Kool cigarette maker ITG last week sued cannabis company Capna Intellectual, which does business as Bloom Brands, alleging it violated state and federal trademark law by stealing the cigarette brand’s logo, Law360 reports.
“In a transparent rip-off of ITG’s Kool marks, defendant advertises, promotes, distributes, imports, sells and/or offers for sale electronic cigarettes and oral vaporizers for adult smokers and adult tobacco consumers under the Bloom marks. The Bloom Marks contain interlocking ‘OOs’ which mimic the interlocking ‘OOs’ in ITG’s famous Kool marks.” – ITG in court filings via Law360
ITG said Bloom filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in September 2019 seeking to register the similar mark for e-cigarette and vape sales. The company called Bloom’s acts deliberate “and intentionally carried out in bad faith, or with reckless disregard for or with willful blindness to ITG’s rights in the Kool marks, for the purpose of trading on ITG’s reputation and diluting the Kool marks.”
As the number of states legalizing cannabis has grown, so have trademark lawsuits aimed at businesses and brands. Last November, Ferrera Candy Co. – the makers of Nerds candy – filed a lawsuit against Tops Cannabis for their Medicated Nerds Rope parody product. The “Woodstock” name is the subject of a long running court battle between Woodstock Ventures LLC, which owns the rights to the festival and seeks to use the name to brand cannabis products and Woodstock Roots LLC, which secured trademark registration for the name to sell non-cannabis smokers’ products in 2013.
Other well-known national brands, including Citibank, Gorilla Glue, and Tapatio Foods – makers of the hot sauce – have sued cannabis companies for infringement or demanded that the stop using the moniker.
The ITG Brands LLC v. Capna Intellectual case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
United Kingdom-based GW Pharmaceuticals Plc will be acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc in a $7.2 billion cash-and-stock deal, MarketWatch reports. The deal, announced this week, is expected to close sometime in the second quarter of 2021 in hopes of boosting first-year profits after the close and in order to drive additional revenue growth.
GW Pharmaceuticals’ pre-market stock prices soared 46% following the announcement.
GW Pharma is the manufacturer of Epidiolex, an oral solution which in 2018 became the first cannabis-based medication to receive FDA approval for patient use. Jazz Pharma is an Ireland-based biopharmaceutical company founded in 2003.
Epidiolex utilizes CBD to treat seizure symptoms. The medication was originally approved to treat Dravet syndrome, a rare and drug-resistant form of epilepsy, but in August 2020, the FDA also approved the drug as a treatment for seizures resulting from tuberous sclerosis complex.
Nawan Butt, the Portfolio Manager of The MEdical Cannabis and Wellness UCITS ETF (Europe’s first cannabis-focused ETF), said the deal could signal a significant shift in the international cannabis market.
“When [GW] started most global pharma companies were hesitant to do work with this plant ignoring centuries of evidence there were some health benefits,” Butt said. “Today could be a notable turning point… We don’t think this is the last deal we will see in the sector.”
Two cannabis legalization bills have been pre-filed in New Mexico, less than one week after Gov. Lujan Grisham called for the reforms during her State of the State address, KOB 4 reports.
The bills were filed by Democratic state Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto and Republican Cliff Pirtle on Monday. The measures would both, essentially, do the same thing but differ on operational and enforcement details.
If approved, Pirtle’s bill calls for industry rules and regulations to be promulgated no later than September 1 with licenses manufacturing expected to be issued by Sept. 1, 2022 and cultivation licenses by June 1, 2022, according to the bill text. The proposal also allows local control and would allow social-use where approved. The measure includes provisions common in other states with adult-cannabis laws, including a ban on edibles that could appeal to children, testing, advertising bans, and limits on how far dispensaries must be from school, churches, parks, playgrounds, and youth centers.
The measure includes expungement provisions for cannabis-related crimes that would be legal under the new law.
Ivey-Soto’s proposal includes many of the same safeguards as the Republican’s plan but also would establish a Medical Cannabis Assistance Fund for low-income medical cannabis patients funded by cannabis taxes. The measure aims for an industry launch date of Jan. 1, 2022. The proposal sets possession limits at 2 ounces of flower and 16 grams of concentrates.
Both laws keep intact provisions of the state’s medical cannabis law that allow for home cultivation.
Both bills were sent to the chamber’s Taxation, Business and Transportation Committee.
Cannabis industry software company Agrify last week began trading on the Nasdaq under the “AGFY” symbol after completing a $54 million initial public offering. The IPO, which closed February 1, priced 5,400,000 common stock shares at $10 per share.
Maxim Group LLC and Roth Capital Partners acted as joint book-running managers for the offering.
Since the listing, Agrify has seen its shares as high as $15, and as low as $10.59.
“This is an incredible step forward to solidifying Agrify’s foothold in the indoor agriculture and tech space,” Agrify president and CEO Raymond Nobu Chang said in an interview with Green Market Report.
“We look forward to empowering a generation of modern growers to achieve better consistency and quality through the understanding that cultivation techniques must evolve to meet the market’s future needs.” – Nobu Chang to Green Market Report
The company does not cultivate, come in contact with, distribute or dispense cannabis or any cannabis derivatives that are currently prohibited under U.S. federal law. Its cultivation solutions can be used by indoor cannabis cultivators.
Agrify, based in Burlington, Massachusetts, reported 2019 net revenues of $4 million, which grew to $7.7 million for nine months ending September 30, 2020, according to Green Market Report, with net losses for those nine months of $8.5 million.
In their Securities and Exchange Commission filing outlined by Green Market Report, the company said they expect to “recognize revenue of approximately $40 million in 2021 and the rest gradually thereafter.”
“As of December 31, 2020,” the company said, “we have $105 million of carefully vetted potential sales opportunities (which we refer to as our qualified pipeline). Of this, $78 million of the qualified pipeline was generated through our company directly and $27 million through our Agrify-Valiant Joint-Venture.” The firm noted it planned to convert the pipeline into confirmed bookings over the next year.
Kansas’ Democratic Gov. Kelly Chambers is proposing adopting medical cannabis in the state, and then using that money to pay for Medicaid expansion, the Associated Press reports. In a news conference held at a Kansas City health care software firm, the governor said she made the proposal to directly confront Republican claims that a Medicaid expansion would be too costly, a position that Kansas’ Republican party has held since the Obama administration.
