A recent Go Banking Rates survey found that financiers are split on whether they would invest in the cannabis space, with 51 percent saying they would never invest in the space while 49 percent are already investing in the industry or are open to it.
Of the more than 800 investors surveyed, 9 percent were already actively investing in the industry but only 10 percent viewed it as a safe investment. If cannabis were to be legalized federally, the survey found a third of investors would consider investing, while another third said they would never back the industry regardless of legal status.
Investors aged 25 to 34 were most likely (13.48 percent) to already be invested in cannabis stocks, according to the survey, followed by investors aged 55 to 64 (10.49 percent); those aged 45 to 54 who were not currently investing in the space were the most open to it. Nearly 2 in 10 investors would be swayed to enter the space if recommended by a financial advisor.
Jon Vlachogiannis, the founder of wealth management product AgentRisk, described investing in the industry as “very volatile” and compared investing in a single cannabis stock “like playing Russian roulette.” In the survey, just 15 percent said cannabis stocks help to diversify portfolios but 42 percent described the space as “growing fast.”
Of those that would invest, most (20.5 percent) were comfortable with investing less than $100, while 15.7 percent would invest between $100 and $500, with 13 percent saying they’d invest $1,000 to $4,999 and 8.3 percent who would invest $5,000 or more.
After millions of dollars in capital and several years of hype, the cannabis social media network MassRoots has reportedly gone offline for good.
First reported by competitor Cannabis.net, MassRoots.com appears to have gone dark despite being the first cannabis-focused online platform to raise millions in investor backing.
According to their report, Cannabis.net was alerted to MassRoots’ closure by a flock of user signups to WeedFeed, the company’s own social media platform, who all referenced MassRoots’ website and app going offline about three weeks ago.
MassRoots led a volatile existence in the early cannabis industry. Originally launched as an online, cannabis-friendly social media network meant to replace Facebook and Instagram (who are notoriously strict about prohibiting pro-cannabis content), MassRoots is believed to have raised upwards of $20 million during its early years. The company, however, was forced to pivot several times throughout its course via new subsidiaries — at least once to a blockchain focus and once to a more dispensary-focused model — as the social media platform struggled to generate profit.
In 2017, MassRoots CEO and founder Isaac Dietrich was ousted from his position at the head of the company by the board of directors, although he regained the position after about two months.
The Minnesota Department of Health has approved chronic pain and a degenerative eye condition as qualifying conditions for medical cannabis access, Minnesota Public Radio reports. The agency said it will allow more dispensaries to open under the program expansion, which will take effect in August.
Maren Schroeder, policy director for Sensible Change Minnesota, called the addition of chronic pain “the biggest steps the administration could take” toward making the state’s medical cannabis program “functioning.”
“This will give doctors a little more comfort in getting their pain patients into this program as well as helping those patients qualify,” Schroeder said in the report.
In a statement, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said the decision to add chronic pain came from the “generally positive experience” by intractable pain patients and adding age-related macular degeneration “was due to a lack of good treatment options for managing symptoms.”
“Minnesota’s medical cannabis program tracks patient experiences so we can learn about the real-world benefits and downsides of using medical cannabis for various conditions.” – Malcolm, in a press release
The Health Department has issued several reports based on patient experiences, including a survey released in July that found 70 percent of post-traumatic stress disorder patients found symptom reduction when using medical cannabis and a report in April that found “significant reduction” in symptom severity for cancer patients.
The state’s program does not allow patients to smoke, relying on pills, topicals, and vaping; but it will allow water soluble delivery methods – such as gum, mints, lozenges, and powders – next year. According to state data, there are currently 18,144 active medical cannabis patients in Minnesota.
The move is the broadest expansion of the program; its last major change came in 2017 when autism and obstructive sleep apnea were added to the qualifying conditions list.
Evanston, Illinois has passed a race-based reparations statute that will leverage adult-use cannabis sales to provide financial assistance for African American residents, according to the Washington Post.
The tax will be set at three percent with a cap of $10 million over the next ten years. The council expects to use the money to provide job training courses and help Black residents to continue living in the affluent north Chicago suburb. According to data prepared by the city, over a thirty-six month period, 71 percent of people arrested for cannabis and 51 percent of people given citations for cannabis in Evanston were African American.
“It is this disproportional enforcing of cannabis enforcement that the new law is meant to overcome,” said Evanston’s 5th Ward Alderman Robin Rue Simmons.
“Our community was damaged due to the war on drugs and marijuana convictions. This is a chance to correct that. Our disadvantage and discrimination has continued beyond outlawing Jim Crow and beyond enslavement.” — Simmons, via the Washington Post
Illinois included a cannabis equity provision in their legalization bill passed earlier this year in June; adult-use cannabis sales become legal in Illinois starting January 1, 2020.
This is the latest effort to use cannabis revenue to counter the damage done by the war on drugs. Oakland, California adopted what is known as the Equity Permit Program, which takes a different approach to cannabis equity by helping black entrepreneurs get into the cannabis industry. States like Washington and Massachusetts have passed similar laws designed to encourage African American ownership in the cannabis industry. Multiple 2020 Democratic Presidential candidates, meanwhile, have called for “drug war reparations.”
