Lines of commercial-grade cannabis plants in pots inside of an indoor grow site.

Newfoundland and Labrador Government Release Cannabis Industry Rules

11/29/2017

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The Newfoundland and Labrador government has released their provincial cannabis regulations, setting the legal purchase age at 19 and allowing private businesses to sell to consumers. The Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation will distribute products to retailers, set prices, issue industry licenses, and set fees. Neither public consumption nor co-location with alcohol is permitted under the rules.

In the event that private companies are not interested in operating in a certain area the NLLC “may fill this role.”

In a statement, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball called legalization a “significant policy change” for the province and indicated the provincial rules with take into account “the unique characteristics of Newfoundland and Labrador with an emphasis on public safety and health.”

Tom Osborne, minister of finance and president of the Treasury Board, indicated in the press release, that he believes the federal government’s proposed 50/50 sharing of cannabis tax revenues is “inadequate” and plans to press federal officials “for a more equitable arrangement aligned with actual cost burdens.”

Newfoundland and Labrador joins Quebec, Alberta, and New Brunswick in unveiling provincial rules for the forthcoming legal cannabis industry. The federal legalization bill passed the House of Commons earlier this week and will next be considered by the Senate.

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Product samples lined up on a table at the Emerald Cup 2016 in California.

Oregon Cannabis Regulators Clarify Rules for Competitions and Events

11/29/2017

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If Oregon’s licensed cannabis cultivators want to submit their products to competitions, such as the famed Cannabis Cup, the product must be purchased from a licensed retailer, according to a bulletin released Monday by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which oversees legal sales in the state. The agency further clarifies that licensees cannot use the “in-house quality control” adjustment in Metrc – the state’s seed-to-sale system – to enter samples into competitions.

“Using a licensee’s ‘quality control’ allowance to remove product from the system and provide to individuals would be circumventing the rules and would not be a valid method of entering into a competition,” the bulletin states. “Quality control samples are intended for quality improvement purposes within a facility, not for providing free product to individuals off the licensed premises.”

The directive indicates that a judge or competition may purchase the items “at cost” and retailers may charge a discounted price or “give it away free” if the purchaser is an Oregon Medical Marijuana Program cardholder.

“Any attempt to use adjustments – of any kind – in Metrc for purposes of entering samples into a cup competition would be a violation of OLCC rules,” the bulletin reads in bold text.

Moreover, the OLCC adds that under the state’s recreational cannabis law, public consumption is not permitted; however, what is considered “public” is determined by municipalities. Licensed operators would be allowed to set up booths at events and have limited amounts of cannabis products on-site for display only.

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Restaurant Finds Early Success Selling “Blunts” and “Spliffs”

11/28/2017

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Brotha Dudes is a family-run restaurant located in Bellingham, Washington that offers a unique culinary and social experience. Specifically, they have named many of their menu items after references from cannabis culture, such as the “Dudes Blunt” and the “Cali Spliff.” While there is no actual cannabis in their recipes, they do have a food truck which they occasionally park outside local dispensaries.

Since its opening, Brotha Dudes has been enthusiastically received by the community and has found early success. We interviewed three of the co-owners of the business about their menu and the ideology behind their restaurant: watch our micro-documentary below and scroll down to read the backstory!

The Backstory

Brotha Dudes was founded by Briana and Julius Stoker in 2016 with the mission to create healthy, affordable, delicious food. The true origin of the business, however, came prior to that when their son, Duncan Stoker, was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Briana and Julius provided Duncan with homemade food to eat along the way that Duncan would share with his fellow hikers. Due to his generosity and general dude-ness, Duncan was assigned the trail name of “Brotha Dude” by his fellow trekkers and was frequently told that his parents’ trail food recipes were so delicious that they should open up their own restaurant. When Duncan finished his journey, he took the stories home to his parents, who were indeed interested in opening up a restaurant, and the name “Brotha Dudes” seemed like the perfect fit.

The Menu

There are a lot of things that make Brotha Dudes unique, but most noteworthy is the menu. First of all, the food is locally sourced and fresh. The menu is broken down by “vegetarian” and “carnivore,” and items can be customized to one’s liking. For example, a “Hippie Bowl” (tofu salad bowl) can be served “Blunted” (in a wrap). The carnivorous version of the “Cali Spliff” contains two types of meat, chicken and corned beef, while the vegetarian version contains tofu and falafel. You can also order a side of falafel “nugs” or “baked” chicken. Julius and Duncan Stoker, the dynamic father/son duo behind most of the restaurant’s recipes, both have stated that a lot of their dishes were in fact conceived while the two of them were high.

 

Photo by Patrick Beggan

Smart Marketing

While many mainstream businesses are hesitant to acknowledge that they work with companies in the legal cannabis industry, and most banks still won’t even serve them, Brotha Dudes has taken a chance by embracing the culture and community surrounding cannabis from outside the industry itself. That might seem like a risky business decision to some, but the fact is, over 61% of people in America now approve of legalizing cannabis, and in Bellingham, where cannabis is already legal and very much a part of normal society, that figure is probably closer to 90%.

More importantly, by backing up their playful cannabis references with undeniably delicious food and contagious good vibes, Brotha Dudes has created a memorable experience, and the word has quickly spread. When it comes to mainstream companies embracing cannabis culture and getting over the negative stigma, Brotha Dudes’ Marketing Director and Co-Owner Theo Radke said, “We’re kind of entering a whole new era… and we’re on the frontier.”

Photo by Patrick Beggan

Although the popularity of the menu has definitely played a role in the restaurant’s success, the message behind it is not just about marketing. A few years ago, Julius was prescribed painkillers, to which he eventually became addicted. The doctors told him he would simply have to keep taking them as prescribed, and that there were no alternatives. It was not until he discovered medical cannabis that he was able to break the addiction; he now enjoys better health and a better quality of life. Because he has personally seen the benefits, Julius hopes that the menu at Brotha Dudes will get people talking and help more people become open to the idea of cannabis medicine.

A Culture of Kindness

The vibe at Brotha Dudes is exceedingly welcoming and community-oriented. Just inside the door, there is an oil painting of an olive with the caption “Olive You,” right next to a poster for an upcoming Metal Yoga class. When you place your order, you have the option to “shoot your receipt” at a basket behind the counter for a chance to earn 10 or 20 percent off your next meal. Dana Donovick, the owner of Bellingham dispensary Western Bud where Brotha Dudes’ food trailer is occasionally parked, admires the way the restaurant has created an atmosphere where “everyone is like extended family.” The staff is outgoing and friendly, and frequently you can find Julius walking around, chatting up his patrons and getting to know them.

Brotha Dudes has already received inquiries from hopeful investors and franchisees, but the co-owners have stated they ultimately want it to be an employee-owned business, to provide their staff an opportunity for long-term involvement in the company. They’re not quite there yet, but with a second location already in the works, it appears that this goal may be closer than they ever would have imagined.