Looking to make good on her campaign promises to expand Medicaid and legalize medical cannabis, the governor said at the news conference, “I’m hoping they will set aside the political party differences and recognize that both components of this bill, Medicaid expansion and medical legalization are extraordinarily popular among their constituents.”
Despite the endorsement of Democratic legislators and the governor’s enthusiasm, Republican leaders — who hold super majorities in both bodies of the legislature — have already come out against the plan. House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins told the AP he thought Kelly was focused on “high hopes and pipedreams.”
“Governor Kelly envisions a Kansas where you can choose not to work and taxpayers will foot the bill for you to stay home and smoke supposedly medicinal marijuana.” — New Mexico House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, in a text to the AP
The governor’s current budget envisions adding 165,000 users to the state’s Medicaid system by July 1, 2021. In its first half-year, she estimates the initial expansion would cost Kansas $19 million, while the federal government would spend $541 million on the program. She estimates, however, that the state could raise up to $50 million per year by expanding medical cannabis, thereby eliminating the GOP’s main objections.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Ryn Wyden (D-OR) announced yesterday the formation of a Senate coalition dedicated to the legalization of cannabis. Specifically, the group committed to releasing a draft discussion bill “in the early part of this year” that will focus on restorative justice reforms, reinforcing public health, and implementing “responsible taxes and regulations” aimed at ending federal prohibition.
The announcement comes on the heels of Democrats having re-taken control of both the Legislative and Executive branches of the federal government during November’s election.
Last year, for the first time ever, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed the MORE Act, a stand-alone bill that would end the federal prohibition of cannabis; the GOP-controlled Senate, however, failed to even consider the legislation.
“The War on Drugs has been a war on people—particularly people of color. Ending the federal marijuana prohibition is necessary to right the wrongs of this failed war and end decades of harm inflicted on communities of color across the country. But that alone is not enough. As states continue to legalize marijuana, we must also enact measures that will lift up people who were unfairly targeted in the War on Drugs. We are committed to working together to put forward and advance comprehensive cannabis reform legislation that will not only turn the page on this sad chapter in American history, but also undo the devastating consequences of these discriminatory policies. The Senate will make consideration of these reforms a priority. — Sens. Schumer, Booker, and Wyden, in a joint statement
Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D) — a co-chair and founding member of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus — praised the move and called the bill’s co-sponsors, “our champions in the Senate.”
“Last year, we moved heaven and earth to get a bill passed through the House with key criminal justice and restorative justice provisions, but Mitch McConnell blocked consideration,” Blumenauer said. “Now, new Senate leadership is prepared to pick up the mantle.”
Justin Strekal, the Political Director for NORML, said of the announcement, “We look forward to constructively engaging with Congressional leaders, other organizations, and those communities that have historically been most impacted by criminalization in order to ensure that we craft the strongest and most comprehensive bill possible to right the wrongs of the nearly a century of federal cannabis prohibition.”
The move was foreshadowed last week by the Senate Majority Leader during an interview with cannabis entrepreneur/former NBA star Al Harrington. During their talk, Sen. Schumer told Harrington that lawmakers planned to merge several pieces of cannabis legislation in their quest for enacting federal reforms.
The Society of Cannabis Clinicians (SCC) — a 501(c)(3) non-profit made up of expert clinicians and researchers — is releasing a new clinical medical cannabis training curriculum for medical professionals. Twelve of the twenty two training courses will be available remotely starting February 8, 2021. SCC members will receive 20% off of all educational offerings.
A recent study conducted by the SCC showed that 56% of clinicians felt that there was adequate information available to ethically practice cannabis medicine; however, according to a study conducted with medical patients in Vermont, only 18% of patients reported that their provider was a good source of information on medical cannabis. This divide is an issue that the SCC has been working to reconcile since its founding in 1999. The SCC’s latest offering will provide clinicians with a multi-pronged approach to understanding cannabis medicine and clinicians will leave with tools for better serving medical cannabis patients.
In the new educational modules, clinicians and researchers will learn how to build medical cannabis treatment regimens personalized to patient needs. They will also get access to an in-depth look at the endocannabinoid system and how it relates to cannabis as an application for a wide variety of conditions.
“The endocannabinoid system is an integral component to many bodily functions, and we still have much to uncover about its impact on human health. The fact that medical professionals are not taught about this vital signaling system in their training is detrimental to our ability to accurately understand disease pathology and is a disservice to public health. The SCC’s commitment to teaching cannabinoid science is guided by a responsibility to provide the best evidence-based patient care.” — SCC Program Director Christine Milentis
Researchers and clinicians who are looking to engage with this new educational offering can access individual modules or full course packages on the Society of Cannabis Clinicians website. Each module is optimized for desktop and mobile, so it can be accessed from anywhere. People who sign up for SCC membership will receive a discount on courses and gain full access to the resources made available after joining.
The SCC is currently raising funds to support the development of this educational endeavor. Each module offers critical education that is missing from most health professional training schools and continuing clinical education programs. Membership and individual donations financially support the non-profit’s mission. The group is currently working to meet a new donation goal to continue bridging the gap between cannabis medicine and medical practitioners.
In most states, the Cannabis that is purchased at licensed cannabis dispensaries/store has been through a series of cannabis testing to provide the information seen on the labels: cannabinoids, terpenes, and potency to name a few. The purpose of the testing is to provide the consumer with a safe product and that the product is labeled with accurate information.
This month, I had the opportunity to visit, tour, and chat with CannaSafe and their CEO, Aaron Riley, to chat all things cannabis testing and the cannabis industry. CannaSafe is California’s leading ISO accredited cannabis testing laboratory, located in Van Nuys.
About CannaSafe
“If you can dream it, grow it, craft it; we can test it,” is the CannaSafe motto. Though 2020 was quite the roller coaster year, CannaSafe made strides. In January, Aaron was promoted from president to CEO, and Bosco Ramirez came in from being president of Eurofins TestAmerica, to VP of Operations for CannaSafe.
Not only promotions and new roles, but 2020 was also the year that they moved to a new 25,000 ft² headquarters facility — which is nearly double the size of their previous lab — to accommodate the industry’s growing demand.
As I walked through the facility, I saw a diverse group of people, the CEO having genuine laughs with the employees, and the cannabis testing process in action. It was quite the science lab in there, but definitely warm and full of energy.
