New York Approves Another 58 Cannabis Cultivator Licenses

New York regulators last week approved another 58 conditional cannabis cultivation licenses, bringing the total to 146, Syracuse.com reports. The approvals come weeks after the state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) approved 36 conditional licenses.

Chris Alexander, OCM executive director, told Syracuse.com that officials are “moving quickly, knowing that the growing season is short.”

Conditional licensees can grow outdoors or in a greenhouse with up to 20 artificial lights and will have to apply for full licenses by June 1 as the temporary licenses will expire on June 30, 2024.

No firm date has been announced for when legal sales will begin in New York but Cannabis Control Board Chair Tremaine Wright, the state’s top regulator, has indicated adult-use products could be available from conditional licenses in the fall while sales from general licensed businesses would not begin until the end of this year or early next year.

The conditional licenses are for farmers and businesses currently licensed to grow hemp. The bill creating the licenses was signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in February.

Alexander said earlier this month that the agency has received more than 200 applications from hemp farmers to grow THC-rich cannabis. OCM officials are reviewing applications on an ongoing basis and are set to continue making recommendations for licensure under the Controlled Cultivator program.

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Alejandro Rodriguez: Teaching Cannabis History, Law, & Compliance at The Cannabis Law Clinic

As the number of cannabis workers and entrepreneurs balloons, so does the industry’s responsibility for creating an equitable marketplace — especially considering that the heavy price of prohibition has historically been paid most often by communities of color.

In this Q&A, we ask professor Alejandro Rodriguez about what inspired The Cannabis Law Clinic, the program’s strategies for educating and inspiring the next wave of cannabis entrepreneurs, and the program’s work to build a more equitable cannabis industry throughout California and beyond. We also hear about the pro-bono legal services the program provides to verified social equity applicants in the state, Alejandro’s plan to offer law education programs in California prisons, and more!

Scroll down to read the full interview.


Ganjapreneur: What is The Cannabis Law Clinic and when was it created?

Alejandro Rodriguez: The Cannabis Law Clinic is a hybrid externship course offered at Golden Gate University School of Law. The externship director, Allison Wang, gave us the opportunity in 2020 to develop the curriculum and we officially launched in January 2021. The Clinic is 14 weeks per semester and the law students have six weeks of course instruction where they learn about cannabis history, cannabis law, and cannabis compliance. The other eight weeks are for practical experience, law students are paired with social equity applicants and apply what they learned in the first six weeks of instruction.

How does teaching the law clinic work towards your goal to assist communities harmed by the drug war?

I think it works towards my goal to assist the communities impacted by the war on drugs because we only work with social equity applicants. Thankfully, we have partnered with the Office of Cannabis in San Francisco and we get a constant flow of equity applicants who need legal assistance. We teach our students from a social equity perspective and bring in attorneys from across the State/Country to speak to our students about social equity policy drafting, social equity lobbying, and social equity activism. In three semesters the Cannabis Law Clinic has given over 1,600 hours of pro-bono legal services to equity applicants across California.

Why did you choose to practice law in the cannabis space? What value do you hope to bring to the developing industry?

For me, being in the cannabis space was an easy decision because I love the plant. But, being from Texas and coming from a criminalized market to a recreational market I noticed significant disparities in who was getting rich off cannabis. So I thought I could help by leveling the playing field and assisting the communities that need it the most.

The value I hope to bring is to develop partnerships with cannabis businesses and law schools so we can focus on empowering future lawyers to impact their community through activist lawyering, policy efforts, and lawyer development.

Who can apply for the Cannabis Law Clinic Externship at Golden Gate University?

The clinic is currently available to all Golden Gate University Law Students and I am sure we would be willing to accept any law student who would want to partake in this groundbreaking work.

What will students take away from the learning opportunity?

Students walk away with the foundation of cannabis history, regulatory compliance, intellectual property, policy reform, and expunging records. These skills will allow them to be change-makers in their communities.

Where are you involved in making regulations for cannabis programs?

The Cannabis Law Clinic was happy to assist the City of Fort Bragg last semester in guiding them in drafting their cannabis ordinance.

Fort Bragg needed guidance and assistance in drafting their ordinance and we gladly researched, guided, and advised accordingly.

What was your main focus when building out this framework for the people of Fort Bragg?

We wanted to make sure that the City of Fort Bragg implemented a social equity program. Where individuals who were disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs would get priority in applying for a cannabis retail license. We also suggested educating the community on cannabis and removing the stigma. But ultimately, we wanted to bring cannabis to Fort Bragg’s downtown business sector; it would be great to see a City in the Emerald Triangle fully embrace cannabis.

How would building law education programs within the California prison system create positive societal change?

I think it would be powerful to build a pipeline for individuals who have been incarcerated for drug offenses to become attorneys. Incarceration has historically been used as a lever for disinvestment, specifically as it relates to legal education. There is nobody better equipped to learn the law than someone who has been impacted by it.

An individual’s experience with incarceration provides a lived experience which is an essential element to ensure our legal discipline takes the steps towards healing the effects of flawed legal processes, including, but not limited to, cash bail, disparate sentencing structures, prosecutorial discretion, unconstitutional arrest practices, the criminalization of drugs and drug-related crimes, and other regimes that have created mass incarceration.

What kind of program initiatives are you currently working on to bring legal education opportunities to California prisons?

I plan on administering the Law School Admissions Test within California State Prisons or bringing legal education from accredited law schools to California Prisons.

How do you assist social equity applicants as they enter the California cannabis industry?

We assist them in any step of the process they are in. Whether they need a record expunged, cannabis license application assistance, lease drafting/negotiation, storefront/non-store front retail compliance, and temporary event licensing.

Social equity applicants have criticized programs for pitting applicants against one another. How can social equity programs serve applicants without creating a competitive model?

