ~
On March 2, Cresco Labs co-founder Joe Caltabiano announced that he had resigned from his role as president effective immediately, a decision that he says he had been considering and discussing with the Cresco team for a few weeks.
Caltabiano co-founded the Chicago-based multi-state operator in 2013, and says it is time for him to “step back and look at some opportunities that I’ve always wanted to pursue,” as his skillsets no longer align with Cresco’s future needs.
“My skills were very tied to the early success of the organization and building it and running into brick walls and overcoming obstacles,” Caltabiano said in an interview with Cannabis Business Times. “When you’re starting out in a start-up company, it is growth at all costs. You make a lot of decisions on how to drive growth within the organization, and as a company matures, it starts being less about growth and more about return on invested capital and how do you maximize dollars for your shareholders in the long-run. And those are very different skillsets and very different ideals that sometimes coincide but sometimes conflict.”
He said as a Cresco shareholder, he wants to be sure that every decision made is “for the best interest of shareholders of the organization.”
Caltabiano says he hopes to continue his role on Cresco’s board, but believes that the 1,800-person company operating in about a dozen states has good, stable footing and that now is an “opportune time” for him to leave.
“Any time you step away, it’s a difficult time. There’s never the perfect opportunity, but I felt like we’ve accomplished so many things this year with getting Illinois [adult-use] launched and closing on the Origin House transaction," he said, also noting the launch of Cresco's Sunnyside branded dispensaries. "All … that we’ve accomplished really put Cresco in a great position now and in the future.
New Dates PsyTech Summit: June 14-15, 2020 CannaTech Tel Aviv: June 15-16, 2020 ISRAEL: In light of developing circumstances with the COVID-19 coronavirus and based on recommendations from the Israeli Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CannaTech Tel Aviv and PsyTech Summit are postponed. PsyTech Summit will take place June Read the full article...
The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs was expected to vote this week on the World Health Organization’s recommendation to reschedule cannabis under global drug treaties, a long-awaited move that would shift how international markets engage one another in cannabis trade.
That’s not happening, however, as the vote has been delayed for a second time amid significant debate.
The UN Commission is now looking to a possible vote in December 2020.
The WHO recommended last year that the UN Commission remove cannabis from its list of banned substances and reschedule the plant as a pharmaceutical drug. If approved, this move would open the door to more feasible international trade and research.
In January, Somai Pharmaceuticals Chairman of the Board Michael Sassano (based in Ireland), told Cannabis Business Times that European Union member nations were urging this planned March vote. Some countries in Europe already regulate medical cannabis as a pharmaceutical drug, and the WHO recommendations would only align international policy with those specific national rules.
“Basically, the removal of cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV means that it has medicinal value, but it is still Schedule I, meaning it is a narcotic and handled as such through pharmacies,” Sassano said.
]]>Feb. 25, 2020 – Cleveland, OH – Due to the continued growth of GIE Media’s Cannabis Conference, an annual event that bring industry stakeholders together to address the biggest opportunities and challenges facing the legal cannabis market, GIE Media is pleased to announce the addition of Cassie Neiden to fill the newly created role of Conference Programming Director.
Neiden joined Firelands Scientific as the vertically integrated cannabis company’s director of marketing and communications in April 2019. She helped launch the company’s infused products line, including tinctures, edibles, solventless concentrates and more. Neiden also led the company’s efforts around patient education and community outreach within the tightly regulated framework of Ohio’s nascent medical cannabis market.
Previously, Neiden served as the managing editor for Cannabis Business Times, Cannabis Dispensary and Cannabis Conference. She is also an experienced freelance writer, with bylines in publications such as Martha Stewart Weddings, Yahoo! Tech and Cleveland Magazine.
In 2018, Neiden received an “Editor of the Year” honorable mention at Folio:’s Eddie and Ozzie Awards gala in New York City. She is a graduate of Kent State University’s School of Journalism & Mass Communication with a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism.
In her new role with Cannabis Conference, Neiden will work directly with the editorial director, group publisher and marketing director to continually raise the level of education offered and drive conference attendance growth annually. She will work with the editorial teams to develop session topics for events and to identify speakers in collaboration with advisory boards for both the magazines and the conference.
While the 2018 Farm Bill’s legalization of industrial hemp opened the door for federal guidance regarding pesticide use on the plant, only a handful of products have been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to John Scott, pesticides program manager and section chief at the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA).
Colorado has taken matters into its own hands, and maintains a list of approved pesticides that can be used on cannabis under the state’s Pesticide Applicators’ Act.