The Brooklyn District Attorney has yet to drop the charges against a man who received a 106-pound shipment of hemp from Vermont, according to a Burlington Free Press report. Police had indicated two weeks ago that they planned to drop the charges against Ronen Levy but during a court appearance on Monday he was given another hearing date in May.
Ronen was initially arrested on November 4 after accepting the package meant for his brother, the owner of New York City-based Green Angel CBD, who was recovering from surgery. Police at the 75th precinct lauded the bust on Twitter but Oren said that the boxes contained documents that showed the THC content of the plants was 0.14 percent – well below the legal limits. Andrew Subin, an attorney for the Vermont farm that grew the hemp, said that police “didn’t know the legal limit” for hemp and wanted to do their own test despite the laboratory paperwork.
At a November 6 briefing, NYPD Chief of Department Terence A. Monahan said those tests were underway but on November 19 the Brooklyn district attorney’s office told NBC New York the charges would be dropped. Levy told the Free Press that he doesn’t know whether the plants – worth $30,000 – would be returned.
“They are playing with us now. This is definitely going to put me out of business,” Oren told the Free Press.
The hemp shipment was reported to police by FedEx, which includes hemp on its prohibited items list. UPS also does not permit hemp in plant form; but the U.S. Postal Service does. Interstate hemp transport is also allowed under USDA guidance.
Just before the Thanksgiving recess, the House Judiciary Committee made history by voting in favor of the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement Act, or MORE Act, making it the first comprehensive marijuana reform legislation to be cleared by a congressional committee.
The MORE Act — introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler with a companion bill introduced in the Senate by Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris — would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level by removing it from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act and effectively allowing states to set their own cannabis laws and policies.
Along with federal descheduling, the bill also includes a broad set of retroactive criminal justice reform and social equity provisions.
What would the MORE Act do?
Most notably, the bill imposes a 5% sales tax on all cannabis products which would be used to fund the creation of a “Cannabis Justice Office.” This office would be tasked with administering the newly established “Community Reinvestment Program” which provides funding for job training, literacy programs, youth recreation and mentoring programs, health education programs, and substance use treatment services. The Community Reinvestment Program would also fund reentry services for those transitioning out of incarceration as well as legal aid for both civil and criminal cases, including expungement of cannabis convictions;
The tax would also fund a cannabis opportunity program and an equitable licensing grant program. The Cannabis Opportunity Program would provide any eligible state or locality funds to make loans under the Small Business Act section for cannabis businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. These funds would specifically be utilized to develop and implement equitable cannabis licensing programs that minimize barriers to cannabis licensing and employment for individuals most adversely impacted by the War on Drugs.
Beyond ensuring that these state and local programs adhere to requirements set to have the broadest impact on disproportionately impacted communities, including ensuring that cannabis convictions are not a barrier to licensing, the bill also requires that any potential state or locality grantee has “taken steps to”:
Create an automatic process, at no cost to the individual, for the expungement, destruction, or sealing of criminal records for cannabis offenses; and
Eliminate violations or other penalties for persons under any type of State or local criminal supervision for a cannabis offense.
The bill also includes retroactive criminal justice measures, meaning that the bill will not only ensure that individuals are not criminalized for cannabis use going forward, but also that those who were punished for past cannabis offenses now have an avenue for relief. These measures include:
Automatic expungement of federal cannabis offenses;
Sentencing review and potential resentencing for any individual currently serving a criminal justice sentence for a federal cannabis offense. This also includes representation for indigent individuals currently incarcerated, a right that is generally not afforded post-conviction in the US.
MORE Act Flaws
Unfortunately, the bill only goes so far as to provide relief for a narrow class of offenses — that is, any offense that would now be legal or decriminalized after the passage of the bill, including under state law. Additionally, as federal legislation, the MORE act can only provide relief for those convicted of a federal offense. States still control opportunities for relief for those convicted at the state level.
Despite these limitations, the MORE Act goes farther than any current piece of federal legislation at attempting to undo the devastating effects of prohibition, particularly on marginalized communities. The Act even goes so far as to specifically state that there will be no discrimination in the provision of federal public benefits or for the purposes of immigration law on the basis of use, possession, or past cannabis offenses, two issues that continue to impact our veteran and immigrant communities.
Despite the historic vote in the Judiciary Committee, however, the MORE Act faces an uphill battle to passage. Several other House committees must first approve or waive the bill before it even gets to the floor of the House. Although passage in the democratically-controlled House may be possible, the bill would almost certainly fail in “grim reaper” Mitch McConnell’s Senate.
Editor’s note: This article is an editorial contribution from the Last Prisoner Project. Learn more at LastPrisonerProject.org.
Wyoming’s Eastern Shoshone Tribe is considering hemp and medical cannabis to help diversify the Wind River Reservation economy and offer alternative options to treat medical conditions, the Casper Star Tribune reports. The plan is being pushed by several Eastern Shoshone community members, part of a new group calling itself So-go-Beah Naht-Su’ in Shoshone, or “Mother Earth and Medicine” in English.
In September, the tribe’s general council voted on allowing hemp and medical cannabis legalization but said they had no interest in legalizing or producing cannabis for recreational use.