Social equity programs need to assist applicants with funding, closing loopholes, and lowering taxes. Applicants need funding to cover start-up costs, closing loopholes so investors do not simply use applicants to obtain a license, and lowering taxes makes sure applicants pay their fair share. Currently, the way California and Federal taxes are structured impacts participation within the legal market. If the state or municipality/county eliminates cultivation taxes or excise taxes it incentivizes social equity applicants and does not exclude non-social equity business owners. If the feds do away with 280(e) for cannabis or allow deductions under the “ordinary and necessary” provision that applies to most businesses the participation in the legal market would rise. The current tax structure is too complex and it favors multi-state operators with in-house legal teams and accountants. Doing away with the taxes mentioned above simplifies the process and incentivizes small businesses.

Do you have any tips for social equity applicants considering partnerships with investors to ensure they aren’t used for a loophole license?

Always try to speak to an attorney or a consultant. Getting a second opinion on an offer is always a great idea.


Thank you, Alejandro, for answering these questions and for your important work. Find more info about The Cannabis Law Clinic and professor Rodriguez at GGU.edu.

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VA Refuses to Certify Veteran-Owned Hemp Company

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has refused to recognize a Florida veteran’s hemp product business as a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, Marijuana Moment reports. According to the VA, it denied the status to Marine veteran Zack Zindler, owner of Florida-based Holistic Serendipity, LLC — which operates under the name Native Ceuticals — because the business handles “products derived from the same genus of the plant (cannabis) as marijuana,” and the VA’s recognition might amount to a federal agency endorsing a federally illegal drug.

Cannabis is prohibited as a Schedule I substance under the Federal Controlled Substances Act; however, the 2018 Farm Bill federally legalized industrial hemp, which is categorized as cannabis plants containing less than 0.3% THC.

Unlike other federal agencies that allow businesses to self-certify and obtain the status, the VA uses the Center for Verification and Evaluation (CVE) to approve businesses for such endorsements. CVE Director John Perkins wrote in Zindler’s denial letter the VA’s approval “would grant the firm the ability to use the VA SDVOSB trademark and therefore may give the appearance that the VA is endorsing a company that promotes the use of a Schedule I controlled substance,” the report says.

Attorney and company lawyer Abigail Nath said that the VA is “putting aside that the CVE has granted this certification to other companies specializing in CBD” and “not abiding by the most recent definition of cannabis as defined by the federal government.”

VA representative Joe Williams told Marijuana Moment that “federal law classifies marijuana as a Schedule I Controlled Substance and is illegal.”

“If a business concern elects to implicitly or explicitly include in its marketing material or pursues contracting opportunities relating to the production and/or endorsement of marijuana and simultaneously applies to become a verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business or Veteran-Owned Small Business, VA and, in turn, the Center for Verification and Evaluation, will not approve such applications,” Williams said.

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Rhode Island Lawmakers Approve Cannabis Legalization

The Rhode Island Legislature on Tuesday voted to legalize cannabis for adult use, moving it to Gov. Dan McKee (D) who is expected to sign the bill today, the Providence Journal reports. The measure passed the House 55-16 and the Senate 32-6.

Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey (D) called the bill’s passage “a truly momentous day for Rhode Island.”

“Ending cannabis prohibition helps us right past wrongs while creating new opportunities for all Rhode Islanders. This is the right move, at the right time, for our state.” – McCaffrey via the Journal

Under the bill, adults 21-and-older can purchase and possess up to an ounce of cannabis and keep 10 ounces at home for personal use. Adults can also cultivate up to six plants at home, including three mature and three immature plants. The state would license 33 retailers across six zones and impose a 10% excise tax, along with the state’s 7% sales tax, and a 3% tax which would go to municipalities.

The legislation also includes automatic expungement provisions, giving the courts until July 1, 2024, to provide relief to all that are eligible. Any prior civil violation, misdemeanor, or felony conviction for cannabis possession that is now legal under the law would be automatically erased from court record systems under the criminal justice reforms.

Once signed by McKee, legal cannabis sales could commence by December 1 and it is likely the state’s current medical cannabis businesses would be the state’s first retailers. If the bill is given final approval by the governor, Rhode Island will become the 19th state to allow adult cannabis use and regulated cannabis sales.

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Colorado Agriculture Department Fails to Secure Funds for Hemp Processing Equipment

A Colorado Department of Agriculture request for $5 million to buy hemp processing equipment has been denied, according to a Westword report. The agency had hoped to divide the funds between three private companies for hemp decortication operations, on the condition that each company matched the state funding for facility construction.

The Ag Department had sought the funds from the state’s Marijuana Cash Fund, which is intended for state programs related to legal and commercial cannabis. Subsequent attempts to obtain funding from other state sources, including a proposal to cut the decorticator grant budget to less than $2 million, were also denied, the report says. Without the funds, the proposal failed to receive a legislative sponsor or make it to any budgeting bills.

According to the department, as of last November, Colorado had just one working decorticator, and agency officials believe there are only two more in the country. The machines are not manufactured in the U.S. Building a hemp-processing facility with a decorticator can cost anywhere from $600,000 to $3 million, the CDA says.

In 2019, Colorado led the nation in registered acreage for hemp farming but that dropped 42% from 2019 to 2020, according to state Department of Agriculture figures outlined by Westword, and is expected to decline again.

A proposal for hemp decortication grants or business incentives could resurface next year if the proponents find funding outside of the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund.

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Poll: 62% of Missouri Adults Support Legalizing Cannabis

A SurveyUSA poll released last week found that 62% of Missouri adults believe cannabis should be legalized in the state, with 25% opposed and 13% unsure. The reforms were most popular among Democrats with 76% in favor and 14% opposed.

Nearly half of Republicans surveyed (49%) supported the reforms, with 38% opposed. Sixty-six percent of independent voters backed legalization, with 20% opposed.

Legalization was more popular among the 18- to 49-year-olds surveyed, with 71% in favor, 18% opposed, and 11% unsure; 53% of respondents older than 50 supported the reforms, with 31% opposed and 15% unsure.