The Long Road to CEO
From a small town in Indiana, to a High Times feature at the age of 16, to the football fields at Jacksonville University in Florida, to a jail cell during his sophomore year in college — CEO Aaron Riley has made some head-turning moves towards his role in the cannabis industry. After moving briefly in a different direction at the age of 22 (as the owner of a car dealership), Aaron found his way back to the legal cannabis space with CannaSafe.
The Cannasafe Team
Longtime friend and colleague Antonio Frazier has been by Aaron’s side since their college days. Antonio (who was a recent guest on the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast) came in as CannaSafe’s Lab Manager and is now President of the company. Antonio and Aaron met playing football together, and now they are CannaSafe’s dynamic duo.
It wasn’t always easy, though. Aaron recruited Antonio over a two-year period. It was when Aaron purchased most of the company in 2016 that Antonio made the commitment to move his family from the East to the West Coast:
“Aaron visited me out-of-state and convinced me to leave home and come to California. He believed my skillset to be necessary for this new venture. The decision was made easy because Aaron supported my family and I through the transition. The passion from Aaron made this venture impossible to refuse.”
Today, the Cannasafe team consists of a diverse group of leaders and employers. The company employs about 150 people — 147 more than there were when the company launched about a decade ago.
“Our team is inspired, unafraid, and emboldened to speak up, bring ideas to the table and to be a conduit for transformative change,” Frazier said.
CannaSafe’s Hopes for the Future
Integrity is at the heart of CannaSafe’s mission: “It’s at the heart of who we are, and we stand firm to our mission and core values.”
CannaSafe is working on a safe products list, a list of companies doing it right, and to offer reliable products with legit testing results. The company is also committed to social equity, consumer education, and patient advocacy. Aaron sponsors expungement clinics like Social Equity LA and The Social Impact Center.
“We believe we can make things better by working within our communities and running our business with purpose,” he said.
Also coming soon — the CannaSafe Center of Excellence lab, which will be focused on CBD and edibles.
The company also focuses on hiring people with prior cannabis convictions so that they have an opportunity in the legal space — additionally, in many cases, such hires end up being the most qualified. Aaron feels obligated to create a plan positioning CannaSafe as a company that offers second chances.
As for expansion, CannaSafe is eventually headed to the state markets of Florida and Oregon.
Final Thoughts
When I asked Aaron for his insight/advice for current and new states, and for the future of cannabis testing, Aaron suggested that pesticides are going to be monitored much more heavily, organic grows are always best, and a compliance person is one of the most important people to have on your team. Consumer protection suits will be coming because there are some brands and labs not being transparent.
And for those seeking a second chance, Aaron stated: focus on social equity opportunities, research programs in the state, and the different license types. Be diligent, he said, and seek out resources because there are many that will help with paperwork and processes.
A New Mexico court has ruled in favor of a coalition of licensed medical cannabis producers and one medical cannabis patient authorized to grow at home, essentially overturning the state’s safety and labeling protocols adopted by the Department of Health (DOH) last year, according to the NM Political Report.
The group first sued the state on the grounds the new rules requiring heavy metal and pesticide testing were “arbitrary and capricious” and would result in high prices for patients. First Judicial District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid did not rule on the “merits” of the new rules, only that the state did not follow proper procedures when adopting the changes. Namely, that the rules lacked “substantial evidence” and the DOH did not consult the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board when developing the program.
Although the original lawsuit did not ask for all the rules to be invalidated, the court took that extra step and invalidated the entire new batch of regulations.
“The Court hopes that its additional findings and conclusions provide some guidance to the Department on remand and avoid additional remands due to lack of substantial evidence,” Judge Biedscheid wrote.
Additionally, the ruling overturns producers’ ability to increase their plant count under certain circumstances and throws out a consumption area provision that, according to the report, no medical cannabis producer in the state had yet taken advantage of.
The Department of Health already had testing and labeling requirements in place prior to the new regulations, so the New Mexico cannabis industry will return to its previous testing and labeling standards. are still testing and labeling standards in New Mexico. However, it is unclear if the legislature or DOH will take the issue up again; the DOH said it was “aware” of the judge’s ruling and is currently “evaluating options.” The legislature, meanwhile, may be too busy looking forward to adult-use cannabis regulations in the state.
The number of potential white applicants for cannabis licenses in Michigan far outpaced applicants from communities of color as 79% of those interested in ownership of a cannabis business identified as white while 3.8% were Black and 1.5% were Hispanic or Latino, according to Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) data outlined by the Daily Mining Gazette.
The figures are based on voluntary data collected by the agency as the state does not release demographic statistics of cannabis industry licensees. The MRA’s Racial Equity Advisory Workgroup is formulating recommendations that would create partnerships with large businesses and local municipalities to bring in members from communities disproportionately impacted by prohibition, the report says.
First-year adult-use cannabis sales in Michigan reached $511 million, while medical cannabis sales topped $474 million – a $985 million total that generated more than $100 million in tax revenues, according to the report. Michigan State University researchers estimate that a fully operational and mature cannabis market in Michigan will be worth $3 billion, equaling about $500 million in state tax revenue annually.
The lack of minority participation in the industry – or even lack of interest in industry participation – could be driven, in part, by the lack of business opportunities in Detroit, which still hasn’t issued adult-use licenses and only began accepting applications last month. Motor City licenses at first will only be available to so-called “legacy applicants,” meaning licensees must have “lived in Detroit for 15 of the last 30 years; lived in Detroit for 13 of the last 30 years and are low-income; or lived in Detroit for 10 of the last 30 years and have a past marijuana-related conviction.”
Legacy licenses will be eligible for a 25% discount of fair market value on city property and can access technical assistance and reduced fees. An ordinance by the city council requires half of all of the city’s cannabis licenses to be awarded to legacy applicants.
The MRA workgroup suggested that the agency create a crowdfunding platform on its website that would be a directory of cannabusinesses in communities that struggle to finance new businesses that investors could support, and that the MRA establish a webinar and training sessions for municipalities to learn how to create equitable ordinances for cannabis businesses and share ideas. The workgroup also suggested the MRA operate a social equity tour that would provide a roadmap with bilingual content for applicants to understand the licensing processes and a finds match for social equity applicants.
Pennsylvania last week awarded nearly $19,000 in hemp industry grants aimed at agriculture, with $14,432 given to the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and $4,500 Coexist Build, a private company.
