MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press

Smoke more, drink less. That appeared to be the trend among Canadians in the first full year of legal cannabis, when beer volumes fell by 3% through November, according to data from Beer Canada.

“This is far worse than the trends seen between 2014-2018, where beer industry volumes fell an average 0.3%,” and appears to be related to Canada’s legalization of pot in late 2018, said Cowen analyst Vivien Azer.

Domestic beer volumes slid 3.9% through November, while imported beer volumes grew 1.4%. Cannabis consumers appear to prefer mainstream beer “as they pursue better ‘buzz for your buck,”’ Azer said in a note published Tuesday.

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Kristine Owram ~ Bloomberg.com ~ 

More medical cannabis plants are being grown in New Mexico than ever before. But two rural water systems in Sandoval County say the crop may be depleting local water supplies, and they say they have been left powerless to stop it.

The Peña Blanca Water and Sanitation District and Sile Mutual Domestic Water and Sewer Association sent a letter last month to state agencies and legislators describing their concerns.

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Theresa Davis ~ Albuquerque Journal ~

Thailand opened its first full-time clinic specialising in traditional and alternative cannabis-based medicine on Monday (Jan 6), as part of a move by the government towards developing a medicinal cannabis industry.

"This is a pilot clinic, because we cannot produce enough doctors with expertise in cannabis," Public Health Minister, Anutin Charnvirankul, told reporters at the opening ceremony in Bangkok.

Patients will receive treatment free of charge for the first two weeks, he added.

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ChannelNewsAsia.com ~ 

OHIO: The State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy today published updated patient & caregiver numbers for December 2019. These numbers include: 83,857 Recommendations 78,376 Registered patients 5,617 Patients with Veteran Status 4,398 Patients with Indigent Status 449 Patients with a Terminal Diagnosis 55,617 Unique patients who purchased medical marijuana (as reported to OARRS by licensed Read the full article...

Owner of Belushi’s Farm to Provide Attendees Insights Into Challenges and Opportunities of Cannabis Cultivation OHIO:  Cannabis Conference 2020 presented by Cannabis Business Times, Cannabis Dispensary, and Hemp Grower, has announced that actor and celebrity cannabis business owner Jim Belushi will keynote this year’s conference program. The three-day event will be held at the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Read the full article...

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PRESS RELEASE--FSD Pharma Inc. has announced that its Class B Subordinate Voting Shares have been approved for listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol ‘HUGE.’ Trading on the NASDAQ is expected to commence at market open on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020.

The company’s shares will continue to be listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol ‘HUGE.’

“As we announce this much anticipated and coveted milestone, I want to congratulate the FSD Pharma team, our stakeholders and, most importantly, our shareholders. I also want to extend my gratitude to the members of the Board of Directors of FSD Pharma, and especially to the founders of the company, for their vision and for giving me an opportunity to lead the FSD Pharma team to achieve this strategic advantage. It is exciting to realize that once we begin trading on NASDAQ, we will be included in a select group of 12 Canadian-domiciled cannabis companies trading on either the NYSE or NASDAQ, and the first company in the history of the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) to be dual-listed on a major U.S. exchange," stated Raza Bokhari, MD, Executive Co-Chairman and CEO.

CBD products have largely been sold without governmental oversight in Florida, but this changed Jan. 1, when the office of Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried implemented new rules to regulate the industry.

The new rules address pesticide use, product labeling and the inspection of products produced or sold in the state, according to a South Florida Sun-Sentinel report. Retailers must pay a $650 fee to sell CBD products, and will be inspected to ensure compliance.

“[Inspectors] are going out, looking at what’s on the shelf and if you are not compliant with those labeling laws, you will be given a certain amount of time to become compliant,” Holly Bell, Fried’s cannabis director, told The News Service of Florida.

The Florida Legislature approved legislation paving the way for a regulated hemp industry in the state last year, and lawmakers charged Fried’s office with establishing a regulatory framework for hemp and CBD products, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

PIERRE, S.D. — PRESS RELEASE — On Jan. 6, South Dakota’s Secretary of State officially certified an adult-use legalization initiative for the 2020 ballot. Last month, a separate medical marijuana ballot initiative was also certified. South Dakota will now be the first state in American history to vote on medical marijuana and adult-use legalization initiatives on the same ballot.

The adult-use legalization initiative would legalize marijuana for adults aged 21 and over, establish a system for regulated sales of marijuana, and require the state legislature to enact a hemp cultivation law.

South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws, the campaign leading the constitutional adult-use legalization campaign, submitted over 50,000 signatures for its initiative in November. New Approach South Dakota, the campaign backing the medical marijuana effort, submitted over 30,000 signatures for its statutory initiative to enact a medical marijuana law for patients with debilitating medical conditions. The minimum number of signatures required for a constitutional initiative is 33,921. For a statutory initiative, 16,961 signatures are required.