Legalization was equally popular among both White and Black Missourians, with 62% in favor, while 27% of White people surveyed were opposed, with 11% unsure. Fourteen percent of Black people opposed the reforms with 23% unsure.

Among respondents who considered themselves “very conservative,” support for legalization was measured at 40%, with 51% opposed and 9% unsure. Among self-described liberals, support for the reforms was highest at 79%, with 11% opposed and 10% unsure. Among moderates, 67% supported legalization with 18% opposed and 14% unsure, while 53% of conservatives were in favor, with 32% opposed and 15% unsure.

The poll included 2,175 Missouri adults and was conducted online from May 11 through May 15. It included 1,782 registered voters.

Earlier this month, Legal Missouri, the campaign spearheading legalization efforts in the state submitted signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office hoping to put the issue to voters in November.

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Zipps Launches LA Cannabis Delivery Service Focused On Bulk

Los Angeles, CA — Zipps (www.zipps.com), an on-demand cannabis delivery service, launched today in LA. Zipps delivers your favorite cannabis brands fast — really fast. Their main focus is speed, simplicity, and savings. Customers save the most when they buy cannabis in bulk, offering the stickiest discounts in the fastest-growing market.

The biggest difference between Zipps and the other guys is their bulk boxes. On their site, customers have the ability to mix and match their favorite strains to fill a half or full-ounce bulk box at one flat rate.

Half-ounce boxes start at $99 (pick 4 strains). Full-ounce boxes start at $185 (pick 8 strains). Quick Math: That comes out to about $23 an eighth with middle to top-shelf flower selections available. All flowers featured on their bulk box menus are top indoor-grown brands to ensure exceptional quality. Going one step further, any customer that purchases a full-ounce bulk box will have a tree planted in California via their partners at One Tree Planted (www.onetreeplanted.org). The goal is to help combat growing wildfire damage in the Los Angeles area with their Trees for trees campaign.

Additionally, customers can shop a la carte from two menus, each with different benefits. They can choose between express or scheduled delivery options. The express menu is limited to around 50 of their best-selling items and the orders arrive in less than 45 minutes on average. The scheduled menu features 500+ curated flowers, pre-rolls, edibles, vapes, waxes, and concentrates. Even cannabis beverages are available. These orders are available for same-day delivery.

Zipps carries all of the same quality brands like Kiva Confections, Select, Dosist, Cookies, STIIIZY, Old Pal, Raw Garden and many more, but often at a fraction of the price. Their store hours are from 9AM-10PM, 365 days a year.

Go to Zipps.com to place an order on your mobile devices in minutes. After an order has been placed, Zipps automatically dispatches a mobile budtender to deliver your cannabis products. You’re even able to track each order in real-time to ensure a smooth handoff. If you miss your delivery simply email Zipps customer support or chat live within the site. They’re more than happy to assist any customers in real-time.

In the coming months, Zipps has plans to expand quickly throughout Southern California and eventually move into Northern California next year. In accordance with state and local laws, sales are limited to adults 21+ and all customer IDs are verified before each delivery.

Customers can use the code “20SPOT” to get $20 off their first delivery.

About Zipps
Zipps (www.zipps.com) is an express cannabis delivery service, servicing greater Los Angeles, that allows users to access cannabis easily, quickly and at bulk rate pricing. As the fastest-growing cannabis marketplace in California, Zipps focuses on bringing value and convenience to every customer. Learn more at (www.zipps.com).

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Food Manufacturing Compliance & Training Experts Partner with Leading Cannabis Law Firm to Launch E-Learning & Compliance Tool Rootwurks

The interactive, customizable Rootwurks platform was built by the founders of Alchemy Systems, now Intertek Alchemy, and features content co-produced and vetted by Vicente Sederberg LLP

Austin, Texas (May 23, 2022) — Rootwurks, Inc. (“Rootwurks”), an e-learning, training, and compliance management platform solution designed by the former founder of an industry-leading food compliance and training company, has launched to help cannabis companies maintain regulatory compliance through interactive education and a user-friendly operational toolkit.

The Rootwurks Learning Experience Platform (LXP) was built by the founders of Alchemy Systems (now Intertek Alchemy), the global leader in frontline workforce training, education, and compliance for the food industry. The platform’s customizable, comprehensive programs were developed with the guidance of national cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP, which has played a leading role in cannabis policy and regulatory matters since the inception of the regulated cannabis industry.

“At Rootwurks, our goal is to help customers simplify cannabis compliance by ensuring their employees have access to the information required to perform their job when and where they need it,” said Chase Eastman, founder and CEO of Rootwurks. “On the LXP, that journey includes compliance training courses and additional tools like checklists, ‘just in time’ reinforcement modules, assessments, and much more. Using these tools and courses, cannabis businesses can more confidently navigate the complexities of cannabis compliance and create a culture of safety for workers and consumers. The pairing of Vicente Sederberg’s guidance with our centerpiece Rootwurks LXP provides a comprehensive and unquestionably valuable service bundle for cannabis operators.”

The Rootwurks LXP features a series of educational courses and micro-modules covering a range of cannabis compliance and safety issues. The program uses automated, digital tools calibrated to track, analyze, and assess the compliance operations of cannabis companies of all sizes in real-time, so businesses can catch mistakes before they cause damage or before they happen at all.

“With legalization spreading throughout the U.S. and across the globe, there is a growing need for cannabis education, workforce training, and compliance tools,” said Brian Vicente, founding partner of Vicente Sederberg LLP. “Helping cannabis companies maintain compliant, professional operations has been a fundamental part of our work for more than a decade.

We are proud to contribute our knowledge and experience to the Rootwurks platform, which represents the next phase in achieving operational excellence in the legal cannabis space.”

Rootwurks is ready to help cannabis companies achieve compliance, organization, and proper counsel. Click here to learn more about the Rootwurks service platform and schedule a free demonstration.