 

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New York, New York -- the largest and most famous city on the United Stated east coast.

Poll: New Yorkers Support Adult-Use Legalization, Including GOP Majority

11/28/2017

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A new Emerson College-conducted poll commissioned by the Marijuana Policy Project of New York and the Drug Policy Alliance has found that 68 percent of New Yorkers support legalizing cannabis for recreational use, compared to just 28 percent opposed – a 2:1 ratio in support for an adult-use cannabis regime in the Empire State.

Support was highest among independents, 71 percent to 18 percent, followed by 63 percent of Democrats in favor, compared to 28 percent opposed. The majority of Republicans polled also favored legalization 53 percent to 37 percent. The GOP support falls in line with a national Gallup poll in October which found 51 percent of Republicans support adult-use access to cannabis. It was the first Gallup poll on legalization to find a majority of Republican support since the agency began asking the legalization question in 1969.

Respondents strongly supported legalization over other forms of revenue generation: 60 percent preferred taxing cannabis to raise tax revenues compared to increasing income taxes (19 percent), increasing sales taxes (15 percent), or cutting education or public service funds (16 percent).

“This should be a wake-up call to lawmakers: New Yorkers want their state to take a sensible, humane approach to marijuana policy. New York should stop wasting resources punishing otherwise law-abiding residents for using a substance that is safer than alcohol. It’s time to take marijuana off of the criminal market, so we can create good jobs, build the economy, and fund essential services.” – Landon Dais, political director, MPP of New York.

The poll, conducted Nov. 16-18, surveyed 600 registered voters.

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Digital collage of Canada's maple leaf-bearing flag.

Canadian Legalization Bill Passes House of Commons, Moves to Senate

11/28/2017

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Canada’s federal cannabis legalization bill has passed the House of Commons 200-82 and now moves to the Senate for consideration, according to a report from the CBC. The support included leaders from the NDP, Green Party, and Conservative MP Scott Reid – despite an attempt by his party to send the measure to the Commons health committee for further study and delay.

The Conservative attempt to kick the bill to the committee failed 83-199.

The approved measure includes three amendments offered by the Commons committee studying legalization, including a 39-inch cap on home-grown plants, edible regulations one-year following the bill’s passage, and a stipulation that the government would review the bill in three years, according to the report.

Some Conservative Party members have argued that the July 1 timeline for rolling out the program is too ambitious, and some supported pushing the reforms back by one year.

Lawmakers in Alberta, Quebec, and New Brunswick have already released draft rules for how the industry will operate in their provinces, while Manitoba officials are preparing legislation focusing on public safety. Those regulations include the age consumers would be allowed to buy cannabis products, and whether the state or private companies would operate retail sites. Distribution duties outlined by the provinces would be relegated to provincial liquor wholesalers.

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Canopy Growth Acquires Saskatchewan Hemp Cultivator

11/28/2017

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Canopy Growth Corporation, a licensed medical cannabis producer in Canada with interests and operations in seven countries, is set to acquire Saskatchewan-based hemp cultivator Green Hemp Industries Ltd.

Following the completion of the deal, expected late next month or early January, Canopy will operate approximately 300 acres of existing hemp production and the company anticipates their hemp operations will be scalable to 2,200 acres for the 2018 growing season.

“We look forward to rapidly scaling this operation so that, in combination with our existing hemp assets, we capitalize on the new opportunities outlined in the government’s proposed regulatory framework,” said Bruce Linton, chairman and CEO of Canopy Growth, in a press release.

Once the deal is complete, Green Hemp Principal Jason Green, who also serves as director of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, will join Canopy’s hemp division as Head of Agriculture.

“Green has developed an optimized process to grow, harvest, collect, and extract the whole hemp plant at field-scale and in a fashion that meets a high standard for product quality,” Linton said.

Last month, Constellation Brands, the U.S. distributor of Corona beer and Svedka vodka, announced they had reached an agreement to acquire a 9.9 percent stake in Canopy for about $191 million.

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Cannabis plants inside of a medical cannabis grow in California.

Canadian Cannabis Industry Investor to Acquire Two California Firms

11/28/2017

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Canadian medical cannabis industry investor and operator CannaRoyalty Corp. has agreed to acquire two California cannabis companies, part of their expansion strategy into the state. The firm will take over Kaya Management Inc., the exclusive manufacturer and license holder of rights for Bhang brand vaporizer products in California, and Alta Supply Inc, which distributes the brand and about a dozen other cannabis products in the California market.

According to CannaRoyalty CEO Marc Lustig, consolidated sales from Kaya and Alta reached about $9.7 million over the last year.

“With the advent of a full recreational market in California in January 2018, we believe Kaya and Alta are well-positioned to drive further revenue growth,” he said in a press release. “The acquisitions will also give us the right to produce and market one of the most awarded brands in the global cannabis space as well as access to an extensive network of California dispensaries.”

Richard Sellers, CEO of Kaya and Alta, who will join the CannaRoyalty executive team in conjunction with the deals, said that California’s adult-use market is the one “to be a part of in 2018.”

California’s legalized cannabis market is anticipated to reach more than $6.8 billion by 2021, with vaporizer sales expected to represent about 15 percent of that total.

The deals are still subject to customary closing conditions.

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Blue police lights on top of a white cruiser.

Indiana Attorney General: CBD ‘Unlawful’ in the State

11/27/2017

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In an official opinion released last week, Indiana Attorney General Curtis T. Hill Jr. said that CBD products “remain unlawful in Indiana” citing cannabis’ Schedule I status under federal law.

“The state and deferral laws that place cannabidiol in the category of Schedule I controlled substances do not hinge on the degree or prevalence of the pharmacological effects of a substance on a person, for those effects vary from person to person, substance to substance, and component to component,” he wrote. “Simply put, cannabidiol is a Schedule I controlled substance because marijuana (Cannabis sativa) is a Schedule I controlled substance.”

Hill’s opinion provides for CBD use by patients with epilepsy, as allowed by Act 1148 signed into law earlier this year, and that while Indiana enacted an industrial hemp program in 2014, the federal law permitting those programs did not legalize CBD production.

The opinion comes less than two months after Indiana Excise Police – the enforcement arm of the state Alcohol and Tobacco Commission – confiscated CBD products at retailers throughout the state but later indicated they would halt enforcement if the products fell under the legal 0.3 percent THC federal definition of hemp.

According to a FOX59 report, Indiana State Police have said that the 2014 law legalized hemp products produced with industrial hemp. However, in an interview with the station, Hill maintained that CBD remains “unlawful” under the “current state of the law.”

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Colorado Budget Committee Anticipating Less Cannabis Tax Money Following Sales Tax Changes

11/27/2017

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According to a report by the Colorado Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, cannabis tax revenues in Colorado are expected to be about $9 million less in the coming fiscal year, due partly to lawmakers eliminating the 2.9 percent sales tax on retail sales.

