MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press

While your team is hitting the field, you can be hitting the green with these weed strains.

The San Francisco 49ers are scheduled to face off against the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend.

Every house and apartment on your block will either be cheering for their team or idly waiting for halftime performances by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.

Regardless of whether you’re watching at home, at a stadium or at a bar, there are plenty of ways to include cannabis in the festivities.

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Before medical marijuana became legal in Oklahoma in 2018, some users learned how to utilize the plant for medicinal purposes, whether to medicate themselves or others, and have now turned that knowledge into a business.

Cherokee Nation citizen Joseph Gibson learned how to turn marijuana it into a concentrate known as Rick Simpson Oil.

The oil was coined for a man of the same name who created the concentrate to heal his cancer, Gibson said. He said in years past he had people come to him with different ailments.

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Lindsey Bark ~ Cherokee Phoenix ~

Boston’s first recreational marijuana shop may open its doors in the coming weeks — a landmark not only as the first in Boston in general, but also the first in Massachusetts owned by economic empowerment candidates.

The store, Pure Oasis, is set to open as soon as the end of February at 430 Blue Hill Ave. in Roxbury.

Owners Kobie Evans and Kevin Hart have secured their certificate of occupancy, which is the final step in obtaining municipal permission.

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Elyse Genrich ~ DailyFreePress.com ~ 

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI - PRESS RELEASE - A broad coalition of Missourians, named Missourians for a New Approach, has launched an effort to gather signatures for an initiative petition that would place a question on legalizing adult-use marijuana on the 2020 ballot in Missouri. The effort is being backed by many of the same Missourians and groups that passed a medical marijuana constitutional amendment with 66% in 2018.

“Eleven other states, including our neighbors in Illinois, have successfully regulated and taxed adult-use marijuana, bringing millions in new funding for state services,” said John Payne, campaign manager for Missourians for a New Approach and former campaign manager for New Approach Missouri, which successfully enshrined medical marijuana in the Missouri Constitution in 2018. “Missourians are strongly in favor of legalizing, taxing and regulating adult marijuana use and we are excited to give voters this opportunity in November.”

“I think Missourians are confident in the way the state has managed and regulated the medical marijuana program to this point and want to move sooner rather than later, following in the footsteps of many other states, to legalize the adult use of marijuana,” said Payne.

Some of the key provisions of initiative petition 2020-128, which is the one being circulated by Missourians for a New Approach, include:

The effort is backed by many of the same advocacy and grassroots organizations that supported the passage of Amendment 2, including the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) and New Approach PAC.

CANADA: Aphria announced that it closed its previously announced strategic investment from an institutional investor for aggregate gross proceeds to the Company of C$100,000,001. Pursuant to the Offering, the Significant Investor has agreed to purchase 14,044,944 units of the Company at a price of C$7.12 per unit. Each unit is comprised of one common share of Aphria and Read the full article...

MedMen CEO Adam Bierman is stepping down from the company and surrendering all of his Class A super voting shares. This move is effective Feb. 1.

Bierman will remain on the company's board of directors, which is now responsible for identifying and appointing a new CEO. MedMen COO Ryan Lissack will step in as interim CEO for now.

Last month, MedMen co-founder Andrew Modlin announced that he had handed over all of his super voting shares to the company’s Executive Chairman, Ben Rose, until December 2020.

“The board supports both Adam’s decision to step aside for a new CEO to lead the company, and his and Andrew’s decision to surrender their voting rights to give all shareholders a stronger voice. This evolution will provide Adam the space to contribute to the future of MedMen and extend his commitment to the industry that he has helped pioneer,” Rose said in a public statement.

The news follows a series of layoffs at the company in California and recent court filings that have shed light on internal financial matters. Investors have sued the company in state court, alleging breach of fiduciary duty. Part of the lawsuit described a complicated internal structure that vested nearly all voting power within the company in the hands of Bierman and Modlin, effectively silencing any investors' voices. That corporate power was conveyed in Bierman and Modlin's super voting shares.

At least 30,000 customers across multiple U.S. cannabis dispensaries have been impacted by a data breach linked to point-of-sale software company THSuite, and Matthew Dunn, associate managing director in the Cyber Risk Practice of Kroll, says the news should get cannabis business owners thinking more critically about their cybersecurity measures.

