Cannabis Mergers & Acquisitions Heat Up With Three $60M+ Deals in One Week

10/05/2021

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Cannabis firms Ayr Wellness Inc., Curaleaf Holdings Inc., and The Parent Company each announced acquisition deals on Monday for $80 million, $67 million, and $65.2 million, respectively.

Miami-based multistate operator Ayr announced the close of its purchase of PA Natural Medicine, LLC, which operates three dispensaries in Bloomsburg, State College, and Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Those dispensaries will be rebranded to “Ayr” by the end of the year, the company said.

The terms of the deal include upfront consideration of $80 million, including $35 million in cash $25 million in seller notes, and $20 million in stock. An earn-out based on 2021 Adjusted EBITDA, is payable in the first quarter of next year.

Ayr now operates in Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.

Massachusetts’ Curaleaf also on Monday said it had completed its acquisition of Los Sueños Farms, which at 66 acres is the largest outdoor grow in Colorado. In a statement, Boris Jordan, executive chairman of Curaleaf, said the “deal provides Curaleaf with a high-quality, efficient, and low-cost supply of biomass to support our wholesale and retail customers in Colorado.”

“And, once interstate commerce is allowed, on a regional scale. Overall, our newly expanded cultivation capacity will allow us to better serve Colorado’s $2.2 billion annual cannabis market opportunity.”—Jordan in a statement

The $67 million deal includes land, equipment, a 1,800 plant indoor grow, and two retail cannabis dispensaries.

The $62.5 million deal announced also on Monday by California-based The Parent Company (TPCO Holding Corp) is for 100% equity of the retail dispensary and delivery operator Coastal Holding Company, LLC, for $16.2 million in cash with considerations of up to $40 million in equity of The Parent Company upon the completion of milestone events, the company said in a press release. The deal also includes a $9 million option to acquire the remaining equity of a dispensary that Coastal currently holds a minority interest in.

Once finalized, the acquisition will increase The Parent Company’s current California retail store and delivery depot footprints to 11 and six, respectively. The company said it will position it with the second-largest operating retail dispensary and delivery hub in the Golden State with an expanded reach to more than 80% of the state’s population.

The deal still requires approval from state regulators and the NEO Exchange which is expected next year.

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Boundless Technology Teams Up with Keep A Breast Foundation

10/05/2021

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In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Boundless Technology is releasing two limited-edition Terp Pen wax vapes and donating $5 from every unit sold directly to the Keep A Breast Foundation. This is the second annual release of the KAB X Terp Pen collaboration, with over $10,000 donated last year. The KAB Foundation, established in 2000, has a mission to reduce breast cancer risk and its impact globally through art, education, prevention, and action. The Keep A Breast Foundation Terp Pen is available in pink or navy blue for $34.99 on https://bndlstech.com/.

“We choose to support the Keep A Breast Foundation because their mission to reducing the risk of breast cancer is an important cause, especially to everyone here at Boundless,” said Mathias Nastos, Direct of Marketing. “And the Foundation’s vision to empower the younger generation through education closely aligns with our own core values. We will continue to support them in their tireless efforts as best we can.”

The fight against breast cancer is something the Boundless team cares deeply about and they consider the cannabis industry a growing platform to drive awareness. With many patients still learning about cannabis for the potential benefits, Boundless hopes their work with the Keep A Breast Foundation will offer more mainstream information. There is ongoing research needed toward finding a cure and the money raised from this partnership will help fund scientific advancements. As this limited release grows in popularity each year, it has a wider reach to provide a greater impact.

Considered the flagship product at Boundless Technology, the Terp Pen is a leading electronic nectar collector or honey straw. It’s a compact dab pen with a stainless-steel coil wrapped around ceramic that heats instantly for use with concentrates.  A 300 mAh (3.7V) battery powers the Terp Pen for up to 50 10-second inhales per charge. Take direct dabs into a concentrate container or preload the coil for discreet wax hits on the go. And the stainless-steel body remains durable even after extended use.

Keep A Breast Foundation Terp Pen Features:

  • Limited Edition Color Options
  • Keep A Breast Heart Logo Design
  • Compatible with Concentrates
  • Instant Heat-Up
  • Buttonless Functionality
  • 100% Medical Grade Stainless Steel

Different from many concentrate pens, the Terp Pen features a unique exposed ceramic coil that can be used as a nectar collector for dabbing directly into concentrates. It also uses buttonless technology, relying on your breath to power the heating coil. The long battery life allows for many frequent sips of vapor between charges. A magnetic cap keeps the exposed coil protected when not in use and can be used to hold concentrates. Take the Terp Pen on the go or dab in the comfort of your own home.

About Boundless Technology

Boundless Technology is a leader in the vaporizing industry, continually seeking ways to expand beyond what’s currently available on the market, and striving to create innovative technology that keeps portability, subtlety, and effectiveness at the forefront. Offering an affordable, efficient, and elevated experience is the focal point when it comes to Boundless.

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Minnesota Hemp Law Only Applies to ‘Leafy Plant Material’

10/05/2021

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The Minnesota Court of Appeals last month issued a decision to uphold a drug conviction of an individual arrested for vape cartridges containing less than .3% THC. The court ruled that “as a matter of law … the 0.3[%] threshold does not apply to a liquid mixture containing [THC].”

The ruling comes despite Minnesota lawmakers changing the definition of “marijuana” in the state’s Schedule I definition of the substance. The new definition included hemp only in the form of plant material, not in the form of a liquid, the report says.

“In light of the statutory amendments, we conclude as a matter of law that the 0.3[%] threshold in the amended statute applies to cannabis in the form of leafy plant material. We further conclude that the state’s evidence is insufficient to prove that the leafy plant material possessed by Loveless contains delta-9 [THC] in a concentration greater then 0.3[%]. But we conclude as a matter of law that the 0.3[%] threshold does not [sic] apply to a liquid mixture containing [THC], and we further conclude that the state’s evidence is sufficient to prove Loveless possessed a liquid mixture that contains [THC].” — Minnesota vs Loveless, Sept. 13, 2021

The ruling could have an impact on the hemp products currently sold throughout the state, including flower extracts and those derived from other cannabinoids like CBD and CBN that contain THC in amounts below the 0.3% threshold.     

In a September 22 statement, Elliot Ginsburg, an attorney for the Minnesota Cannabis Association, said if the Court of Appeals ruling is upheld, “it has the possibility of destroying the industry as we know it.”

“It would allow the sale and possession of hemp flower only,” he said, “and would criminalize the sale and possession of extracts.”

Steven Brown, a board member of the trade group, said that criminalization “wasn’t the intent of the 2018 Farm Bill.”

“This could destroy many businesses in Minnesota,” Brown said in a statement. “Not just THC businesses but tobacco shops and even grocery stores. According to the way this trial went, all of them are doing something completely illegal, but it shouldn’t be.”

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Kansas Advocates Form Cannabis Chamber of Commerce

10/05/2021

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Cannabis industry advocates have formed the Kansas Cannabis Chamber of Commerce despite broad medical cannabis reforms failing in the state Legislature earlier this year, the Kansas Reflector reports. Kansas is bordered by Colorado, which has legalized cannabis for adults, and Oklahoma and Missouri, which have legalized medical cannabis access.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (R) in May signed a bill legalizing cannabis-derived oils with less than 5% THC for a limited number of patients. A more comprehensive medical cannabis bill was approved last session by the House but was not taken up by the Senate.

Heather Steppy, president of the new chamber of commerce and co-owner of the CBD business KC Hemp Co., noted in an interview with the Reflector Podcast that the cannabis industry “comes with a lot of nuances” and that the organization would advocate for industry reforms.

“We’re not inventing the wheel. We’re just trying to, you know, grease it up and get it working for Kansas. … I mean, banking is a problem. Marketing is a problem. Choosing the name is a problem. So, we really just want to be able to provide guidance and consultation to those who want to get into this industry and really help lay the groundwork for when medical cannabis does become a thing in Kansas.”—Steppy via the Reformer Podcast

According to an October 2020 Kansas Speaks poll cited by Marijuana Moment, 66.9% of Kansans support legalizing medical cannabis, with 22.2% opposed, and 10.9% undecided.

The bill approved by the House would cover patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and other debilitating conditions. It would also allow cultivation and sales by private businesses and allow universities to conduct cannabis research. Under the law, patients would be allowed to neither smoke nor vape cannabis nor grow their own.

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Oklahoma Cannabis Agency Announces Major Changes

10/05/2021

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The director of the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) said the agency is going through a “hard reset,” News On 6 reports.

Adria Berry, the agency’s fourth director in three years, told News On 6 that compliance checks and public safety will be the priority going forward.

“We can’t change where we came from, but we can definitely change where we’re going. So, from this point on, it is a hard reset.” — Berry, via News On 6

Less than 40% of Oklahoma’s 8,857 growers and 2,415 processors have been inspected since Oklahoma passed Question 788 in 2018.

“We absolutely do not have enough compliance inspectors on staff to keep up with the growth of the license numbers we’ve seen,” Berry said. “We’ve had a 25% increase in industry license applications in the last year.”

The agency is looking to hire an additional 40 inspectors to add to the roughly two dozen currently on staff. Additionally, agricultural groups are proposing increased licensing fees to slow down medical cannabis growth in rural Oklahoma. However, OMMA Deputy Director Barrett Brown indicated that officials do not necessarily want to make it harder for cannabis start-ups.