Despite significant support among a majority of voters, politicians in South Dakota have failed to reform the state’s broken marijuana laws. South Dakota’s current laws are some of the harshest in the country. Industrial hemp and all forms of CBD oil are illegal with the exception of the FDA-approved medication Epidiolex. Gov. Noem previously vetoed a bill to legalize the cultivation of hemp. This past September, she reiterated her opposition by pledging to veto the issue again in 2020.

Two of the leading national marijuana policy reform organizations, the Marijuana Policy Project and New Approach PAC, are supporting the South Dakota campaigns.

PRESS RELEASE - Washington, DC: As first reported by Politico, the House Small Business Committee is waiving jurisdiction over the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act (H.R. 3884), making it the second House committee in the 116th Congress to advance legislation to end federal marijuana prohibition.

“With this action, the MORE Act is one step closer to becoming the first bill to end cannabis prohibition to pass the House of Representatives,” said NORML Political Director Justin Strekal. “Never have we been closer to ending federal marijuana criminalization. Thanks to the work of the Small Business Committee and Chairwoman Velazquez, the emerging legal cannabis industry will ultimately become more inclusive to small businesses and entrepreneurs.”

The MORE Act would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and incentivize states to facilitate the expungement of criminal records related to low-level marijuana offenses, among other changes. The bill passed in the Judiciary Committee on Nov. 20 with a bipartisan vote of 24 to 10.

At the 2020 International CES in Las Vegas this week, Keep Labs will be exhibiting on the show floor as an “Innovation Award Honoree.” Keep Labs, a Canadian cannabis storage product manufacturer for consumers, is the first cannabis company to be given such an award at CES. 

The problem? Keep Labs’ team can’t mention “cannabis” while they’re exhibiting. That dictate would extend to the company’s marketing materials and signage.

The solution? Keep Labs decided not to exhibit at CES this year.

CES issued the following statement to TechCrunch, which originally reported on the conflict: “There are no cannabis or e-cigarette products on the exhibit floor at CES, as the show does not have a category pertaining to that market. Given cannabis is not a category at CES, the company was able to exhibit under the terms they’d showcase their product as a storage device. … Keeps Lab (sic) fit in the Home Appliances category for the Innovation Awards.”

Keep Labs’ locked storage device involves facial recognition, allowing consumers to safely conceal cannabis products in the home—out of sight and away from children, but not totally stashed in the back of a closet. Because it’s a storage product, the company’s co-founder told TechCrunch, the issue over cannabis marketing came as a surprise—especially considering the broader Las Vegas area’s tolerance and abundant acceptance of cannabis messaging.

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A measure to legalize marijuana for adult use has officially qualified for South Dakota’s November ballot, the secretary of state’s office announced on Monday.

The proposed constitutional amendment, which was submitted by a former federal prosecutor in September, would allow adults 21 and older to possess and distribute up to one ounce of marijuana.

Individuals would also be allowed to cultivate up to three cannabis plants. 

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Kyle Jaeger ~ MarijuanaMoment.net ~ 

We’ve now got both feet firmly in 2020, but it’s worth pausing for a moment to see how the past year went down in pure sales numbers across the cannabis industry. In Massachusetts, for instance, the state drew $420 million in total cannabis sales last year (with sales only just beginning in November 2018).

As of January, Massachusetts has more than 30 licensed retailers selling adult-use cannabis.

“Marijuana retailers and consumers should be commended for participating in an extremely smooth roll out of the legal adult-use cannabis industry in Massachusetts for the first year,” Commission Chairman Steven J. Hoffman said in a public statement last November, marking the formal one-year anniversary of adult-use sales. “Hundreds of millions of dollars in sales are one measure of success, but I am even prouder of the way in which marijuana establishments have worked with the Commission to gain and preserve compliance with our regulations and patrons continue to inform themselves about the law and their responsibilities when they visit Massachusetts stores.”  

 

Those metrics come in a time frame that included the state’s temporary ban on all cannabis vape products, a legal reaction to the vaping-relating lung illnesses that began to sweep the U.S. in the late summer of 2019.  

Looking ahead, the Cannabis Control Commission has extended its data tracking platform to the public. Business owners and consumers may watch week-over-week trends in adult-use cannabis sales across the state, gathering a sense of how different product categories are selling against one another. Flower makes up nearly half of all sales in Massachusetts, for instance, while edibles net just shy of 25%. 

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CALIFORNIA: Hightimes Holding Corp., the owner of the most well-known brand in Cannabis, today announced the naming of Stormy Simon, former President of Overstock.com, Inc., as its new Chief Executive Officer. The move comes as the company prepares to develop its physical and virtual distribution businesses. Having spent the last year acquiring Cannabis media publications and Read the full article...

Thailand opened its first full-time clinic to provide cannabis-based medicine Jan. 6, according to The New York Times.

The country legalized medical cannabis in 2018, and has been slowly moving toward developing a regulated industry. In September, the government removed low-THC cannabis and hemp extracts (containing 0.2% THC or less) from its list of scheduled narcotics, and hospital and research facilities are permitted to produce these extracts.