So-go-Beah Naht-Su’ member Bobbi Shongutsie said the group “obviously” has a vision to get hemp and medical cannabis legalized and called the vote by the council the “very first step.” The next step is to propose an action plan to the council, which is expected next month, the report says.
“Some of the benefits we thought of together were to create more jobs and to heal our people. We’re trying to transition hemp and medical cannabis into Wyoming so our tribe can get financially stable.” – Shongutsie, to the Star Tribune
Group member Alexis Eagle said they are hoping to give the younger generations “something to look forward to” and that the group’s members are talking to tribal youth about the potential industry “every chance” they get.
Medical cannabis and hemp are both legal in Wyoming and the federal government has said tribes would be treated like states with respect to cannabis policy.
North Attleboro, Massachusetts and Green Leaf Health Inc. have reached a “host community agreement” that will see it pay 3 percent of its gross annual sales to the town and donate between $25,000 and $50,000 a year to local charities, the Sun Chronicle reports. The agreement, which also requires full-time employees to perform 150 hours of community service annually, is required under the state’s recreational cannabis law for businesses to open adult-use dispensaries in municipalities.
The five-year agreement requires the company to pay all of its own construction, water and sewer fees and will be renegotiated when there are six months left in the deal. Green Leaf is the first company to strike a deal to sell adult-use cannabis in North Attleboro but the deal with the community does not allow it to cultivate crops at the site.
In all, 13 companies had applied to sell legal cannabis products in North Attleboro, the report says, and six – including Green Leaf – were approved for further consideration. The remaining five firms have not yet reached a host agreement with the city.
The host agreements required by the state have come under increasing fire since the September arrest of Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia, who allegedly extorted at least four cannabis business operators by soliciting $250,000 each from them in exchange for “non-opposition” letters from his office. Correia is said to have illegally generated at least $600,000 from the scheme, as well as alleged arrangements for a future cut in some of the companies’ cannabis sales.
The agreements, which Cannabis Control Commission Chairman Steven Hoffman has admitted “give a disproportionate advantage to bigger companies that can afford to throw in a fire truck on top of their 3 percent,” have also led to an investigation by the Springfield City Council into whether donations by a cannabis company were a bribe to the mayor’s office and the convening of a grand jury by U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling on potential bribes.
Lelling has subpoenaed the municipalities of Eastham, Great Barrington, Leicester, Newton, Northampton, and Uxbridge over their host community agreements with cannabis firms.
George McMahon, a federal cannabis patient, activist, author and one-time vice-presidential candidate with the Grassroots Party, has died, according to Gary Storck of CannaBadger. McMahon was the fifth patient approved for medical cannabis federally under its Compassionate Investigational New Drug program. He was 69.
McMahon was diagnosed with nail-patella syndrome and was approved for the program in 1990, receiving 300 joints a month from the federal government until his own physician passed away in 2013. According to a Celeb Stoner report, McMahon was a co-founder of Iowans for Medical Marijuana and was an original board member for Patients out of Time. In 2003 he co-authored “Prescription Pot: A Leading Advocate’s Heroic Battle to Legalize Medical Marijuana.”
McMahon said that he began using cannabis after a hospital orderly gave him a joint in 1988 which led him to get an application for the federal program.
“I’d noticed that when I smoked marijuana I didn’t get sick. … Five hundred doctors refused to see me, but one wrote back and said it was an interesting case. They finally just ran out of reasons. They conceded and we got the first shipment. I was taking 10 Percocets a day. I didn’t take another pill after that.” McMahon in a 2008 interview
McMahon joined Jim Carlson on the Grassroots Party presidential ticket in 2012 – the duo received 3,149 votes in Minnesota, the only state the party was on the ballot.
McMahon is survived by his wife and three children. There are now just two surviving members of the federal cannabis IND program.
Rosin cannabis concentrates might be simple to make but there is a science to creating top-shelf rosin, and Colorado’s PurePressure is a company dedicated to enabling truly artful rosin extractions for licensed businesses and extraction enthusiasts alike.
We recently received a PurePressure Helix Rosin Press for review and, after years of reading about rosin extraction from the sidelines, I was immediately giddy at the thought of squishing my favorite flower at thousands of pounds of superheated force. Ultimately, I was very pleased with the results.
Unboxing the Helix Rosin Press
Our PurePressure Helix Rosin Press arrived in a smartly packaged shipping box that, while heavy, had been efficiently secured with styrofoam packing, which kept the highly valuable piece of machinery from shifting around during transit. The package also included a detailed instruction manual and all of the notably minimal — though still necessary — tools and supplements for assembly.
At first glance, the Helix Rosin Press is a hefty piece of machinery with a simple interface. Assembly was quick and the hardest part was deciding where in my apartment to set it up. I settled on putting the unit on my dining room table and was pleasantly surprised at how little work was necessary to get everything ready for my first pressing. I screwed on the unit’s feet, which were detached during shipping, and set the table clamps so the unit wouldn’t shift during use.
The first press
PurePressure describes their Helix press as a solventless extracts option designed to be used “by anyone, anywhere,” and I definitely vibed with that sentiment. I will readily admit that this was my first attempt at homemade rosin — so, after watching about twenty minutes worth of YouTube videos discussing the science and strategies behind rosin concentrates, I jumped into my first pressing.