“We are a very business-friendly state, always have been, and will continue to be,” he said. “What we do want to ensure is that those businesses who do start are doing it the right way and are following the right regulations, and that’s what we’re staffing up to ensure.”

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Justin Bieber Reveals ‘Peaches’ Cannabis Pre-Rolls

10/04/2021

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Canadian singer and former teen idol Justin Bieber has partnered with Los Angeles-based cannabis company Palms to release “Peaches,” a product line of cannabis pre-rolls named after a song on his latest album, according to a Forbes report.

Palms, or Tres Palmas Inc, specializes in cannabis pre-rolls with its flagship product line currently available in the California and Nevada marketplaces.

The Peaches pre-rolls are available starting today in three adult-use markets — California, Nevada, and Massachusetts — as well as Florida. The packages cost between $50 and $60 per pack and contain seven half-gram joints featuring fruity and citrus flavors (note: Florida-based Peaches products will only contain five pre-rolls as per the state’s restrictive medical cannabis rules).

While the financial details behind Palms’ and Bieber’s partnership were not disclosed, a portion of Peaches profits will reportedly be donated to cannabis support groups including Veterans Walk and Talk and the Last Prisoner Project.

“I’m a fan of Palms and what they are doing by making cannabis approachable and helping to destigmatize it — especially for the many people who find it helpful for their mental health. I wanted to make sure that I was doing something with them that felt genuine and Peaches felt like a good place to start.” — Bieber, in a statement

Bieber has previously been candid about using cannabis to manage his own mental health.

Tres Palmas Inc. co-founder Noah Annes told Forbes that Bieber’s “vulnerability and openness about his mental health struggles” had impressed the company. “With Justin’s help shining the spotlight on these important topics, we hope to inspire others to talk more freely about both mental health and cannabis consumption,” he said in the report.

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Clint Eastwood Wins $6.1M in CBD Lawsuit

10/04/2021

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Actor Clint Eastwood and Garrapata, the company that owns the right to his likeness, on Friday won about $6.1 million in a lawsuit against a Lithuanian company that had used Eastwood’s image and likeness to promote its CBD products without permission, the New York Times reports.

The lawsuit was one of 20 filed last year by the actor and Garrapata last year. The companies had used Eastwood’s likeness, false quotes, and manipulated metatags to make it appear the actor had endorsed the products when he had not.

U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner entered a default judgment against Mediatonas UAB, which had published a completely made-up article that included an interview with Eastwood with an outlet meant to resemble the “Today” show, which included a photo of Eastwood from an actual appearance on the morning show, along with links to purchase the CBD products. The firm failed to respond to a summons in March, leading to the $6 million judgment for unauthorized use of Eastwood’s name and likeness and about $95,000 in attorney fees. The judgment includes a permanent injunction that prohibits future use of his name and likeness, the report says.

Klausner, however, declined to rule in favor of Eastwood’s defamation claims, determining that the language used in the ad “was not libelous on its face.”

“It requires additional context to understand what CBD products are and why a person like Clint Eastwood would not endorse a marijuana-based product.”—Klausner in the ruling via the Times

Jordan Susman, a lawyer for Eastwood, said that in bringing the case and obtaining the judgment, the actor “demonstrated a willingness to confront wrongdoing and hold accountable those who try to illegally profit off his name, likeness, and goodwill.”

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MedMen Co-Founders Suing New Cannabis Company Partners

10/04/2021

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The co-founders of MedMen Enterprises, Adam Bierman and Andrew Modlin, are suing the co-owners of Coastal Holding Company claiming the retail dispensary chain conspired to dump the company in a “liquidation sale,” News Primer reports. Bierman and Modlin were ousted from MedMen in June 2020, they joined Coastal as investors and part owners about 13 months ago through their LMAJ firm, the report says.

In the lawsuit, which was first reported by Law360, Bierman and Modlin claim they have the right to approve the $56.2 million sale, while co-owners of Coastal say the former MedMen executives arranged the sale and Bierman “has repeatedly expressed concern that Coastal will not survive without an immediate capital injection.”

The duo maintains partial ownership in the company, which owns eight industry licenses in California, after a $3.7 million investment. In the court filing, the five defendants claim that Coastal’s proposed sale and a disputed $1 million bridge loan were necessary to keep the business afloat and pay an Internal Revenue Service debt of $640,000.

“The defendants have abused their power and treat Coastal as their possession to do as they please without regard to Coastal’s operating agreement or their fiduciary duties to the other Coastal shareholders.” — Court documents via News Primer

The sale was unanimously approved by the Coastal board but the defendants claim that Bierman fielded a “backup offer” that he preferred over the $56.2 million deal, which the Coastal co-founders described as “far inferior to the current offer and not in the interest of the company.”

“Since defendants (and therefore Coastal) rejected Mr. Bierman’s ‘offer of support,’ plaintiff has taken every practice and maneuver he can think of to prevent the current offer from reaching a successful conclusion,” the co-founders said in their defense.

Bierman and Modlin are seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop both the Coastal sale and the proposed $1 million bridge loan.

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Idaho Man Sues Curaleaf After Taking Mislabeled CBD

10/04/2021

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Idaho man Jason Crawforth is suing Curaleaf, the cannabis company behind an Oregon product recall last week, claiming he took Curaleaf’s high-THC Select drops rather than their high-CBD Select drops, which landed him in the emergency room, The Oregonian reports. At least thirteen other people reported taking Curaleaf’s mislabeled Select brand CBD drops, the report says, resulting in at least two other lawsuits filed last week.

According to the suit, Crawforth bought what he thought was a high-CBD tincture around the end of August and later ingested it while camping in Nevada in early September.

“My body started shaking. I couldn’t stop my arms and legs from quivering. And my mind was disappearing.” — Jason Crawforth, via OregonLive

After abandoning his camping trip due to the symptoms, Crawforth took a second dose of the contaminated Curaleaf drops and went back to Idaho. Still unaware of the THC/CBD mix-up, his symptoms returned but this time he was driving his motor home.

“If my friend wasn’t with me, I would have driven that motor home off the road or crashed into a car coming the other way,” he said.

He did not know he had ingested THC until after checking into an emergency room and doctors told him he had THC in his system. After a friend who also took drops from the same bottle went to the ER, Crawforth put two and two together and contacted Oregon regulators, who said Crawforth filed the first report alerting them to the mix-up, according to the report.

The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) said last week that Curaleaf had mixed up their Select CBD drops with a high-THC blend. Curaleaf blames the event on “human error,” saying in a statement that the company is “grateful to the OLCC and individuals who brought this serious matter to our attention.”

“We sincerely apologize to all customers impacted by this mistake,” the company said.

Crawforth says he is still feeling the effects from the un-wanted high, saying he has aged “20 years in three weeks.”

“I’ve never had a product that was mislabeled, and it’s quite scary when you get something that you’re not anticipating,” he said. “I want other people to not have to go through something like this. There should have been better controls in place.”

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Florida Advocates Launch Ballot Drive to Legalize Cannabis

10/04/2021

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Florida advocates are launching a campaign to legalize cannabis cultivation and use for adults after the state Supreme Court blocked a different ballot initiative campaign in April to legalize cannabis broadly, WUSF Public Media reports. The Sensible Florida proposal would allow people 21 or older to grow and use cannabis, with a cap of 18 plants per household, and includes language to prevent lawmakers from limiting the percentage of THC allowed in cannabis and cannabis-based products.

The 5-2 Florida Supreme Court ruling earlier this year determined that the Make it Legal-proposed recreational cannabis legalization ballot initiative would have run afoul of federal law and that constitutional amendments “cannot unequivocally ‘permit’ or authorize conduct that is criminalized under federal law.” The court concluded the initiative was, therefore, “affirmatively misleading” in that it did not do enough to inform voters that cannabis would remain federally prohibited despite state legalization.

The summary of the proposal notes that, if approved, it would “not permit selling marijuana” and “does not immunize federal law violations.”

Sensible Florida would need to submit 891,589 valid petition signatures and get state Supreme Court approval before it could take the proposed constitutional amendment to voters. Advocates would need to submit the signatures by a February 1 deadline to get the question on 2022 ballots. The measure would require approval from 60% of voters.

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Product Recall in Oregon Following CBD/THC Mixup

10/01/2021

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The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) last week recalled Cura CS, LLC’s Select brand tincture products after the company mixed up its line of THC and CBD products. The commission issued an initial recall for some of the company’s products on September 21 after consumer reports of the CBD products getting them high.

The subsequent recall was for THC tincture which actually contained the Select brand’s CBD formulation, the OLCC said.

“After our preliminary investigation, we believe this mistake occurred due to unintentional human error,” Curaleaf, the parent company of Cura, said in a statement to the Oregonian.

The September 24 recall includes Select Tincture 30 milliliter THC Drops (1,000mg unflavored) which are only available for sale at OLCC licensed retailers. The OLCC said it conducted preliminary tests of the product and found that it contained no detectable THC.

The OLCC estimates about 630 units were sold beginning June 29, 2021, and about 130 units are still on the shelves of OLCC retailers.

Individuals who purchased the affected CBD products, reported “paranoia,” “mind fog,” and feeling “extremely high,” the commission said.

