94% of Arkansas Hemp Farmers Lost Money on Last Year’s Crop

5/15/2020

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An Arkansas Department of Agriculture survey found 94 percent of the state’s hemp growers lost money on the crop last year, planting a total of 1,819 acres but harvesting just 883 acres, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

Despite the losses, the agency has already issued more hemp cultivation licenses for the upcoming growing season than all of last year. The Agriculture Department has issued 152 cultivation licenses so far this year, up from 125 last year, the report says. Additionally, the agency has issued 39 hemp processor licenses so far – up from 33 last year. The licenses have been issued in 55 of the state’s 75 counties after hemp was grown in 51 of the state’s counties last year.

Arkansas hemp farmers reported capital investments last year of more than $5.8 million, total operating costs of $5.9 million, and sales to processors of nearly $846,000. They reported a total gross income of $702,291, an average of $3,266 per farmer, according to agency figures outlined by the Democrat-Gazette.

Some crops were hampered by rains along with flooding along the Arkansas River; however, 21 percent of licensed cultivators indicated their crops had been stolen by thieves who believed the plants were THC-rich cannabis. Caleb Allen, manager of the state’s hemp program, warned though that the theft figures are “self-reported” and that they couldn’t be independently verified.

Growers who participated in the survey said they were unable to sell 54.6 percent of last year’s crop – or about 108,000 pounds. Only about half of the licensed processors reported buying hemp from in-state growers, paying them about $330,000.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, Arkansas is still operating under its pilot hemp program enacted in 2014. Lawmakers have not yet passed legislation updating the program for federal approval as required under the 2018 farm bill.

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European Union Magistrate Says Member Nations Cannot Ban CBD Imports

5/15/2020

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A European Court of Justice magistrate said yesterday that European Union member states cannot ban the import of CBD products because the extract is not considered a narcotic drug, Courthouse News reports.

In the nonbinding opinion, Advocate General Evgeni Tanchev said that “in the current state of scientific knowledge, it has not been established that CBD oil has psychotropic effects” and, therefore, the substance does not fall under EU drug conventions.

The case stems from the prosecution of the owners of Kanavape, a Marseille, France-based e-cigarette startup that imported hemp flower-derived CBD to France that was processed in the Czech Republic. Under French law, CBD can only be made from hemp seed and fiber, not flower, and can contain no THC. French Health Ministry testing concluded the products contained no THC.

Kanavape owners Sébastien Béguerie and Antonin Cohen-Adad were ultimately convicted of drug charges, including using the entire hemp plant to manufacture CBD. They appealed the conviction and the French appeals court referred the case to the EU Court of Justice, the report says. The Court of Justice was asked to consider whether CBD imports could be banned under the EU’s free movement of goods policy.

The French government argued that it banned CBD products out of an abundance of caution, but Tanchev opined that for the government to ban something it would first need to identify “potentially negative consequences for health,” which he concluded it did not. Tanchev said that France could only impose such a ban if it were to find that such a risk existed after “a comprehensive scientific assessment.”

France is the EU’s largest hemp producer for textiles and paper.

The decision is, essentially, an advisory opinion and not binding; however, the legal opinions of the magistrate are upheld in about 80 percent of cases heard by the full court, which is expected to issue a ruling on the case later this year, the report says.

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Bill to Remove Cannabis Convictions from Public Record Vetoed in Maryland

5/15/2020

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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) last week vetoed a measure that would have shielded some cannabis-related convictions from public view. Specifically, the legislation would have prohibited “the Maryland Judiciary Case Search from in any way referring to the existence of a certain case in which possession of marijuana is the only charge in the case and the charge was disposed.”

The bill was vetoed along with other criminal justice reforms because the House failed to pass a separate bill, the Violent Firearms Offenders Act of 2020, Hogan said in his veto message. Hogan indicated that he had expressed “strong willingness to consider other proposals … if they were included as part of a comprehensive crime package” that included his proposals.

“Each of my proposals had the strong support of an overwhelming majority of Marylanders – and support for the proposals was strongest of all in Baltimore City, the community most directly impacted by the violence. While the Senate approved the package by a wide margin, the House failed to act upon it, thus failed to meaningfully address violent crime.” – Hogan in a statement

As originally written, the measure would have forced a review of and automatically expunged low-level cannabis cases but those provisions were scaled back in committee. Under current state law, those convicted of low-level cannabis possession crimes are allowed to petition courts to have the charge expunged.

An estimated 200,000 charges would have been shielded under the bill.

The crime reduction bills approved by the House and Senate but vetoed by Hogan would have created a coordinating council to respond to crime, community programs in 10 high-crime zones throughout the state, required background checks for private sales of long guns and rifles, expanded confidentiality of juvenile records, adding fourth-degree burglary to the list of convictions that could be expunged, and requiring the governor to allocate $3 million annually to the Maryland Violence Intervention and Prevention Program Fund, the Baltimore Fishbowl reports.

Maryland lawmakers ended their session early due to the coronavirus pandemic and a special session for this month was also postponed by legislative leaders.

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Keegan Peterson: Cannabis Industry HR and Payroll Solutions

5/14/2020

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Keegan recently joined our podcast host TG Branfalt for a conversation covering Würk‘s vision for the cannabis space and the major challenges and opportunities facing the industry, including high employee turnover rates, the slow but steady evolution of cannabis employee benefits, the importance of human resources and innovative payroll solutions, and more!

You can tune in via the media player below or scroll further down to find a full transcript of this week’s podcast episode.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the transcript:

Commercial: This episode of the Ganjapreneur Podcast is made possible by Evergreen Gateway, a provider of cannabis friendly financial services. As many cannabis entrepreneurs have experienced firsthand, it can be very difficult to get approval for essential financial services once your bank finds out what industry you’re in. Evergreen Gateway makes it easy for cannabis entrepreneurs to access the financial resources that you need to operate your business. From merchant accounts, to cash advances, virtual checking, and depository banking, Evergreen Gateway has established solutions that cater to the specific needs of the cannabis industry. Get in touch today at evergreengateway.com.

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 Keegan Peterson. He’s the CEO of Würk, a cannabis-specific payroll and HR provider that advises in employee training, and performance management, and improving the employee experience, and wellness and benefits offerings. How are you doing this afternoon Keegan?

Keegan Peterson: I’m great, TG, thank you for having me today.

TG Branfalt: Hey, it’s super stoked. It is a real big sort of issue that’s emerged especially since cannabis 2.0 as some people called it in 2016, with California, Nevada, all that going online, massive markets. But before we get into those issues man, tell me about yourself. How’d you end up in the cannabis space?

Keegan Peterson: Yeah, so I’ve spent the last 10 years personally in the HR and payroll space outside of cannabis, working with predominantly the retail and restaurant industries. A friend of mine here in Colorado had a dispensary that had a hundred employees, and he had been dropped by his sixth payroll and HR provider because his company touched cannabis. And he reached out to me and said, “Keegan, you do this for a living, can you help me out? I just need to pay my employees. I need to pay my taxes.” At the time he was paying his taxes in cash. So he had to walk a million dollars of cash in a suitcase to the IRS building to pay his taxes at the end of the year. And that was a whole experience in itself. They had to have armed security guards on site, handcuffed the bag to his arm.

When he told me this story, I was like, my jaw was on the floor and I was like, this cannot be how this industry has to operate. So I quit what I was doing to help him figure out how to pay his employees and taxes, and then realized that the entire industry had a problem with this. So we started Wurk in 2015 to solve that problem so that every employee gets a paycheck, just like every other employee in the United States does, and to make sure taxes get paid on time and in the right format.

TG Branfalt: How many companies, and how many states are you currently providing services?

Keegan Peterson: We’re currently providing services in 33 legal cannabis states. And since the inception of our company, we paid over 60,000 employees, and the number of companies we service hundreds of companies and it’s growing every single day.

TG Branfalt: So there’s not really a state that you’re not in essentially. That’s massive. When you’re talking to employers, what have they identified as the biggest challenge in sort of the last few years, since more states have legalized medical and recreational cannabis, and how have they navigated these challenges?