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About Rootwurks:
Rootwurks is a cannabis e-learning and compliance management platform built through the know-how of some of the leading experts in food manufacturing compliance and cannabis law. The centerpiece of the company is the Rootwurks Learning Experience Platform (LXP), an online cannabis education and compliance tool that was designed to help companies meet their compliance needs and receive educational guidance to build a culture of safety in their daily operations.

About Vicente Sederberg LLP:
​​Vicente Sederberg LLP is a top-ranked national cannabis law firm with offices in California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, and Texas. It has been at the leading edge of cannabis policy for more than a decade, helping public and private sector clients shape, implement, and navigate marijuana and hemp laws and regulations across the U.S. and around the world. VS is ranked a Band 1 cannabis law firm in the Chambers USA 2021 Guide, and it was named “Cannabis Law – Law Firm of the Year” at the Chambers USA Awards 2021. For more information, visit https://vicentesederberg.com.

 

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Method Man’s Cannabis Brand Launching This Week in Michigan

Method Man’s TICAL brand is launching on Tuesday in Michigan in the form of a pre-rolled joint “Sweet Island Skunk” in partnership with Rochester Hills-based Glorious Cannabis Co., the Detroit Free Press reports. Method Man launched the brand last June and indicated the business would prioritize working with and elevating Black and other minority business owners in the cannabis space.

TICAL is named after Method Man’s 1994 solo debut album and stands for “Taking Into Consideration All Lives.”

Nathaniel Vereen, co-founder of TICAL, told the Free press that the company’s approach and message, “aligns with the diverse, working-class people of Michigan, the kind of people Method Man grew up with.”

“Being that Michigan is the birthplace of Motown and Method Man’s iconic influence in music, we believe it to be a perfect match.” – Vereen to the Free Press

TICAL will launch its initial product in five Black-owned Detroit dispensaries including Remedy, House of Zen, House of Mary Jane, West Coast Meds, and Viola.

“We know that African Americans and many of Michigan’s diverse communities have had a very hard time entering the regulated Michigan market,” Vereen told the Free Press.

A recent Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency survey of new licensees found that just 3% of cannabis business owners in Michigan are Black, the report says.

Alexandria Weathersby, manager of the medical cannabis dispensary House of Zen in Detroit, told the Free Press the company is “honored” to have been chosen for the product launch.

“It’s amazing because of what the brand stands behind,” she said in the report. “(Method Man) is looking out for the smaller people. It’s a tough industry for minorities in general.”

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Louisiana Bill to Protect State Employees Who Use Medical Cannabis Passes Committee

A Louisiana bill to protect state employees who use medical cannabis unanimously passed the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations last week, according to a LSU Manship School News Service report. If approved, the law would protect employees from being fired and would protect prospective employees from being discriminated against for their medical cannabis use.

The measure does not include protections for law enforcement, firefighters, or other public safety officials.

State Rep. Mandie Landry (D), the bill’s sponsor, said in some cases medical cannabis “has proved to be a better option” for patients “who don’t want to take opioids for their long-term PTSD and pain management because of the high possibility of addiction.”

Jacques Berry, communications director for the Louisiana Department of Administration, indicated that while the agency already has protections in place for medical cannabis patients, Landry’s proposal would create uniform policies across all state agencies. Berry pointed to the success of a sexual harassment bill approved two years ago that codified state rules – which he said was necessary because sexual harassment policies among agencies “were all over the place.”

During the hearing, Tony Landry, an advocate with Veterans Action Council, said that he would have liked to see firefighters and law enforcement included in the bill, noting that they can’t even use CBD products due to the risk of a positive drug test.

“I’m in favor of this bill,” he said, “and I just think we need to leave no employee behind.”

The measure moves next to the full chamber for consideration.

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Two New Mexico Tribes Sign Agreement with State to Begin Selling Cannabis

Two New Mexico tribes have signed an agreement with the state allowing them to collect taxes on cannabis product sales, the Associated Press reports. The agreement between the state and Pojoaque and Picuris tribes, which are based in northern New Mexico, was signed last week.

Taxation and Revenue Department spokesman Charlie Moore told the AP that the agreement means the tribes can now sell cannabis products, but the state’s 12% tax won’t be levied on products sold by the tribes.

Taxation and Revenue Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke said the state “has a strong history of collaborating with tribes to efficiently administer taxes while recognizing tribal sovereignty and the limitations of state authority on tribal lands.”

In March, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) signed an intergovernmental agreement with Picuris Gov. Craig Quanchello and Pueblo of Pojoaque Gov. Jenelle Roybal to set guidelines for the cannabis industry and allow tribal communities to participate in the industry “in ways that support community health and public safety while maximizing cross-jurisdiction market opportunities,” according to Lujan Grisham’s office in a press release.

Cannabis sales in New Mexico began in April and topped $22.1 million during the month. The state Cannabis Control Division (CCD) projects that adult-use cannabis sales will reach $300 million per year. Sales during New Mexico’s opening weekend surpassed $4.5 million with nearly 70% of sales derived from the adult-use market. State officials expect the industry to create 11,000 jobs in the state and bring in $50 million in state revenues during the first year.

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YouGov Poll: 45% of Americans Support Federal Cannabis Legalization

A YouGov poll released on Tuesday found that 45% of Americans believe cannabis should be legalized nationally, with 21% saying the decision should be left to the states, and 20% preferring it remain outlawed.

The poll found that 66% of Democrats supported national cannabis legalization along with just 19% of Republicans. Nearly a third of Republicans (32%) preferred leaving the decision to legalize cannabis up to the states; just 12% of Democrats shared that position. Most Republicans polled (36%) wanted cannabis to remain prohibited, along with 14% of Democrats.

The results of the poll, which was conducted from May 8 through May 10, and included 1,500 U.S. adult citizens, found similar results to an April poll from Hill-HarrisX which found 37% support for enacting the reforms federally, 38% support for leaving the decision up to the states, and 25% support for broad prohibition.