Mark Pettinger, spokesman for the OLCC cannabis program, told the Oregonian that he couldn’t “think of anything similar to this happening in the past.”

The product mix-up was reported to the OLCC by a customer from Idaho that had purchased, what they believed to be CBD products, in Oregon.

Last year, Cura was hit with a record $110,000 fine for “dishonest conduct” for falsely claiming that a line of Select vapes contained 100% cannabis.

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Trulieve Completes Harvest Acquisition in Record $2.1B Deal

10/01/2021

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Trulieve Cannabis Corp. has completed its takeover of Harvest Health and Recreation in a $2.1 billion deal—the largest ever in the U.S. cannabis industry. On a combined basis, in the second quarter 2021, Trulieve and Harvest had $317.6 million in reported revenue, the highest among U.S. public reporting cannabis companies, the firm’s said.

The combined company now owns and operates 149 cannabis dispensaries across 11 states. In May, when the deal was first announced, the companies estimated that the combined firm would have a consensus 2021 revenue of $1.2 billion.

Kim Rivers, Trulieve CEO, described the deal as “a transformational milestone” for the firm “and positions Trulieve as the leading medical and adult-use cannabis operator in the U.S.”

“The combined footprint provides Trulieve with a solid foundation for continued growth and scale. We look forward to fully integrating Harvest as we continue to execute on our hub strategy in the U.S., creating an unrivalled brand and reputation in the marketplace and value for our shareholders.”—Rivers in a press release  

Under the terms of the deal, Harvest shareholders received 0.1170 of a subordinate voting share of Trulieve for each subordinate voting share of Harvest (on a converted basis) held. In total, Trulieve issued 50,874,175 Trulieve shares in connection with the transaction in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding Harvest shares. The company anticipates that the subordinate voting shares of Harvest will be delisted from the Canadian Securities Exchange as of the close of trading on October 4.

“This combination brings together two companies with depth and scale in key markets, providing a platform for growth for years to come,” said Steve White, CEO of Harvest, in a statement. “Trulieve’s customer-centric values match well with Harvest’s dedication to improving lives through the goodness of cannabis.”

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House Judiciary Committee Approves MORE Act

10/01/2021

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The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act by a 26-15 margin, including all 24 Democrats on the panel and two Republicans voting ‘yes,’ with 15 Republicans voting ‘no.’

The bill would remove cannabis from the federal schedule of controlled substances and expunge federal cannabis convictions. The legislation would also allow cannabis sales, including a federal tax.

In a statement, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) said the “long overdue and historic legislation would reverse failed federal policies criminalizing marijuana.”

“It would also take steps to address the heavy toll this policy has taken across the country, particularly among communities of color. … I have long believed that the criminalization of marijuana has been a mistake. The racially disparate enforcement of marijuana laws has only made it worse, with serious consequences, particularly for communities of color.”—Nadler in a press release

Several national polls have found broad support for the reforms, including an April 2021 Quinnipiac University poll which found 69% of Americans support cannabis legalization, with 25% opposed; a November 2020 Gallup poll which found 68%-32% split in favor of legalization; and an April 2021 Pew Research Center poll, which found 60% of Americans supported broad legalization, 31% support for medical use only, and just 8% supporting full prohibition.

“Whatever one’s views are on the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal use, the policy of arrests, prosecution, and incarceration at the Federal level has proven unwise and unjust,” Nadler added.

The proposal still needs to move out of the House Agriculture Committee and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee before making its way to the full chamber.

Last December, the House passed the bill in a mostly partisan 228-164 vote. It was never considered in the Senate.

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Jon O’Connor & Amy Cirincione O’Connor: Humboldt Cannabis Tourism

10/01/2021

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As cannabis reforms become more and more widespread, the traditional tourism industry has unfortunately been slow to accept the cannabis community. Even in Humboldt County, California — which is world-famous for its expert cannabis cultivators and cannabis-friendly climate — travelers can find it difficult to legally appreciate the region’s most archetypal crop.

In our latest podcast episode, our host TG Branfalt interviews Jon O’Connor and Amy Cirincione O’Connor, who co-founded Humboldt Social earlier this year on a mission to deliver cannabis-friendly lodging, dining, and event opportunities. This podcast episode covers their company launch, the latest cannabis tourism trends as society emerges from COVID-19 restrictions, California’s limited opportunities for social use, and more!

Tune in to the interview via the media player below or scroll further down to find a full transcript of the podcast.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the transcript:

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Cara Wietstock: Hi, I’m Cara Wietstock, culture editor at Ganjapreneur and host our YouTube show Fresh Cut. The best way to understand cannabis business is to speak directly to those who work within it and Fresh Cut was created to shine recognition on the people who fill these roles. In this interview series, we focus on those with their hands and the dirt, both literally and figuratively. From cultivators to bud tenders, educators to advocates, activists to lobbyists. We aim to illuminate the workers who keep this industry thriving. Enjoy one-on-one conversations with me and guests by watching along on the Ganjapreneur YouTube channel and follow our social channels to keep up with the latest episodes. Have a great day.

TG Branfalt: Hey, there, I’m your host TG Branfalt and thank you for listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast, where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today, I’m joined by Jon O’Connor and Amy Cirincione O’Connor, founders of Humboldt Social, a California hospitality and wellness brand that is incorporating cannabis into its current business model. Jon has been a founding COO and board member of Dosist, a globally recognized cannabis wellness company, and is a member of the founding team of cannabis wellness brand, Papa & Barkley. How are you doing this afternoon, Jon and Amy?

Jon O’Connor: We’re doing great.

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: Doing great. Thank you.

TG Branfalt: So, before we get sort of in the details of this really, really, really cool project you guys have going on tell me about yourselves and tell me about Humboldt Social.

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: Let’s see, I am a licensed clinical social worker who came into this industry, I think accidentally. I would think as Jon and I got together and started kind of planning out our future, realizing that the path of AirBnb and investing in properties that could also be revenue streams for us would give us so much flexibility in terms of our life, right. It would give us opportunities to travel and to just see the world in a really different way, and maybe not be locked into a 9:00 to 5:00 job for the rest of our lives.

TG Branfalt: Who wants that?

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: Exactly. And so that was really the sort of axy. I think we were just thinking, we would just dip our toes into hospitality by renting out a spot that we owned and living out of backpacks for a while, and then we’ve just sort of grown and grown and grown. And for us, I think integrating cannabis came in just seeing a real lack of integration and recognition of cannabis, not just the plant, but also the community within the hospitality industry. We just so much of a, especially in an area like Humboldt where cannabis and tourism are really the twin drivers of the economic engine up here, for us it just felt really natural and kind of obvious to join them together. And so, I don’t… unlike Jon, I don’t have any formal business background, but like I said, it’s kind of obvious. I think some of the things that need to get done and so just been learning along the way.

TG Branfalt: And how about you, Jon? Tell me about how you came into all of this.

Jon O’Connor: Yeah, well, look, I’ve been in Humboldt County for about 21 years now. I came here after college and the interesting thing is I’m still not local, after being here for over half my life. But I’ve very much appreciated the culture and the people. I started out doing tourism, so I ran zip lines. I was a river guide, all sort of surrounded redwoods in Humboldt. And after we sort of continued to build that business, Amy and I started doing vacation rentals and then we started opening some bars. We opened up an oyster bar. And then we kind of realized that not everyone needs to go zip lining or river rafting, but everyone needs to sleep.

So lodging was a little bit more effective for us on the sales front. And then we also realized everyone needs to eat. But then even after that, everyone has vices. So after opening up some bars and connecting people with adult beverages, started looking at cannabis. I was introduced to cannabis as a profession about six years ago when one of the ex mayors of Arcata, which is kind of in the center of Humboldt County, introduced me to a farmer and broker and said, hey, this guy wants to do a cannabis tourism center. You might be a good connection to help him out. Very shortly thereafter, we started meeting with some investors in the Bay Area, and before we knew it, Dosist was launched. We had a marketing firm out of the East Coast.

They came in as a partner and then boom, it exploded, and then the founders started taking each other out and then I resigned. And just as I was resigning, Papa & Barkley was launching and needed a home for manufacturing. So we connected with the founder who’s Amy’s second cousin, who dropped a bunch of money in our bank account and we started finding manufacturing spaces and got one of the first licenses in Eureka to do manufacturing for Papa & Barkley. And then kind of speed forward a couple years now to the pandemic, we got so busy with our careers and lives, we either needed to grow our hospitality business because we have a couple hotels and bars and restaurants, so we needed to sell it. And we wanted to lean into cannabis and hospitality and do it together.

Humboldt County is… there’s 15,000 cannabis farms in Humboldt County. There’s 4,000 wineries in California. So we have almost four times, three to four times as many cannabis farms as we do wineries. And the California wine industry produces 80% of the wine that the nation consumes, but there’s only two to 3000 licensed cannabis farms in Humboldt. So the rest are traditional market. So it’s interesting that even the hotels in Humboldt County don’t lean into cannabis. So our mission is to normalize cannabis and hospitality. We’re doing that by bringing people into our hotels and you can go straight and go to the restaurant, go right to the bar or turn left and have a consumption experience in the hotels.