In fiscal year 2017-2018, the state had about $124 million in state tax revenues to work with and expect about $115 million during fiscal year 2018-2019. The revenues are expected to bounce back in fiscal year 2019-2020 and exceed $137 million. In addition to cutting the cannabis sales tax, lawmakers also eliminated the Hospital Provider Fee.

The Marijuana Tax Cash Fund provided $26.3 million to the state general fund this fiscal year.

ColoradoPolitics.com reports that since 2012 – the first year of legalization in Colorado – $107 million in cannabis tax revenues has been transferred to the Public School Capital Construction Assistance Fund and $34 million to the Public School Permanent Fund.

Fiscal year 2017-2018 saw $56.5 million in cannabis tax revenues used for a variety of public programs, including; affordable housing grants ($15.3 million), school health professionals grant program ($9.4 million), and illicit cannabis enforcement ($6 million).

In all, the committee estimates about $126.7 million in cannabis tax revenues for fiscal year 2018-2019. The state will need about $116.5 million to maintain funding for programs already using cannabis tax revenues.

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Ontario, Canada College Offers First MMJ Course

11/27/2017

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Oshawa, Ontario, Canada’s Durham College offered, for the first time, Medical Cannabis Fundamentals for Business Professionals last weekend – a two-day course covering regulations, ethics, cultivation, quality control, marketing, and basic clinical concepts, the CBC reports. The course is the first-of-its kind offered in Ontario.

Debbie Johnston, dean of the college’s School of Continuing Education, indicated that the nation’s cannabis industry is currently worth $130 million and expected to grow nine-fold over the next two years.

“Attention has largely been focused on the production side of the industry, but these are complex organizations that also require professionals with keen business acumen and skills, and therein lie many of the job opportunities in this field,” she said in a statement.

Students who complete the course receive an electronic credential that can be added to social media sites, such as LinkedIn, or other online profiles available to prospective employers.

Niagara College, also located in Ontario, announced in September plans to offer a one-year post-graduate degree in cannabis cultivation, while New Brunswick’s Dieppe Community College is set to roll out its 12-week medical cannabis cultivation course this week. Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia currently offers a three-course Cannabis Professional Series that spans plant production and facility management; marketing, sales, and drug development; and how to finance a Canadian cannabis enterprise.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated for accuracy.

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Lift Cannabis Business Conference: Investing and Thriving in the Growing Canadian Market

11/27/2017

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Back for its second year, the Lift Cannabis Business Conference (LCBC) comes to Vancouver on January 12, 2018, featuring professional development panels led by cannabis industry experts.

Coming less than six months ahead of recreational cannabis legalization in Canada, the Vancouver LCBC offers a critical opportunity for entrepreneurs and investors interested in upcoming opportunities north of the border. Attendees will get the inside scoop on regulation, compliance, investment patterns and key trends as the world braces for the new cannabis economy. Canada is predicted to be the make-or-break example of what full federal legalization could look like, making this a can’t-miss business opportunity for cannabis professionals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxOyJ7utcVo&feature=youtu.be

The LCBC on January 12 is the kickoff to the Lift Cannabis Expo, Canada’s largest cannabis trade show, happening January 13-14. While the Lift Expo is primarily a consumer trade show, the LCBC is strictly professional, featuring a full day of guest speakers, panels and networking opportunities. With topics such as, “Investing in Cannabis 101” and “Provincial Legislation and Your Business,” the LCBC provides a unique perspective on the current state of cannabis and where it’s heading.

Lift is a key player in the Canadian cannabis market, offering up-to-the-minute news and media on its website, as well Canada’s largest database of legal cannabis reviews. Because of its active readership, Lift has become a central hub for licensed producers and consumers to connect with each other, fostering a strong sense of community in the nascent cannabis industry.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the LCBC event page. Early bird pricing is available until December 1, with single sessions on special for $40 CDN (regularly $50 CDN) and all-access passes for $300 CDN (regularly $350 CDN). Get your Lift Cannabis Business Conference tickets here.

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Aurora Announces Deals to Acquire Quebec MMJ Producer, Greenhouse Design Firm

11/24/2017

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Aurora Cannabis announced deals to acquire two companies on Thursday – H2 Biopharma Inc., a late-stage Canadian medical cannabis production applicant, and Larssen Ltd., a greenhouse design firm.

In total, Aurora will pay $25 million for H2, with an initial $10 million payment; all of which will be paid through the issuance of Aurora common shares. According to a press release, H2’s cultivation facility in Lachute, Quebec facility is 80 percent complete and will be Aurora’s second in the province.

“Our participation in the final design and construction of H2’s purpose built facility will allow us to leverage our experience, technology, and systems to improve performance and yields beyond the original design,” Aurora CEO Terry Booth said in a statement, adding that the Larssen acquisition “will play an instrumental role” in that process. Larssen is currently involved with more than 15 cannabis industry clients globally, including five Canadian producers. The transaction will see the creation of a subsidiary, Aurora Larssen Projects Ltd., and Thomas Larssen, the principal of the greenhouse firm, will serve as its president.

“Our decision to join forces with Aurora in this evolving industry was not difficult,” he said in a statement. “Joining the Company will allow us to leverage the incredible brand recognition Aurora enjoys, both within and outside of the cannabis sector.”

The terms of the Larssen deal were not disclosed. The H2 deal is contingent with Toronto Stock Exchange approval.

Aurora is also in the midst of a hostile takeover of Canadian licensed producer CanniMed, in which they are offering to buy out CanniMed shareholders at 57 percent more than its Nov. 14 closing price.

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Picture of cannabis fan leaves inside of a commercial cannabis grow operation.

Saskatchewan Govt. Cannabis Survey Finds Support for Home-Grow, Online & Retail Sales

11/24/2017

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A survey by the Saskatchewan government has found strong support for cannabis sales to be conducted both in retail stores and online once legal sales begin in the country, and 45 percent of respondents want those stores run by the government.

The survey received 34,681 responses – the most of any survey previously conducted by the province, the government said in a press release. Just 9.9 percent of respondents supported online-only cannabis sales, while 22 percent preferred only retail shops. Thirty-seven percent of respondents support allowing private businesses to run retail stores, and just 10.2 percent prefer pharmacies to conduct cannabis sales.

The majority of respondents, 57.9 percent, either disagreed or strongly disagreed that municipalities should “be given the option to pass bylaws to more strictly regulate cannabis”; compared to 29.3 percent who supported giving local governments such power and 10 percent who neither agreed nor disagreed.

A majority also supported prohibiting cannabis consumption in public – 53.7 percent to 28.5 percent – with 16.8 percent “neutral.” The majority of respondents, 80.4 percent, supported some form of home grow, compared to just 18 percent who do not want citizens to grow cannabis products.

Prohibiting minors’ access to cannabis ranked first among the respondents’ priorities for regulation. Ranked second were concerns about permitting sales near “schools or anywhere youth and young children frequent, followed by security requirements, accessibility, hours of operation, and market saturation.