That poll also found more Democrats (48%) preferred federal action to state-level reforms (36%), with 16% opposing legalization entirely. The majority of Republicans in the Hill-Harris poll supported leaving the decision to the states (39%), with 27% preferring federal reforms and 34% opposing legalization.

Independents were split in the Hill-Harris poll 38% to 36% for their support of federal legalization and state-by-state legalization, respectively, with 26% opposing the reforms entirely. The YouGov poll did not include independents.

The most recent Gallup poll from November 2021 found support for cannabis legalization federally at 68% –  maintaining its record level of support since the pollster began asking the question in 1969.

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Federal Court Rules Delta-8 Products Legal Under ‘Plain Text’ of Farm Bill

A federal court in California on Thursday ruled that the 2018 Farm Bill – which federally legalized hemp in the U.S. – repealed prohibitions on other cannabinoids including delta-8 THC, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco determined that the cannabinoid has “psychoactive and intoxicating effects” like delta-9 but is not a “marijuana” product and not explicitly banned by the Controlled Substances Act.

“Regardless of the wisdom of legalizing Delta-8 THC products,” Judge D. Michael Fisher wrote in the 3-0 opinion, “this court will not substitute its own policy judgment for that of Congress.”

The ruling came in a trademark case, AK Futures LLC v. Boyd Street Distro LLC, in which AK accused Boyd Street of selling counterfeit versions of its delta-8 products. The court found that since the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp, and therefore delta-8, trademark infringement can occur and did occur in the case.

“The record on appeal convinces us that AK Futures’ delta-8 THC products are lawful under the plain text of the Farm Act and may receive trademark protection,” the opinion states. “As we have noted, this conclusion is necessarily tentative given the nature of preliminary relief.”

Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, told the Chronicle that the decision “is federally legalizing a psychoactive cannabinoid about which relatively little is known while keeping the amply studied Delta-9 illegal.”

“It makes more sense to legalize Delta-9,” he said, “which has been studied exhaustively in thousands of subjects and research protocols over the decades.”

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Cannabis Tax-and-Reg Bill Fails In Delaware House

The bill to create a taxed and regulated cannabis industry in Delaware fell two votes short in the House as one of the co-sponsors was absent for the vote, WHYY reports. The legislation required a three-fifths majority to pass and the bill’s primary sponsor, state Rep. Ed Osienski (D), changed his vote to “no” – a procedural move that will allow the proposal to be brought again before the General Assembly as bills that fail by just one vote cannot be considered a second time.

No Republicans voted for the bill along with just one Democrat – the final vote was 23-15 with two absent and one abstention. That bill required a three-fifths majority to pass the Legislature because it imposes a 15% sales tax on cannabis sales.

The vote comes a week after the Senate sent a decriminalization bill to Gov. John Carney (D). The tax-and-regulate effort was part of a two-pronged approach to enacting broad adult-use reforms in the state. Carney has expressed support for the decriminalization bill – although he has not said whether he will sign it into law.

Following the vote, Zoë Patchell, executive director of the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network, called the bill’s failure “quite disappointing.”

“It’s so disappointing because you have significant public support for this bill, and because of the three-fifths majority, we keep coming up short.” – Patchell to WHYY

Under the decriminalization bill on Carney’s desk, possession and use by adults would be legalized while possession of non-medical cannabis by anyone under 21 would still result in a civil penalty, possession of more than one ounce, and public consumption would remain misdemeanors. The bill also allows adults to “transfer,” but not sell for payment or other consideration, an ounce or less to another adult.

The tax-and-regulate legislation would license up to 30 retailers and 15 cultivators and up to 15 manufacturing facilities, the report says. Home cultivation is not permitted under the decriminalization bill or the industry legislation.

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Ohio Awards 70 Provisional Medical Cannabis Licenses

The Ohio Board of Pharmacy (OBP) awarded 70 new provisional medical cannabis licenses on Monday, Cleveland.com reports. To become fully licensed, each licensee must now build a state-compliant facility and pass an OBP inspection.

A certificate of operation will be awarded after a positive inspection, at which time each provisional licensee will have 270 days to open their doors. The process to expand Ohio’s 58 existing medical cannabis dispensary licenses started in April 2021 after a review by the agency determined the system needed upgrading for a variety of reasons, including a lack of dispensaries in the western part of the state, the state having thinner dispensary density than other medical cannabis states, and more patients than expected having signed up for the program.

The board has a goal of 1,200 patients per dispensary district. Three more licenses are under consideration but a decision on those is forthcoming. One more hangs in the balance of a lawsuit, the report says.

Ohio received 1,465 applications in this latest round of provisional licensing. The winners were chosen via a lottery drawing, where they were then ranked per dispensary district for scrutiny by the board for their applications, business plans, and other documents.

The report says this round was “different” than the first, when many who were denied licenses sued after claiming the board staff were not objective, leading to lawsuits that played out for years. Many applicants were denied licenses this round due to being less than 500 feet from a school or other prohibited facility.

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George Allen: The Importance of Team-Building In Cannabis Business

From transitioning out of a self-described “boring” career in finance, to heading one of the East Coast’s biggest multistate operators to eventually moving to California to focus on team- and brand-building for Lowell Farms, few people have experience in the cannabis industry like George Allen.

In the latest Ganjapreneur.com Podcast interview, George and our host TG Branfalt discuss George’s exit from a Wall Street finance career to join the cannabis industry, his time as the President of Acreage Holdings (during which he approached the former Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner about endorsing the cannabis legalization movement), as well as the eventual transition from working for an MSO to joining up with the California-focused Lowell Farms. The interview also covers advice for building a strong team in the cannabis space, the differences between medical and recreational cannabis markets, the importance of being passionate about the industry, and more!

Listen to the podcast interview below or through your favorite podcast listening platform, or scroll further down to find a full transcript of the episode.