I used top-shelf flower from cultivator Autumn Brands, which I purchased from the Cannabis Buyers’ Club in Berkeley, California. To my pleasure, the Helix made professional-grade rosin pressing a breeze and it was immediately obvious to me that with just a little more experience with the unit, I could press out some super successful rosin.
The PurePressure Helix press makes consistently delicious rosin extracts a breeze.
The Helix Rosin Press allows for customization and experimentation with every press. Via the Helix’s LCD touch screen interface, for example, you can easily adjust the temperature of both the top and bottom pressure plates, as well as set pressure limits to within 10 lbs of accuracy. For my first press, I kept things relatively low at 180 degrees Fahrenheit and just 600 lbs of force. But, as I quickly gained experience, I also decided to slowly up the temperature until I capped at 220 degrees and about 1200 lbs of force — this is towards the higher end of the temperature/pressure spectrums that work best for flower pressing, according to PurePressure’s Eric Vlosky.
After digging up my dab rig and a quick trip to the store for a butane refill, I was ready to taste my first attempts at rosin pressing and was (not surprisingly) blown away by both the flavor and potency of my first go — and things only improved from there.
The Helix rosin press promises consistently pleasing results whether you’re pressing a single nug, a few grams of kief, or a half-ounce of top-shelf flower.
Commercial use
While the Helix is perfect for a home growing rosin enthusiast, it has all the potential for commercial applications in a small business setting, as well. The unit boasts a recipes function that allows you to record and save your pressing process for future sessions, including temperature and pressure recordings, and even has the capability for timed sessions so you can be sure that each press is an accurate recreation of the recipe that works best for you. The unit can save up to 29 different recipes, so you can easily manage a diverse range of regular rosin creations.
Another bonus to the Helix press is its user-friendliness: after just a little experience with the unit (and, remember, I started as a complete rosin newbie) I was able to rapidly speed up the pressing process. Soon, making sure that my flower was properly ground and evenly distributed on the press became the most time-consuming part of the process.
Lastly, I couldn’t help but worry that my measly flower pressings paled in comparison to the massive potential offered by PurePressure’s Helix press. I capped my pressure limits at just 1,200 lbs, for example, but the Helix is capable of exuding up to 6,000 lbs of force, while the plates can be heated to up to 300 degrees. While these extreme limits are not particularly helpful if you’re pressing pure flower, it’s an important option for growers who might need to press several ounces of hash at once, for example.
Visit GoPurePressure.com for more information, or to buy the Helix Rosin Press and any of PurePressure’s other cannabis rosin solutions.
Michigan’s adult-use cannabis market is opening to consumers on Sunday, December 1, about one year after voters in the state opted in favor of a statewide cannabis legalization ballot initiative.
Under the new market’s rules, individuals who are 21 or older will be allowed to purchase up to two and a half ounces of cannabis flower products from licensed dispensaries. Sales will be subjected to a 10 percent excise tax and the existing 6 percent sales tax. Budget planners in the state predict the industry could surpass $1 billion in sales by the fiscal year 2021 and $1.5 billion by 2023; early tax returns, meanwhile, could reach $223 million.
The first $20 million for the first two years will be dedicated to research into cannabis’ medicinal properties. Of the remaining tax dollars, 15 percent will go to municipalities who participate in the adult-use industry and 15 percent will go to participating counties — these allotments will be broken down proportionately based on a given region’s number of licensed operators. Lastly, 35 percent will go to the School Aid Fund and 35 percent will go to the Michigan Transportation Fund to be used on road and bridge repair.
“Everything in this space is new, so I don’t know if anyone can sit back and say it was easily predicted how we’d end up where we are but I think everyone is pleasantly surprised. We’ve already begun to see waves of hiring by cannabis businesses looking to fill these good-paying jobs, which will have a major impact on communities as these workers have money to spend on goods and services at their local small businesses.”” — Marijuana Regulatory Agency Director Andrew Brisbo, via MLive.com
The tax predictions come despite the fact that a large majority of Michigan municipalities — about 1,400 of the state’s 1,773 cities and towns — have passed bans on the adult-use industry, including Detroit.
“I’ve been somewhat surprised with municipal participation,” Brisbo told MLive. “I think we always assumed there would be a lot of municipal opt-outs, based on the way the ballot initiative is written, but I think it’s been somewhat surprising that even municipalities that allow for medicinal use haven’t necessarily been allowing for the adult use side of things.”
The Food and Drug Administration has issued a CBD-focused consumer update claiming that the cannabinoid “has the potential to harm” including negative effects on the metabolism of other drugs, increase risk of sedation and drowsiness when used with alcohol, changes in alertness, gastrointestinal distress, and changes in mood.
The agency also suggests that CBD can damage the liver – a claim made by Greenwich Biosciences representatives during a hearing in June. That claim has been disputed by the CED Foundation, who notes that the mice in the study were given the human equivalent of 42,050 milligrams of CBD, which they called “an unreasonable amount.”
“In the days where many people are taking 10mg pills of CBD per day, the amounts of CBD that were force-fed to these animals in this study, if translated to humans, would be 4,305mg, 12,915mg, and 43,050mg over 10 days, or 17,220mg, 51,660mg, and 172,200mg in one-shot doses.) For reference, these days, most dispensaries sell CBD in doses of 10mg, 20mg, up to 2-300mg.” – CED Foundation in a June 20 blog post.