Keegan Peterson: So the biggest challenge, we actually surveyed our customers very recently around this, and the number one challenge is growth. Last year, 2019, the biggest challenge with hiring. This year is growth. So I think both of those things are still big problems. This industry is growing very quickly, which means we need to hire a lot of people. The workforce isn’t there. We don’t have a huge workforce that has the experience necessary for cannabis. So everyone’s looking to other adjacent industries to find people. So it’s requiring to be very strategic on how you look and find and hire people, and the amount of resources you provide them to get them trained up to be successful in the business, to be happy at their jobs. So I think the trajectory we’re on, obviously it’s great for this industry and to see cannabis get to a point where it’s legalized and widely accepted is great, but it definitely requires a lot of people to get it there. And that’s putting a lot of strain on businesses.

TG Branfalt: When you said, the last time you surveyed was employment, this time it’s growth, aren’t these two things sort of linked.

Keegan Peterson: Yes, they are. I think now people are starting to, when they say growth, they’re starting to think about where my company is going to be in 12 months. A lot of times when people say hiring it’s because they haven’t been proactive about where the business is going, and they’re reacting by trying to hire as many people as possible. And therefore they’re hiring people that are just warm bodies, not necessarily folks that are grate for their company. But now businesses are starting to really think about where are we going to be in 12, 24, 36 months? What is it going to take to get there? How many people do we need to have on the team to be able to hit these objectives? What is the skill set? And then how do we go find the right people for the job? Or how do we train the people for the job? So I’m seeing a big shift in the industry from being reactive to growth, to being proactive in putting in good strategies.

TG Branfalt: So the single job, the average length of time spent at a single job in the cannabis industry is estimated at about one year. So with that sort of giant question mark, how can companies best retain and replace employees without just sort of putting in another warm body?

Keegan Peterson: Yeah, and to clarify that stat, that means that if the average length is one year, that means 50% of the industry had a turnover less than one year for every employee, and then the other 50% has a turnover more than one year. We did a survey and found that the month that is most likely for an employee to turnover is month four. So it’s important to understand how people come into your business, what they need, the reasons why they’re turning over, typically employees highest likelihood of turning over is because of the onboarding experience that you give them, which includes how you communicate with them, how you prepare them for their first day, making sure that all of their proper licensing and documentation is done ahead of time, making sure the training plan is in place to get them to be successful at their job.

Everybody wants to do a good job, but if you don’t provide them with the tools to be able to do a good job and just expect them to figure it out, that’s not a good plan. So the way that companies are providing a better experience for employees is really thinking about what does that first 30, 60, 90 days look like when someone comes into the company. What is the training and ongoing development path, that period of time. How are we continuing to provide career paths for the team members that we have, and how we provide training to get them through that career progression. And also, folks want feedback. So having some form of performance management in place so that people know I am doing a good job, I am not doing a good job, but here’s the thing that I need to do to do a good job. So it’s just really important to communicate with your team and make sure that you have some of these fundamental and foundational items in place.

TG Branfalt: So you mentioned turnover and I’m wondering sort of about this idea of a single job in the industry, and that sort of average being one year. Are people within that year moving on to maybe moving up, is there upward mobility in this space that sort of works hand in hand with this sort of lack of time spent in one job? Do you see a lot of people being promoted from within or is that a lot of outside stuff? What goes on there?

Keegan Peterson: Yeah, I think the number reason that folks are leaving their company, it’s compensation. Right now, we’re in a very competitive space. We have a limited market, we’ve got a limited access to a trained workforce. So folks that are high performers are very valuable and sought after by the industry, and so if someone down the road, a dispenser down the road is offering you a position for, even 50 cents more than what you’re making now, people are making that hop. So we’re starting to see compensation and the benefits offerings being much more important. But I do see organizations that are putting in good career progression and offering upward mobility, and those companies have a much lower turnover rate than other companies.

We’re so new in this industry and the opportunity to move up within a business really is infinite. And the more states that legalize, they’re looking for more folks that have that experience in the space. So I think this is an unbelievable industry to be a part of, it provides unlimited career progression, but people have to really sit down, spend the time, not only take advantage of the training that their company is providing, but also go out and research other training that would help them be a better professional, and constantly improve yourself, and I think the opportunities to progress are really infinite.

TG Branfalt: In a lot of legal States and in Canada, we’re starting to see sort of institutions of higher education offering programs, and you talk about training, are you seeing yet maybe businesses who are seeking people who have some of this sort of higher education formal training, or are these programs still too new, and the ideas too new that it’s on the forefront of owner’s minds?

Keegan Peterson: Yeah. I think, well I even got asked to go teach at university of Denver here in town. They have a couple of cannabis courses there. I think it’s too new for it to be something that folks are seeking out, just because they don’t necessarily know the training and skillsets that folks are getting in these courses. But as that matures and as we see more universities and higher education step in, I think that’s going to be a sought after skill, but the industry also is new in general. So a lot of these courses are still in the developmental stages. So I think that it will play a bigger role though, in the future. And I think the more training that people get both in the industry and in industries that are adjacent, it is where folks are going to be seeking talent.

TG Branfalt: Did you take the opportunity to teach at Denver?

Keegan Peterson: I try to, as many times. My schedule has been pretty challenging over the last several years since I started the company. But I’m hoping that this year when it comes to teach again then I’ll be able to mark out some time to make it happen because personally, that’s something I really enjoy is getting in front of this next generation of people coming into the workforce and getting them really excited for the opportunities before them. So, I’m looking for opportunities like that.

TG Branfalt: Yeah, I’m a college professor myself, and I don’t know anyone who’s taught any of those courses. So definitely hit me up if you end up doing that, but I-

Keegan Peterson: Yeah. What course do you, share with us, what course do you teach at what university?

TG Branfalt: …Oh, I teach media studies-

Keegan Peterson: What college?

TG Branfalt: …At SUNY Plattsburgh in upstate New York. So I teach about media bias and, we actually talk a lot about sort of the canna-bias in the media, in one of my classes.

Keegan Peterson: Very cool.

TG Branfalt: But media studies is boring compared to this.

Keegan Peterson: Yeah, but teaching like that’s very rewarding.

TG Branfalt: I love it. No, I definitely do.

Keegan Peterson: That’s proper chilled that.

TG Branfalt: So when we’re talking about HR, that’s something that obviously the payroll stuff companies are going to be on, on sort of that, but do they tend to overlook some of the other aspects of human resources when they launch their company? Are they deficient in some of those aspects when they launch? And what role does HR play in a company’s success?

Keegan Peterson: Yeah, I think it does, I don’t know if overlooked is the right word. Starting a cannabis business, the amount of work and compliance that goes into it is very, very overwhelming and more demanding than any other industry. So I think everything gets overlooked, not on purpose just by the sheer fact of there’s too much work to be done, but human resources play the major role in every single company as your center for compliance, and as your center for employee satisfaction, which employee satisfaction drives customer satisfaction. And your people are your product. If you’re a dispensary, your people are the ones that are out there in front of customers, sharing your story, showing the passion of the business, getting people not only excited for your company, but for the products that you’re offering, and also, they’re the ones that are properly educating your customers.

And then if you look all the way back in the supply chains to the folks when you grow, or the extraction lab, they’re the ones that are caring your plants, making sure that things happen on time and that your harvest sees all of its full benefits. And so people are a major, major asset to a company, and their first entry point into a business typically happens through the HR department. And it’s important to really think through what it means to be an employer. What responsibilities do you have? How do you give that experience to your team? How do you make sure that they are supported properly? And those things all add up to being a successful business and having customers that love you.

So the earlier folks start focusing on that, the more successful and the bigger opportunity they have to be successful. And a lot of times folks don’t necessarily have all the resources to drive that importance, and that’s were we’re trying to step in and not only provide technology to these businesses, but also provide additional services and consultants that are certified in the HR and payroll realms of business, and having those folks help these businesses get that foundational infrastructure in place.

TG Branfalt: What’s the first thing that you would tell a company that would come to you seeking the advice on HR specifically?

Keegan Peterson: Well, typically we ask for their handbook, because the handbook is a great place to see how they look at the business. And going through the handbook, we can see, okay, are we driving, when are we driving compliance in the business? And two, what type of experience are we giving to our team? And three, how are we providing benefits and opportunities for our team? And so I think that’s the place that we really start. And that’s where there’s a lot of opportunities to really think through what are the policies and procedures in the business to help employers be successful, to attract employees to come work for a business.