According to Justice Minister and Attorney General Don Morgan, the government plans to use the study to promulgate the provincial rules for the legal cannabis industry, which is expected to roll out in Canada in July.      

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James Yagielo: Cannabis Industry Staffing and Recruitment

11/22/2017

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James Yagielo is the CEO of HempStaff, a cannabis industry staffing agency that offers recruitment services to cannabis companies and educational courses to prospective cannabis employees.

In this episode of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, James joins our host TG Branfalt to discuss the cannabis education and training courses that HempStaff has made available across the country and how recruitment services benefit both employers and potential employees. Their interview covers which jobs in the cannabis industry are the most popular vs. the most difficult to fill, which upcoming cannabis markets are expected to make the biggest splash (and when), which cannabis industry positions tend to earn the highest salaries, and more!

Tune in via the player below, or keep scrolling down to read along with a full transcript of this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the transcript:

TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host TG Branfalt and you’re 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 James Yagielo, he is the CEO of HempStaff. How you doing today?

James Yagielo: Very good, how about yourself, Tim?

TG Branfalt: I’m doing great. I’m doing great. I’m really excited to have you on the show. The employment issue is really a big topic that we haven’t really discussed. The industry’s expected to create 250,000 jobs by 2020 and you’re on the front lines training some of these prospective employees. But before we get into that, I want to know more about you man. How’d you end up in the cannabis space?

James Yagielo: Sure, we actually are a Florida based company so we started back in 2014 when it looked like Florida was going to pass medical marijuana the first time. I originally, like everyone else, wanted to get in and touch the plank in cultivation or dispensing and realized with Florida’s laws that really wasn’t going to be possible. So I looked at what other aspects I had done in previous jobs and I’d been involved in staffing and recruiting since 1999 so it seemed logical to go out there and see if there was any interest. I started networking with several people that were already in the industry and looking get into Florida and they seemed really very intuitive about recruiting and then later came training. First we started discussing with them what type of people they were looking for and we realized that the budtenders didn’t have the experience that these people from out of state wanted. They wanted someone like they were used to that had known what cannabinoids and terpenes were. Out of that came our training which we started later on in 2014.

TG Branfalt: How long was it until you came up with the idea of HempStaff, until you had your first placement?

James Yagielo: It was about five months in after talking to people then people started to want to get their application ready for Florida if it passed and they wanted us to hook them up with a master grower or master extractor for another state that was willing to relocate. It did take a few months and around that same time we also started the training class to start training Florida people. Once Florida didn’t pass, we already had these connections nationwide so we took both our recruiting services and our training services to a nationwide level in late 2014.

TG Branfalt: Describe to the audience what it is exactly that HempStaff does.

James Yagielo: We have two facets. Our first facet is a typical recruiting staffing company. Clients come to us for either employees they can’t find because they’re very specialized like a master extractor or a master grower with five years experience or if they just don’t have the time to go through 200 resumes to find their entry level people they may come to us for that. We basically prescreen everyone, we have recruiters in every medical marijuana state who have contacts so they discuss with their contacts where this job is, who’s willing to relocate if relocation needs to be done and then we basically send the resumes to the client so that they get a handful of very qualified resumes and don’t have to spend the time going through hundreds of resumes to narrow it down themselves.

On the other side, we train dispensary agents. We take those people looking to get in the industry but don’t really know how and we train them what needs to be known in a dispensary. The cannabinoids, the terpenes, we cover two dozen products of cannabis, not including the common ones like flower and wax and oils. We go into more of the top levels. The patches, suppositories, the inhalers and you tell them which are best for medical ailments. When they go to an interview, hopefully they can speak intelligently and greatly increase their chances of obtaining a job in a cannabis industry.

TG Branfalt: What are some of the common issues or misconceptions that you see among those who actually attend your courses?

James Yagielo: A lot of times they think it’s a lot simpler than it is. They know indica, they know sativa so they think they’re pretty good and they’re quickly blown away about how many products there are especially in these new states where people have never stepped inside a dispensary before. A lot of times that definitely overwhelms them when they come to our class, especially like I said, in the eastern states. Another thing is that they think because they’ve tried stuff that it’s going to work the same for everyone else which isn’t the case, everyone’s body is different. Just because you can eat an edible and go out and work all day doesn’t mean the patient can eat an edible and go out and work all day.

TG Branfalt: How long are your training courses?

James Yagielo: Our training courses are four hours. We do them on a Saturday afternoon. We have an eight AM class and 1:30 PM class so they can choose morning or afternoon. It’s four hours long and at the end of that four hours we give a certification test, just a HempStaff certification to show that you’re actually paying attention in class.

TG Branfalt: What are some of the challenges that you and your company has faced in the training process?

James Yagielo: Lot of challenges, like I said, the people coming in thinking they already know everything so they don’t really pay attention in class. You have the rare cases where people come to class too stoned to learn, unfortunately. That’s getting less and less but it does still happen. Other challenges are we’re starting to get a lot more people that are over the age of 50 and have never really tried cannabis or if they did it was many, many years ago and they don’t know anything so you pretty much gotta teach them from the ground up ’cause they don’t even know indica or sativa.

TG Branfalt: With this older population, these are older people looking to enter the industry as an employee?

James Yagielo: Correct. Lot of people that come to our class are looking to get into a new industry. They’ve worked different industries in the past and now they’re looking for a change and they’ve heard that the cannabis industry is just going to keep growing so they’re very eager to learn more about it and they take our class sometimes to make that decision if they’re going to switch industries or not.

TG Branfalt: That’s really, really interesting. I had no idea that that was something that companies such as yours or really the industry was seeing. What are some of the non-cannabis professional backgrounds that you see most often represented by the people attending your courses?

James Yagielo: A lot of nurses, physical therapists, even masseuses seem to come to class and they all have the same story where they had a patient that was trying medical marijuana and they saw notable differences in this patient’s improvement as a medical professional dealing with them so they had seen first hand the effects of cannabis and now they want to come to our class and learn more and possibly switch into a better industry because as some people know, nursing is not always the best industry depending on where you’re working. On top of that, we also get a lot of security professionals. A lot of ex-vets, ex-security or police officers looking to get into the industry in the same type of field of security.

TG Branfalt: It’s becoming apparent to me that your course could also double as an entry point for basically anybody to come and learn, get a deeper understanding of the cannabis plant.

James Yagielo: Absolutely. We basically start at the very beginning of the history of cannabis and then slowly work the way up in the course. We quickly go through the growing stages and then we get right into the indica, sativa and then the cannabinoids and terpenes. Even though it’s only a four hour class, we cover all the basic points and it’s pretty fast paced ’cause we do go in detail. A lot of people have taken our course and they’ve gone on to work in other industries, not just the dispensary. We’ve had many people take our course and because they listed our course on their resume, the owner at a cultivation center sees that this person has passion and they took the initiative to take our course so they get an interview and then they realize they know what this person’s talking about from the knowledge they gained and they get hired at a cultivation center. This course definitely helps with figuring out if you want to get into the industry and then actually getting an interview to get into the industry and speaking well at that interview.