The recent data breach was first discovered by internet privacy researchers at vpnMentor, according to a Mashable report. The exposed data was stored in a completely unsecured and unencrypted location owned by THSuite, the news outlet reported, and was first discovered on Dec. 24. vpnMentor’s researchers contacted the THSuite team, and the database was closed on Jan. 14.

More than 85,000 files were leaked in the data breach, including at least 30,000 records that contain personally identifiable information, Mashable reported. Full names, birthdates, phone numbers, email addresses, street addresses, patient names and medical ID numbers, and information about specific cannabis purchases were included in the records, as well as photographs of scanned government and employee IDs, according to the news outlet.

“Whether it’s retail or any other company that has its sensitive data compromised, we see cybercriminals utilizing that type of information to conduct additional types of cyber-related attacks, but also using that information for fraudulent financial transactions, identity theft or other types of criminal actions,” Dunn told Cannabis Dispensary.

The cannabis industry is still relatively new, with start-ups launching all the time, and cybersecurity strategies might not always be a priority for new businesses who are just getting up and running, Dunn added. Still, he said, there are responsibilities associated with storing and maintaining sensitive customer data, and businesses should not take that lightly.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit against two apparent business owners, Guy Scott Griffithe of California and Robert William Russell of Washington, both of whom stand accused of running a pyramid scheme on at least 25 investors across more than two years. All told, the pair raked in $4.85 million to support a licensed Washington cannabis business that, somehow, never existed in the first place.

According to the SEC’s Jan. 21 complaint, hatched a plan in 2013 to raise funds for a cannabis business in Washington’s soon-to-be legal adult-use cannabis market. By August 2015, they had secured a license for a company called SMRB (doing business as Green Acre Pharms). “Investors were told that their investment capital would be used to operate and improve SMRB’s cannabis business and that SMRB’s resulting profits would be distributed to them quarterly in proportion to the equity they purchased,” the SEC complaint states. “[Griffithe and Russell] sold securities interests to investors that were fictitious and essentially worthless. The investors did not actually acquire any bona fide ownership stake in SMRB.”

Read the full civil complaint below.

Over the period from August 2015 to December 2017, Griffithe routinely placated investors with email updates and in-person meetings. Occasionally, the two defendants would set up tours of the Green Acre Pharms facility in Anacortes, Wash., pointing out “obsolete or surplus equipment and fixtures that [Russell] falsely said were going to be installed when he received money from their investors.”

All along, though, the money was going into Griffithe and Russell’s pockets. Reported personal purchases include: a 2008 Bentley Continental, a 2012 Mercedez Benz C Class, a 2013 Ford Mustang, a 2015 Porsche Panamera, a $250,000 payment toward a 65-ft. Pacific Mariner yacht and a $25,000 payment toward a 42-ft. Hydrasport custom power boat.

To continue the ruse, Griffithe cut checks to his investors from his own bank account—“just money that I’ve come up with in closing other deals,” he told Russell. More often than not, this was money “obtained from selling SMRB securities to investors” in the first place, according to the complaint.

Several state legislatures are considering adult-use cannabis legalization proposals this year, but those efforts could be abruptly halted if the states’ governors oppose policy reform efforts.

So, where do governors stand on the issue in 2020?

NORML released its 2020 Gubernatorial Scorecard Jan. 29, and assigned a letter grade of “A” through “F” to each U.S. state’s governor based on their cannabis-related comments and voting records in 2019.

Thirty-two U.S. governors—including 22 Democrats and 10 Republicans—received a passing grade of “C” or higher, according to NORML’s findings. This is an increase from last year, when only 27 governors earned passing marks.

Nine governors (all Democrats) received an “A” grade, while 12 governors (11 Democrats and one Republican) earned a “B” grade from NORML. Eleven governors (nine Republicans and two Democrats) received a “C.”

COLORADO: Legal cannabis sales grew 45.7% to $14.9 billion in 2019, led primarily by adult-use markets in Canada, California and Massachusetts, and supplemented by the unique approach to medical markets in Florida and Oklahoma, according to the “2020 Update to The State of Legal Cannabis Markets” (SOLCM) report released today from Arcview Market Research (“Arcview Group”) and BDS Analytics. Read the full article...