The UPenn School of Veterinary Medicine grant is for the “development of sensitive method for analysis of cannabinoids in bovine serum and hemp seed samples,” while Coexist Build’s award is for “developing marketing strategy for agritourism highlighting regenerative, organic farm featuring hemp-based construction,” according to a press release from the Agriculture Department.
Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said the investments into the state’s agriculture sector “hold the promise and potential to spur the innovation we need to increase productivity; advance human and animal medicine; and support cleaner water, healthier soil and a safer food supply.”
In all, the state awarded $1.287 million in grants to eight organizations for a variety of projects.
Last year, the state awarded a $2 million grant to Pure Penn – which is owned by Florida-based Trulieve – to expand its facility in McKeesport.
In 2019, the Ag Department announced a $460,000 Specialty Crop Black Grant for cultivators or hemp and other niche crops to enhance the market for and competitiveness of such crops, according to a Lancaster Farming report. According to the Department of Agriculture, 6.2% of those grants will be allocated to recipients and projects located in rural municipalities where at least 20% of the population has been below the federal poverty line since 1990 while 3.8% will be allocated to recipients and projects located in urban municipalities where at least 20% of the population has been below the federal poverty line since 1990.
Oregon’s first-in-the-nation drugs decriminalization measure takes effect today, making all low-level possession cases a civil violation and $100 fine, the Register-Guard reports. The fine can be avoided by law violators if they agree to participate in a health assessment.
The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission estimated that the reforms would drop yearly convictions for possession of a controlled substance by 3,679, or 90.7%. The measure also reallocates tens of millions from the Oregon Marijuana Account – which is funded from cannabis taxes – to addiction treatment and harm-reduction efforts, the report says.
Under the measure – which was approved by nearly 60% of Oregonians during November’s General Election – low-level possession is defined as:
Less than 1 gram of heroin
Less than 1 gram, or less than 5 pills, of MDMA
Less than 2 grams of methamphetamine
Less than 40 units of LSD
Less than 12 grams of psilocybin
Less than 40 units of methadone
Less than 40 pills of oxycodone
Less than 2 grams of cocaine
During the 2020 election, voters in the state also approved a measure to legalize psilocybin therapy.
The measure also reduced some felony possession limits for certain drugs, including:
1 to 3 grams of heroin
1 to 4 grams of MDMA
2 to 8 grams of methamphetamine
2 to 8 grams of cocaine
Possession over the limits, manufacturing, and distribution remain criminal violations in the state. The measure also reduces the ability for police to use drug paraphernalia in a vehicle as probable cause, Chris Parosa, senior prosecutor for the Lane County District Attorney’s Office, told the Register-Guard.
“For example when officers walk up (to a car) and immediately notice … a pipe commonly used to smoke some illicit drug from it, ordinarily, if a police officer saw that, they would immediately develop probable cause for a potential felony. Now, if they were to walk up and find a pipe, which we can only assume has a residue quantity of drugs in it, it’s no more than a violation.” – Parosa to the Register-Guard
Devon Downeysmith, a spokesperson for the pro-Measure 110 Oregon Health Justice Recovery Alliance, said in an email to The Register-Guard, said that while “it will take time to see the new law’s full effects on the state as a whole,” the “positive impacts of the new law could be immediate” for individuals “struggling now.”
The proposal to constitutionally ban all psychoactive drugs not currently legal in Idaho on Friday passed the Senate State Affairs Committee while House lawmakers on both sides of the aisle introduced a measure to legalize medical cannabis in the state.
The medical cannabis legalization bill was introduced by Reps. Ilana Rubel (D) and Mike Kingsley (R), who dubbed it the “Sergeant Kitzhaber Medical Cannabis Act” after Sgt. Jeremy Kitzhaber, 50, an Idahoan who served 22 years in the Air Force and is diagnosed with terminal Stage 4 cancer likely caused by his duties in the Air Force, which included handling radioactive materials, the bill’s sponsors wrote in an op-ed in the Idaho Statesman.
In the op-ed, the lawmakers wrote that they were sponsoring the legislation “because pain is not partisan.”
“We can get patients help for pain without stepping on a slippery slope, and this is what most Idahoans want. A 2019 poll from FM3 Research showed 72% of Idahoans were in favor of legalizing cannabis for medical purposes, and that number has likely climbed higher since the poll was taken. There is strong evidence cannabis is a much safer treatment than opioids and would better serve those suffering from a variety of illnesses, like cancer, epilepsy, ALS, and multiple sclerosis.” – Rubel and Kingsley in an Idaho Statesman op-ed
The medical cannabis bill requires cannabis to be dispensed in medical dosage form, including blister-sealed packaging in very limited doses, the lawmakers said, and it does not include home growing or production. Medical cannabis ID cards would be needed for possession and only medical providers who can prescribe opioids could prescribe cannabis. The proposal also includes provisions to revoke medical cannabis access for anyone convicted of using their card to obtain cannabis for another person.
Meanwhile, the bill to add the prohibition of all non-medical psychoactive substances to the Idaho constitution passed the committee 6-2 across party lines, ABC News reports.
Republican Sen. Scott Grow, the sponsor of the amendment to constitutionally ban the legalization of psychoactive drugs, said medical cannabis is “about money … not about caring for people who might have pain or sickness.”
Democratic Sen. Michelle Stennett argued that the bill would “prohibit Idaho doctors and patients from making medical choices” and directly “impact on the ability of Idahoans to do good medical health care.”
The measure also faces opposition from the St. Luke’s Cancer Institute Medical Director Dan Zuckerman, who said that in his experience with cancer patients – more than a decade – he has seen the efficacy of medical cannabis with his own eyes.
“The data is clear that patients benefit from this,” he said during his testimony.
The constitutional amendment proposal moves next to the full Senate. If approved by the Legislature, it would have to be approved by voters before being codified in the state constitution.
In their lawsuit against Missouri, Metrc, a national cannabis traceability system administered by Franwell, has lost its second court battle. In the appellate court ruling first reported by Law 360, Metrc’s request that medical cannabis providers pay for their own tracking tags was denied.
The lawsuit dates back to 2019 when Metrc sued the state, claiming that, in addition to the traceability system’s $5 million price tag, the company had the right to charge extra for the tracking tags. This is the second ruling against the company.