We’ve also partnered with Papa & Barkley where we’re creating sort of immersive hospitality and cannabis experiences. So you walk in and there’s a gift shop, a wellness shop that’s unlicensed. So you can get everything from CBD products to wellness products in the very start, of the very beginning of the dispensary. You go in and you get that licensed experience and you go outside and there’s a full food truck and outdoor restaurant. You go a little bit farther back, and there’s a consumption lounge where you can consume. And then if you want a medicated activated massage, you can… There’s one or two massage therapists that are there every day, doing cannabis infused massages, or CBD infused massages, you can choose.

TG Branfalt: So you’ve built heaven.

Jon O’Connor: We’ve built what everyone assumes is in Humboldt County. So what’s interesting about hotels in Napa Valley and Sonoma is you don’t walk into the hotel and there’s not pictures of wine all over the place. You walk into the hotel and it’s just normal hotel. It’s just in the center of all this cool wine experience and they have wine as well. So we are creating really cool boutique hotel experiences and cool restaurants and acknowledging that we’re in the center of the cannabis universe with 15,000 farms.

TG Branfalt: So tell me about… I mean, I can’t describe to you how much I really want to go there right now, as it snows in upstate New York, but what are California’s social use policies? I mean, when I go to, or when I was able to go to Montreal pre-pandemic, you could buy cannabis, no smoking in the hotels. You could smoke in public places, so long as you’re not near school. So we did a lot of smoking in the parks and in the street, but what are California’s policies?

Jon O’Connor: So let me tell you how New York is doing it right and then I’ll tell you how California’s done it wrong. So New York right off the bat on day one, they decriminalized it. So you can walk down the street in New York, even at Central Park, you can light up and you can smoke. Anywhere that you can legally smoke cigarettes, you can smoke cannabis. Beautiful, simple. They’re also expunging people’s criminal records. They’re really trying to do it well. What California did is they didn’t figure out consumption. So what that means is for people that don’t own their own home, there is nowhere for them to legally smoke. You can’t smoke in your car, you can’t smoke in public and you can’t smoke in a building that doesn’t expressly allow it.

So that leaves visitors to Humboldt County in the region that produces more cannabis per square acre than anywhere else in the world. You can legally go into a dispensary and buy it, but then if you ask a police officer or anyone in the state, what to do with it, they say, well, smoke it legally. Where can you smoke it legally? In a private residence that you own that you’re allowed to do it? So there’s a couple loopholes here. One, the state has said, hey, whatever local jurisdictions say about consumption, you can do. So that’s where we’re working with Papa & Barkley. We created a consumption lounge, totally legal.

We’ll give the people the opportunity to consume both edibles, beverages and smoke, and smoke cannabis onsite, totally legal. We just have to encourage them to have designated drivers or encourage them to take Ubers or taxis or something like that. So that’s what we’re doing there. At our hotels, we are working it out with the regulators right now. So you’re legally allowed to smoke on private property in areas that’s not available to the general public. So we’re working with that very specific rule to solve it. Right now, you can have cannabis delivered to any hotel in California.

Some hotels are encouraging that by putting menus on the bedside tables, other hotels are not. So we are working within the existing rules and framework to solve it. That said, we’re not building a bud and breakfast or cannabis hotel. We’re just acknowledging that this is a powerful plant. It’s about two thirds of our economy in Humboldt County and there’s 15,000 farms. So why wouldn’t you be leaning into this in the same way that businesses in Napa and Sonoma has created their whole world around the wine industry.

TG Branfalt: So one of the things that you guys are in the process of doing is opening these… you’re opening dispensaries. Can you tell me about sort of the challenges in opening dispensaries as opposed to the model that you have now, the hospitality model?

Jon O’Connor: Yeah. So my job for Papa & Barkley was real estate and compliance. So what I did for the company is I found them real estate. I got building permits. I licensed the real estate for cannabis activities and then I… that I opened them up. So as I was starting to exit Papa & Barkley and start to build Humboldt Social, or continue to build it and scale it, I already had gotten two dispensary licenses for the company. So I approached the company and said, hey, these are underutilized resources, what if I utilize these licenses, manage them for you, give you a percentage of sales and turn them on. Here’s the ideas, here are the concepts. Eight months later, we had not active agreement, started rolling.

And so that part was easy, but that’s also because that’s what I did for my job. So I did renovated buildings, worked with contractors, got permits and then worked with the different regulatory authorities. So in California you have to get local jurisdiction to approve your cannabis permit first, and then the state will approve it second. So what that means is if anyone wants to do business in California, you find a city or a county that has loose or easy regulations or permits, and there still are cities and counties that you could walk up, pay five to $15,000 and get a permit and then money to the state and also get a permit. There’s no wait in line. There’s no lotteries. There’s other cities where you gotta do a lottery. They’ve limited it. But California is still a place where if you go to these small jurisdictions or small cities or counties, you can still get a license.

So for us, that part was easy. And in Humboldt County, our plan is proof of concept this year. So it’s about making it easy for the cannabis consumer and new cannabis consumer to learn about cannabis, buy cannabis, and consume cannabis, whether it’s on our properties, adjacent to our properties, or at these dispensaries that we’re working on. And then next year’s all gonna be about scaling and going to other locations and grow in the business.

TG Branfalt: And Amy, you’re an educator and Jon just brought up education. How important is that to you, to have this element within your model?

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: Oh, so important. I mean, I think we love our cannaseurs. We love the folks that are coming to Humboldt explicitly to experience the variety of the cannabis products that we have, the different strains, the different farms, the sun grown versus indoor. And those are always fun customers to have, but what we’ve experienced being in partnership with Papa & Barkley is that many consumers are super new to cannabis as a whole, right? So one of the things that we experienced with Papa & Barkley when Jon first started working there was we would have these contractors on site, right, doing construction. And these are old Humboldt guys, right? These are old mill workers. These are contractors, these are old loggers. They would never smoke a joint, right. This is not what they’re going to do, but they have chronic pain.

They’ve been working, their bodies have been their tools for so long and so is out there with the patches, right? He’s like giving them patches, he’s giving them cream. And then now we have these 56 year old men who would never be a druggie, right, but they are loving the relief that they’re getting. And it’s also, it’s introducing them to the healing properties and reducing the stigma of key cannabis. And so that’s a huge… That’s definitely a market for us, is folks that are coming. Maybe they’re just seniors on their RV trip, right? And they’re coming through the redwoods and they’re going to stop at a place like Papa & Barkley Social. And it’s not this narrow, dark windowless space with huge neon green Buddhas outside, that’s clear. That sends a message that this is not for you, right?

Whereas Papa & Barkley social is going be this… is an inviting light filled, warm, beautifully designed space that’s for anybody. So I think that’s one really powerful piece of education. And I think for me personally, right, I’m a mom, I’m a teacher, I’m a professional. And I have been realizing in the last few years that even as a bar owner, alcohol is not really a super healthy component of my life, right. I’m getting older. I have a couple drinks, I wake then up the next morning and I feel it, right? I see it in my skin. I feel the hangover. I’m moody, Jon can attest to that in the morning, right? So I’m trying to figure out, okay, well, what is my… how is my lifestyle?

How am I still going to find relaxation? How am I going to socialize while also trying to shift the role that alcohol plays? And for me, that’s all been about exploring in a different way, my relationship with cannabis. And when I was younger and I was consuming cannabis, it was like, get as blazed as possible. This is amazing, right. It was a huge part of my identity. And now that my life is fuller, and I live in cannabis country where I’m actually like an educated consumer, I’m realizing that micro-day-dosing is amazing, right. Being at the river here all day with a couple beers is one thing, but being out like having half a gummy and being on the river is like, in my mind, a peak Humboldt experience, like everyone should have it.

And so that’s really exciting for me, is having folks come in that are… Can learn all of the different ways that they can experience cannabis to elevate whatever experiences. They’re looking for. They’re looking for relaxation. Are they looking to go on an amazing hike and just maybe be more tuned in? Are they looking to get physical relief? Are they looking to socialize, right? And teaching them all the different ways that cannabis can be a part of that experience.

TG Branfalt: And what kind of people are, are you seeing most often? I mean in Massachusetts, when I go to a dispensary, the predominant age group are people my parents’ age and they’re 50s and 60s. And with legalization that occurred just the other day in New York, the secretary at my job, the administrative assistant, she said, well, I think I’m going to try it now. And this is a 62-year-old woman that had never, in our conversations previously, had never said, hey, could I get a gummy. Because she knows I’ve got them in my pocket, right. So what is the people that you’re seeing experience your experiences.

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: Yeah. So I would say so we, in our branding and brainstorming, we created this archetype of Hannah. This is our customer profile, right.

TG Branfalt: How interesting.

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: And I’ll just say, it’s not a lie that Hannah’s like loosely based on me, right Jon? Right?

Jon O’Connor: There are a variety of Hannahs and you were one of them. We had some consultants stay with us at the beginning of COVID and there was also another, I think Jewish social worker that was also named Hannah. So you were a… who also consumed cannabis. But yeah, no, you should definitely talk more about Hannah.

TG Branfalt: I want to talk all about… I want to know everything about Hannah.

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: Hannah is dope, first of all, you want to hang out with Hannah. So Hannah in many ways is really inspired by some of the customer profiles that we see in our hospitality business, right? So we see that the majority of the folks that are booking our rooms are working professionals. Are professional women working. They’re not necessarily… They could be traveling in groups. They could be traveling with a partner, they could be traveling with their families, but they’re really the ones that are driving the travel vacation planning for their families or their groups, right. They’re super media, social media savvy. They know what they’re looking for and they rely on social media, but also print media to looking for experience that really are going to efficiently and effectively deliver what they’re looking for, right?