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PRESS RELEASE--Legal cannabis sales grew 45.7% to $14.9 billion in 2019, led primarily by adult-use markets in Canada, California and Massachusetts, and supplemented by the unique approach to medical markets in Florida and Oklahoma, according to the “2020 Update to The State of Legal Cannabis Markets” (SOLCM) report released from Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics.

This worldwide growth estimate is on par with the forecast in the original SOLCM, released in June 2019, and reflects the highest annual growth rate to date. This new data is in stark contrast with the mere 17% growth seen in 2018, due in large part to the shrinkage in California following the launch of adult-use sales on Jan. 1, 2018. As a result of expected growth in key adult-use markets in the U.S. and Canada, Arcview Group has updated their 2024 forecast to $42.7 billion in worldwide legal cannabis sales.

“The legal cannabis market grew by 46% in 2019 despite challenges caused by overregulation and overtaxing in the two biggest markets: California and Canada," said Troy Dayton, founder and chief strategy officer of The Arcview Group. "That is a true testament to just how popular cannabis is among consumers and the ongoing impact of new markets coming online and maturing. The possibilities are boundless as political progress opens up more markets across the world, and struggling markets sort out their regulatory framework.”

“By loosening product restrictions and adopting a more free-market approach to licensing, Florida, for example, has started to realize the potential of medical cannabis sales in a populous state,” said Tom Adams, managing director and principal analyst at BDS Analytics. “However, what we’re seeing in Oklahoma is a light regulatory touch and low tax rates, which allows citizens to access the health benefits of cannabis, out-perform the illicit market, and create a healthy tax revenue stream directly to the state’s government.”

Other key trends analyzed in the 2020 Update to The State of Legal Cannabis Markets include:

The Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-2 Jan. 29 to approve a cannabis decriminalization proposal, according to a local ABC News report.

S.B. 2 would decriminalize the possession of cannabis flower and oil by imposing a civil penalty of no more than $50. Under current law, those convicted of cannabis possession could receive a maximum fine of $500 and a maximum 30-day sentence for the first offense, according to a WTVR report.

The legislation would also raise the threshold for cannabis distribution offenses from one-half ounce to an ounce, and allows those with previous convictions to petition for expungement, according to the news outlet.

The legislation now goes to the Senate Finance Committee, according to ABC News.

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers has historically blocked proposals to legalize medical cannabis in the state, but this year, Stivers said there is “narrow path forward” to make it available for certain conditions, according to a Local 12 report.

Kentucky lawmakers have introduced two bills this year, H.B. 136 and S.B. 107, to again attempt to legalize medical cannabis in the state.

If the legislation can ultimately gain approval in the legislature and earn the governor’s signature, the state will launch its medical cannabis program Jan. 1, 2020, Local 12 reported.

Adult-use legalization is also on the table in this year’s legislative session; Kentucky Rep. Cluster Howard pre-filed a legalization bill in December with plans to use the tax revenue to fund the state’s retirement system.

While navigating a new industry can have its quirks, at the end of the day, the same basic principles apply to any business. Lean management practices have been adapted from the manufacturing industry to suit all industries, allowing managers to constantly hone processes to eliminate waste and maximize efficiency. But improving a business doesn’t have to be to the detriment of employees—in fact, the best practices can even boost employee morale.

Leif Abel, the co-founder of Greatland Ganja, Alaska’s second licensed marijuana establishment, will be discussing how lean management tactics can be applied to cannabis and hemp operations at the Cannabis Conference 2020. Here, he delves deep into what lean management is, how he uses it in his business and how he’s made it all about people. 

Hemp Grower: What is lean management and what are some of its basic principles?

Leif Abel: Lean business is to be efficient with everything. You want to make sure that every time you touch your product, you’re getting the job done and you’re not touching it too many times so that you’re not wasting labor, you’re not degrading your product, you’re not wasting material or space--these are the things that matter and add up over time. 