According to the appellate court ruling, “Metrc’s arguments are refuted by the plain language of the [request for proposal] which required Metrc to include in its firm, fixed price all costs Metrc intended to charge for its seed-to-sale tracking solution to function for both internal and external users.”
According to the Metrc website, the company uses Radio Identification tags (RFID tags) to track cannabis from “seed-to-sale.” Each tag is unique, cannot be re-used, and can cost anywhere from $0.25 to $.0.45 each. Additionally, there are two types of tags, “plant” tags and “package” tags.
In an email to Ganjaprenuer, Bronwyn Flores, Metrc spokesperson, shared Metrc’s statement about the court decision.
“Metrc strives to make it easy for state governments and legal cannabis businesses to comply with continuously evolving cannabis policies and regulations. While we are disappointed in this outcome, we are optimistic that we will be able to find a mutually beneficial agreement with the state and industry to support a safe medical cannabis market in Missouri.” — Flores, in a statement
The New Jersey Assembly Community Development and Affairs Committee on Friday approved a revised version of the so-called “clean-up” legislation demanded by Gov. Phil Murphy (D) in order for him to sign the broad adult-use cannabis legalization bill, NJ 101.5 reports.
The new bill sets civil fines for cannabis possession of by individuals aged 18 to 20 at $50 to $100, depending on the amount of cannabis possessed, down from $250 to $500 as outlined in the original cleanup proposal, which was abandoned by lawmakers last month.
The proposal also includes procedures that police are supposed to follow when interacting with juveniles found in possession of cannabis that revolve around point-of-violation warnings, rather than formal court proceedings. Under the bill, the attorney general would be required to issue reports twice a year with statistics on those warnings and other juvenile interventions related to legalization.
Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D) said the rules in the law “are very consistent (with) what happens currently with alcohol” in the state and that it doesn’t put charges on the criminal records of youths “that could deter them from college, tuition assistance to housing to opportunities to work in law enforcement or any type of public safety work.”
Ami Kachalia, campaign strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, told NJ 101.5 that, despite voters approving legalization reforms in November, police arrested more than 4,000 in November and December alone for possessing less than 50 grams of cannabis.
“In fact,” she added, “data from Newark show that the city is on track to make more cannabis-related arrests this month than they did last January.”
The new clean-up bill comes as Murphy – who supported the reforms – has until February 8 to act on the Legislature-approved legislation. Murphy has said he prefers to sign the legalization and decriminalization bills simultaneously.
A Pasadena, California vape shop along with Weedmaps are being sued by the mother of a 19-year-old who was fatally shot during a cannabis delivery in June 2019, Law360 reports. A 17-year-old boy was also injured in the incident.
Photon Muur filed the lawsuit in California Superior Court in Los Angeles County on Monday. The lawsuit intends to hold liable the parties she contends are responsible for the death of her son William Benjamin Harris IV, who was allegedly shot by Universal Stop Inc. employee David Christopher Gregorich during a cannabis delivery. Muur’s attorney, Shawn S. Rokni of West Coast Trial Lawyers APLC, told Law360 that Gregorich fired his weapon when he thought Harris was robbing him when he approached the vehicle.
Gregorich has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder, and shooting at an inhabited dwelling, the report says.
The lawsuit claims that Weedmaps and Universal Stop were aware that Gregorich carried weapons during his cannabis deliveries and that the companies “failed to provide adequate supervision and training … regarding the use of weapons in deliveries” and that the companies shouldn’t have even allowed the delivery to happen because Harris was under the legal age to purchase cannabis in California.
The lawsuit contends that because Gregorich had previous felony convictions, Weedmaps and Universal Stop should have kept a closer eye on the driver due to his “aggressive nature and propensity to harm others,” according to court documents.
“Universal Stop and Weedmaps knew, had reason to know or should have known the particular risks of having a poorly supervised, poorly trained, unfit employee like Gregorich, deliver marijuana to teenagers, while armed, in a poorly designated and unsafe environment.” – Muur in a statement to Law360
Other parties named in the lawsuit include Universal Stop owner Movses Movsisyan, and Ghost Management Group LLC, WM Holding Company LLC, and Weedmaps Media LLC – the three companies that own Weedmaps.
The lawsuit seeks damages for claims of negligence, battery, assault, and wrongful death against all of the defendants. Weedmaps and Universal Stop are additionally accused of negligent hiring, retention and supervision, according to the documents.
Muur is seeking both monetary and non-economic compensation for hardships stemming from her son’s death, including funeral and memorial service expenses, loss of financial support, and the loss of her son’s love and companionship, along with punitive damages.
LeafLink’s 2020 Wholesale Cannabis Pricing Guide found an 18% percent price increase in wholesale flower prices nationwide – which averaged $1,940 per pound – but an 11% decrease in edibles and ingestibles, which saw an average nationwide price of $.08 per milligram.
The report includes an analysis of cannabis markets in Alaska, California, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state – which have legalized both recreational and medical cannabis use – along with medical markets in Arizona, Maryland, and Oklahoma.
Arizona voters approved adult-use reforms last year and sales began on January 21, but the report uses the state’s 2020 data during which only medical cannabis was legal.
Nationwide, concentrates saw a 7% price increase year-over-year and pre-roll prices increased 2%. Cartridges saw a modest 1% decrease and made up the industry’s “most stable category,” the report said.
On average last year, vape cartridge prices in the U.S. cost about $22.78 per gram, concentrates averaged $17.02 per gram, while pre-rolls averaged $7.18 per gram, LeafLink found.
Alex Feldman, general manager of LeafLink Insights & Marketing Services, said the guide “empowers businesses to better execute on their 2021 strategic planning by benchmarking pricing on a state and national level.”
“Pricing is an important differentiator among brands in our increasingly competitive industry. Whether it is used to signal a product’s premium status, or serves as a reflection of structural dynamics in a state or category, it is arguably the single most important driver of a company’s profitability.” – Feldman in a statement
LeafLink processes nearly a third of all U.S. wholesale cannabis commerce, to the tune of $3 billion in orders. The pricing guide analyzes 109,000 SKUs including flower, pre-rolls, vape cartridges, concentrates, and edibles/ingestibles – the five most popular categories of cannabis products in the U.S.