“When we knew that recreational marijuana was going to be legalized, we knew we had to identify tools that the industry could use,” Scott tells Cannabis Business Times. “[During] initial discussions with the EPA, we started to identify what type of criteria those products would need to meet so products could legally be applied to cannabis. … We wanted to be able to use known science. The EPA has gone through and done the risk assessments on these products and identified which ones were of lower toxicity, and therefore they were tolerance exempt—the risk assessments have been done and they can be applied to commodities that would be ingested, like food crops. If they were going to be smoked, … through the risk assessment process, [the EPA] had pyrolysis studies done.”
Colorado derived its Pesticide Applicators’ Act from the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to regulate pesticide use in the state across all crops. If applicators misuse pesticide products, the Pesticide Applicators’ Act allows the CDA to issue a $1,000 fine for each violation it identifies. For second offenses, that fine can be doubled.
“We do have the authority to revoke licenses [and] issue injunctions, so it can increase past the point of a civil penalty,” Scott says.
An Ohio group has filed petitions to add a “Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol” amendment to the state’s constitution. If the proposed amendment makes it to the ballot in November and passes, it will allow adult-use cannabis sales to commence in Ohio on July 1, 2021.
Tom Haren, a partner at Frantz Ward and spokesman for the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol group, told Cannabis Dispensary that the decision to file the petitions arose in light of confusing 90-day product allotments in its medical program and a refusal by the state medical board to add qualifying conditions to the program.
A lack of access for Ohioans with conditions such as anxiety and autism, and the need to provide them with product, are among those concerns about qualifying conditions, Haren says.
“A number of people have had doubts for a while about this state's willingness and interest in actually providing a program that works for Ohio patients,” he says.
RELATED: Ohio’s Medical Cannabis Is Too Expensive and Inconvenient, According to a Patient Survey
The Ohio Attorney General has 10 days from the filing date of March 2 to certify ballot language, according to a press release from Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.
March 4, 2020 – Cleveland, OH – Due to the continued growth of GIE Media’s Cannabis Conference, an annual event that brings industry stakeholders together to address the biggest opportunities and challenges facing plant-touching businesses in the legal cannabis market, GIE Media is pleased to announce the addition of Cassie Neiden to fill the newly created role of Conference Programming Director.
Previously, Neiden served as the managing editor for GIE Media’s Cannabis Business Times, Cannabis Dispensary and Cannabis Conference. She is also an experienced freelance writer, with bylines in publications such as Martha Stewart Weddings, Yahoo! Tech and Cleveland Magazine. She left GIE in April 2019 to join Firelands Scientific as the vertically integrated cannabis company’s director of marketing and communications. She helped launch the company’s infused products line, including tinctures, edibles, solventless concentrates and more. Neiden also led the company’s efforts around patient education and community outreach within the tightly regulated framework of Ohio’s nascent medical cannabis market.
In her new role with Cannabis Conference, Neiden will work directly Cannabis Group’s editorial and conference advisory teams to continually raise the level of education of the company’s in-person events. She will be responsible for the development of educational programming and speaker acquisition, and will work as a liaison with GIE Media’s marketing team to boost event awareness and promotion.
“We are excited to welcome Cassie back to GIE Media as the Cannabis Group’s first Conference Programming Director,” said GIE Media Group Publisher Jim Gilbride. “Now in its fourth year, Cannabis Conference continues to offer insight into the rapidly growing the cannabis market for senior management at cultivation and dispensary businesses, and we look forward to Cassie’s contributions as she helps continue to expand the conference’s educational content and attendance.”
“Cassie’s extensive experience with GIE Media’s cannabis brands, as well as her background in the industry, will serve her well in this new role as we continue to grow Cannabis Conference to best serve the market,” said Editorial Director Noelle Skodzinski.
According to the analysts at Headset, the last two years have seen steady growth in the cannabis beverage sector.
As consumers continue to look for new and innovative ways to consume cannabis, the Age of Weed Claws has begun.
And by "weed claws," I mean any of the new, cannabis-infused sparkling beverages recently entering the market (none of which are related to the White Claw brand, by the way).
So what brought us to this current level of hype around these concoctions?
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Given the general hype around CBD, expect to hear outlandish claims about its effect on coronavirus, most likely spread via social media. These claims are not true. There is no solid research on CBD and coronavirus.
The global concern over the coronavirus known as COVID-19 has many people taking precautions against contracting the virus.
Here’s what we know about cannabis and this novel coronavirus.
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Leafly.com ~
Utah’s first medical cannabis pharmacy opened Monday, giving patients a long-awaited legal option for buying marijuana treatments without venturing outside the state and sneaking the products back to their homes.
The debut of Dragonfly Wellness at 711 State St. in Salt Lake City marks a milestone for the state’s medical marijuana program, which has been germinating for about 15 months since voters and lawmakers laid the groundwork for it.
“For far too long we’ve been told what we should do and what we shouldn’t do,” Narith Panh, Dragonfly’s chief strategy officer, told reporters at a morning news conference.
Click here to read the complete article
Bethany Rodgers ~ Salt Lake Tribune ~