These are working women, typically I would say age like late twenties all the way up until late fifties. And they don’t have a lot of time, right? And so when they’re… Even if they’re planning a two-week road trip, they’re trying to do get the most out of every day, right. And these are folks that are… They’ve got their tagged posts on Instagram, they’ve got their Pinterest albums and they’re also, when they’re traveling through a region like Humboldt, they’re also talking to… They’re talking to their bartenders and their wait staff and even the folks at the grocery stores asking recommendations. And so, those are the folks that come and stay with us over and over again, they’re the ones that find us through other posts on social media. Someone posts a great experience that they have with us and then their friends come and visit.

And they’re very conscious consumers. And so when we looked at that customer base hospitality, it felt like a really natural segue into the cannabis elements of the business, right? These are folks, women that yes, they’re absolutely looking to relax with the other responsibilities and they got a lot that they want to get done in the there travels in Humboldt. And so being able to find… make really specific, targeted recommendations of products that can pair well with the travel experiences that they’ve already planned and that can really maximize, I think, whatever their goals are in terms of states, right, but also will… But also have nice packaging and have a well curated social media presence because they’re looking for products that aren’t just fun to consume, but also they’re looking for sustainability. They’re looking for social responsibility and they’re looking for cuteness.

Jon O’Connor: And TG, Hannah haunts me because as we are building this business, it’s all about Hannah. So as we are building who’s going to be our partner for the massage space and what amenities do we need to support? And Hannah’s fancy and she likes her nice things. So like we had to buy a $40,000 honey wagon bathroom for Hannah but I think it’s been really important for us because like Hannah’s is design forward. And I also want to convert Hannah. So there’s going to be Hannahs that are daily smokers or daily consumers of cannabis. There’s a lot of them. But there’s also going to be Hannahs that show up for the massage or up for our outdoor restaurant, because it’s on Yelp and or because they did an Uber Eats pickup and they’re going to arrive at this location and they’re going to be surprised that, oh, they can walk right into this dispensary and where other dispensaries have armed security guards, while we have security guards sort of behind the scenes, watching the cameras, we also have our staff welcoming Hannah at the front desk offering every Hannah and their plus ones a warm towel to enter the space. Instead of welcoming them with a gun and a badge, we’re welcoming them with a warm towel and a inviting environment, surrounded by plants and in a comfortable setting.

TG Branfalt: Jon, is there also a lot of crossover? I mean, you started this sort of outdoor adventure in that sort of space. Is there a lot of crossover with those customers or that sort of population with your experiences?

Jon O’Connor: I mean, I think it is. I mean, I was very much in the adventure industry and business as a lifestyle. I loved being on the rivers. I loved being up in the redwood trees and as I got married and as we had kids, I very much recognized that the lifestyle wasn’t the only things. And creating college funds for our kids and having savings and buying a house. And all of those other things were also important as lifestyle. So those customers very much varied and some of them were Hannahs with their families and some of them were Hannahs with their girlfriends, but it was very much a shotgun approach to customers in the outdoors. So the customer service is the same, whether you’re dealing with a Hannah and the outdoors or you’re dealing with them in a hospitality setting, but everyone’s got to sleep, everyone’s gotta eat and everyone has their vices. And those tend to make a little bit more money and are more sustainable as a business than, than just pure sort of adrenaline or a serene experience in the redwoods.

TG Branfalt: I have to ask, has anyone shown up for one of your experiences, a massage or something, and been like, what, cannabis is involved, and just took off?

Jon O’Connor: So we are just launching on 4/20. So while we have had an existing hospitality business for the last eight or nine years, we are just merging it with cannabis this year. So we’re just we’re halfway through our fundraising round. So anyone out there that loves this idea, hit us up. But we’ve had a lot of people that have been shocked, especially with Papa & Barkley’s hero product, their Balm, because it’s a product that doesn’t get you high but it’s also a product that has a tremendous amount of efficacious properties where it’s both a pain reliever and an anti-inflammatory. So giving it to people that have never tried cannabis before, it’s the perfect sort of first product.

And then they can get in tinctures and pre-rolls and vape pens and sort of… And even beverages now. So we are about to merge and give this business a real go starting 4/20 at Papa & Barkley Social in the Old Kmart in Eureka, in the center of Humboldt County.

TG Branfalt: Well, you mentioned the beverages and beverages is my favorite I think sort of product, because I don’t drink alcohol really. And so when I’m with friends and especially in Michigan, when I could get THC-infused root beer, I mean, it was fantastic. I could sit around and feel like I’m having a drink with friends, which hasn’t happened for me in a very long time. And then you guys also own a bar, right. And so what role do you guys think that that beverages or what segment of the market do you think beverages are eventually going to be in the cannabis space?

Jon O’Connor: Yeah, so beverages are exploding and we are creating our own beverage line. So we’ve got a subbrand called Social Nature that we’re building. It’s basically like our house brand for our dispensaries and it’ll be the core products that you can get delivered to our hotels. But we’re leaning into beverages because of what you just said, TG, is it’s just that focus on the social experience. So what we’re trying to build is the social experiences that people have experienced in hospitality and transition it to cannabis. So at Papa & Barkley Social, you can get a normal sparkling water.

You can get a Spiked Seltzer or you can get a CBD-based drink like Recess, and you can consume any of those three. And you can sit at the outdoor restaurant or you can sit in the consumption lounge and have that same social experience. But our goal is to normalize those experiences and basically do exactly what you said you liked, of having that social experience without having to drink alcohol.

TG Branfalt: For you, Amy, you said that alcohol is sort of being disengaged from your life or something of that effect. What’s your take on beverages?

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: I think they’re so exciting because I think it’s an amazing replacement activity, right? So we all know that it’s not just like the chemical composition of alcohol that’s addictive, right, it’s also the ritual of it and the process. So I think it’s every… A lot of us who have a relationship with alcohol, it’s not just the sensation of drinking, right, or even the onset of getting buzzed or even drunk. It’s like the whole thing, right? It’s the social experience, or it’s the sensation of having like a cold can in your hand or the fizziness and all those things. And I think that CBD and THC activated beverages are just a phenomenal way of replacing so many components of that ritual with something that’s healthier. And I think, I also just think like kind of method of delivery-wise, the way that there is so many ways that you can experience the high, right? You can just like, when you smoke, it hits real quick, and then often there’s also the side effects of sometimes dry eyes or dry throat that come with that.

And then there’s edibles, but then you’re waiting around, right. And some of us have had the experience of having an edible, forgetting about it, and then suddenly you’re like, wait, what is happening right now? Right. But my experience, and I think the folks that I know that are regular consumers of CBD or THC drinks, it’s a fairly similar onset process to drinking a beer, right, or drinking a Seltzer. I think that’s also a key thing is that owning a bar and seeing the way that seltzers, hard seltzers, have taken off and is that’s such a comparable consumption experience to some of these the can beverages.

And so I’m really excited to see that, to be able to provide those. And I’m also excited eventually to have more of a mocktail experience and playing with non-THC, non-CBD tincture, but also some that are, and just really focusing on all the therapeutic that properties that come with honestly hydrating, right, which is what should we all should be doing. And you can have that experience and have it taste good and have it feel good and not end up drunk or hung over I think.

TG Branfalt: Is that something that you offer in the consumption lounges, is sort of mixed mocktails made with cannabis or is that something that is being considered widely. Are we going to see sort of cannabis bars?

Jon O’Connor: We are absolutely going lean into that in phase two. So for our launch right now at 4/20, we already are doing four big things. So you’re coming in, you have a non-cannabis retail experience in the front because in California, you can’t even buy a t-shirt in a dispensary without getting it approved by the state of California. So for us to have an unlicensed space in the front, just gives us a lot of flexibility because cannabis dispensaries can’t even sell water. They are prohibited by the state. So we are sort of working within the rules and construct to have a separate entity in the front of the building that is using a separate point of sale system to sell whatever you want. And then you have the traditional dispensary and then the consumption lounge, and then the outdoor restaurant, and then the massage activity. So, our goal and when we launch is to integrate that experience, normalize it, and then absolutely add onto it.

So when COVID slows down, we’re very interested in leaning into events, when the world opens back up and absolutely building a a non-alcohol bar and I think people will be pretty excited for that.

TG Branfalt: So what do you guys think that your model will be able to teach others interested in incorporating cannabis into their existing hospitality or tourism business?

Jon O’Connor: I hope that people in Humboldt County who continue to lean into cannabis because it is surprising how much of a stigma cannabis still is. The local Visitor Bureau doesn’t even promote cannabis. I mean that’s how terrible the stigma still is, so.

TG Branfalt: Do you think they will eventually? I’m sorry to cut you off, but I mean, do you think that that’ll happen eventually?

Jon O’Connor: When all of these old fuckers die, excuse me.