LeafLink found flower was the most popular product in four of the 10 states analyzed – California, Maryland, Michigan, and Oregon – while cartridges were the most sought-after product in Alaska, Arizona, and Nevada. Edibles and ingestibles were the most purchased products in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Washington state.
Adult-Use States
Alaska’s cannabis market had the highest prices for four of the five categories: cartridges, concentrates, edibles and ingestibles, and flower while Washington state had the lowest prices for cartridges, concentrates, edibles and ingestibles, and pre-rolls. Alaska saw a per-pound flower price of $3,186 – 164% more than the national average, driven by “high taxes and distribution costs,” the report says.
Concentrates in the state averaged $33 per gram, which is 94% higher the national average, LeafLink found, and up $13 year-over-year.
Washington’s continued trend as the state with the least expensive prices in four of the five categories can be attributed to its market structure, the report says describing it as having an “abundance of cultivators [competing] for shelf space with a small number of retailers.”
The Evergreen State, which saw its first adult-use sale in October 2016, experienced a 15% decrease in flower prices year-over-year.
Oregon had the lowest flower prices among the states analyzed at $1,096.06 per pound – 44% lower than the other nine states analyzed. Its biggest pricing change from 2019 to 2020 was a 21% decrease in edible and ingestibles, which LeafLink identified as its “least competitive category.”
“In every product category, Oregon ranked among the least expensive two markets analyzed,” the report notes.
Nevada, which launched its market in April 2017, had the most product categories nearest the national mean and median, the report found, while experiencing a 25% increase in cartridge prices and 13% increase in pre-roll prices from 2019 to 2020.
Michigan, the most immature adult-use market included in the report having only commenced sales in 2019, had the second most expensive cartridge prices last year at $32 per gram. The products also saw a 44% price increase following the state’s migration from a medical-only to adult use market.
Notably, the state’s cartridge sector was disrupted by a temporary ban on sales in November 2019 due to the rise in the vaping-related pulmonary illness. The following month, regulators recalled five vape cartridge brands after they tested positive for vitamin E acetate, the compound health officials believe are responsible for the disease.
Colorado, the nation’s most mature market along with Washington, experienced a 22% year-over-year flower price increase per pound to $1,495.18. LeafLink found that while edibles and ingestibles were the state’s most popular category, it was also its least competitive with “the fewest number of SKUs available throughout the year.”
Concentrate pricing also increased in Colorado 7% year-over-year to $15 per gram, the report says.
California, which launched the nation’s largest adult-use cannabis market by population in 2017, saw an 8% decrease in flower prices from 2019 to 2020 which narrowed the gap on the prices seen in the more mature Colorado and Oregon markets and pushing the wholesale price-per-pound to $2,031.98.
The report also notes that the season price declines normally experienced in the state from September to December were “more muted…likely due to a disruption in supply by wildfires.”
“Flower prices declined 15% from September to December 2019,” the report notes, “but only fell 10% during the same period in 2020.”
The vast majority of U.S. states now allow for medical cannabis in at least nonintoxicating forms.
Medical Cannabis States
Oklahoma might be the nation’s most prodigious state when it comes to medical cannabis with about 10% of the state’s population – or 360,000 residents – enrolled in the program, according to a Politico analysis. Those figures put the Sooner State’s medical cannabis market as the country’s largest per capita.
Oklahoma – a red state won by former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 – has more than 9,000 licensed cannabis businesses, including almost 2,000 dispensaries and nearly 6,000 grow operations, Politico reported. Comparatively, Colorado – which legalized cannabis for adults in 2012 and has a population almost 50% larger than Oklahoma – has barely half as many licensed dispensaries and less than 20% of cultivation operations.
In 2020, Oklahoma saw a 5% or more price decline across all five categories as the number of sellers increased between three and five times.
“Pricing was most muted for flower, where a 6-times increase in sellers was offset by 21-times more retailers offering products in this category in 2020 versus 2019,” the report notes.
Prior to the recreational reforms, Arizona experienced a 32% year-over-year increase in flower prices – the largest increase of the states analyzed – pushing the per pound price to $2,212. Despite the spike, it still had the least expensive flower prices among medical-only states with only Washington state, Colorado, and Oregon with lower prices. Interestingly, Arizona had the highest pre-roll prices among the states examined by LeafLink and ranked near the middle of the pack for cartridge and concentrate prices, the report found.
Maryland, which legalized medical cannabis in 2014, saw a 16% increase in the flower price per gram from 2019 to 2020, driving it to $40 per gram for the state’s patients and their wholesale flower prices were $3,181 per pound, just $5 less than Alaska’s highest-in-the-nation cost.
“This is due to a limited number of cultivators, processors, and brands in Maryland,” the report says. “Recently awarded cultivation and processing licenses (October 2020) should bring additional supply online and put downward pressure on prices.”
Overall, the report concludes, pricing nationwide “either increased or remained relatively stable [year-over-year] with the exception of edibles and ingestibles, which saw declines across all states.” And while flower saw a drastic year-over-year increase, those prices were driven mostly by Arizona (32%) and Colorado (22%).
A bill introduced this week in Rhode Island would allow veterinarians to certify pets for medical cannabis access for “any condition suffered by a domestic pet that would be a ‘debilitating medical condition’ if it were suffered by a person.”
The measure was introduced by Democratic Reps. Patricia Serpa, William O’Brien, and Stephen Casey.
Currently, no states with medical cannabis programs allow pets to be considered qualifying patients. Last month, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed legislation allowing veterinarians to discuss the use of cannabis and industrial hemp products with pet owners.
A similar measure was introduced in California in 2019 but was tabled and was not reintroduced during last year’s session as anticipated. Earlier that year, then-Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill allowing veterinarians to discuss cannabis therapies with pet owners without risk of losing their license or other putative actions, but that bill stopped short of allowing recommendations.
A 2018 bill introduced in New York to allow the state’s veterinarians to certify pets for medical cannabis access died in the House.
A study published last year in the journal Pain found that CBD treatment for dogs with osteoarthritis was beneficial in nine out of 10 cases. The researchers concluded that the cannabinoid treatment reduced production in both inflammatory molecules and immune cells linked to arthritis.
Last May, national pet supply chain Petsmart started carrying CBD extracts from Mary’s Brands in select markets in Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Oregon, and Tennessee. The company later extended the offerings in their online store and in stores throughout the U.S.