TG Branfalt: Was that by design? When you were going about developing this course, did you anticipate a byproduct of it being this entry for a lot of people?

James Yagielo: Not originally, no. We started to really experience that when we got heavy into the Illinois market as that was the first market we really entered at the beginning and saw that these people, a lot of owners were actually telling us they take shortcuts when they get resumes now and they look for people that have taken our training and they put those in one pile as the people to call for interviews. After interviewing people that took our training and didn’t took our training, they really noticed a big difference. So word got out that was a quick way to, pardon the pun, but weed out the resumes.

TG Branfalt: We get a lot of puns on this show. I like it very much. You had mentioned Illinois was the first state that you had really got in from the get go. How do you keep up with the seemingly constant regulatory changes in each individual states? And at the same time how do you prepare to enter a nascent market?

James Yagielo: We keep up, we have two people that they’re pretty much their full-time job is to just go over news stories every day and if it’s marijuana related, especially law related, they send it to our director of legal affairs. Our director of legal affairs and president then also scour over these articles and go through the government website the week before our courses, before the manual is printed so that they can make any adjustments to the manual.

TG Branfalt: You update them every single week?

James Yagielo: Every class. We only come back to an area every three to four months. We have classes all across the nation right now on pretty much a every other week basis. But every time we go to a new city we update that book so we are updating a book pretty much biweekly at this point.

TG Branfalt: I want to get at the meat of what else your firm does. This is all really, really eye-opening to me. But before we do that we gotta take a break. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey there, welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m your host TG Branfalt here with James Yagielo, CEO of HempStaff. On your guys’ website, you say you guys specialize in finding management level employees. How do you find them in such a nascent industry? Especially you had mentioned Illinois and you got there on the ground floor, so how do you identify these management level candidates?

James Yagielo: In the cannabis industry, five years experience you’re a management level veteran at this point. There are several markets like Colorado, Maine, Washington even now Arizona, Rhode Island, Oregon that have been working at this for five years so we have recruiters in all these states that have contacts and when we get a client who’s looking for someone to relocate to one of these newer states which happens quite often when a new state comes on board, we then contact the recruiters to reach out to all the people that have these three to five years experience and see who’s interested to relocating to that state. And then we go from there and prescreen them to see if they meet the rest of the qualifications.

TG Branfalt: You had said that the experience but what else do companies typically look for in a management level employee?

James Yagielo: Experience is the big thing. You have to prove it. You have to give them who you’ve been working for, what their license number is with the state and everything. They really want people that are going to be able to speak to the DEA, speak to the regulators, hire employees, train employees and do everything ’cause a lot of these owners have never been in the cannabis industry, they just are money people. They’re looking for a manager who’s going to teach them what needs to be done to properly run a cannabis company.

TG Branfalt: I gotta ask you, how easy is it to get somebody to leave a place like Denver or California for say Massachusetts?

James Yagielo: It’s actually a little easier than you’d think. A lot of people left their home state to go out west for the green rush. You do find these people who originally are from Massachusetts or originally from Maryland and now they can go back home and do this. They’re more than willing to do that. On the other side, the east coast states have realized it’s a little harder so they’ve upped their wages. Every state they seem to up their wage a little more for these management level people. A 20, $30,000 increase starts to get people to consider to moving to another state.

TG Branfalt: So you had said at the start of this interview that you had worked in recruiting before in traditional industry. What are the wages like in the cannabis space compared to more traditional manufacturing jobs?

James Yagielo: The management levels are pretty high paying. We’ve seen master growers from 120 to $150,000 salary currently. That’s pretty high up there. Besides your master grower, your master extractors are in the six figures as well. After that it does drop off pretty dramatically. Your dispensary manager’s probably making about the same as your retail manager, between 40 and 60,000.

TG Branfalt: What do, we talked about what companies look for in management level employees. What are they looking for in say an entry level employee?

James Yagielo: A lot of it is passion and compassion. Passion for the cannabis plant and compassion for people or if you’re in a cultivation center, for learning their specific methods. A lot of cultivation centers will only hire a master grower with experience and then pretty much hire everybody else entry level so they can be trained specifically on how they want to grow. They don’t want someone coming in there thinking they know how to do it better. They really look for the person that’s eager to learn.

TG Branfalt: Are there things similar to internships or some sort of program where a master grower will take on somebody who may be an entry level employee to groom them to become a master grower themselves? Is that something that you connect people with? Does it even exist in this industry that you know of?

James Yagielo: It doesn’t really exist in an internship per se. Most states don’t allow that type of thing they have to be an employee. What generally does happen in cultivation centers is they hire a couple assistant growers and a master grower and pretty much a bunch of site workers and trimmers. After couple months they realize out of the site workers and trimmers who’s good at what and who really can move up quick and then they really promote those people quickly. We’ve seen people go from a trimmer to an assistant master grower in under two years.

TG Branfalt: The promotion process seems to happen pretty quickly.

James Yagielo: Absolutely. Yeah, in this industry it happens real quickly.

TG Branfalt: What are some of the hardest positions for you to find qualified candidates for?

James Yagielo: Right now I’d have to say master extractor. Extraction hasn’t really been around in the large scene for that many years. It’s hard to find someone with more than three years experience especially now a lot of states are realizing butane’s not really the best way to go so they’re only looking for those with experience in CO2 or resin press extracting which really limits the number of people out there.

TG Branfalt: I want to talk to you a bit more about your advice for people who might be looking to get into the industry or maybe are already here but before we do that we gotta take a break. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m TG Branfalt.

At Ganjapreneur we have heard from dozens of cannabis business owners who have encountered the issue of cannabias, which is when a mainstream business, whether a landlord, bank, or some other provider of vital business services refuses to do business with them simply because of their association with cannabis.

We have even heard stories of businesses being unable to provide health and life insurance for their employees because the insurance providers were too afraid to work with them. We believe that this fear is totally unreasonable and that cannabis business owners deserve access to the same services and resources that other businesses are afforded, that they should be able to hire consultation to help them follow the letter of the law in their business endeavors and that they should be able to provide employee benefits without needing to compromise on the quality of coverage they can offer.

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TG Branfalt: Welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host TG Branfalt here with James Yagielo, CEO of HempStaff. What’s some advice that you would have for job seekers? For people who aren’t yet in the industry but may be looking to get involved, the people that would essentially attend your training courses?

James Yagielo: The biggest things that we can recommend is one, get some type of training even if it’s not necessarily our training, get some type of training so you can put it on your resume. It helps in a couple different ways. One, if you don’t have any type of training or any type of experience, the odds of you getting called for a job are pretty slim. Even if you worked at McDonald’s or you’ve worked in IT for 20 years, if you don’t have any type of cannabis related item on your resume, it’s not probably going to be looked at very seriously.