And then we start expanding from there. And then we start digging into those policies and procedures, and figuring out is this really best practice? Is this cutting edge? Does this really reflect the needs of the type of people that I’m trying to hire? And then we adjust. This is a new generation, a new workforce that has different things that they value, and businesses that are aware of that and provide that have much higher retention rate, have happier employees, and have a happier customer base. So yeah, that’s kind of how we work through the process.

TG Branfalt: Is there a figure that you guys sort of have, like how much it costs per employee to have to retrain somebody for that same position, time and time again, is there a dollar amount that’s on that?

Keegan Peterson: I’ve seen estimates of $2,000 per person, up to 4 to 5,000, and some folks up to 7,000 per person that turns over. And so when you break that apart, you think about, okay, now I don’t have this person to put out on the floor. So now my team if they’re already stressed and they’re potentially working into overtime, it costs me money and time to go find a new person that’s going to be a good fit for that company. Then we have to train that person and we have to onboard that person, and then they take time to actually get to be proficient at the job. So these are the big period of time there.

And there’s also time requirement from managers and other employees that all get wrapped into this cost of turnover. And when you think about companies that have a hundred percent turnover, and they have a hundred employees a year, we’re talking about serious money that’s going out the door, that can be avoided if you start thinking about, one, hiring the right people, two making sure we’re supporting the people and getting them onboarded properly, and then three, how we’re training and developing them over the course of their time with us, it makes a huge impact and your customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, but it also makes a big impact on the bottom line.

TG Branfalt: When you talk about supporting, employee support, let’s talk about benefits for a minute, what do benefit packages look like in this space? Do they lag behind other, more mature and normalized industries? Or are they ahead of the curve as the industry is on some issues?

Keegan Peterson: Yeah, so it’s changed dramatically over the course of four years. Four years ago, everyone struggled to even get someone in the benefits world to speak to them. And now that the benefit providers who basically are sharing risk across all their customers, now that they have data on the cannabis industry and they realize that our workforce is young, they don’t self medicate with opioids, they’re using cannabis to have healthier lives, so they’re actually a really good risk pool for the benefits world. So over the last year to two years, we’ve seen a lot more of the carriers that are stepping in, it’s still limited, but we’re seeing much more normalized benefit plans.

I think there’s a real opportunity to think about what are the benefit plans for this industry, and what could be a potential new… what does the future look like for the benefits for the cannabis industry, and how do we craft that now and how do we do something very different than what’s being done today? And that’s where I think we can get ahead of the curve and be an industry that is changing the way that others think about helping their employees. But I’d say right now we’re really at a normalized state where we have some offerings, not enough, but we have some, and most folks have access to those.

TG Branfalt: So, sort of thing on this ahead of the curve thing, in New York cannabis industry employees are required to be part of a union. I know that other States have adopted similar, or in the process of considering in their legalization bills, this same sort of provisions, the same requirements. Does this unionization have an impact on HR and hiring practices in this space?

Keegan Peterson: Yes, of course it does have an impact and it requires organizations to now have potentially one or multiple different types of employee agreements in place, that they have to manage. But this is not uncommon from other industries. So we can pull from some of the experience of other industries on how we use technology, how do we use process and procedures to make these union contracts easier to manage. And that’s where I think technology does play a big role in this, because you could have a facility that has some employees that are a part of a union that have a specific benefits package and PTO policy and break policies, and that’s very different from your policy of the business, and how everybody else in the business has managed. So it’s important to have a technology provider that can help automate a lot of that, to make sure you are compliant. And that’s where I think that technology in the industry plays a major role in helping us stay compliant and manage some of the complexities that we’re are now starting to see.

TG Branfalt: So, and I got to ask, I mean, the questions I’ve asked you have been very sort of all over the industry, and you are very knowledgeable in each of them, and the industry is new and your sort of background is not in the cannabis space, it’s in the HR space. What was the learning curve life like for you? How did you make sure that you were covering all your bases getting into this industry?

Keegan Peterson: Yeah. So I’m a curious person, and my background was in big box retail. So I worked with companies like Target and PetSmart and Charlotte Russe. So I had a lot of experience in retail environments, and how they look at the business. I’ve had some experience in the supply chain, and how they get product to shelves. And then I spent some time in a restaurant space as well. The one thing that’s in common with all of those is the hourly workforce. So I have a skill set that applied well to the cannabis industry. And then I spent my first couple of months just trying to get out and visit businesses and learn as much as I could. Every time I went on a tour of a grower, I just asked question after question, learned about the plant, learned about how they thought about their business and how people moved and flowed in that business, and what were the challenges, and I noticed what was written on the wall and the whiteboards, and really tried to be a student. And that helped me quickly, personally understand what’s going on, and what were the challenges.

As far as starting the business, we’ve got a lot of lawyers that we work with. Employment lawyers, cannabis lawyers, corporate lawyers, tax lawyers, to really think through some of the specific use case in the cannabis space to make sure that, one, we’re properly supported and two, we can properly support our customers. So it’s taken a lot, and it’s an ongoing process. It’s not easy being in this space. It’s not easy being a service provider to this space because we have hundreds of customers that are all dealing with these challenges and their business change so frequently, and we have to manage, help vantage that with them. So it puts a lot of stress on what we do, but it’s work that we really enjoy doing.

TG Branfalt: And you don’t sound very stressed out man.

Keegan Peterson: I’m going my fifth year now in the cannabis space. So the anxiety is gone and my pain tolerance is significantly high, and I think that’s what it takes. But I love the work that we get to do every single day. It’s really special. This industry has really become my home. And there’s so much meaning to the work that we get to do, because we have customers, our customers have patients, patients now have access to a plant that changes a life for the better, and that’s great. I’ve been doing what I do for a very long time, but I have not been able to impact people’s lives like this before. So it’s just really special to be a part of this.

TG Branfalt: So my last sort of question is how much employment practices have on investments in the industry, and what are potential investors looking for with regard to employee company relationships?

Keegan Peterson: Yeah, it’s playing a much bigger role, especially with some of these big operators who are making headlines in the news for their employment practices. Employment practices are a part of the due diligence process. It’s part of the company, when investors invested in us, they asked about our employment agreements and our employment practices, it was a whole part of the diligence, and that’s pretty traditional in most industries. I think it’s been overlooked in the cannabis industry because people are so excited with the opportunity and everyone had the fear of missing out, but they moved very quickly. But now we’re seeing that the investors coming in are much more methodical about their approach to the space. And we’re obviously seeing a big cooldown and investment dollars coming in. And I think everyone knows that employee practices can also make or break your business.

So we’re seeing investors spend a lot more time understanding this side of the business. And we’re seeing businesses really think much more about this practicing as well. And a lot of folks that are going to go out and raise, or want to go be acquired, they realize that they need to have these things in place. They need to have good policies in place. They need to be able to track everything that they’re doing and show that they’ve been compliant so that investors are going to be interested in their business. So it’s great to see that this shift is happening because that means at the end of the day, employees get treated better. They have more resources. And I think personally, one of the things that I get really excited about this industry is the opportunity to shape an industry that is very inclusive, that is very diverse, that has employees that stick around forever.

If we can be the industry where the hourly workforce is attracted to, and wants to stay, and is proud to work in, I was thinking it would be such a gift. And it’s an obligation that we have, and it’s an opportunity that we have to really shape a different way of doing business. And that gets me excited, and it gets me excited to hear other entrepreneurs in the space that think the same way.

TG Branfalt: Yeah. I’ve always sort of thought about that, and then looking at sort of what’s happening with Canada, you have these massive companies that are doing these just huge layoffs, and there are some of the ones that were most heavily invested in, sort of cautionary tale for investors in many regards. What advice do you have for entrepreneurs, maybe sort of in your sort of lane or outside of your lane, you said you’ve been in this industry 15 years, what’s the first thing you tell somebody who says, “Now I want to start a cannabis business?”

Keegan Peterson: I think it’s important to really understand what you’re walking into and really understand what it’s going to take to be successful. This is not an easy industry to be a part of. I think there’s also this perception that everybody’s making money hand over fist here and that’s not the case. People that are in the space right now are folks that are really passionate about the plant and passionate about serving people. And that comes unfortunately right now as a sacrifice for most people, obviously we all see that one day, this industry will be treated fairly with taxes and it’ll be a good business to be a part of, but it’s going to take a while to get there.