If approved, Rhode Island would be the first state in the nation to allow medical cannabis certification for pets. The measure was referred to the Health, Education and Welfare Committee.
Cannabis data, analytics, and intelligence firm Headset estimates Mexico’s legal cannabis market could be worth $843.7 million with an average item price of $10.22, according to a report release this week.
While the market would be the world’s largest by population – Mexico’s adult population is 76.3 million – the market would fall short of being the world’s most valuable as California would remain tops in the world with a $1.47 billion market, the report says. California’s adult population is about 29 million.
The report notes that Mexico’s push toward legalization was sparked by a 2018 Supreme Court decision rather than broad popular support – as is the case in most U.S. states where legalization is driven by ballot initiatives approved by voters. In Mexico, support for legalization is 40%, the report says.
The first six months of Mexico’s market would be marked by supply constraints, following similar trends in U.S. states that have legalized cannabis and Canada, which passed its legalization reforms in 2018.
Headset estimates that Mexico’s cannabis market would mirror the first year of Canada’s market by not initially allowing edibles and beverages – which the Great White North allowed one year after permitting flower sales.
“As a result, we expect the Mexican market to resemble the Canadian market, which allowed only combustible inhalables, topicals, and ingestible-oils to start. These markets usually begin with a 90% or more market share to flower and pre-rolls as these products are the most familiar and easiest to produce. We usually see a rapid take off of non-combustible inhalables (such as vapor pens and concentrates), in months 4-6 as the products are finally through the manufacturing process.” – Headset, “Projections for Mexico Adult-use Cannabis Sales,” Jan. 2021
While the Mexico Supreme Court has on several occasions set a deadline for lawmakers to approve legalization legislation, it also allowed extensions for the implementation of the reforms, most recently last December – about a month after the Senate approved a legalization measure.
Headset suggests that while new U.S. markets often experience supply constraints, Mexico may have an edge because the nation has long been a “major cannabis producer.” However, the government’s plan to require consumers to register to by cannabis could impact demand through legal channels.
The Grove is a vertically-integrated cannabis company built on crafting products catered to the complex tastes of cannabis consumers. Their cultivation and production facility are state-of-the-art, featuring an eco-friendly indoor grow outfitted with a Fohse LED lighting system. They currently serve customers at their Southern Nevada dispensaries in Las Vegas and Pahrump, selling proprietary products under the brand Kannabis.
Founder, Owner, and CEO Demetri Kouretas said he started The Grove because of the exciting challenges that often come with entering a fledgling industry and the company continues to flourish.
“We decided to give it a shot and applied for licenses in retail, cultivation, and production, which were given out in a ‘lottery/merit-based’ type fashion. Of course, we were one of the last to ‘win’ the licenses, so tensions were high, but we walked out of there with 2 retail licenses, a cultivation, and production license — and thus began our yellow brick road,” Kouretas told Ganjapreneur. “We currently hold 10 licenses in retail, cultivation, production, and distribution in the State of Nevada.”
The Grove’s success can be traced back to a focus on providing the best service and products possible. To craft their Kannabis line, The Grove has dialed in their 24,000 square foot facility to mimic a natural ecosystem where cannabis flowers thrive. Their team uses all-natural soil and purely natural pest and fungus remediations — there are no pesticides or fungicides used in their cultivation processes.
Fohse lighting systems are another essential component of creating the perfect ecosystem for healthy cannabis plants. Their LED lighting setup simulates the full spectrum of natural sunlight, even creating the same spectrum changes at ‘sunrise’ and ‘sunset’. Using LED lighting has cut power usage at The Grove by 40% and lowered A/C consumption by half, which reduced their HVAC costs significantly. The cultivation team has also seen drastic increases in their yield since switching to the Fohse A3i. To duplicate this success, Head Cultivator Mike Howard has dialed in the environment to meet the lights’ capabilities.
“In the last few years, LEDs went from a novelty to a tried and true method for many indoor growers. The biggest mistake I have seen is growers not adapting to their new lights, and running their environmental parameters as if they were with their old system. From my experience you can run LED rooms at 80+, with higher humidity than traditional HID rooms,” said Head Grower Mike Howard.
Operating vertically gives the cultivation team a direct line to the consumer through their retail staff. The team wants to grow what the customers desire, which covers both medical patients and adult-use consumers. Because of their line to the retail team, the cultivation side is able to evolve with the often quickly changing market demand. Howard obtains budtender feedback from each store to see what is most requested and, whether it’s classic Dutch genetics or new exotic flavors, they will work to provide customers with exactly what they’re looking for.
On the retail side of the operation, budtenders are trusted to provide a laid-back but informative visit for every customer. To maintain this environment, budtenders complete a two-week training course on cannabis and product information before ever working on the sales floor. They offer the full line of in-house grown Kannabis products and also third-party products that meet their medically-focused product standards.
With such high standards in place in retail, cultivation, and processing, The Grove has the ability to continue scaling its business and, as the company transitions their cultivation team fully to Fohse lights, their yields grow and facilitate further growth. While the operation started with just 20 team members, The Grove expects to employ more than 130 people by the second quarter of 2021. This year, they will be launching new brands and new products, and may even seek to build vertical operations in new states.
Let’s just call them both “cannabis” beverages. Cannabis and hemp are really just variations of the same plant and only differ in the amount of THC they contain by dry weight. And whether they have THC below a limit making them legal as hemp or contain a significant amount of THC, the methods for making an extract for use in beverages are largely unchanged. Extractors just take out what naturally occurs in the plant.
But simply making a cannabis extract that is suitable for beverages is just the beginning. After more than thirty years in the more traditional beverage market, I’m amazed at the variety of challenges – and opportunities – for a supplier in this new beverage category!
In my previous experience, I could rely on a certain baseline of knowledge from my customers. Whether they were brand owners, suppliers, distributors or retailers, everyone had some relevant experience in the market which made it relatively easy to discuss products and make decisions.
In the cannabis beverage market, though, there are a great number of entrepreneurs who are newbies. They have great ideas – a lot of really innovative projects unseen in other beverage categories – but they don’t necessarily understand everything it takes to get from idea to finished product.
There are lots of questions these beverage pioneers pose to a supplier well beyond “How does your extract work and what is the price?” Other basic questions we hear all the time include:
How do I find a copacker and how does the relationship work?
Where do I find local/organic/exotic flavor ingredients?