On top of that, we would say, make sure to go out there and do some networking. Meet people. A lot of people don’t get jobs by finding the posting online. They find it because they went to a networking event and knows someone who knows someone who’s hiring. Get out there and get your name out there. Another thing, don’t just blindly send out resumes. You see an application for master grower, it says three to five years experience in the industry, don’t send your resume if you’ve never worked in the industry. They’re just never going to look at it and if they remember your name and you do apply for a job that you were qualified for, they might throw it out ’cause they’re like, this guy applies for everything. We do recommend only apply for jobs that you actually are qualified for.

TG Branfalt: You had mentioned networking events. Here in Vermont, we don’t actually have that many of them. The medical community’s very small, there’s only a few operators. Is that something that you’re seeing more and more in Florida and the other states that you operate?

James Yagielo: Yeah, if you look there’s a lot of events just around the country. You may have to travel a little bit for but up there you may have to go to Boston or Maine or Rhode Island to some of these networking events. In Florida around the  state there’s a couple but you also have your local normal events that they just may meet at a local restaurant or something and that’s a good place to network as well.

TG Branfalt: You had just briefly mentioned the emerging markets, in your role, finding employees and operating in so many states, where are you seeing the emerging markets right now?

James Yagielo: Right now Pennsylvania and Maryland are the two that are about to explode. Both Maryland is just basically waiting for product. They have some plants in the ground but they’re still a few months away from product and all their dispensaries are going through final inspection now. They have 109 dispensaries that are approved to open once they get the final inspection. That’s quite a large number. Pennsylvania also has already licensed and they want people up and running shortly too and they’ve approved 52 dispensaries. Both those markets should be online in early 2018 and we expect them to be hiring heavily come late this year.

TG Branfalt: Are you operating in both of those states?

James Yagielo: Yes, we do operate in both those states.

TG Branfalt: What’s your courses thus far? Have you seen a lot of interest in those two states to go along with what you anticipate to be an exploding market?

James Yagielo: Absolutely. We’ve had several classes in the Baltimore area and the Silver Spring area down by DC and Maryland. We’ve actually been conducting classes there for every six months for about two years waiting for the program to get started. They had a few delays along the way. Pennsylvania we’ve probably had three classes there with quite a good turnout already in the past year as well. People are definitely very interested and as we get closer and closer to the opening, obviously, people are getting more and more interested because the news is covering it more and more.

TG Branfalt: What advice do you have for companies trying to find employees?

James Yagielo: What we found is a lot of the owners have never used a staffing and recruiting service so they’re a little bit hesitant in contacting us. My advice is don’t be afraid to use a recruiting company. It doesn’t cost anything to use our company or any recruiting company unless you find that qualified candidate. If we send you five resumes, you find someone else on your own, you don’t owe us a dime. We’re just giving you additional resumes to look at to make sure you’re hiring the right person.

TG Branfalt: You were in the recruiting space for a while, now you’re in this space, you’re probably interacting with a lot of people with an entrepreneurial spirit, what’s your advice for other entrepreneurs looking to get into this space or that might just be starting out?

James Yagielo: A lot of people, just like we did at first, they look straight at cultivation/dispensary right away but there’s so much more to this industry than that. The pick and shovel side of ancillary businesses is really growing faster than the cultivation and dispensary because ancillary businesses aren’t restricted by cannabis state licensing. I would recommend think about, like we did, think about what you have experience in, what you like to do, what you’re good and then figure out how that can be applied to the cannabis industry. Whether it’s starting your own or maybe trying to find someone to partner with or even working for an established company already doing something you love. The industry’s young enough where there’s plenty of room for more companies to start and get into the industry especially with an idea that hasn’t been done yet. That window is closing but at this point in time, just think of what you like to do and try to apply it to the cannabis industry.

TG Branfalt: Where can people find out more about you, your service, HempStaff? Where can people find out more about that?

James Yagielo: Our website is www.hempstaff.com. All the information is there. If you click on the training tab you’ll see all the different cities we have trainings lined up for in the next few months. You can register for free on the site to be emailed if we have a job openings or training in your area or if you’re a business owner we also have a registration form where you can contact us and we can send you more information on our recruiting services. We also have a Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn page so you can also find us there under HempStaff.

TG Branfalt: I really want to congratulate you on your success, operating in a lot of states is a really impressive feat. You reached out early and are really leading this charge in this ancillary side of the cannabis industry. I really want to thank you for your time today. Really insightful conversation and I can’t wait to see what you guys do and how the industry grows.

James Yagielo: Thank you very much. We’re here to help. We want to make sure employees are assets and not liabilities to the owners.

TG 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 will 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. I’ve been your host TG Branfalt.

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A commercial cannabis grow in Washington state.

Canadian Government Releases Cannabis Legalization Details

11/22/2017

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The Canadian government has released proposed federal regulations, clarifying some details of the program as provincial governments begin releasing their own draft rules.

What’s in the proposal? Provisions for small, craft cannabis producers, 10 milligram limits on allowable THC content in edibles, and 30 milligram-per-milliliter of THC in oils. Single-use products, such as pre-rolls, cannot contain more than 1 gram of flower.

Edibles and concentrates would not be immediately available. The government is proposing they be permitted separately, within one year of the law’s passage.

Labelling and packaging requirements must promote “informed consumer choice,” including a health warning and THC content. Packaging cannot be appealing to youth, but the rules do not require it to be plain.

Low-risk criminal offenders could be disqualified from participating in the industry.

The proposal requires individuals employed in the industry to have security clearance issued by the health minister; allowing the minister to refuse clearance to those with past drug trafficking or violent crime convictions. Officials are seeking public comment on whether to allow those with minor drug offenses to work in the industry.

Minister of Health Pepitas Taylor indicated in a CBC report that more than 500,0000 Canadians have minor drug convictions on their criminal record.

“We’re just asking the question: should these people with a small amount of personal possession, should they be excluded from the market or should we consider them.” – Taylor

How far along is the Canadian legalization plan? New Brunswick, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, have each outlined their legal regime and Health Canada is launching a public awareness campaign on legalization. Sales are expected July, 1.

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A shadowy figure walks across a lit-up floor during nighttime.

Aurora Posturing for Hostile CanniMed Takeover After Initial Bid Rejected

11/22/2017

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CanniMed has rejected Aurora Cannabis’ unsolicited takeover offer; however, Aurora is now planning a hostile takeover by offering investors Aurora stock worth C$24 per CanniMed share, according to a Bloomberg report. The deal is valuing CanniMed stock 57 percent higher than its Nov. 14 closing price, and investors holding 38 percent of CanniMed shares have agreed to support the deal.

CanniMed recently announced they have agreed to acquire licensed producer Newstrike Resources for C$248 million, but Aurora contends that the terms of that deal, in particular the C$9.5 million termination fee if CanniMed moves on another deal, is “oppressive” to CanniMed shareholders.