I would say the lean environment should, if it’s done properly, have a triple-P bottom line approach to it: people, place, product. From a sustainable and ecological standpoint, it’s a better way to run a business. If you’re thinking about the people, meaning your employees and your consumers and the folks in your local area, and then the place, meaning the environment that you’re working in, then that’s profit, with the idea being that your profit will actually do better if you concentrate on those three things in that order. At the very least, if not a triple-P approach, it should have a sort of sustainable approach to it, because I don’t think you can actually achieve long-term success if you’re not looking at sustainability from an environmental standpoint as well as from a long-term business survival standpoint. 

HG: How can growers implement lean practices into their businesses? 

LA: Really the biggest component when it comes to agriculture and farming is the labor. Because our types of companies are spending upwards of 40-55% of their expenses on labor, you can see how any sort of labor efficiency is important. A lot of it has to do with labor efficiency and figuring out the quickest, most successful way to do every task. If you’re getting the job quick but it’s not done right, then you’re actually not saving time or money. 

You could make a small, positive change in labor and have a pretty big effect on your books over time. A good example is that I think we’re paying less than half than we used to for fertilizer now, and we were really excited about that. My brother has spent quite a bit of time building relationships to get that deal. And then we turned around and looked at the books and we could barely tell. That’s because on the scale of things, we spend so little on fertilizer compared to what we spend on labor, so I would say be very careful of how much of your manager’s time you allocate toward bargain shopping for deals. His time might very well have been better spent on improving labor efficiency if he has that skill.

Whether it’s clothes, glass art, photography or paraphernalia, ‘stoner culture’ has inspired all sorts of artists.

In Eastern Washington, Riley Schultz and Nick Michaels started Evergreen State of Consciousness two years ago.

Their products are now carried at 12 locations in the Spokane area, including representation at a holiday pop-up store at the Spokane Valley Mall.

The pair is giving life to up-cycled, or very gently used, clothing. Schultz said they used sacred geometry patterns from nature, represented in their Sacred Washington design, with the goal “keeping the state sacred.”

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Jamaica wants to eliminate illicit cannabis growing by helping growers into the legal industry through its new Alternative Development Programme.

Jamaica’s Cannabis Licensing Authority has set up the new ‘Alternative Development Programme’, approved by the Cabinet of Jamaica.

The programme is a one-year pilot project geared towards transitioning current illicit cannabis farmers into the legal regulated cannabis industry.

It hopes to increase the legitimate earning potential of small, marginalised communities that have been disproportionately impacted by drug policy and regulation and that currently operate within the cannabis black market.

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Lawmakers in Colorado are considering a measure that, if passed, could have wide-reaching implications on a controversial issue: employees facing dismissal from their places of work due to off-duty cannabis use.

House Bill 20-1089 would ban an employer from terminating a worker “for the employee’s lawful off-duty activities that are lawful under state law.”

It would give Colorado employees protection from being fired for using cannabis -- a lawful activity in the Centennial State -- while away from work and during nonworking hours. Under the measure, any such dismissal would be considered a “discriminatory or unfair employment practice.”

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Bruce Kennedy ~ Leafly.com ~ 

TORONTO and LAS VEGAS, Jan. 28, 2020 /CNW/ - PRESS RELEASE - Flower One Holdings Inc., a cannabis cultivator, producer and innovator in Nevada, has announced the appointment of Molly Hemmeter to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Hemmeter will replace Warner Fong, who is stepping down due to the demands and time requirements of his other professional duties and obligations. 

"Flower One believes that our evolution and progress should not only be defined by our financial results, but also by our ability to be a steward of best-in-class corporate governance practices," said Ken Villazor, Flower One's president and CEO. "To accomplish this goal, we are actively looking for new ways to enhance our governance principles and evolve our Board of Directors. The addition of Molly Hemmeter to our Board is another step forward in advancing Flower One's leadership in the cannabis industry. Molly's executive management expertise, multi-sector industry involvement and prior board experience in the private and public sectors will support Flower One as we begin a new fiscal year focused on continued revenue growth and strong business fundamentals. We welcome Molly to the Flower One team, and I look forward to working closely together to continue to position Flower One as a leader in the Nevada cannabis market."

"On behalf of our Board and the company, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Warner Fong for his many contributions in supporting Flower One, particularly through our transition to a publicly traded company in October 2018," added Villazor.