And to run a cannabis business, it requires a lot of attention to detail, a lot of compliance and things that you don’t really necessarily have to deal with in other industries. So my advice to entrepreneurs is do a lot of research, spend a lot of time with folks that are doing it, really understand what you’re signing up for, and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur in this space. And once you understand that dive in and make a difference in the world.

TG Branfalt: One thing, whenever I get you compliance guys on here, you guys always say attention to detail. It’s really like the number one thing, and it’s just something I’ve noticed that I’ve found interesting. Where can people find out more about you? Find out more about work? What you guys do?

Keegan Peterson: Yeah. Come check us out, our website is enjoywurk.com, and that’s work spelled with a U. Come check us out. We’ve got an office here in Denver. We’ve got an office in Scottsdale, Arizona. We’re opening up more. So yeah, come check us out and we’d love to have a conversation and help anybody we can.

Thank you for having me today. I really appreciate it, TG.

TG Branfalt: Thank you, Keegan, man. That’s really great to have you on, really insightful stuff, and I’ve been looking forward to this for a while because I think that it is an overlooked part of the industry that people are, again, they’re so excited that it sort of gets [inaudible 00:00:31:34]. So thank you so much. It’s Keegan Peterson, he’s the CEO of Wurk, a cannabis specific payroll and HR provider that advices employee training, performance management, improving employee experiences and wellness and benefits offering. Thanks again, Keegan.

Keegan Peterson: Thank you so much.

TJ Branfalt: You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast in the podcast section of Ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes store, on the ganjapreneur.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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Study: 19 Is Ideal Age Limit For Legal Cannabis Access

5/14/2020

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A study by researchers at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada suggests that the legal age for cannabis use should be set at 19, according to a MedicalXpress report. The authors found that setting a consumption age at 19 could diminish some potential adverse health effects, such as smoking and negative mental health outcomes.

The study used data from Canada’s Tobacco Use Monitoring Surveys and Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Surveys conducted between 2004 and 2015. Those surveys annually interview up to 20,000 individuals aged 15-and-older.

For smoking, respondents who first used cannabis when they were 19 or 20-years-old were less likely to smoke cigarettes later in life than those who first used cannabis at 18 but no difference was found for those who started using cannabis after 19, suggesting an optimal legal cannabis consumption age of 19.

While general health was better among those who started using cannabis at age 18, relative to those who started before 18, no significant difference was found among those who started after that age, suggesting a minimum legal age of 18. However, mental health outcomes were found to be better among those who first used cannabis aged 19 to 20 than before age 18, also suggesting a minimum legal age of 19.

The number of respondents who reported a high level of completed education was 16 percent higher among those who first used cannabis between the ages of 21 and 24, relative to those who first used it before age 18, which suggests an optimal minimum legal age of 21.

Dr. Hai Nguyen, lead author of the study, said that “keeping the legal age below 21 may strike a balance between potential increases in underground markets and illegal use, and avoiding the adverse outcomes associated with starting to use cannabis at an earlier age.”

“Prior to legalization, the medical community recommended a minimum legal age of 21 or 25 for non-medical cannabis use in Canada. This recommendation was based on scientific evidence around the potential adverse impacts of cannabis on cognitive development. However, policymakers feared a high minimum legal age may lead to large underground markets, with those under the legal age continuing to use cannabis illegally. Ultimately, a lower legal age of 18 or 19 was decided across provinces, however, there remains ongoing debate and calls to raise the legal age to 21.” – Nguyen in the study via MedicalXpress

The Canadian health survey uses self-reported data, which the authors cautioned may not be totally accurate because they require participants to recall when they first used cannabis and the data was collected prior to cannabis legalization in the nation, which could have led some respondents to misrepresent their history in the survey. They suggest further research is needed to establish potential causal effects between the age at which cannabis is first used and the outcomes measured in the study, and on additional outcomes such as driving behaviors and other drug use.

The study was published in the journal BMC Public Health.

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Israel Approved to Begin Exporting Medical Cannabis In 30 Days

5/14/2020

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Israel Economy Minister Eli Cohen has approved the export of medical cannabis products, with the new rules taking effect in 30 days, according to a Reuters report. The order comes more than a year after lawmakers approved the law unanimously.

The international market for Israeli cannabis could be worth as much as $33 billion, medical cannabis company iCAN estimates, and stocks of the country’s cannabis companies made gains following Choen’s announcement on Wednesday, i24 News reports.

Hagit Weinstock, co-founder of the Weinstock-Zehavi & Co law firm, told Reuters that “there are many investments that we are expected to see happening now, because investors were waiting for this approval.” 

Cohen called the reforms “a significant step” for Israeli cannabusinesses, exporters, and industry job seekers. However, the Health Ministry told TheMarker that they were “not ready to handle large quantities of exports” because of manpower shortages. The agency indicated that until the standards were in place they would “approve small quantities for research and development and validation only.” The Health Ministry told TheMarker that more than 10 cultivators and five factories already meet the agency’s licensing standards.  

The export plans were first announced in 2016 and approved by Finance and Health ministers in 2017. At that time, officials expected medical cannabis exports could bring in between $279 million and $1.1 billion in revenues. The plan was temporarily put on hold in 2018 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who wanted to take a closer look at the program.     

Israel has 60,000 medical cannabis patients.

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Adult-Use Cannabis Sales in Michigan Sustaining $7M Per Week

5/14/2020

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Recreational cannabis sales in Michigan have sustained more than $7 million per week over the last month, Crain’s Detroit Business reports. From April 13 to April 19, sales reached $7.2 million and remained above that mark through the week ending May 10, when sales topped $7.9 million. 

Legal sales in the state began December 1, and totaled $1.6 million during that first week, reaching $5.77 million by March 16-22. Weekly sales dipped below $5 million until April 13, which could be due to the state’s stay-at-home order issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on March 23. 

The governor did deem the cannabis industry essential but shut down in-person sales, opting instead for curbside pickup and delivery services. The mid-April spike – reportedly 57 percent from the week prior – could also be attributed to the 4/20 holiday. 

Rick Thompson, owner of Michigan Cannabis Business Development Group, said it was “fair to say that during any crisis people use intoxicants more than normal.”

“Once social distancing is lifted and industry returns to normal, the recreational industry will rise like a cork from the bottom of a bathtub faster than any other industry would recover.” – Thompson to the Detroit News

David Harns, Marijuana Regulatory Agency spokesman, told the News that adult-use sales were allowed to continue amid the pandemic because they often share space with medical cannabis providers. 

Since March 9, recreational cannabis sales comprised 60 percent of overall sales, according to the Detroit News. Cannabis retail licensing also spiked 70 percent from 61 on March 2 to 104 on May 12.   

Since December 1, Michigan cannabis retailers have totaled nearly $91.6 million in sales, the report says. The state has seen about $15 million in combined sales and excise taxes.   

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CF Portable Vaporizer by Boundless

5/13/2020

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Boundless was established in 2016 with the goal to figure out how to provide the best vape technology for a thick draw at a good price. Since their inception, Boundless has created dry herb vapes, concentrate vapes, and hybrids that can do both. In this review, we tried the Boundless CF Vaporizer, a combination vape that is affordable and functional. 

The body of the vaporizer is curved ergonomically to fit perfectly in your hand. There is a mouthpiece on the top of the device that slides around to provide a flattened straw-like mouthpiece for the inhale. The herb chamber sits below this and can be accessed by sliding the entire plastic lid to the right and popping it off completely. This vaporizer is pretty simple to use while not sacrificing much functionality. 