Listen to the podcast:


Read the transcript:

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

TG Branfalt: Hey, there, I’m your host TG Branfalt. And thank you for listening to The Ganjapreneur.com Podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalized cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by George Allen, he’s the chairman of the board for Lowell Farms, founder of cannabis industry investment firm, Geronimo Capital LLC, and former president for Acreage Holdings. Allen has been involved in multiple financing rounds, dozens of acquisitions, executive recruiting, and an initial public offering. How are you doing this afternoon, George?

George Allen: Hey, great. Thanks so much. I’m really grateful for the opportunity to talk to you today and really have enjoyed your podcast. So thanks for having me.

TG Branfalt: Thank you so much. You have done a lot in this industry, man. I’ve had a lot of guests on this show. I’ve been doing it since 2015. Somebody with your sort of breadth of knowledge, I’m really delighted to have you on. Before we get into sort of all these little things or big things that you have done, what is your background, man?

George Allen: I got to say it’s a little bit of a crime of fashion I got involved. I got involved in the industry after a pretty boring career in finance on Wall Street. I spent a lot of time, started out in finance and then moved into private equity. I did some fun stuff in software. I did a software roll up in a public company. And then more recently before getting into the industry, I ran a family office for a group of high network individuals in New York. And that’s when I first started getting exposed to cannabis because the family offices were the only investor group that was looking seriously at cannabis back only as short four, five years ago. And that’s when I started getting into it. I really saw the scale of the opportunity and how much blue sky there was. That’s what drew me in. And from there I was hooked.

TG Branfalt: So you described your life sort of before cannabis as boring and in finance. What are some of the biggest differences sort of culturally that you had to sort of deal with moving from something as boring as finance as you put it to the cannabis space?

George Allen: Well, I got to say the biggest challenge you’ve got in cannabis, there’s really two that I point to, but first is there’s no precedent for how to do things in cannabis right and how to do the med scale because it’s such a young industry. I don’t know that you’ve got a lot of precedent for that in other businesses where there’s a big industry that happens overnight but it has no analogs to it. And I think that’s the first challenge.

The second challenge that is just crazy is you just only have to walk 2 or 3 feet in this business before you find another stumbling block that is imposed by the federal policy in this business. That’s just super strange working with banks and trying to figure all that out, as well as employees and employment practices. There are a whole bunch of service providers that are available to most businesses that cannabis can’t avail themselves to. It’s a workable problem, but it takes clock cycles for sure.

TG Branfalt: Tell me about sort of the learning curve, right? I mean, you talked about these stumbling blocks. Maybe can you tell me about a specific instance sort of early on in your career that you had to sort of navigate through?

George Allen: Well, I’ll tell you, I’ll give you one that was kind of fun. Back in the early days at Acreage, the precedent of Acreage was a company called High Street Capital Partners then. It was very challenging to raise money. Back then Donald Trump had just been elected president. He put in a pretty anti-cannabis attorney general named Jeff Sessions. And Jeff Sessions had come out with a pretty militant view on cannabis. Raising money in that environment just to pay payroll was very challenging. I think it was about one year to Trump’s presidency where Jeff Sessions had come out and he pulled down a document called the Cole Memo. The Cole Memo had been some resting piece for cannabis entrepreneurs who were trying to make sure they weren’t going to jeopardize their career and their net worth by being involved in the industry.

And so, when he pulled down the Cole memo, it created a whole bunch of problems for everyone in the industry. That was actually when we first approached John Boehner about being on the board of a cannabis company, because I felt that you had to fight fire with fire. If Jeff Sessions was coming out arm swinging against cannabis, that we had to show the world that it was going to be okay to participate and invest in cannabis businesses.

It felt like we could do all the arm wave when we wanted to, but if we really wanted to punctuate that point, we had to bring somebody in that people knew and understood. Convincing Boehner to be on the board of a cannabis company was the best way we felt to do it. That was a fun conversation trying to get John to do it. But it really did save our schemes back then at the company, because it had made it a lot easier. In the wake of making that announcement and going on Good Morning America and doing all those stuff we did, it really did make it a heck a lot easier to get financing for a cannabis company.

And so that’s just one of the many stories we’ve had fighting this fight. In a lot of respect, it’s made the businesses better. It’s made the business a better because we’ve all watched what’s happened in Canada and the excess cause by capital euphoria that we haven’t seen that kind of capital euphoria in the United States. I think that’s made it harder, but it’s definitely made the businesses healthier and the industry healthier.

TG Branfalt: I just want to go back to a minute. This John Boehner thing, I wrote that when that broke. It was a big story at that time. I don’t know how much detail you can give me, but can you just tell me what was his reaction when you approached him with this?

George Allen: Actually to be honest with you, he was leaning pretty heavily in favor of it. He’d been trying to figure out his position on reconsidering where it was, where he wanted to come out on it, because he saw the shift. I mean, John has always been… He’s always been a center-driven Republican. I don’t think you can be Speaker of the House without doing that. And so I think he saw the writing on the wall, saw the shift, saw 64% of Americans in favor of legalization one form or the other. But largely, I think that there are many aspects that they convinced him to do it. There was the veteran angle and how much relief it was bringing veterans who were desperately in need of some relief from PTSD, from just a horrific amount of PTSD haunting our veterans, to the opioid epidemic and how much relief cannabis could pose for the opioid epidemic.

So it was a series of discussions that we had sitting down with John and walking him through the data and walking him through where he felt there was sufficient science and sufficient sort of public support. And eventually he said, “Yeah, I’ll lend my name to this cause and this in this journey.” It was a ton of fun. I’ve never experienced anything like it in my career and it was really exciting.

TG Branfalt: And I think to your point, it did help sort of change some of the rank and file more centrist, sort of maybe not the people in Congress, but certainly people that I know that are older than me that are sort of your moderate Republican. I think that changed their thinking a bit to see sort of one of their own somebody that they admire and in some respects enter the space.

You’ve been in this industry since 2017, which to a lot of people doesn’t seem like that long. I mean, if you think about it. But I mean for the cannabis industry, it’s a lifetime if we just sort of look at what’s happened with legalization since 2017, how many states have gone online through the legislative process, that sort of thing. Can you tell me how the industry in your estimation has changed since your entree into it?