What containers should I use or avoid using?
Tell me about preservatives and pasteurization.
Can I mix DSD and Warehouse Distribution?
We at Farmington Research spend a great deal of time with our brand partners doing far more than delivering water-soluble extract. Unlike some of the purveyors of cannabis extract in the market, my partner Cameron Meshell and I have a long history in the beverage business.
Cameron operated a glass bottling facility in California making a variety of beverage products and knows exactly how to source ingredients, batch products, and ensure the end result is a great beverage in the right kind of packaging. After practicing law, I founded and operated two beverage companies – one a branded beverage product (Mountain Valley Spring Water) and the other a container supplier (Veriplas Containers). My decades of experience in the beverage world have helped me build great relationships and learn everything from bottling to distribution to marketing.
Knowing many of our customers don’t have similar experience, we spend a lot of time upfront carefully onboarding customers so we understand their business model and where we can add value beyond selling them a cannabis extract. We are not a consultant – there are no fees for the extra help Farmington provides. It is simply in our best interest to help our customers thrive.
An example of a recent product launch we assisted is Hectare’s, a purveyor of “small batch wellness products,” packaged in a shot drink format. With early attempts at formulation with an extract supplied by another company, they had taste, dosing, and stability issues. In order to solve their issues, Farmington supplied them with a specially formulated water-soluble extract sourced from Kentucky hemp (a marketing requirement). We then worked closely with their flavor company to fine-tune the benchtop samples. Once the benchmark samples were perfected, Farmington went further to work on-site with the contract packer who had no previous cannabis experience to precisely dose the shot containers in large scale production. The end result: Hectare’s reliably delivers to its fast-growing and loyal customer base a great tasting product with a consistent 30 mg of CBD per serving.
We have also worked on beverages as diverse as carbonated beverages with citrus, uncarbonated water without flavors, tea products in glass, and flavored powder sticks. Yes! Our water-soluble extract can be transformed into a powder which can be delivered in a variety of ways from bulk to individual servings. Powder and liquid drop sales have boomed in recent years and attract consumers who want to use the product on the go or to curate their own beverages. The innovation in the powder/drop subsegment of the beverage market has been eye-opening and has attracted major players in recent years such as Kraft with their “liquid enhancer” named “Mio” and Unilever with their purchase of powder brand “Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier.”
Have a question about beverages beyond extract? We stand ready to help you get your idea off the drawing board and into the market.
A survey of 525 chronic pain patients who had used prescription opioid medications continuously for at least three months in addition to medical cannabis found 40.4% of respondents had replaced their opioid-based medications with cannabis.
Another 45.2% reported decreasing their reliance on opioids, with 13.3% reporting no change in their use, and 1.1% saying their opioid use increased.
Nearly half of respondents (48.2%) indicated a 40%-100% pain decrease while using both cannabis and opioids, while 8.6% had no change and 2.6% said their pain was actually worse. Eighty percent of those surveyed reported an improved quality of life while using medical cannabis.
Nearly 63% of respondents said they did not want to continue using opioid-based medications.
“Patients in this study reported that cannabis was a useful adjunct and substitute for prescription opioids in treating their chronic pain and had the added benefit of improving the ability to function and quality of life.” — A Survey on the Effect That Medical Cannabis Has on Prescription Opioid Medication Usage for the Treatment of Chronic Pain at Three Medical Cannabis Practice Sites, Cureus, Dec. 2, 2020
The study used data from surveys conducted through Integr8 Health, three affiliated cannabis medical practices in Maine and Massachusetts. A total of 1181 patients responded to the survey but 656 were excluded for not using medical cannabis in combination with opioids or not meeting the definition of chronic pain. The majority of the respondents were male (55.8%) and nearly one-third were aged 46 to 55, while another quarter were 56- to 65-years-old.
The study was authored by Intigr8 Medical Director Dustin Sulak and Kevin M. Takakuwa, a member of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians. Cureus is a San Francisco, California-based open-access medical journal.
Nevada’s Cannabis Compliance Board on Tuesday accused Cannex Nevada LLC (also known as RSR Analytical Laboratories) of passing tainted cannabis products and inflating THC results for clients, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. The company has previously had its license suspended twice since 2017 for skirting state regulations and was the subject of two health advisories in 2019 and 2020 for passing tainted products, allowing them to reach dispensary shelves.
Regulators asked the board to revoke the company’s license, ban it from the industry for a decade, and impose a $62,500 fine, the report says. According to the complaint outlined by the Review-Journal, Cannex had performed unauthorized retesting for clients “with the intent to pass products that should have failed” microbial and heavy metal tests in addition to inflating THC potency.
In all, regulators say they found 232 instances of this unapproved retesting for THC Nevada, Silver Sage Wellness, ACC Industries, and Prime Cannabis and Integral Associates, the parent company of Essence Dispensaries.
“Rather than protecting consumers through accurate and honest testing, Cannex implemented testing processes that were designed to protect the monetary assets of their clients without regard for consumer safety. … Cannex’s microbial retesting practices resulted in the release of multiple cannabis products for sale to the public when they should have in fact failed testing.” – CCB, in the complaint
During an investigation into Cannex last year, regulators said secondary microbial tests of products passed by the company found high levels of mold and yeast, fungus and other contaminants, according to a Review-Journal report from February 2020. The Department of Taxation said at that time that there was “no reason to believe that the dispensaries or cultivators had any knowledge that the products exceeded allowable limits.” That recall affected 19 products at dozens of dispensaries throughout the state.
A man who filmed himself smoking a joint in the U.S. Capitol during the building’s siege on January 6 by angry supporters of former President Trump has been arrested, ABC News reports.
The man, James Bonet of New York state — who posted a video of his actions on his own Facebook page — was charged on January 25 by the Department of Justice, as per an FBI affidavit.
In the video, shot in the Capitol crypt, Bonet can be overheard saying, “Capitol building smoking with all my people!”
Later, he’d go on to say, “We made it in the building … We’re taking it back!”
The charging papers reveal Bonet was turned in by a co-worker who identified him via his video and then shared it with the FBI. Additionally, the documents say Bonet would often share conspiracies with co-workers, inviting them to join in his conspiratorial conversations.
However, the co-worker says they shared the video because he was not wearing a face mask, making him a potential COVID-19 spreader, ABC News said.