The merger would create a firm with more than 40,000 registered patients and a capacity to produce more than 286,600 pounds of cannabis annually, Aurora said in the report. In a previous interview with Bloomberg, Aurora Executive Vice President Cam Battley said the company is seeking to expand into Europe and called the potential takeover a “game-changer” in Canada and the international markets.

Following the initial bid by Aurora last week, CanniMed advised their shareholders to take “no action until such time as the Board has had the opportunity to fully consider and make a recommendation.”

A CanniMed spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company had no immediate comment on Aurora’s latest takeover attempt.

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Consultant Linked to Tribe’s Cannabis Resort Has Drug Case Dismissed

11/22/2017

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Jonathan Hunt, one of the cannabis consultants prosecuted in South Dakota for their role in the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe’s cannabis resort plan, will have his drug cases dismissed, the Associated Press reports. Hunt, former vice-president and cultivation expert for Colorado-based Monarch America, was charged with conspiracy to possess between a half-pound and pound of cannabis.

A South Dakota judge agreed to suspend imposition of Hunt’s sentence, dismiss the case, and seal the record after he paid a $500 fine and $100 in court fees. Hunt had pleaded guilty to the charges.

“I feel free,” Hunt said in the report. “I think the whole thing never should have happened.”

The charges stem from Hunt and his former partner Eric Hagen’s roles in providing cultivation consulting services for the tribe, who planned an “adult playground” resort north of Sioux Falls. According to the AP, Hagen fought the charges and was ultimately acquitted by a jury.

The Santee Sioux ultimately abandoned the plan due to fears of federal interference and burned their cannabis crops. The tribe had estimated the resort, which was planned for a 2015 opening, would have earned $2 million per month.

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A licensed, indoor cannabis grow operation in Washington state.

Illinois State Senator to Introduce Bill Allowing Opioid Patients Access to MMJ Program

11/22/2017

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Illinois State Senator Don Harmon is set to introduce a bill to allow people prescribed opioids for a medical condition to apply for a temporary medical cannabis card instead in an effort to help curb the state’s opioid epidemic.

In a press release, Harmon, a Democrat, pointed to research that shows “medical cannabis is a safe alternative treatment for the same conditions for which opioids are prescribed.”

“Clearly what we’re doing now is not working,” Harmon said in a statement. “This is a problem that touches citizens in every corner of our state. Medical cannabis is the most readily available alternative, but we should consider any other option that reduces the carnage inflicted by the opioid epidemic.”

In Illinois, the opioid-related death rate has increased 120 percent from 2014 to 2015, and nationally opioid-related drug overdoses topped 60,000 in 2016 – higher than the total number of U.S. soldier fatalities during the Vietnam War, according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention figures.

Harmon plans to introduce the legislation during the second week of the state’s veto session. Illinois legalized cannabis for medical use in 2013.

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Digital collage of the Detroit city skyline and an indoor cannabis grow.

Michigan Cannabis Legalization Campaign Submits Ballot Initiative Signatures

11/21/2017

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Michigan’s Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol submitted more than 365,000 signatures to state officials on Monday – 100,000 more than the 252,523 valid signatures required to put a ballot initiative to voters, paving the way for the issue to make its way to voters in 2018.

Looking at the initiative

The measure would implement a taxed-and-regulated recreational cannabis industry in the state, allowing adults 21-and-older to possess 2.5 ounces of flower and 15 grams of concentrates in public, 10 ounces of purchased cannabis in a residence; and permitting home cultivation of up to 12 plants for personal use. The initiative language provides for three tiers of commercial cultivation licenses – a class A license capped at 100 plants, a class B license capped at 500 plants, and a class C license capped at 2,000 plants.

Josh Hovey, spokesman for the coalition – which includes MI Legalize, the Marijuana Policy Project, the National Cannabis Industry Association, the National Patients Rights Association, Michigan NORML, the Drug Policy Alliance, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan – explained that the language of the measure is a combination of best practices from legal states and would not affect Michigan’s medical cannabis regime. The proposal does not include social-use provisions for “political reasons,” and does not provide for expungement of previous cannabis-related convictions legal under the new regime because including such reforms could be construed as amending two laws which would rule the entire proposal unconstitutional, Hovey said.

“Rather than risking our entire initiative being ruled unconstitutional, we decided to stick with straight legalization,” he said in an interview with Ganjapreneur. “Hopefully down the road either the legislature itself or maybe through a follow-up ballot initiative in a year or two we can include expungement – that is something we very much hope to do.”

Commercially grown cannabis plants inside of a licensed production facility in Washington. Photo Credit: Sarah Climaco

In a statement, Kary L. Moss, executive director of the ACLU Michigan, called jailing people for simple cannabis possession “unconscionable.”

“When our community members are arrested for possessing even tiny amounts of marijuana, they can be disqualified from public housing and student financial aid, lose or find it more difficult to obtain employment, lose custody of their child, and be deported,” she said. “There is nothing practical or fair about the continued aggressive policing of marijuana.”

More determined than ever

This is the second ballot attempt to legalize cannabis in the state; the 2016 campaign by MI Legalize stalled after the legislature added a stipulation to the process requiring signatures be collected in 180 days. The rules, passed right before advocates were ready to turn in their signatures, were later codified by Michigan courts. In an interview with Ganjapreneur earlier this year, MI Legalize Chairman Jeffrey Hank, who spearheaded the 2016 campaign, recounted that organizers “didn’t get anywhere” in their appeals.

This time around, Hovey said, the campaign operated under strict adherence to the new signature-collecting rules to ensure they wouldn’t hit any snags from state officials.

“[MI Legalize] was sort of outdone by some political maneuvers,” Hovey said. “I’m 98 percent confident we’ll make the ballot.” He indicated that the coalition expects the signature validation process by the Elections Bureau to take “several weeks” due to the holiday season, but he’s hopeful the initiative will be added to the Board of Canvassers’ January meeting agenda where the issue would receive official certification.

A cannabis grower inspects their crop under the purple glow of LED grow lights. Photo Credit: Sarah Climaco

In the meantime, organizers need to raise funds for the public education campaign. Hovey indicated they are setting an $8 million goal for “all the things that [they] need to do to reach voters and educate them on the issue” – including TV, direct mail, and digital advertising to “counter any of the misinformation” of the prohibitionist organizations pushing for a ‘no’ vote.

Early support is strong

According to a February poll by Educational, Political, Industrial, Consumer Market Research Analysis (EPIC-MRA), 57 percent of Michiganders supported legalizing cannabis for adult-use. Hovey said this polling is important because “anytime you are doing a ballot initiative you need to be around that 60 percent level.”

“As misinformation gets out there, public support tends to decrease as you get closer to Election Day. You need to have that 10 percent cushion,” he explained. “But we’re right exactly where we want to be in terms of public support.”