George Allen: Yeah, that’s a great question. And it’s not that long. It’s not that long. There are people who have been doing this for a long time. And frankly, our success has really been on the backs of people who have fought a much harder fight for a much longer period of time. But you’re correct in saying the industry’s also shifted a lot, because acceptance has changed. I think there’s a couple things that are really going on in the industry that I find sort of investible trends. I think the first is, if you really look at what was going on cannabis, medical was the sort of the horse that everyone rode in on, right? It made a ton of sense. There’s a ton of injustice around the medical side. It made a ton of sense to wrap ourselves in the medical story originally because it really exposed the hypocrisy and the insensitivity that 75 years of terrible policy had implemented.

But I think we’re past the medical story now. I really do. And I think the consumer adoption and consumer acceptance is really migrating across the country where there’s much more willingness to be open to trying cannabis, there’s much more willingness to accepting the fact that cannabis can be a part of somebody else’s life even if it’s not only part of your life. I think that changes behavior patterns in a way that is something that we, as as a service provider in the industry, we need to pay attention to.

One trend that I find really particularly interesting is that smokable flower in California is the fastest growing category by dollars in California. And that’s really interesting. What’s interesting about that is I believe it’s telling you that the consumer is moving from formats that we’re really good at hiding cannabis consumption to moving to formats that are no longer concerned about hiding cannabis consumption. And I think that’s super enlightening. I think the raw plant here is put by far the most interesting form factor for consumers. It offers a ton of variety selection and choice, which a recreational consumer cares a lot about, right? But if you listen to an MSO, most of the time they’re going to talk a ton about consistency, right?

Consistency is a great sort of end objective if what your business is medicine. But consistency isn’t necessarily what you’re looking for in consumer offering of recreational cannabis, because recreational cannabis consumers, they love the journey, right? They love sampling different products and different strains and different plants. They’re not loyal to one stream, right? If you’ve got chronic back pain and you found the stream that’s going to relieve you from back pain, then you’re very likely to be loyal to that. But in recreational cannabis, which is I believe the more exciting and larger market, we don’t pray to the same God of consistency. What you pray to is quality, right? You need to have the quality in the product offering that consumers want.

That’s something that I’ve really learned from coming out here to California and sort of skinning my knee on the market out here, because it’s a market where consumers have a couple thousand choices of SKUs than a typical dispensary. If you go into a New York MSO dispensary, you might see 12 SKUs on the menu. And so you’ve got to go to the place where consumers have several thousand options to really understand what they’re looking for and what they want.

TG Branfalt: I mean, and to your point too, I think that we’re starting to realize also that people who have been using recreationally their entire lives, a lot of times are actually using medically. I don’t think it’s wrong to say that just because something makes you feel good, I believe that’s a sort of medical purpose.

George Allen: No, I couldn’t agree more. I couldn’t agree more. By the way, I don’t think it is right for any of us to judge why people use it. I think that it’s no different than any time in the past. Everybody is responsible for their own individual behavior. But the choice of how you recreate, I think that’s something we’ve shown the science behind cannabis. The social costs relative to the social benefit is profoundly in favor of normalization, so I’m right there with you.

TG Branfalt: You spoke a little bit about MSOs, which we’re talking about multi-state operators. You’d mentioned earlier there’s a lot of people who have been in this industry a lot longer than I have, you have. And so one of the things that I see quite a lot is a lot of blowback against the multi-state operator. I mean, here in New York we have that monopoly system and there’s a lot of sort of progressive stuff that was in the bill. I mean, we can smoke anywhere we can smoke cigarettes, which is pretty fantastic. But I think a lot of the sort of, let’s say stoner community at large, has a problem with a lot of these big companies coming in. They take over. Not to say that it’s a green goop kind of takeover of what’s going on. But I got to ask you, what role should multi-state operators have in the cannabis space?

George Allen: Well, boy, I could talk a long, long line for that. I’ve been on both sides of the fence, right? I ran a multi-state operator for quite some time and then I decided to head out to California and focus on California because I really wanted to build a brand and understand where the consumer was going.

Now, if you really want to deconstruct what the multi-state operator’s all about, it’s really at its essence these limited concession rights that almost like gambling casinos the states have given out. The premise originally was that cannabis has just an enormous amount of social danger to it. You got to be very careful about how much wildfire you start with cannabis. So the idea was to keep it very narrow and contained because with 10 operators, a regulator can guarantee that he knows where every throat to choke is if something goes wrong, right?

TG Branfalt: Gotcha.

George Allen: And I think that was originally the premise here of how they started with these limited license concessions. The reality is though, I think we’ve seen where the social cost and where the risk is in cannabis. I think that experiment is showing us that there’s less inherent risk here in having more of an open market approach to cannabis. Now, I know that’s not popular because that has a major impact on margins and that has a major impact on pricing in the marketplace. But that’s probably why you hear from so many consumers that it’s frustrating, because as I said, it’s not that interesting to go into a dispensary where you got 12 options like the MedMen store on Madison Avenue. That’s kind of boring relative to the MedMen store that’s located on North Hollywood. So in my opinion, the market sort of learning it… And there was never any promise to the MSO model that these concessions were going to be enduring forever. No single statute does it prohibit the state from issuing more licenses over a period of time. And so I think what you’re going to see is a more open market approach.

I also take the point of view that the federal government when they legalize or they decriminalize the product, you’re going to see more of an open market approach here regardless of how the individual states behave, because consumers aren’t going to wait for state by state permission to enjoy the cannabis that they want when the federal government decriminalizes this. So I think in a lot of respects, the states are going to lose a fair amount of strength and negotiating leverage at the table as the market matures here and decriminalization happens in Washington.