How to use Boundless CF Vape:
  • Charge the battery using the provided cord, the first charge will take around 3 hours. 
  • The LED light shines green when the device is fully charged.
  • Click the power button on the side of the vape 5 times fast to turn it on, blue LED lights will flash to indicate that it’s activated and has begun heating.
  • Click the button twice fast to bring the temperature up to one of the five settings: 355°F, 370°F, 385°F, 400°F, and 415°F. The vape is heated when the indicator lights stop flashing.
  • Slide the top of the device to the right to reveal the herb chamber, load ground herbs in. Be mindful of not putting fingers directly into the lip of the chamber as it gets pretty hot. 
  • Once the vape is loaded and heated just draw out of the mouthpiece, it is recommended to start on a lower temperature and move the temps up as the session goes on.
  • To check the battery life click the power button 3 times fast, the indicator LEDs will light to show how much battery is left.
    • 5 lights indicate 100%
    • 4 lights indicate 80%
    • 3 lights indicate 60%
    • 2 lights indicate 40%
    • 1 light indicates 20%
    • All lights will continuously blink when the battery is almost dead.
  • To turn off the LED lights hold the power button down for two seconds straight. 
Vaping concentrates:
  • Grab the Liquid/Waxy chamber from the setup kit.
  • Screw off the top of the chamber to reveal cotton wick.
  • Drop liquid extract or wax into the cotton and screw the top back on.
  • Drop the whole Waxy setup into the heating chamber in the heated CF.
  • Close the lid, open the draw straw and pull. 

Using the CF vape is pretty simple: just heat, load, and draw. There are small nuances to be aware of, though. For example, it takes effort to avoid burning your finger while loading the vape. Because of this, having a tamp or small shovel-like tool is pretty essential. The chamber does heat up quickly but it’s also important to not load the herbs until the device is fully heated, otherwise, the herb will get vaped to nowhere during the heating process.

With the type of continuous heating chamber, it’s important to note that the herb is continuously heating so the session must be quick and efficient or bud will be wasted. It does sit in the hand quite nicely — the ergonomic shape definitely does the job — however, it is not incognito with the big draw straw, so if that is your aim this device may not be for you.

All in all, dry herb is vaped pretty evenly and the experience was a positive one. This is a great dry herb vape for beginners and experts, offering both easy use and base features. For those looking to vape extracts, this is a beginner only device as the cotton wick system isn’t desired among most wax connoisseurs.

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House Coronavirus Plan Includes Cannabis Industry Banking

5/13/2020

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The House of Representatives coronavirus stimulus plan announced yesterday includes language identical to the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which would allow legal cannabis businesses access to traditional banking and loan services.

The stand-alone SAFE Banking Act was approved by the House last September but has since languished in the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The push for normalized banking for the industry comes as most states consider medical and recreational cannabis businesses “essential” under coronavirus response orders.

“The purpose of this section is to increase public safety by ensuring access to financial services to cannabis-related legitimate businesses and service providers and reducing the amount of cash at such businesses.” – Text of provision in HEROES Act

Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, commended House lawmakers for including the reforms in the $3 trillion relief package and “prioritizing public health and safety by including sensible cannabis banking policy in this legislation.”

“Our industry employs hundreds of thousands of Americans and has been deemed ‘essential’ in most states,” Smith said in a statement. “It’s critically important that essential cannabis workers are not exposed to unnecessary health risks due to outdated federal banking regulations.”

Cannabis and cash have a long and storied history but access to traditional financial institutions would open a new era for the cannabis industry. 

The NCIA, along with a host of other cannabis advocates, earlier this month sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R) urging them to include banking access for the industry in future coronavirus stimulus legislation.

That letter notes that forcing cannabis industry employees to handle cash puts them at risk because banknotes can serve “as a vector for the virus” and “cash transactions reduce the effectiveness of social distancing measures.”

“State cannabis businesses proactively implemented social distancing measures including limiting the number of employees, patients, and consumers in dispensaries and, where permitted, switching to delivery and curbside pick-up,” the letter says. “Unlike other essential industries with access to remote payment processing and the use of credit cards to make a transaction entirely contactless, an industry limited to cash transactions must do business in close proximity to the public, including immunocompromised and otherwise medically vulnerable patients.”

Colorado Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D), who had pushed for the industry’s inclusion in coronavirus relief packages, tweeted that the crisis “has only exacerbated the risk posed to cannabis businesses [and] their employees [and] they need relief just like any other legitimate business.”

Previous federal coronavirus stimulus legislation has not included relief for the cannabis industry and specifically prohibits cannabis-adjacent businesses – including testing laboratories, grow light and hydroponic system sellers and installers, accountants, and consultants – from accessing small business stimulus funds.

Last month Perlmutter, along with Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D), introduced the Emergency Cannabis Small Business Health and Safety Act, which would allow cannabusinesses to access coronavirus relief programs. That bill is in the House Committee on Small Business.

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El Paso, Texas Approves ‘Cite and Release’ Program for Cannabis Offenses

5/13/2020

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The El Paso, Texas City Council has approved a “cite and release” policy for cannabis possession, KVIA reports. The policy applies to Class A and Class B misdemeanors, including the possession of less than two ounces.

The relaxed policy comes nearly three years after city lawmakers approved the so-called “First Chance” program which allows first-time cannabis offenders to avoid jail time or criminal charges, opting instead for eight hours of community service and a $100 fine. According to KVIA, the First Chance program has a 75 percent completion rate and more than 480 first-time offenders have avoided criminal records.

El Paso County Court Judge Ruben Morales said the two policies will work together to keep low-level offenders out of jail and benefit law enforcement who will no longer have to book and process offenders for low-level cannabis possession.

District Attorney Jaime Esparza has supported the First Chance program but said in the report that he was not convinced about the Cite and Release plan. Esparza was the only DA in the state’s 10 most populous counties that indicated he would continue prosecuting low-level cannabis crimes in the wake of the state’s legalization of hemp last summer. Other county prosecutors signaled that they would not prosecute such crimes as the state did not have the capability to test for THC content to differentiate legal hemp from THC-rich, illegal cannabis.

The measure passed the city council 7-0 with one abstention. The relaxed enforcement program will take effect in September.

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Albania PM Says Lawmakers Prepared to Legalize Medical Cannabis

5/13/2020

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Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama told reporters on Tuesday that lawmakers plan to “pass the bill in this session of parliament” to legalize medical cannabis in the nation, Reuters reports. Albania is one of Europe’s poorest countries and legalization could help its struggling economy. It’s neighbors, North Macedonia, Italy, and Greece, have each already legalized medical cannabis in some form.

The move comes nearly six years after police in Lazarat ended the town’s decade-and-a-half, industrial scale, cannabis cultivation operation. However, in the two years following the bust, cannabis cultivation spread throughout Albania, which cast doubt on officials’ willingness to crack down on organized crime – a requirement by the European Union, which Albania hopes to join, the report says.

Economic analyst Mentor Nazarko indicated that E.U. countries are “skeptical” of cannabis legalization plans, adding that income from the industry “might be limited but it would help the country to a degree.” Last September, the E.U. approved Epidiolex for two childhood epilepsy conditions marking the first approval by the bloc for a cannabis-based pharmaceutical.

During Tuesday’s online news conference, Rama described the current cannabis situation in the nation as “completely under control.”

In Lazarat, citizens are asking for full criminal amnesty for those convicted of cannabis crimes as part of the reforms; Rama is proposing amnesty only for tax-dodging related to cannabis income.

According to the report, Albania’s parliamentary election will be held next year and cannabis legalization – along with the potential jobs and income – could be a vote-getter for many candidates.

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Maine Removes Cannabis Industry Residency Requirement

5/12/2020

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The state of Maine and the Wellness Connection of Maine have reached a legal agreement that will prevent the Office of Marijuana Policy from enforcing the four-year residency requirement for cannabis industry license holders, the Portland Press Herald reports.

The Wellness Connection and Wellness and Pain Management Connection of Delaware, subsidiaries of High Street Capital Partners of Delaware, filed the lawsuit against the state last month arguing that the residency requirement violates the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution which forbids restrictive and discriminatory commercial regulations between the states.

The decision will allow out-of-state investors into the state’s budding – but much delayed – recreational cannabis industry. Maine’s current law requires every officer, director, and manager of an adult-use cannabis business, and a majority of its ownership, to live and file taxes in Maine for at least four years. That mandate would have sunset in June 2021, but it would have given locals an advantage at the outset of the new market.

Wellness attorney Matt Warner told the Press Herald that access to capital is not just crucial for Wellness “but for the broader industry, too.” Wellness is 51 percent-owned by Maine residents. The company is also likely to ask the Portland City Council to strike its residency requirements, the report says.