Earlier this month, voters in Detroit approved two ballot measures to relax restrictions on medical cannabis facilities, making it easier for them to operate in the city by eliminating the requirements for public hearings before a dispensary can open and the Board of Zoning Appeals’ ability to review dispensary applications. The measure, which was opposed by Mayor Mike Duggan, also allows dispensaries to open within 500 feet of one another and religious institutions.

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U.S. Hemp Production More than Doubled in 2017

11/21/2017

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Acreage of hemp crops in the U.S. more than doubled from 9,770 acres in 2016 to 23,346 in 2017, according to advocacy group Vote Hemp’s 2017 U.S. Hemp Crop Report. The report indicates that 32 universities conducted hemp research this year, and that 1,456 state hemp licenses were issued to researchers and cultivators.

The largest gains were made in North Dakota, which planted just 70 acres of hemp in 2016 and 3,020 in 2017. Four states – Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington – planted zero hemp crops last year, but this year grew 542 acres, 965 acres, 36 acres, and 175 acres, respectively. Two states cultivated less than 10 acres this year, as Indiana grew just five and Nebraska just one – its same output from 2016. Just one state, Tennessee, saw a decrease in hemp production, from 225 last year to 200 this year.

Colorado led all states in hemp production this year with 9,000 acres; followed by Kentucky with 3,100 acres, Oregon with 3,469 acres, North Dakota, and New York with 2,000 acres.

“The majority of states have implemented hemp farming laws, in clear support of this crop and its role in diversifying and making more sustainable our agricultural economy,” said Eric Steenstra, president of Vote Hemp, in a statement. “It’s imperative that we pass the Industrial Hemp Farming Act in Congress, so that we can grant farmers full federally legal rights to commercially cultivate hemp to supply the growing global market for hemp products.”

Thirty-three states have removed barriers to hemp production and defined industrial hemp as a distinct crop. The states cap THC levels in hemp at 0.3 percent – falling in line with federal guidelines defined under Section 7606 of the 2014 Farm Bill.

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Canada's flag with a cannabis leaf shape instead of the usual maple leaf.

Report: 87% of Canadian Cannabis Firms Anticipate Industry Consolidation in 3 Years

11/21/2017

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According to a report by EY consulting released on Monday, 87 percent of Canada’s licensed cannabis producers believe the industry will consolidate over the next three years; yet 75 percent see “craft or niche players” gaining a foothold in the market. Another 75 percent anticipate the entrance of “big players from established industries” such as tobacco, pharmaceuticals, and alcohol; while another 75 percent say a legal industry will not completely wipe out the illicit cannabis market.

The survey found that 50 percent of Canada’s cannabis producers plan to invest “most heavily” in medical cannabis clinical trials. Another 37 percent indicated most of their investments would be aimed at increasing grow capacity or yield, and the same percentage said their investments would be in information technology, including automation and e-commerce. Just 25 percent said most of their investment would be in processing or extracting technology, or human capital.

Among the respondents, 75 percent indicated vertical integration was the focus of their growth strategy, while 37 percent said their focus was on large-scale production. Twenty-five percent each said their growth strategy focuses on customer service, patents, or quality.

Seventy-five percent of respondents said that customers would demand varied derivative products as legalization takes hold, while 62 percent believe customers would be more concerned about increasing accessibility, while half said customers would demand medical and safety education. Another 37 percent each said customers would demand organic or non-pesticide products, while the same number anticipated customers will become attached to brands in the coming years.

Canada’s legalized regime is expected to roll out in July.

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New Brunswick, Canada Government Strikes Deal with 3rd Cannabis Producer

11/21/2017

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The government of New Brunswick, Canada has signed a memorandum of understanding with licensed producer Zenabis to provide 4,000 kilograms (8,818.5 pounds) of cannabis and derivative products with a retail value between C$40 to $50 million.

The announcement comes on the heels of the government unveiling their legal cannabis industry operations proposal that would see a subsidiary of NB Liquor run the industry. The government plans to open 20 retail shops in 16 communities along with online sales.

This is the third deal struck by officials and cannabis cultivators, as they have reached previous agreements with Organigram and Canopy Growth Corp. The agreements make the province the first in the nation to secure supply for consumers as the country migrates from federal medical to adult cannabis use.

“We are committed to ensuring the legalization of cannabis is introduced in a safe and secure way so we can get cannabis out of the hands of our youth and the proceeds from selling cannabis out of the hands of criminals,” said Premier Brian Gallant in a press release.

Zenabis CEO Kevin Coft said the agreement – more than six months before the legal regime is expected to come online – will allow the company to make “the necessary investments in machinery and equipment” to meet the processing demands. According to a Vancouver Sun report, the contract will eventually create 450 new jobs at Zenabis’ Atholville, NB plant.

“Most importantly, this announcement will help provide stable jobs and employment in this region,” he said in a statement. “The Government of New Brunswick should be commended for its forward thinking with regards to the cannabis industry.”

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Two medical cannabis plants inside of a California patient's grow room.

Online Cannabis Platform LeafLink Raises $10M in VC funding

11/21/2017

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Online cannabis commerce platform LeafLink has raised $10 million from venture capital firms to expand its reach into California, according to a Business Insider report. The company already operates in six states – including California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Ryan Smith – the first cannabis entrepreneur to make the Forbes 30 under 30 list – told Business Insider that the company works with 400 brands and 1,700 retailers and has handled $186 million in transactions and $16 million in gross merchandise value since 2016.Smith predicts the company’s order volume will increase to $500 million as the market matures and more states legalize cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use. The company boasts 90 percent market penetration in Colorado and Washington – the nation’s most mature markets.

“This is a unique opportunity to define an industry that is scaling rapidly,” Smith said in the report.

In April, LeafLink raised $3 million in seed round funding and another $4.1 million in an August seed round. Lerer Hippeau, which counts former National Football League quarterback Joe Montana among its investors and has previously invested in Buzzfeed, has invested in all three rounds. The most recent round was led by London, England-based Nosara Capital, and included Snoop Dogg-connected Casa Verde.

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Montana MMJ Draft Rules Released

11/20/2017

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The Montana Department of Health and Human Services has proposed draft rules for the medical cannabis program under the expanded regime approved by voters last year. The rules put the state program in line with others throughout the U.S., requiring product testing, and seed-to-sale tracking.

Under the plan, providers with more than 10 registered patients would need to pay the state $5,000 per year in licensing fees, while smaller providers would pay $1,000. Testing labs would pay $2,000 per year. Currently, there are four testing labs in the state operating under temporary licenses.

The new rules also require cannabis industry employees to obtain a permit prior to working, but individuals convicted of a prior drug offense will not be eligible. The permit runs $50.

The proposed measure also increases the fee paid by patients from $5 to $30.

According to October figures from the health department, there were 21,120 patients registered with the state, along with 610 providers. The patient enrollment represents a 1,305 patient increase over September figures, while the provider counts remained the same.

The Department of Health and Human Services will hold a public hearing on the rules proposal on Nov. 30.

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