The FDA also claims that CBD could lead to male reproductive toxicity and that animal studies found a “decrease in testicular size, inhibition of sperm growth and development, and decreased circulating testosterone.”
“Because these findings were only seen in animals, it is not yet clear what these findings mean for human patients and the impact it could have on men (or the male children of pregnant women) who take CBD,” the agency said in the update. “For instance, these findings raise the concern that CBD could negatively affect a man’s fertility.”
The FDA said in July that the agency would release CBD regulations by the end of the summer or early fall; however, those regulations have yet to be published.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel (R) met with the agency commissioner nominee, Dr. Stephen Hahn, to discuss a framework for CBD regulations. McConnell, who was a driving force behind federal hemp legalization, said after that meeting that he is “eager” for the FDA “to create certainty for CBD products.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is pushing for cannabis decriminalization in the state “as soon as possible” as lawmakers move toward putting the legalization question to voters in the 2020 General Election, NJ.com reports.
“Decriminalization of adult-use marijuana cannot be our long-term solution, but we now must turn to it for critical short-term relief while we await a ballot measure on legalization next November. Maintaining a status quo that sees roughly 600 individuals, disproportionately people of color, arrested in New Jersey every week for low-level drug offenses is wholly unacceptable.” – Murphy, in a statement, via NJ.com
According to Federal Bureau of Investigation data outlined in the report, New Jersey police arrest more people for cannabis possession than every state except Texas and New York, and black people are arrested at a rate three times higher than white people, despite people of both races using cannabis at similar rates.
Murphy included legalization in his campaign platform, but legislative leaders were unable to wrangle the votes in the Legislature – which is controlled by Democrats – before the end of last session. Senate President Stephen Sweeney, who recently introduced a resolution to add legalization to 2020 ballots in New Jersey and supports adult-use legalization, said in May that he was very skeptical” of decriminalization plans in lieu of broad legalization. Sweeney said he fears that decriminalizing cannabis would lead to “having dealers on the corner where the worst that’s gonna happen is they get a $50 ticket.”
Sweeney told NJ.com that he is “open to looking” at decriminalization but he needs first to “understand how it’s gonna look.”
“My largest concern is that we just make the black market that much stronger,” he said in the report. “But I’m open to doing something because it’s gonna be a year before we get this done. We’ve got to figure something out.”
In July, after legalization talked stalled, Murphy signed a bill to expand the state’s medical cannabis industry.
Under an Arizona bill approved last year to test medical cannabis products before they hit dispensary shelves, a 12-member panel will determine which chemicals can be used in the industry. The bill sponsor, however, calls the plan akin to “the fox watching the hen house” as six of the panel members are medical cannabis business representatives, Arizona Capitol Times reports.
Majority Whip Sonny Borrelli (R) said he would prefer an outright ban on some chemicals rather than leaving it up to the panel – which, in addition to the six industry members, includes the owner of an Arizona-based cannabis testing laboratory, a patient, a caregiver, a lab scientist, a health care provider, and a representative from the state Department of Public Safety.
Borrelli has set his sights on the fungicide Eagle 20, which he said is prohibited on tobacco and a “heavy carcinogen” but is allowed to be used on cannabis cultivation in the state under the current regime. Borrelli has introduced a bill that would specifically ban the use of any pesticide except for those that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act says are benign and require no regulation at all: castor oil, cinnamon oil, garlic, lemongrass oil, rosemary, sesame, and white pepper.
“Suppose that board that we put together this year comes up and says, ‘Well, you’re allowed to use Eagle 20 (in) a certain amount?’ … That anti-fungal pesticides are necessary because all these growth facilities are indoors. So they want to be able to mitigate the mold that’s being put on the marijuana.” – Borrelli, to the Capitol Times
Pele Peacock Fischer, lobbyist for the Arizona Dispensaries Association, said that while the organization is “looking to put together a testing regime that is extremely safe for patients” they are also trying to find a balance “that works in the industry so the labs can meet the demand, [and] dispensaries can make it.”
Additionally, Fischer said even if the panel were to approve a pesticide that could be potentially harmful, the Department of Health Services has the final say in what is – or isn’t – approved.
The testing program is expected to start no later than November 1, 2020.
San Diego, CA, November 26, 2019 – Lab Properties today announced plans to acquire $30 million of commercial cannabis real estate in 2020. Currently, Lab Properties owns and operates three properties across the state of California and serves over a dozen cannabis tenants. The company plans to grow its portfolio to $200 million over the next four years.
Bringing extensive experience in redevelopment and hands-on management, Lab Properties’ CEO Daniel Shkolnik saw the momentum behind cannabis legalization in 2016 and founded Lab Properties to become a dynamic and impactful real estate solution for emerging cannabis operations.
With the United States cannabis industry on track to deliver ~$100 billion in economic impact by 2023, thousands of operators will ultimately be faced with the challenge of finding suitable space as they expand their businesses. Given the complex and ever-evolving regulatory environment, their needs are highly specialized.