Hemmeter has advised private and public companies in the health and wellness space with a particular focus on growth and sustainability for nearly three decades. She currently serves on the Board of Directors at Wilbur-Ellis, a leading international marketer, distributor and manufacturer of agricultural products, animal nutrients, and specialty chemicals and ingredients, with annual sales of over US$3.0 billion. Hemmeter recently served as CEO, president and a member of the Board of Directors of Landec Corporation, a publicly traded company in the health and wellness space with revenues of more than US$550 million. During her 10-year tenure at Landec, Hemmeter spearheaded the growth of Landec's two operating businesses: Curation Foods and Lifecore Biomedical. Curation Foods is an innovative, branded natural food company that works closely with its agricultural partners to distribute 100% clean ingredient products to retail, club and foodservice customers throughout North America. Lifecore is a specialty contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for FDA-approved pharmaceutical products. 

Prior to Landec, Hemmeter served as Vice President of Global Marketing and Business Development at Ashland Chemical, and also as an executive at two successful venture capital-backed software companies that were later acquired. Hemmeter held additional positions in strategy, marketing, engineering and operations at a number of other leading chemical, pharmaceutical and consumer product companies throughout her illustrious career.

SANTA ROSA, Calif., Jan. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- NewTropic, a cannabis manufacturer based in Santa Rosa, Calif., has announced that it has officially launched its "Type 7" manufacturing and co-packaging facility in Santa Rosa this week. The state-of-the-art facility, which is in the process of becoming cGMP certified, will have one of the highest production capacities in the United States. It will produce professional-grade cannabis products including bulk crude and distillate, flower and pre-rolls, and all forms of cannabis concentrates, with edibles and beverages coming online in 2020 – for California brands, cultivators, manufacturers and distributors.

"This new cGMP-level facility (certified by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration), is truly unique in terms of manufacturing capabilities and scale," said NewTropic Co-Founder and CEO Alex Rowland. "We spared no detail to build the best cannabis production facility in California from the ground up. Our vision is to take cannabis manufacturing to an entirely new level, one that's on par with top-tier food and pharmaceutical manufacturing."

NewTropic has taken a unique approach to cannabis manufacturing, combining the founders' extensive background in technology startups with manufacturing innovation and operational best practices. The technology and capacity deployed at the facility will enable the company to offer customers significant cost efficiencies, unmatched product quality and consistency, and the ability to scale production as their business grows.

"Our focus is to be highly professional in everything we do and to deliver for our customers," said Rowland, "something that unfortunately has been lacking in the cannabis industry."

NewTropic is already onboarding its initial set of customers and partners, including marquee cannabis brands as well as multi-state operators and distributors. The company has also been raising capital to support this vision, having closed over $10 million in venture funding to date. The company intends to raise additional capital in early 2020 to fund expansion into additional facilities in California and in other states.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Nabis Holdings Inc., a Canadian investment company with specialty investments in assets across multiple divisions of the cannabis sector, has announced that it has entered into a binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Panaxia Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.

Under the terms of the MOU, Panaxia will be providing proprietary pharma-grade cannabis-based products that have proven to be in high demand in other states in the U.S. including New Mexico, Colorado and California. The products will be produced in the first operating EU GMP facility in Arizona, under Nabis licenses, located at Nabis’ “Camp Verde” facility in Arizona, a 44,000-square-foot cultivation, production and fulfillment facility. Nabis will provide the raw materials for production of the products and will also be responsible for sales, marketing and distribution through their already established dispensary and whole-sale channels which serve more than 50% of Arizona dispensaries. Panaxia shall be responsible for the production, clinical affairs and quality. All products of the joint venture will be sold under the Panaxia brand, of which Nabis owns 50% in Arizona. Under the MOU, there is an opportunity for Nabis and Panaxia to expand their joint venture into additional states in the U.S.

“We are excited to partner with Panaxia to develop a variety of new, high quality, pharmaceutical grade products using proven EU GMP standards to meet the evolving needs of our patients,” said Shay Shnet, CEO and director of Nabis. “This joint venture fits well within our vertically-integrated cannabis portfolio and we look forward to co-creating new innovative products to deliver long-term value to our shareholders as well as our established Arizona customer base of over 36,000 patients and counting."