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: Okay. Okay. So the marketing will change. I think it’s going be too late, right? By the time Humboldt is actively marketing, there, we’re going to be four counties behind. Mendocino is going to be there, Santa Barbara is going to be there. There are just so many more sophisticated, innovative marketing concepts coming out and it just going to be a real shame for Humboldt is out on it, because we are so well-positioned. We should be at the forefront and we’re not. And I think what I’ve seen here is a really powerful growers association that’s really been putting the pressure on our county and local authorities saying, this is what we need, our products are here. Our services are here, we are ready to provide these services. We just need you to put the message out there. And so, I think we, like a lot of these other growers, we are doing the messaging ourselves. Okay, thank you very much. We’d rather our tax dollars not go to you, but they do. And in the meantime, we’re just going to create our own budgets for these things.

TG Branfalt: I mean, it does seem just slightly ridiculous. I mean, I know Jon makes the joke, but I mean, it does seem slightly ridiculous that Humboldt is synonymous with cannabis. I’ve known about Humboldt County since I was 15 years old, and it’s because I was reading High Times and to talk about Humboldt branded products then. So I take your point very, very well. And what role do you guys think that cannabis is going to play in how people just book vacations generally? I mean just to, for example, I won’t go to any place on vacation that doesn’t have legalized cannabis, not going to. So am I sort of the hardheaded exception or what do you guys see in… from a hospitality perspective?

Jon O’Connor: Well, I think that hospitality is going to continue to slowly embrace cannabis. Our goal for our business is the normalization of it. So for part of the normalization to work is you need cannabis, heavy cannabis forward businesses doing things all around you. So for us to be cannabis, supportive cannabis, embracing, and hospitality connected, we need the bud and breakfasts, we need the smoke-filled, bong-filled rooms. Because there are serious cannaseurs that will only travel and will sort of create their life around that. We support that. However, our establishments we are really focusing on Hannah, and that’s who we’re building it out towards. So we hope our sort of next phase in 2022 and beyond is partnering with existing hospitality business is to bolt on Humboldt Social to that. And that’s after we prove our concept this year, that’s really where we’re going to go. So looking at those legal states or pre legal states to bolt on that infrastructure and show how hospitality and cannabis can come together.

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: Yeah. I think if we’re doing our job and we’re bringing our vision to fruition, we’re not going… We will cater to some guests who are cana-centric in their travel planning, but for many folks, it’s just going to be part of the experience. That’s what integration for us means, that you’re going to come and part of your… Yes, the Humboldt experience is our rivers. It’s our redwoods, it’s shopping. It’s the local food movement, it’s our makers and creative community and getting to meet those folks. It’s cannabis, it’s wine, it’s beer and spirits, like it’s all those things. And so I think I would like to see other, at the very east hotels using the word cannabis on their websites. That would be a huge win to just acknowledge that it’s here and know that they can do that and that doesn’t mean they got to… It doesn’t mean that their lobby needs to have cannabis air fresheners in it, so that that’s the forwards, what you smell when you first walk in.

It’s a part of what we do. I think that some of the stigma around it locally is that there’s a lot of folks here who believe that we need to fight against our reputation and our association with cannabis, and that’s limiting for us. I feel like in the last decade, that’s just really been proven to be incorrect. From a marketing perspective, that’s not the move. The move is toward it. The move is alongside it, not against it.

TG Branfalt: So in the last couple of minutes here, I mean, you both have these very diverse backgrounds and you’re both incredibly smart. But you are in the thick of building, something that I’ve never seen done before. So what advice do you guys have for entrepreneurs in this space?

Jon O’Connor: First advice is come visit us. We will share our limited knowledge for free. And then secondly, make a plan and start going for it because this is the time — the best ideas are built in depressions and at the bottom. So we’re currently in this interesting place with COVID and our economy, but also this massive explosion of cannabis and this weird hemp thing going on with CBD. And we personally think that’ll go away and cannabis will be… hemp and cannabis is the exact same thing. It’s just one has less THC and the other one has more THC. So, we think it’ll come around and if you embrace the plant and the culture is it’ll work.

TG Branfalt: What about you, Amy? What advice would you have for entrepreneurs?

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: So when we first, when we renovated our very first building, we had a very… Innovative is a nice way to say it. We had a very innovative vision for what we want to do with the building. We had no construction experience, no design experience. This was our very first purchase. And we had a very different idea for what we wanted to do. And we met with lots of reputable, contractors and engineers, and talked about what we wanted to do. And in the beginning, I was the one who was meeting all those folks on the job site. I was coming from my full-time job during lunch, my lunch breaks. I was meeting these folks and people would take one listen to me at the space, listen to me for about a minute and often just be like, no, that’s not possible.

Or, oh, that costs $300,000, or kind of pat me on the head, okay, little girl, goodbye. And I would come home and talk to Jon about it and be like, yeah, it’s just not possible. And Jon’s like, of course it’s possible. We just have to find… We just haven’t found the right person. We just haven’t found the right contractor. And he said, the goal is to get to the, yes. Keep on talking, keep on asking until you find the right person who, and their answer is going to be yes. And I think that that mantra has served us incredibly well through all of our businesses, because it is our… It is the rule, not the exception that people tell us that our ideas are terrible or that they’re going to fail, or that they’re impossible. That’s been our experience every single time.

And now I’m confident enough that people say that to me, I’m like, okay, so not with you, right? So you won’t be our customer, or you’re not going to be our contractor as opposed to doubting the integrity or the possibility of our ideas. And I think that that’s, if you want to be an innovator, especially in the cannabis space right now, just keep talking, just keep asking questions, keep finding the people and get to the yes.

TG Branfalt: I’ve done this podcast since I think 2016. I mean, some of the best advice that I’ve really ever heard. Thank you so much for sharing that with me. Where can people find out more about Humboldt Social and you guys?

Jon O’Connor: Yeah. So the best place to start is humboldt-social.com. And then that has sort of our family businesses on there, and they could stay with us tomorrow at humboldtbaysocialclub.com and stay at our current site. And then look for Scotia Lodge on June 15th and you can also, if you’re driving through Eureka, check out Papa & Barkley Social at the old Kmart on the way in the town.

TG Branfalt: I would love to talk to you about this Kmart if we had time, honestly. I love old repurposed buildings. In Burlington, Vermont, they just turned a Macy’s into a high school. I mean, it’s brilliant. So thank you guys so much for being on the show. I am very excited to see how this plays out and maybe at some point, get on a plane and go to Northern California spend a night in what sounds like heaven for somebody like me.

That’s Jon O’Connor and Amy Cirincione O’Connor founders of Humboldt Social, a California hospitality and wellness brand that is incorporating cannabis into its current business model. Thank you guys again so much for being on the show. It’s really been a pleasure.

Jon O’Connor: Thanks a lot TG.

Amy Cirincione O’Connor: Thanks TG.

TG Branfalt: You can find more episodes of the Ganjaprenuer.com podcast and podcast section of Ganjaentrepreneur.com on Spotify and in the Apple iTunes Store. On the Ganjaprenuer.com website, you’ll find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. I’ve been your host TG Branfalt.

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Washington Regulators Look to Further Restrict Delta-8

10/01/2021

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The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) has released a draft proposal that would further regulate “psychotropic” and “impairing” cannabinoids in the state, according to the Cannabis Observer. In a discussion/listening session on Monday, the WSLCB Director of Policy and External Affairs Justin Nordhorn said the Board had been looking into the emergence of “psychotropic compounds” like Delta-8 THC outside the I-502 regulated system throughout 2021 after public outcry from licensees, others in the industry and prevention experts.

The director said WSLCB has taken a three-prong approach to the issue: drafting policy statements, opening a rule-making project on THC regulation, and now issuing draft legislation to address the concerns. He clarified during the Monday meeting the draft was not “necessarily a final product moving forward,” and staff would be “deliberative and diligent” in crafting language for the upcoming legislative session.

As for the need for the new regulations, Nordhorn said some common themes have emerged throughout 2021, including an almost across-the-board recognition Delta-8 should be regulated more closely than it is now. He cited a report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which showed Poison Control received 660 calls concerning Delta-8 between January and July of this year and 39% of those reports were for kids under 18-years-old. The FDA said the events include hospitalizations and complaints from consumers and law enforcement.

Nordhorn admitted the Washington State Department of Health and the Washington State Board of Health have not received any reports of Delta-8 mishaps, neither has the Washington State Poison Control Center, although the agency did add a code for Delta-8 in March, the Observer reports.

During the meeting, the director clarified the proposal did not affect other cannabinoids like CBD, CBG, or CBN. He went on to assure attendees the draft would only “bring in (into WSLCB control) the psychotropic and impairing cannabinoids” like Delta-8 and Delta-10 THC.

The new scheme would allow for limited production of synthetic cannabinoids by licensed WA processors, but insist they be created from “natural sources.” Additionally, the draft proposal clarifies the difference between natural, synthetic, and artificial cannabinoids. Artificial cannabinoids would be banned under the current proposal, the report says.

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Nick Denney: Growing Craft Cannabis at Scale

9/30/2021

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Cultivation consistency can be an issue for any cannabis operator but for multi-state and vertically integrated companies like Holistic Industries, it requires extra levels of effort and expertise.

For our latest Q&A, we’re picking the brain of Holistic’s Regional Cultivation Manager Nick Denney, who oversees the company’s cultivation efforts across multiple state markets. This interview covers the benefits of a formal agriculture education for cannabis growers, how Holistic utilizes technology to enable craft cultivation at an industrial scale, strategies for crop steering and selecting new phenotypes, and more!