To serve these established and emerging cannabis brands, Lab Properties will be focusing on three key strategies to acquire real estate deals ranging from $2-20 million over the next 12 months:
1) Acquire income-producing real estate from existing operators. Under its sale-leaseback program, the company will purchase an existing operator’s property and lease it back to them on a long-term basis, allowing operators to unlock trapped equity or working capital. The company can also partner with growing brands looking for expansion.
2) Unlock value in distressed situations. Lab Properties is uniquely positioned to execute deals that may have additional complexities, such as distress or urgency. Under its special situations program, Lab Properties can create certainty of deal execution and success in times of need. Operators who have had investors pull out just before closing, a landlord neglect to bring the building into compliance, or a lack of liquidity to complete tenant improvements may benefit from this program.
3) Bring life to underutilized properties through redevelopment. The company sources zoned projects in key jurisdictions with the ultimate goal of activating underutilized properties through redevelopment and/or change of use.
According to CEO Daniel Shkolnik, “A big part of our culture at Lab Properties is being adaptive, seeing opportunities and acting fast to deploy capital quickly when cannabis operators need it most. We look forward to collaborating with the brightest minds to find and create value, pushing the industry forward towards a limitless future.”
About Lab Properties
Founded in 2016, Lab Properties is a real estate investment and development company dedicated to empowering the next generation of cannabis companies. For more information, visit www.labproperties.com.
Media Contact
Quincy Hilla
(858).429.5040
quincy@labproperties.com
Two activist groups in Florida have moved a step closer to putting an adult-use legalization question to voters in 2020 after submitting the required number of petition signatures to the Division of Elections on Friday to trigger the Florida Supreme Court review of the proposed ballot language, according to a state data outlined by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
The initiative backed by Make It Legal Florida submitted 108,435 signatures for its question, which would allow adults 21 or older to “possess, use, purchase, display, and transport up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and marijuana accessories for personal use for any reason,” the report says. Meanwhile, the Sensible Florida campaign submitted 92,438 signatures for their plan which would regulate cannabis in the same manner as alcohol. Both groups needed 75,632 total signatures to trigger the state Supreme Court Action and both would need 766,200 signatures by February to put the question on the General Election ballots next year.
The report indicates that Make It Legal Florida is so far outraising its competitors, reporting $2.7 million in cash and $114,500 in in-kind contributions, and spending more than $2.6 million since the campaign’s launch in August.
Sensible Florida has raised about $205,000 in cash, $245,000 in in-kind donations, and spent $160,000 since the organization was launched four years ago, the report says.
In 2016, two competing medical cannabis legalization proposals vied for a spot on the ballot in Arkansas and, albeit one failed to make the cut, activists were concerned that two competing proposals that effectively do the same thing would split the vote, forcing both to fail.
Following the success of both Florida pro-legalization groups efforts thus far, anti-legalization organizers have formed a group called Floridians Against Recreational Marijuana, or FARM. That effort includes Pat Bainter, owner of the firm Data Targeting and Republican political consultant.
Brian Swensen, who will manage the prohibitionist campaign, called the initiative to legalize cannabis “dangerous” and will drive an increase in health care prices, increase costs on businesses, and kill jobs, and increase the burden on taxpayers that will pay for the costs associated with recreational marijuana.”
The group also said they are against “the mega-marijuana, out-of-state corporate interests” that would follow legalization in the Sunshine State.
A study from Washington State University has found inhaled cannabis reduces self-reported headache and migraine severity by 49.6 percent and 47.3 percent, respectively. The study, published in the Journal of Pain is the first to use data from headache and migraine patients using cannabis in real-time, according to the study’s authors.
The author’s note that all previous studies relied on patients’ recalling the effect of cannabis use in the past, and that the one clinical study researching headaches, migraines, and cannabis used nabilone, a synthetic cannabis drug, but that study also found that cannabis was better at alleviating headaches than ibuprofen.
Carrie Cuttler, a Washington State University assistant professor of psychology and the study’s lead author, said the researchers were “motivated” to do the study “because a substantial number of people say they use cannabis for headache and migraine, but surprisingly few studies had addressed the topic.”
“We wanted to approach this in an ecologically valid way, which is to look at actual patients using whole plant cannabis to medicate in their own homes and environments. These are also very big data, so we can more appropriately and accurately generalize to the greater population of patients using cannabis to manage these conditions.” – Cutter, in a statement
In the study, researchers analyzed archived data from the Strainprint app, which allows patients to track symptoms before and after using medical cannabis purchased from licensed Canadian producers and distributors. The data was submitted by more than 1,300 patients who used the app over 12,200 times to track changes in headache from before to after cannabis use, and another 653 who used the app more than 7,400 times to track changes in migraine severity.
The study found a nominal gender difference with significantly more sessions involving headache reduction reported by men (90.0 percent) than by women (89.1 percent). The researchers found that concentrates produced a larger reduction in headache severity ratings than the flower.
Importantly, the researchers found no significant difference in pain reduction among strains that were higher or lower in levels of THC and CBD, suggesting that terpenes or other cannabinoids may lay a role in providing headache and migraine relief.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) met with U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner nominee, Dr. Stephen Hahn last week and discussed with the potential Trump Cabinet member the need for a regulatory framework for CBD.