“The residency requirement was the single biggest impediment to getting the industry off the ground quickly and efficiently.” – Warner to the Press Herald

OMP Director Erik Gundersen said the agency took the action on the advice of the Attorney General’s Office, which determined that the state was unlikely to beat the Wellness suit in court as it has struck down residency requirements in the past. Gunderson told the Press Herald that the office will introduce legislation to remove the preference and change its underlying rules.

Mark Barnett, founder of the Maine Craft Cannabis Association, said the decision leaves voters “with almost nothing” they voted for in 2016. He called Wellness an “out-of-state bully that sued the state when it didn’t get what it wanted.”

“Mainers did not want corporate marijuana, but that is exactly what we’ll be getting now,” Barnett said in the interview with the Press Herald. “It’s going to be a race to the bottom.”

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Netflix Documentary Features Celebrities on Psychedelic Medicine

5/12/2020

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The most recognized phase in the psychedelic revolution began in the United States during the hippie era of the ’60s in hubs like San Francisco and the Village in New York City. After a lull and a lot of sharp edges in the 80s, the 90s grunge scene brought another surge of bohemian vibes into pop culture, darker than the hippies of yore but still with a focus on mind expansion.

Despite these eras that popularized psychedelic culture, U.S. mainstream only recently started coming around to psychedelic medicines. The cities of Denver, Colorado and Oakland, California, for example, have decriminalized the possession of psilocybin, or magic mushrooms, and this was just the first wave of psychedelics reform. Today, campaigns pushing psychedelic therapies are collecting signatures across the country for the 2020 election and beyond.

Now, the status quo is finally looking at the root of this culture and many Americans find themselves more curious about psychedelic experiences than ever — luckily, the recent Netflix documentary Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics is an educational and fun-filled answer.

Have a Good Trip is a social & cultural documentary featuring some of America’s most endearing celebrities including Carrie Fisher, Sting, Deepak Chopra, Anthony Bourdain, and many more. Cycle through first-hand accounts of their experiences taking LSD, psilocybin, peyote, DMT, and more, threaded together with silly interludes from Nick Offerman as a scientist and Adam Scott as an 80s-style after school special host. Each celeb story is accompanied by a cartoon depiction of the event or a reenactment starring beloved comedians. The new documentary from the streaming channel is a first-hand adventure through the various tropes and realities that commonly appear while tripping.

From Sting’s adventure delivering a breech calf on his English farm while tripping on Peyote to Carrie Fisher’s delightful accounts of living a life dedicated to acid, the stories shared are profound, silly, fun, and captivating. Hear actor and comedian Rob Cordry, a self-professed psychonaut, explain how he became one with the universe as he watched himself in the mirror and Louis Black describe the rollercoaster that was forgetting and then ultimately finding your own name. These losses of self and ego are a molecular take on the common tabloid magazine maneuver that, “the stars are just like us!” The documentary shows us that if a person eats LSD, it will seemingly work to destroy their ego whether they’re Princess Leia or a young budtender in San Francisco.

While silly stories like Nick Kroll becoming one with some 40 pounds of seaweed bring levity to the documentary, it is stories like that of Kathleen Hanna from iconic punk bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre that really show the simple lessons we can extract from psychotropic experiences. As she stood at a stoplight waiting for the walk signal, Hanna realized that if no one was coming, if nobody could see, she didn’t really need to wait for two lights to reach the diagonal sidewalk. In fact, she could just skip that second step and walk directly across the intersection to her destination. This small trip within that adventure with acid showed her a new way to live her life, and this is the ethereally educating part of LSD that gets lost among stories of visual hallucinations. Within each fun and exciting trip is a cascade of lessons if you take the time, once you sober up, to stop and look at them.

Have a Good Trip seems to work to educate a future generation as they delve into psychedelic experiences while also showing staunch opponents of these studies the possible benefits of loosening the prohibition on these chemicals. In one key interview, Dr. Charles Grob, professor of Psychiatry & Behavior Sciences and Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, explains what is happening in the brain when we experience ego-loss and the inevitable ‘bad trip;’ he pleas for further research into PTSD, anxiety, depression, and end of life therapy using psychotropic treatments.

This documentary is worth watching whether you’re a regular psychonaut or just opening up to the idea that psychotropic medicine has value. The star-studded interviews are entertaining and the real take on phenomenal experiences is a well-constructed look directly into the possibilities of psychedelics. And, for those who are nostalgic, there is a wonderful final visit with Carrie Fisher in her self-proclaimed ‘acid house.’

Have a Good Trip is a delightful romp, especially for this semi-retired Golden Gate park day tripper.

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High Purity Extractions Announces Supercritical CO2 THC Remediation for Less than $500

5/12/2020

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High Purity Extractions is offering Supercritical CO2 services for less than $500 per input kilogram!*

*Minimum input of 80kg

May 11, 2020 – Southbridge, MA — High Purity Extractions of Southbridge, MA today announced that their production throughput increased substantially, leaving available time in their processing calendar. At the time of this post, High Purity can remediate an additional 1750kg per month.

Significant volume processing available!

High Purity’s total monthly input capacity has increased to 6700kg and growing as they expand into new processing lines. “We love building relationships that are mutually beneficial and long-lasting. We know that you will be impressed with our professionalism and the product you receive from our services,” said Chris Gusha, Vice President for High Purity.

“Our Supercritical CO2 Chromatography process allows for an 80-85% retention of CBD molecules without the use of co-solvents or media, no ethanol! This process yields a product that tests at less than 0.1% D9THC.”

In addition to THC remediation services, High Purity also offers pesticide remediation for an additional cost.

Please contact High Purity Extractions today if you would like to discuss the opportunity to work with us on your remediation needs. Click here for more info.

  • FDA & cGMP Certified

  • Organic Process

  • USDA Compliant Certified Products

Supercritical CO2 Services offered:

CO2 THC remediation – We can separate THC from CBD in a complete solventless system. We can accept any input material and bring it to 85-95% CBD that is below .1% THC concentration.
CO2 CBN remediation – Similar to our CO2 THC remediation technology, we also can remove CBN from any CBD matrix.
CO2 THC+CBN remediation – We also can remove both THC and CBN in the same process
CO2 Pesticide Remediation – We can remove pesticides from any botanical extract, including non-hemp!
CO2 THC to CBN Conversion – We can convert any cannabinoid matrix that contains THC into CBN. In a CO2 system without any co-solvents.
CO2 CBDA Isolation – We can also separate CBDA from any incoming Hemp biomass! A great addition to your vape cartridge formula to limit crystallization.
CO2 Tolling – We can toll a variety of compounds in CO2 to create various extracts.

Please contact Chris Gusha at High Purity Extractions for more info – chris@highpurityextractions.com / 617.521.8532

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Missouri House Passes Bill to Eliminate Medical Cannabis License Caps

5/12/2020

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The Missouri House has approved a bill that would remove the cap on medical cannabis licenses in the state and would essentially allow any business owner to secure a license if they meet the minimum state requirements, KSHB reports. The measure comes as the chamber investigates the state’s handling of industry licensing.

The amendment was introduced by state Rep. Ben Baker (R) after listening to the investigation hearings by the House special committee. Baker did not vote to legalize medical cannabis in the state but told KSHB that he introduced the proposal because he doesn’t support monopolies.

“It was very clear it hasn’t been fair process, it hasn’t been transparent, and definitely not a competitive process. … It’ll be better in a lot of ways. It drives costs down and it helps to suppress the black market. And especially in a time when people are scrambling for jobs, it’s a job creator.” – Baker to KSHB

KC Stark, a local cannabis advocate and CEO of Cannabis Startup Incubator, said the amendment may be too little too late as rejected licensees had already spent thousands of dollars hoping for a license. Stark said many of those hopeful entrepreneurs may have already lost their rights to their lease and their personnel.

“People aren’t going to just sit there and hang on to an empty building or not wait for a job when you said you might have one,” Stark said in the report.

The Missouri House investigation is focused on reports of irregularities in how the license applications were scored and claims that the rules were changed in the middle of the process. A review by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch found that some two dozen groups, which each won five or more licenses, had ties to out-of-state cannabusinesses or the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association. The trade association’s lobbyist in the capitol is Steve Tilley, a longtime lobbyist and advisor to Gov. Mike Parson (R), which has further called into question the legitimacy of the process.