The health ministry’s Government Pharmaceutical Organisation is currently the largest producer of cannabis in the country, The New York Times reported, and the government is reviewing regulations that will allow private Thai businesses to apply for licenses.

About 25 cannabis clinics already exist in Thailand, attached to general hospitals around the country, The New York Times reported, but they operate just a few days per week due to limited staff.

Patients will receive free treatment at the new full-time clinic for the first two weeks, according to the news outlet, and the clinic expects to see 300 to 400 patients daily.

At least six Chicago cannabis dispensaries closed their doors to adult-use customers Jan. 6 due to supply issues, according to a Chicago Sun-Times report.

Only 10 of the city’s 11 cannabis retailers have been granted licenses to sell to the newly legal adult-use market, the news outlet reported, and four of the stores—MOCA in Logan Square, NuMed in West Town, Zen Leaf in Norwood Park and The Herbal Care Center on the Near West Side—indicated that they were sold out of product or had limited supply, and were focused exclusively on selling to the medical market Monday. Maribis of Chicago in Brighton Park plans to remain closed to adult-use customers until February, Chicago Sun-Times reported.

A spokesman for Cresco Labs told the news outlet that four of the company’s Sunnyside* Dispensaries in Lake View, Elmwood Park, Rockford and Champaign would be closed Jan. 6  “to reset and give the staff that has worked five 14-hour days straight a break.” The shops are slated to reopen Jan. 7.

Other retailers are placing limits on adult-use sales, according to Chicago Sun-Times; Dispensary 33 in Uptown was serving only a limited number of adult-use customers Jan. 6, while Mission in South Chicago implemented a $300 spending limit on adult-use sales.

Illinois saw nearly $3.2 million in adult-use cannabis sales Jan. 1, the first day of sales.

The Utah Department of Health announced Jan. 3 the 10 companies that will ultimately be licensed to sell medical cannabis at 14 locations across the state beginning in March.

The following companies have received approval:

Beehive’s Own (two licenses in Salt Lake City and Box Elder)Bloom Medicinals, Cedar CityColumbia Care, SpringvilleCuraleaf, LindonDeseret Wellness (two licenses in Park City and Provo)Justice Grown Utah (two licenses in Salt Lake City)Pure UT, VernalDragonfly Wellness, Salt Lake CityTrue North of Utah (two licenses in Logan and Ogden)Wholesome Therapy, West Bountiful

Dragonfly Wellness, True North of Utah and Wholesome Therapy also have cultivation licenses, according to a KSL.com report.

The pharmacy licenses were divided among four geographic regions, according to the news outlet, and will open in two phases—eight pharmacies will open in March, while the other six will be permitted to open in July.

The state received 130 applications from 60 different companies, KSL.com reported.

Colorado lawmakers are working on legislation that would expunge past cannabis-related convictions, but questions remain about whether a forthcoming bill will establish an automatic expungement process or whether people will have to apply to have their records cleared.

As Colorado enters its seventh year of legalized cannabis, State Rep. Jonathan Singer (D-Longmont) has announced that there will be expungement legislation introduced in 2020, according to a Denver Post report.

“The goal and the hope is to make it automatic,” Singer told the news outlet. “The question is how. It’s a question of time and cost.”

Legislation in 2017 allowed those convicted of low-level cannabis offenses in the state to petition to have their conviction records sealed, the Denver Post reported, and expungement through application is already available in Denver and Boulder County, but only 71 people out of more than 17,000 eligible candidates have been successful in having their records cleared as of mid-October.

“Building sustainably makes sense not just for optics, but as an investment."

Growing marijuana, an energy-intensive activity, is not easy to take “off the grid.”

Yet that is what Solar Therapeutics is planning to do.

This month the marijuana cultivation and retail company will turn on its microgrid, essentially giving Solar Therapeutics its own power plant, which will generate all the energy required to power its 42,000-square-foot marijuana grow facility. 

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The cannabis craze is in full bloom, and some Chicago bar and restaurant owners are experimenting with its non-trippy cousin to capitalize on the buzz, as it were.

At Young American bar in Logan Square, for instance, you can add CBD (cannabidiol), the non-psychotropic relative of weed, to a drink of pineapple shrub, orange blossom water and lemon tonic.

And that's just the start. Derived from hemp, CBD, which some claim helps relieve pain and anxiety, has exploded in popularity since 2018, with consumers increasingly seeking natural products that tout health and wellness benefits.

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Dalton Barker ~ Crain's Chicago Business ~

 

Years after Mainers voted to allow recreational marijuana, state officials are just now accepting applications for retailers.

Staff at 1 Mill in Belfast are starting 2020 with a steady stream of customers. The owner, Paul McCarrier, hopes to expand from selling medicinal marijuana to recreational, also known as adult use.

“What we’re hoping to see is that this be a Maine based system, much like a lot of our small breweries and we’ve seen that be very successful, so we’re hoping the state will be willing to work hand in hand with us,” he said.

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