Read the full interview below.

Ganjapreneur: Before Holistic Industries you earned a Master’s degree in industrial, commercial agronomy from the University of Florida. Would you recommend a formal education for people wanting to work in cannabis cultivation?

Nick Denney: ​It’s hard to replace what you can learn from a formal education in agriculture, but harder to replace experience in the field. I’ve seen plenty of people without degrees that could run circles around PhDs. If someone has the opportunity and resources to seek out formal education in agriculture, I definitely recommend it, but make sure to pick a program that fits the path you want to take in your career. The best thing they can take away from formal education is to be better equipped to solve problems in the field using a more scientific approach.

How does growing cannabis compare to growing other flowers and niche vegetables in a controlled environment?

​I’ve found that a lot of the skills and methodologies that I learned growing greenhouse veggies have seamlessly transferred over to cannabis. Climate and nutrient management are very similar, including the control systems, water treatment, and fertigation. Integrated pest management has many similarities but cannabis is more limited, especially as the flowers begin developing.

There are some key differences such as cannabis being a dioecious crop, meaning it has distinct male and female plants. Promoting pollination on tomatoes in order for fruit to set is essential, but pollination is avoided on female cannabis plants grown for smokeable flower. Another key difference is the postharvest process. Cannabis flowers are dried and cured in preparation for the end-user, while veggies are typically picked and sold fresh.

What tools are essential in marrying craft cultivation and industrial agriculture?

​In order to grow craft cannabis at scale, we need a high level of control, data collection, and management. The spaces that we grow in must be designed and engineered to keep the plants in balance at all times. Most of that is done through the building management systems (BMS), which control climate and fertigation.

We like to grow a lot of variety in each facility, but all cultivars have specific needs. We can’t treat them all the same and always expect the best phenotypic expression. The BMS is used to break up irrigation and dimming zones within rooms to give us the flexibility needed to give each cultivar exactly what it wants. We use AROYA to closely monitor cultivar-specific habits and performance is key to achieving consistent high quantity and quality harvests. We use the information from AROYA to build crop registration forms, which are essentially recipe books for each cultivar that we grow. The growers creating those forms and learning each cultivar’s habits are the most important piece of the puzzle. I’m fortunate to get to work with a great team of growers who have a shared passion for bringing the best possible expression out of the plants.

How has switching from HPS to LED systems changed the cultivation environment, process, and output? ​

Switching to LEDs has allowed us to significantly increase the average light intensity over the canopy. Light intensity is directly correlated to yield (to a point) and a good rule of thumb is “1% more light = 1% more yield.” However, this logic assumes that you have balanced all of the other variables such as temperature, humidity, CO2, substrate water content & EC, etc. to meet the new demands of the crop.

While we have transitioned smoothly away from HPS, we had to take a different approach under LEDs. In order to keep the leaf surface temperature elevated, we tend to target a higher ambient temperature under LEDs to make up for the lower heat fraction from the fixtures. We’ve also noticed the plants demanding a higher concentration of feed, especially at certain stages of maturity.

The increase in light intensity under the LEDs has led to a significant rise in output per square foot of canopy and the ratio of saleable flower to trim.

What is crop steering, and how have you applied this growing method to Holistic Industries’ cultivation workflow? ​

Crop steering is the use of climate, irrigation, or plant management cues to encourage a specific type of morphological growth. Vegetative cues are used to promote the growth of stems and leaves, as well as bulking the flower. Generative cues are used to focus plant growth on flowers, decrease internodal spacing, and ripening of the flower prior to harvest. At Holistic, we have built a standard crop steering suggestions table for each week of the growing process. This is a good foundation for the growers to start with, but under the expectation that each cultivar will require moderate adjustments to the chart based on how those cultivars perform in our facilities.

What software and technology have assisted your team in crop steering large-scale cannabis grows? ​

Although our BMS systems help us control climate and fertigation programs, the implementation of AROYA in all of our facilities has been a critical component to efficiently scaling production across states. I can use my computer or phone to view what is happening in every zone in every state. It has also helped us gather and store information that we did not previously have. We use the data from AROYA to make more informed climate and irrigation decisions on a day-to-day basis, leading to a healthier crop and a greater phenotypic expression.

How often do you pheno-hunt? Where do you look for new genetics to test in the grow rooms? ​

We try to start new seeds about once a month, but we are constantly looking at ways to increase that frequency. Pheno hunts start with selecting seeds with strong genetics. There are so many talented breeders, but we have a few favorites that we like to focus on. There is a lot of research that goes on in the background to make sure we are selecting seeds that have a good chance of meeting our expectations in final flower form. Pheno hunting takes plenty of time and effort that we don’t want to waste on bad seeds.

When introducing new flavors, how many new phenotypes will make it to the product line? What factors determine which strains will continue with the brand?

​It is very difficult to pick just one pheno out of some of these hunts. There are often several in each hunt that could be winners in many gardens. The majority of the time we are only keeping one in order to save valuable real estate in a veg room. Krome White (Swamp Boys Seeds) said it best: “Like the movie Highlander, there can only be one.” If there’s a situation where we really can’t decide, we will run them through our flower rooms again to see which one works best for us. The general traits that we like to observe are smell, taste, yield, effects, cannabinoid/terpene percentage, flower/plant structure, flowering time, pest/disease resistance, and how the plants respond to our horticultural practices. Usually, the pheno that checks the most boxes ends up being the winner.

Where is Holistic Industries cannabis available for purchase? Are products available outside of the vertically integrated Liberty retail shops?

Cultivation is operational in Washington DC, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania and soon to be in Michigan, Missouri, West Virginia, California, and more. Our products can be found in stores outside of Liberty in dispensaries across each market.

Thanks, Nick, for answering our questions! To learn more, visit HolisticIndustries.com.

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Humboldt County Approves $1M Emergency Grant for Cannabis Farmers

9/30/2021

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Humboldt County, California’s Board of Supervisors has approved a $1 million emergency grant program to help cannabis cultivators after wholesale cannabis prices dropped from $1,100 a pound to $400 a pound, the Mad River Union reports.

Economic Development Director Scott Adair told the Union that the county’s cannabis farmers are facing a market emergency and that his office has been “inundated” with “urgent, perhaps even desperate” requests for assistance.

“These pleas for aid and relief stem from the recent bottoming of the cannabis market where the price per pound is now less than the cost to cultivate, process and distribute that product.”—Adair to the Union

The program will include grants up to $10,000 for individual farm operators and up to $50,000 for collaborative operations. A staff report reported that the majority of 50 cannabis farmers surveyed said they would be unable to meet their October excise tax payments.

Adair said, in addition to the price drop, cannabis farmers are also facing drought and wildfires, and that transportation, regulatory compliance, and access to irrigation supply are cheaper and easier in other parts of the state that also have good growing climates and open, flatter, terrain.

“Typically, we don’t replace lost revenue but we will support activities and expenditures which are designed to help increase revenue for the applicants or to reduce other costs so that the margin of revenue increases,” he said in the report.

The emergency grants are in addition to the county’s Project Trellis cannabis business assistance program, which is funded through a 10% share of the county’s cannabis excise tax revenue, which is expected to decrease sharply.

The request is expected to be approved at the October 5 board meeting.

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D.C. City Council Schedules Hearing on Allowing Cannabis Sales

9/30/2021

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The Washington, D.C. City Council has scheduled a public hearing next month to consider legislation to allow adult-use cannabis sales in the district, DCist reports. D.C. voters approved broad cannabis legalization in 2014 but rolling out legal sales has been blocked by federal law due to the fact that the Capitol city is under the purview of federal policies and gets its funding from the federal government.

According to the report, even scheduling the hearing is notable as in past years Attorney General Karl Racine warned city officials that the congressional ban on cannabis covered the act of holding a public debate on the proposal. That changed earlier this year, when the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), responding to a query from Republican Rep. Andy Harris (Maryland), said that the city council could legally debate and even pass a bill legalizing cannabis sales; however, GAO said the congressional ban would only stop Mayor Muriel Bowser from signing any bill into law.

Last summer, House Democrats managed to remove the six-year-old congressional prohibition on D.C. allowing legal cannabis sales, but a final vote on scrapping the so-called Harris Rider is likely to be delayed until later this year, because of the broader fight on Capitol Hill around federal spending.

The Harris Rider blocks D.C. officials from using local tax revenue for adult-use cannabis sales.

The bill that will be considered by the council, which is sponsored by Chairman Phil Mendelson, includes social-equity provisions, setting aside some industry licenses for individuals most impacted by the War on Drugs or those who reside in low-income areas, the report says. The proposal would also direct half of the cannabis-derived tax revenues to a Community Reinvestment Program Fund that would invest in economic development, homeless prevention, support for citizens recently released from incarceration, and legal assistance in areas with high poverty, unemployment, and gun violence. The proposal also includes expungement provisions for cannabis crimes.

Virginia lawmakers earlier this year approved adult-use cannabis reforms and Democratic leaders in Maryland are seeking to put the issue to voters next year.

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Medical Cannabis Patient Suing Former Employer for Termination

9/30/2021

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A Pennsylvania man is suing his former employer claiming the company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Pennsylvania Human Relations Act when they fired him for using medical cannabis, PennLive reports. Kevin Dennis said he was fired by First Quality Tissue last year after testing positive for cannabis despite a physician’s recommendation for the state’s medical cannabis program.