In addition to Tilley, the House committee is seeking records from the governor’s chief of staff and chief operating officer.

Missouri’s legislative session ends Friday. The licensing reform measure heads next to the Senate.

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Massachusetts Cannabis Delivery Service Applications Open May 28

5/12/2020

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The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission is expected to open applications for recreational cannabis delivery services later this month, MassLive reports. For the first two years, the licenses will be reserved for social equity and economic empowerment applicants.

Some commissioners said during their meeting last week that the service is a priority during the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Charlie Baker shut down recreational cannabis sales in the state as part of his stay-at-home order fearing that allowing sales during the crisis would draw people from out-of-state.

The plan was backed by commissioners Shaleen Title and Britte McBride. Title said that, while the state backed off delivery plans in 2017, regulators had addressed those early concerns. “But now, just the entire concept of delivery is so much more relevant,” she said.

McBride said that delivery would help stop illicit sales during the pandemic and move people back into the regulated market.

“We’re in the middle right now of uncharted territory but, we know, or suspect, that just because other people are staying at home it doesn’t mean that the illicit market is staying at home. It still exists, it’s still there, it is still available, and starting to chip away at that is extremely important. I think that this provides us with a tool to start to get there and it’s important to do so.” – McBride during the commission meeting via MassLive

The plan was opposed during the meeting by commissioner Jennifer Flanagan who voiced concerns over the “timing of it” – namely amid the coronavirus pandemic. Flanagan was the lone opposing vote against the measure.

“I really think we need to take into account what’s going on at the time that this starts to happen,” she said during the meeting. “I know it’s not a popular thought to have. I’ll probably get a lot of criticism for it. But I really think that we need to at the same time balance the health needs.”

During the meeting, the commissioners discussed precertification for delivery applications before they apply for a provisional license. The precertification will include things like business information, tax information, and insurance plans, but not things like the certification of a host community agreement or capital resources, which will be considered for the provisional license.

Last year, the agency voted in favor of delivery services and social-use provisions. Currently, 18 medical cannabis dispensaries in the state offer delivery services. The applications are expected to be online May 28.

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USDA Approves Hemp Plans for Massachusetts and Five Native Tribes

5/11/2020

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week approved hemp production plans for Massachusetts, and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and the Pala Band of Mission Indians.

It marks the 17th state plan to be approved by the agency; the total of approved tribal plans stands at 25. The USDA indicated in a press release that it “continues to receive and review hemp production plans from states and Indian tribes.”

Under Massachusetts hemp law, the crop can be produced for fiber, seed, hemp seed oil, seed for cultivation, seed meal and seed oil, and CBD – so long as the crop is certified by the state Department of Agricultural Resources. Currently, however, Massachusetts does not allow some CBD products to be sold in the state, including food products, products containing hemp as a dietary supplement, animal feed containing the cannabinoid, CBD flower, or products making medical claims.

Many of those products are also banned federally. Late last month, the Food and Drug Administration sent warnings to two CBD companies over their claims that CBD is efficacious for treating opioid addiction.

Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources spokesperson Katie Gronendyke told Marijuana Moment that since 2018, the state has “licensed more than 100 entities and produced 250 acres of certified industrial hemp.”

The USDA began accepting state hemp plans last year. Those plans provide details on practices and procedures that enable hemp producers to operate according to individual state plans and in compliance with federal laws. Hemp was legalized federally in 2018.

Last month, the agency approved the hemp plans for Florida and Kansas. The approval for Florida’s program reportedly took less than a week.

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Oregon Psilocybin & Drugs Decriminalization Campaigns Join Forces

5/11/2020

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Two progressive drug policy campaigns in Oregon — one to legalize medicinal psilocybin mushrooms and the other to decriminalize all illegal drugs — have partnered up to help each other collect signatures during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Both campaigns shipped email blasts last week to their supporters plugging the other campaign’s petition, Marijuana Moment reports.

Sam Chapman — manager of the campaign for IP 34, the medical psilocybin legalization initiative — explained in their email that the decriminalization initiative will expand the state’s addiction and recovery services and help “end the cruel and ineffective policy of making criminals of people struggling with addiction by decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs.”

“This measure will be a game-changer. But only if it gets on the ballot. We at the IP 34 campaign strongly support them, as they support us. Both campaigns are working together. We are asking every supporter of IP 34 to download and sign the petition for IP 44 today.” — Chapman, in an email to IP 34 supporters

The decriminalization campaign, Yes On IP 44, responded Friday with a similar call to action for its supporters to sign the medical psilocybin petition.

Both campaigns were in reach of the signature requirement to qualify for Oregon’s ballot before the state’s coronavirus response shutdown; the campaigns each need 112,020 valid signatures by July 2 to qualify.

“What’s one of thing that’s hard to do while social distancing? Helping good and positive ballot measures qualify for the ballot,” said Anthony Johnson, IP 44’s chief petitioner.

IP 34’s architect and co-sponsor Tom Eckert said, “IP 34 and IP 44 have always enjoyed a supportive relationship with regard to gathering signatures, and that will certainly continue until both campaigns cross the finish line and make the November ballot.”

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Cannabis Activists Oppose Massachusetts Social Equity Changes

5/11/2020

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A group representing Massachusetts social equity applicants has launched a petition urging regulators to repeal recent changes to the state’s Economic Empowerment Program which set the ownership threshold for such applicants to just 10 percent.

Previously, the requirement was 51 percent. 

The Urban Cannabis Grow Op Association says they have “deep concerns and reservations” over the rule change and that the 10 percent equity stake requirement “feels like a race to the bottom.”

“In the short time since this policy change has been made, some of us have received calls indicating that investors are now tearing up previous contracts they had with economic empowerment applicants and social equity applicants prior to this regulatory change.” – Urban Cannabis Grow Op Association in their Change.org petition.

The group says the change “watered down” the program and misrepresents what it originally promised, calling the changes “an affront and insult” to members’ integrity “and to that part of the [economic empowerment] concept.”

Moreover, the organization says the rule change is “in direct conflict” with some city and town ordinances, such as Boston which requires 51 percent ownership for social equity applicants seeking a cannabis industry license.

“This policy change by the [Cannabis Control Commission] has unilaterally compromised our ability to negotiate a fair deal, because this has greatly lowered the floor of our ownership/equity discussions, which is the exact opposite of empowering,” the group says on the petition site. “A 10 percent stake in a company is where ownership and control are expected to be less than dignified for a community that has paid tremendously and still pays in countless ways.”

In addition to pushing for a rollback of the rule, the group wants the CCC to explain why the change was made, what data was used to make the change and how that data was acquired, why there were no public hearings about the change and why the people most affected by it were not consulted, and what plans the CCC has for ensuring transparency if they change the rule back.

As of this morning, the petition had nearly half of the 500-signature goal. The petition was created on May 4.

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Oregon Hemp Company Sues Two Sheriffs’ Offices Over Crop Raid

5/11/2020

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An Oregon hemp company is suing sheriff’s departments from two counties claiming they unlawfully seized and destroyed more than $2 million worth of its crop, the Capital Press reports. The company asserts that the law enforcement agencies claimed the crop was THC-rich cannabis and that the search warrant used in the raid contained “false statements.”

The complaint is filed against the sheriff’s departments of Josephine and Jackson counties and alleges that law enforcement executed a “facially invalid” warrant to search for illegally-grown cannabis on April 22 at a property in Williams leased by the Oregonized Hemp Co. and its owner, Justin Pitts, the report says.

Despite being told the crop was legal industrial hemp, the complaint says officers “explicitly rejected” the warnings and confiscated 5,000 pounds of the company’s crops. According to the Press, neither civil nor criminal charges were filed against Pitts for unlawful cannabis production. The complaint alleges that the crops were regularly tested by state the state Agriculture Department and were below the 0.3 percent legal threshold.

The complaint further alleges “a pattern and practice” of intimidation and harassment by the counties’ law enforcement agencies toward the company and Pitts and alleges that they have been denied equal protection under the law, the report says.

The lawsuit seeks $2.5 million in compensation from the counties for unlawful seizure, unlawful taking and violations of due process because the search warrant wasn’t supported by probable cause. The lawsuit alleges that the sheriff’s departments destroyed the hemp “to cover up the fact” that they had unlawfully confiscated the plants in the initial action.