“As Senate Majority Leader, I consistently work with my colleagues in the Trump administration to advance Kentucky’s priorities. Like many Kentuckians who are taking advantage of hemp’s legalization, I am eager for FDA’s plans to create certainty for CBD products.” – McConnell, in a statement
McConnell was a longtime proponent of hemp law reforms federally and, in 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Farm Bill which included hemp legalization and its removal from the Controlled Substances Act.
Since the passage of the reforms, several states have signed legislation to legalize hemp cultivation, production, and manufacturing; however, the U.S. Department of Agriculture must approve those programs and a disconnect remains throughout the nation due to the patchwork of laws and no finalized policies at federal agencies such as the FDA and USDA.
In April, McConnell acknowledged the “glitches” in the Farm Bill – including the lack of basic banking services for the industry and the cases of hemp shipments being confused for THC-rich cannabis, leading to confiscation of the product and the arrest of transporters.
Since the passage of the Farm Bill, the USDA has taken several steps to treat hemp like other crops – in May it certified a hemp flower product as organic for the first time, in August it announced hemp qualifies for federal crop insurance, and in October it released draft rules for the hemp industry. Those rules are still pending public comments but, if approved, would be valid for two years.
In July, the FDA suggested their CBD regulations would be released by the end of summer or early fall but the agency has yet to announce or codify any plans.
The meeting between McConnell and Hahn primarily dealt with the “Tobacco-Free Youth Act” which could help keep vape products from children amid a nationwide spate of vape-related pulmonary illness. Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control linked the illness to vitamin E acetate found in illegal cannabis vape products.
Michigan has issued a temporary ban on cannabis vaping products sold at dispensaries throughout the state and permanently banned the use of vitamin E acetate in cannabis products, according to a WTOL11 report. Earlier this month, the federal Centers for Disease Control linked the compound to the vaping-associated pulmonary injury that has led to thousands of hospitalizations and dozens of deaths throughout the U.S.
The New York State Health Department first made the link in September.
The ban is an effort to give the Marijuana Regulatory Agency an opportunity to reinspect vape products sold in dispensaries and the agency plans to inspect vape product-producing facilities twice a month going forward to ensure they are not adding vitamin E acetate or any other potentially harmful additives.
None of the cases of the illness in Michigan have been linked to legal cannabis products and none of the products from state-approved dispensaries have tested positive for the substance.
Earlier this month, regulators in Massachusetts took a similar approach; quarantining all vape products except for those “designed to exclusively vaporize marijuana flower for medical use patients.” The Cannabis Control Commission also moved to require more detailed labeling of all cannabis vape cartridges, extracts and concentrates. Under those requirements, manufacturers must include on their ingredient list every additive used in the product, including thickening agents and specific terpenes.
The Centers for Disease Control suspects vitamin E acetate of causing 47 deaths and 2,290 illnesses nationwide; in Michigan, there are 55 recorded cases of the illness and one death.
The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is prohibiting federal funds meant for opioid addiction to be used on medical cannabis, the Associated Press reports. The move aims to prevent the federal grant money from being used for medical cannabis in states that allow its use as a treatment for opioid addiction.
Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, assistant secretary of Health and Human Services for Mental Health and Substance Use, told the AP that there is “zero evidence” that cannabis works as an exit drug for opioids.
“We felt that it was time to make it clear we did not want individuals receiving funds for treatment services to be exposed to marijuana and somehow given the impression that it’s a treatment.” – McCance-Katz, to the AP
The new limitation applies to the federal government’s two main grant programs for opioid treatment along with another grant program that supports state alcoholism and drug addiction programs. Under the plan, grant money can’t be used directly or indirectly to buy, or allow treatment with, cannabis. The rule also applies to using cannabis as a treatment for mental health disorders; it does not impact other federal grants for medical cannabis research, the report says.
Just two states – Pennsylvania and New Mexico – include opioid addiction in their medical cannabis qualifying conditions lists.
Rachel Kostelac, spokesperson for Pennsylvania’s Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, told the AP that it’s too early to tell if the changes will affect care but state officials would “continue to monitor to ensure individuals are receiving appropriate treatment to combat the opioid epidemic.”
David Morgan, spokesperson for New Mexico’s Department of Health, said that no federal funds were currently being spent on medical cannabis-related treatment.
Since legalization in Massachusetts, the state has sold nearly $400 million worth of cannabis products and generated $61 million in taxes, according to Department of Revenue and Cannabis Control Commission figures outlined by MassLive.
In all, $393.7 million has been generated at 33 dispensaries in 32 municipalities. The state has derived $32.8 million in excise taxes, $19 million in sales taxes, and $9.1 million in local option taxes.
Commission Chairman Steven Hoffman, in an interview with MassLive, said he is “proud” of what the agency has accomplished and he is “pleased with how the rollout has gone to date” but said the commission would be focused on opening more stores, increasing banking options, reinforcing the commission’s social equity program, bringing more municipalities on board with the adult-use industry, and engaging the medical community on cannabis.
Hoffman said that the lack of towns that allow cannabis businesses is partly due to the host community agreements – deals between the business and towns that allow the municipality to ask for up to 3 percent of the businesses gross sales in exchange for their blessing to open up shop. Those deals have increasingly become an issue – leading to the arrest of Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia in September and an investigation into donations made by a cannabis firm to the city by the Springfield City Council later that month.
Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling convened a grand jury focused on the potential bribery of government officials by Massachusetts cannabis companies.
“I’m not criticizing any city or town. Every one is trying to do the right thing. But that is a factor. We can’t process applications without an agreement and that has a factor on the pace of rollout.” – Hoffman, in an interview with MassLive
The state’s social equity program is also off to a slow start, Hoffman said, noting that just 3.5 percent of economic empowerment applicants were minority-owned and of the near-7,000 approved and pending cannabis industry employee applications, 73 percent are white and 66 percent are male.
Hoffman said there are currently 395 license applications still pending with the state.
California is raising its cannabis tax rates on flower, leaves, and plants effective January 1. The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration says the rate hikes “reflect an adjust for inflation” as required by the state’s Cannabis Tax Law.
The flower taxes per dry-weight ounce are being raised from $9.25 to $9.65, while leaf taxes per dry-weigh ounce move from $2.75 to $2.87, and the plant rates will increase from $1.29 to $1.35.
“The 15 percent cannabis excise tax is based on the average market price of the cannabis or cannabis products sold in a retail sale. The mark-up rate is used when calculating the average market price to determine the cannabis excise tax due in an arm’s length transaction. In an arm’s length transaction, the average market price is the retailer’s wholesale cost of the cannabis or cannabis products, plus the mark-up rate determined by the CDTFA. In a nonarm’s length transaction, the average market price is the cannabis retailer’s gross receipts from the retail sale of the cannabis or cannabis products.” — CDTFA, Cannabis Special Notice
In October, Gov. Gavin Newsome (D) signed a bill overriding Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code which allows cannabusinesses to take normal business deductions when calculating their state taxes.
Critics have argued that California’s cannabis taxes are already too high, and a United Cannabis Business Association report in September suggests that unlicensed cannabis operators outnumber legal cannabis businesses in the state 3-to-1.
The state had anticipated cannabis tax revenues would be worth $355 million this year and $514 million in 2020, but in May those estimates were adjusted to $288 million this year and $359 million next year. In May, the Appropriations Committee rejected a bill to lower the state’s cannabis taxes. That measure would have reduced the excise tax from 15 percent to 11 percent and suspended the cultivation tax for three years.
California cannabis and CBD product manufacturer Kushy Punch has had its cannabis license revoked after it was found to have been operating out of an unlicensed facility, Marijuana Business Daily reports.
Regulators said they seized nearly $21 million worth of cannabis products during a raid at the company’s Canoga Park facility last month after being tipped off about illegal cannabis activity there.
Kushy Punch attorney Eric Shevin said the company was disappointed by the move.
“The More Agency, as the sole owner to all rights to the recipes, formulas and intellectual property pertaining to Kushy Punch, is saddened by the license revocation.… We have witnessed what has been termed a cannabis extinction event, as many operators are unable to withstand the licensing delays, costs and onerous taxes that continue to be a barrier for historical brands like Kushy Punch to survive.” — Eric Shevin, legal counsel for Kushy Punch, via MJBizDaily
Regulators were at first concerned that cannabis and vape products were being diverted to the unregulated marketplace but, according to Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) spokesperson Alex Traverso, Kushy Punch was only manufacturing and storing vape pens in the unlicensed facility, not selling or distributing them.
“Manufacturing, distributing or selling cannabis goods without a state license or at a location that is not licensed is a violation of state law,” California regulators warned.
Kushy Punch representatives said that the vape cartridges discovered by BCC were scheduled for destruction and were not going to be distributed.
The action comes amid an ongoing national vape crisis that has been tied by the CDC to illicit cannabis vape cartridges — specifically, to the use of vitamin E acetate as a cutting agent for the cartridges.
As of November 20, 2,290 vaping-related injuries have been reported in 49 states (all except for Alaska) and 47 individuals have died.
Quebec, Canada cannabis regulators are delaying the rollout of edibles and extracts until January 1, while the products in the rest of the nation are expected to be on store shelves December 5, the Montreal Gazette reports. Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) Fabrice Giguère said the company – which is run by the province – is still finalizing which products it will allow its shops to sell, noting that it would not be like “the huge rollout” experienced in October 2018.
“Edibles are not a race. We want to make sure all the logistical impediments are sewn up, that production capacity is up and running. We’re working on what kinds of products we’ll have, prices, and how we’ll display the prices in our stores. We want to make sure everything is in place for the launch of these products in January.” – Giguère, to the Gazette
The Quebec government announced over the summer that THC-infused sweets would not be allowed to be sold in the province. Giguère said that the SQDC could carry non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beers, teas and other drinks but no food, for the moment.
The government also capped THC content on concentrates and hash at 30 percent – which is much lower than typical concentrate products.
“We have to work with our suppliers to make sure they respect these limits,” Giguère said in the report. “It requires research and development on their end. So we want to give everyone time to make sure everything happens according to plan.”
Giguère also indicated that the company wouldn’t sell vapeable products, partly due to the “health problems that have arisen in the U.S.” related to vaping.
Quebec has among the strictest cannabis industry in Canada. Last month, the government raised the legal age to purchase cannabis products from 18 to 21; most provinces set the age at 19, Alberta’s age is set at 18.