In the lawsuit, Dennis contends that he never reported to his job as a warehouse worker under the influence and that it didn’t affect his job performance.

In September 2020, upon learning of his recommendation, First Quality demanded he take a drug test and Dennis complied but reminded his employers that it would come back positive for cannabis — which it did. Dennis said he asked First Quality to engage in a process to determine whether his use of medical cannabis could be granted but he was instead fired.

Dennis also has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to court documents outlined by PennLive.

The lawsuit seeks past and future lost earnings and benefits, unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, and additional damages for emotional distress.

Dennis was hired on July 8, 2019, and obtained his medical cannabis recommendation for medical cannabis to treat facial neuropathy, anxiety, and depression in July 2020, according to the documents cited by PennLive.

Last year, The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted permission for a medical cannabis patient to move forward with a lawsuit alleging her employer wrongfully terminated her for her cannabis use despite being registered with the state medical cannabis program.

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SEC Accuses Married Cannabis Co-Founders of Securities Fraud

9/29/2021

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is accusing the co-founders of C3, a company that makes cannabis pill Idrasil, of $2 million in securities fraud, Law360 reports. According to the complaint filed in California federal court, Steele Smith and his wife, Theresa Smith, made false statements to investors from 2014 to 2019 about Idrasil’s patent status, that insurance companies would cover the drug, and investor funds would be used for business purposes.

The SEC alleges that Steele Smith and C3 told investors that Idrasil was “patented” or “patent pending” despite the fact that Idrasil’s first provisions application for a patent had expired and a subsequent nonprovisional application was never filed and, therefore, no patent was ever issued.

“Idrasil was not an approved pharmaceutical by the insurance companies. In fact, it should not have been reimbursed under their guidelines, and in those situations where it was reimbursed, it was either an outlier situation or an outright mistake.”—the SEC in the complaint

The Smiths also allegedly used more than $1 million of investor funds to pay for their personal expenses, including $40,000 for a down payment for a Jeep SUV.

The SEC also accuses Steele Smith of making misrepresentations about how investors would make money on their investments, telling them that they would be cashed out once C3 was acquired by a large pharmaceutical company. The complaint states that Steele told investors that C3 “would achieve a minimum of $4.6 million in gross revenue in the next year and valued C3’s total equity at over $685 million upon acquisition by a big pharma company.”

“These financial projections were all materially false and/or misleading as they lacked any basis in reality,” the complaint said, according to the Law360 report. The SEC indicated that because of cannabis’ federal status as a Schedule I drug, the prospect of the firm being acquired by a large pharmaceutical firm were “nil.”

The SEC said the company “barely had enough funds” to support its own operations and that the C3 Patients Association had run out of Idrasil by 2015 with no plans to manufacture more.

Theresa Smith, the current president of C3, is named due to her alleged management of the firm as “financially responsible for all the items necessary to reach investors and defraud them.”

“She was aware of the falsity, or reckless in not knowing it, of at least some of the statements Steele and C3 provided to investors,” the complaint says.

The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions to prevent the Smiths from further violating securities laws, prohibit the Smiths from acting as officers or directors of any security issuer, disgorgement of all the Smiths’ ill-gotten gains plus prejudgement interest, and civil penalties. The agency is also seeking to bar the couple from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security, according to the complaint.

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LA County to Dismiss 60K Cannabis Convictions

9/29/2021

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Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said on Monday that his office had identified nearly 60,000 cannabis convictions that will be dismissed under criminal justice provisions of the state’s cannabis legalization law. The charges were identified with support from The Social Impact Center, a nonprofit organization that serves as a bridge between government, grassroots organizations, and people in underserved communities.

Gascón was the co-author of the cannabis legalization bill approved by voters in 2016.

“Dismissing these convictions means the possibility of a better future to thousands of disenfranchised people who are receiving this long-needed relief. It clears the path for them to find jobs, housing and other services that previously were denied to them because of unjust cannabis laws.” — Gascón in a press release

About 66,000 cannabis convictions were dismissed in Los Angeles County last year after the passage of Assembly Bill 1793 which tasked prosecutors in California with affirmatively reviewing the convictions. However, that review only covered cases from state Department of Justice data and, upon further examination of county court records, another 58,000 felony and misdemeanor cases dating back more than three decades were deemed eligible for dismissal, the DA’s Office said. In all, nearly 125,000 cannabis cases are being dismissed in Los Angeles County.

Lynne Lyman, former director of the Drug Policy Alliance, described the action as “the unfinished work of Proposition 64.”

“Proposition 64 was always about more than legal weed,” she said in a statement. “It was an intentional effort to repair the past harms of the War on Drugs and cannabis prohibition, which disproportionately targeted people of color.”

The announcement comes during the “Week of Action and Awareness (WOAA)” — formerly known as National Expungement Week — which takes place from September 26 to October 3 and is organized by ​​National Expungement Works.

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Cannabis Arrests Drop 36% from 2019-2020

9/29/2021

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The number of Americans arrested for cannabis-related crimes dropped significantly in 2020 according to data just released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) outlined by NORML for Yes Weekly. However, stats appearing in the agency’s annual Uniform Crime Report show that a staggering 350,150 people were arrested for cannabis last year, mostly in states where cannabis possession remains illegal. Although the number of arrests is high, the latest stats show a 36% drop in arrests between 2019 and 2020 — the lowest cannabis arrest numbers since the early 1990s, the report says.

“As more states move toward the sensible policy of legalizing and regulating cannabis, we are seeing a decline in the arrest of non-violent marijuana consumers nationwide.” — NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri to Yes

Of the over 350,000 Americans arrested for cannabis in 2020, 91% were detained for simple possession. The data shows a 50% drop in cannabis arrests from their peak in 2008 — when police made over 800,000 cannabis arrests — and 2020, according to the data outlined in the report.

“The fight for legalization is a fight for justice,” Altieri said. “While these numbers represent a historic decline in arrests, even one person being put into handcuffs for the simple possession of marijuana is too many.”

Nationwide in 2020, 30.3% of all drug arrests were cannabis-related. That percentage rose in the Northeast, where an estimated 50% of all drug arrests involved cannabis. Due to legalization efforts, the Western U.S. saw the least number of cannabis-related arrests.

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Tumblr Now Allowing Some Cannabis and CBD Advertisements

9/29/2021

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Microblogging social media platform Tumblr has updated its cannabis advertising policies to allow advertisements for hemp CBD and, in some cases, cannabis products. But while Tumblr is the first major social media platform to allow cannabis campaigns, its policy remains strict: cannabis advertisements are only allowed for audiences aged 21 or older, and only in Colorado and California.

“Tumblr restricts the promotion and sale of cannabis and cannabis-adjacent products and brands through advertising on its site, with the exception of California and Colorado. ‘Cannabis-adjacent products’ include, but are not limited to, water pipes, rolling papers, and Weedmaps.” — Tumblr advertising policies excerpt

Moving forward, cannabis ads on Tumblr will need to be approved by the platform, handled through the company’s direct sales team, and be “geo-targeted exclusively to people of consumption age in Colorado and California.” Cannabis-related ad campaigns will also be required to display the cannabis company’s license number and carry disclaimers for the products. Additionally, cannabis ads cannot contain product giveaways.

When asked why the new cannabis advertising policies apply to Colorado and California but not any other legal cannabis markets, a representative for Tumblr told Ganjapreneur they are testing the policy shift in those states and may expand further, based on the results.

Meanwhile, advertisements for hemp CBD products on the platform will face significantly fewer restrictions: hemp CBD ads “can’t claim to prevent, diagnose, treat or cure serious diseases” and they “can’t be sold as a dietary supplement.” Additionally, the products “can’t be advertised as food where CBD has been added.”

Tumblr had previously drawn a hard line banning advertisements related to all illegal drugs (cannabis remains federally prohibited in the U.S.). Additionally, the platform has outright banned any and all tobacco advertising — alcohol advertisements are allowed but must be limited to audiences aged 21 or older and approved by Tumblr’s sales team.

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Chris Webber’s Cannabis Company Breaks Ground on Detroit ‘Compound’

9/29/2021

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Former National Basketball Association star Chris Webber’s cannabis company Players Only Holdings broke ground on Tuesday on a 180,000-square-foot, $50 million cannabis “compound” in southwest Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reports. The Webber Wellness Compound will include a dispensary, cannabis operations and training facility, a cultivation facility, and a consumption lounge.

Players Only Holdings was founded by Webber, a Detroit, Michigan native, and entrepreneur Lavetta Willis.

“This is my biggest priority in life. I’ve seen who (Willis) and I have helped across the country and the lives that have been disrupted by cannabis. Hopefully, we can do a little bit of repairing. Hopefully, we can help the city.”—Webber via the Free Press

The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by March 2022. A phase two expansion will include an 80,000-square-foot expansion of the cultivation facility but there is no timeline for that development.

Webber in February launched a $100 million cannabis-focused private equity fund aimed at investing in cannabis companies led by entrepreneurs of color. The compound is the first tangible step for the project.

Webber told the Free Press that the three-month training program will be run by Cookies U, a job training and placement program that recruits students from minority and underrepresented communities. The facility will also include record expungement offices for individuals who want those services even if they are not planning to work in the industry.

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