 

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San Francisco Offering Cannabis & Other Drugs to Help the Unhoused Shelter In Place

5/08/2020

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The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) said it is using private donations to administer medical cannabis and other drugs to help unhoused individuals who have quarantined inside of hotel rooms paid for by the city, KTVU reports.

Health officials say it’s one part of the city’s plan to help the unhoused population stay indoors and in one place during the ongoing shelter-in-place coronavirus response order. The SFDPH confirmed its strategy of providing substances that addicts would otherwise go searching for in a tweet on Wednesday.

The department said staff had received several medical cannabis deliveries for patients with prescriptions and that about 10% of the hotel guests had received tobacco products. 11 guests had been given “medically appropriate” amounts of alcohol to stave off withdrawal symptoms, officials said in the report, and methadone was also available from methadone clinics for people with heroin cravings.

“With regard to supporting people who are at risk, or who need to be in quarantine or isolation because they’re COVID positive, our focus needs to be on supporting them. Meeting them where they are so that they can be cared for in the most appropriate way. In the way that’s good for them and for our community.” Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s Department of Public Health director, via KTVU

The practice has sparked controversy online, with some critics arguing that the city should not be giving away free drugs as it could further fuel addiction problems; others said that the city should not make addiction treatment services voluntary (which they are) for addicts who are being housed in the hotels.

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Cannabis Industry Reports Lackluster 4/20 Sales

5/08/2020

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April 2020 was supposed to bring the cannabis industry’s biggest 4/20 sales day ever but stay-at-home orders and mandatory social distancing due to a deadly global pandemic dampened the long-awaited holiday. Across the board, cannabis retailers, software firms, and data companies reported major dips this year compared to 4/20 sales from previous years.

Making up for lackluster sales on the holiday itself, however, most operators reported heightened sales during the previous week.

Data reports

Cannabis data firm Headset confirmed that the industry’s 4/20 sales peak this year was not as big as other years’ but said that sales instead were expectedly high during the week leading up to 4/20.

“The week before 4/20 is always a good one for sales, but it was significantly higher than a normal April week this year — 25% higher than the previous week, as opposed to only 22% higher last year,” Headset analysts reported during a deep-dive on the Washington marketplace. “Ultimately, it seems like consumers spent as much overall as they would have normally.”

The data company, which has started releasing weekly COVID-19 industry updates, also noted that the pandemic has shifted product preferences, with pre-rolls and concentrates dropping and edibles spiking in popularity.

Point-of-sale software firm Cova reported that its clients experienced approximately 50% drops in total sales, gross profit, and average traffic compared to last year’s 4/20 but that average basket size was up 17%. Moreover, the software firm confirmed that its clients’ sales were up overall during the month of April, likely due to a stockpiling effect from various shelter-in-place orders.

Dispensaries weigh in

Dominic Ippolito, general manager for the Smoking Crow dispensary in Bellingham, Washington, told Ganjapreneur that they ran their holiday sale from Friday 4/17 until Monday 4/20 in hopes that it would stop the shop from getting overcrowded. Ippolito reported fewer transactions on the actual 4/20 holiday — from 456 last year to just 295 this year — as well as a significant drop in gross sales, but said that the average basket size at the dispensary increased from $35 to $59.

In San Francisco, Stephen Rechif, who manages the Bloom Room Collective downtown, said their 4/20 was “super slow.”

“We had about 50% of our regular sales, 50% of the usual foot traffic,” said Rechif, who also suggested that the dispensary’s location near the city’s tourist and financial centers likely played a part. “We are getting hit much harder than neighborhood dispensaries and deliveries,” he said.

Eva Sigersted — consultant for Tru|Med in Phoenix, Arizona — said they ran their 4/20 sale for the week prior.

“Since 4/20 was on a Monday, most people had already come in for the sale on Thursday or Friday,” Sigersted said. “It was actually a relief for all of us who have been working harder than ever to serve AZ MMJ patients while staying safe, healthy and socially distancing.”

Not every market, however, experienced the same obvious drop in product sales: 4/20 medical cannabis sales in Pennsylvania appeared to be up compared to last year, but that is more likely due to the relative nascency of the market, which launched in 2018. Solevo Wellness, which operates three medical cannabis dispensaries in the state, reported upticks in both revenue and customer visits, although the average ticket price dropped, according to operations manager Rocco Levine.

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Top Massachusetts Cannabis Regulator Calls for Reopening Adult-Use Dispensaries

5/08/2020

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Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission Chairman Steve Hoffman said yesterday that he believes the state’s recreational cannabis dispensaries could reopen by employing the social distancing protocols adopted by medical cannabis retailers, the Boston Globe reports. Adult-use sales in the state were shut down by Gov. Charlie Baker (R) amid the state’s coronavirus stay-at-home order in March.

During his remarks at a virtual press conference yesterday, Hoffman said it was “unfair” that Baker shut down recreational sales and that the industry does not qualify for federal assistance aimed at standing up businesses affected by pandemic shutdowns. State Senator Diana DiZoglio (D) proposed legislation earlier this week to give the industry financial assistance from the state.

Commissioner Shaleen Title said during the press conference that the “most straightforward form of economic relief is for these businesses to just be able to open again.”

“I have no concerns whatsoever that we can operate this business safely. I think we’ve demonstrated that we can do so on the medical side of the business… [and] I think there’s absolutely no reason we can’t do exactly the same thing on the adult-use side.” – Hoffman during a press conference via the Globe

The state’s medical dispensaries were deemed essential businesses and have implemented precautions such as curbside pickup, appointment-only shopping, and contactless transactions; the shops have remained operational during the state’s coronavirus response. According to a MassLive report, Massachusetts saw a 14 percent increase in medical cannabis certifications in April, from 63,720 in March to 75,502. The state also saw more than 10,000 more ounces of medical cannabis sold from March to April, from 51,836 ounces to were 65,155 ounces, respectively.

Baker was sued over the closure of recreational cannabusinesses last month, and a judge would ultimately rule in his favor, saying that plaintiffs would have “little chance” to prove Baker did not have a “rational basis” for the action which would have been required for a positive judgement.

Hoffman said that he hopes to meet with members of an advisory board convened by Baker to plan the reopening of the state’s economy so he can “convince them that we are totally confident” cannabis stores can reopen safely, regardless of whether the state considers them “essential.”

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Whistleblower Complaint Sparks Investigation of Missouri Cannabis Licensing Process

5/08/2020

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The Missouri House Special Committee on Government Oversight is investigating the state’s handling of medical cannabis industry licensing and is seeking records from Gov. Mike Parson’s (R) deputy chief of staff, chief operating officer, and Steve Tilley, a longtime lobbyist and advisor to the governor, the Kansas City Star reports.

The investigation follows public testimony by members of the administration and cannabis regulators earlier this year, along with a whistleblower complaint from a purported Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) employee. The complaint accuses department officials of lying during that public testimony and questions the salaries and qualifications of those running the program.

The investigation is focused on reports of irregularities in how the license applications were scored – that Wise Heath Solutions, the private company hired to score them, may have tainted the process – and conflicts of interest within DHSS, the report says. Wise Health is a joint venture of Nevada-based Veracious Investigative & Compliance Solutions and Oaksterdam University.

Lawmakers are seeking records about how DHSS decided to rely on a private company to score the applications and how Wise Health Solutions won that contract. They are also seeking records on controversial rule changes DHSS enacted throughout the application process that have angered many license seekers and led to appeals by would-be operators.

One such change includes DHSS saying it would grant bonus points for applicants who located their operations in areas of high unemployment; however, that change was announced shortly before the final rules for applying were finalized and after many applicants had already purchased property, drawn up plans, and paid fees to the state.

As of March 4, more than 800 appeals had been filed by companies that were denied state licenses to operate a medical cannabis business in the state and many of the appeals argue that the scoring system used in the licensing process was flawed. A review by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch found that some two dozen groups, which each won five or more licenses, had ties to out-of-state cannabusinesses or the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association – or MoCannTrade – whose lobbyist is Tilley.

The House committee had paused the inquiry due to the coronavirus pandemic but reopened the investigation after DHSS Director Randall Williams indicated staff had resumed their work and dispensaries were set to open this summer.

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