TG Branfalt: That’s a super insightful sort of response, especially from you being on both sides of it. You had said that you had shifted your focus to California. And so I want to ask you a couple questions about California is, what have you found that a company has to do in that state to reach success? Because it’s so competitive. And then not just reach that success, but maintain that success.

George Allen: Yeah. It’s all people. It’s all 100% people. You need to have a great team. That doesn’t necessarily mean have like IEP between the ears of a grower who’s a “master” grower. It means people that are willing to really shed blood for the business. I mean, it takes that type of dedication in a competitive industry like this where there’s so many people that get into the business because of passion but don’t necessarily have the execution skills or the business skills to succeed. But you have a constant flow of people that thinking they can. And defending against that in California requires that you build a really, really solid team that can fit, can work cohesively together because there’s no way that one single individual can do it on its own. It’s just too competitive of a market and too large of an opportunity. So I’m very focused on team recruiting, building culture, keeping with working on retention. There’s a ton of other aspects that sort of make up California, but if you don’t have the right people, you’re not even checking into to the airport with a ticket.

TG Branfalt: And so what are some of the challenges when recruiting the sort of high level executives that you need to sort of help lead that team? What attributes do you look for when recruiting high level positions?

George Allen: I think it’s hard. I wouldn’t say that there’s attributes. A lot of people early on thought cannabis looked like alcohol, so let’s look for alcohol. A lot of people think it looks like CPG, so let’s look for CPG. I don’t think that there are attributes from a sort of like a resume standpoint. What I do think is desire and passion and ability to really commit themselves to a goal and a vision. I think that’s something that we look for. It’s hard to look for as a screening process, but you can find out pretty fast after the fact. I also think, from my standpoint, it’s very hard for people who don’t have any experience with the plant, although we’ve got a number of extremely talented people on our team who play roles in the organization who don’t have a personal relationship or the plan.

And so I’m constantly surprised by that, but in lot of respects, I think what motivates them isn’t necessarily their loyalty to the all the green goodness that’s inside a cannabis plant, but rather their loyalty or the thing that drives them is the excitement around building and creating. That’s an opportunity that you get in cannabis. Cannabis is more of a blank canvas then you tend to get in other industries, and that’s been really exciting. So some people respond to that really well and some people respond to it as, “Wait a minute. You mean there’s no building plan or there’s no roll out plan that I can just look to and implement?” But rather we have to be creative and create it ourselves. And that’s right for certain people and not right for others.

TG Branfalt: I mean, I’m sure that you find yourself in situations where you’re looking at resumes or recruiting people who don’t have that experience, that background in cannabis. What businesses in industries do you see a lot of sort of people you recruit or that or that apply to you come from?

George Allen: So a lot of it’s geographic, like where are you? We’re in Monterey, which is in one of the most prolific areas in the country for growing, so growing anything from leafy vegetables to tomatoes. You tend to see a lot of people come from agriculture who are interested both back office as well as out in the field who are interested. In a lot of respects, cannabis is pretty interesting in that some people are just bitten by the bug in one form or another. And just by virtue of the fact that they submitted their resume is enough of an indication that they’re curious and they’re committed to learning about a new industry. And I think in a fair amount of respect as I said before, there isn’t necessarily like a ministry that we say, “Hey, we want to recruit everybody from this CPG or beer or liquor space,” but rather it’s more about their individual story and what they’re seeking and what motivates them.

TG Branfalt: So I want to switch gears a little bit and talk to just about some financing stuff. You’ve done an IPO, which again in the cannabis space is not super common. What are some of the challenges for doing an initial public offering in this space? How does it differ from more traditional industries?

George Allen: Well, I think a couple of things. Not to be overly technical about it, but what we did at Acreage was a reverse public takeover. So we basically merged into an existing shell. In a lot of respects, there’s many parts of it that are similar to an IPO, but technically speaking it RPO. I actually don’t think the differences between cannabis and other industries really exist, but I think I’m in the minority there. I think you actually need to communicate your story to investors with the same amount of clarity and transparency and honesty that other businesses hold themselves accountable to, or other successful ones do. And if you’re not going to do that, but rather you’re going to expect that investors are more tolerant or more lenient with sort of grievances so to speak than they would be with a mainstream industry, eventually you’re going to get burned.

The self-correcting mechanism that exists with investors is that management teams and owners, they’re the last guys who get paid. And so it’s not about how you start your journey. It’s about the full extent of your journey and where you end up. The mistake that many people make in cannabis is the journey’s over once you get the company public. That is just the very, very beginning. The promises that you make, people are going to remember those for a long period of time. Investors have a very long memory. Depending on where the cycle is and where capital markets are at the moment where you’re trying to go public, the amount of benefit that they’re willing to give you of the doubt changes. But that doesn’t really change how they’re going to look at you in arrears. They’re always going to hold you accountable for what you said and what you did.

TG Branfalt: And what, in your opinion, makes for a good company that can raise money? What do investors… You have a capital company. What attribute to a business do you see, and you say, “This is a good bet right here?”

George Allen: Well, the bet to get involved within this was really around the team and the infrastructure that they had. And I think it really changes situation by situation, but ultimately we’re looking for is the ability to build enterprise value over a long period of time. Enterprise value is a function of profitability times multiple. And so it’s really your perception of where those ingredients are sort of going to be harvested in the landscape. There’s one approach to just go and try to maximize profitability by going to a limited license marketplace and selling hotdogs inside the hotdog stadium for as high price as you can for as long as you can until the concession runs out. My challenge with that is I don’t think there’s a lot of terminal value there. I don’t think there’s much at the back end. Instead, we’re focused on building a brand that consumers embrace and associate with the use of recreational cannabis in a way that nobody has done before. And that’s where I see the highest enterprise value over the long term.

So I’m committed to that journey and that mission. I’ve communicated that to all my investors. I’m grateful to have an investing group behind us that knows what we’re trying to do and is extremely supportive. I think the fundamental pillar of maintaining a relationship with your investors is giving them transparency. It’s something that I think people miss out a lot. I think the perception is that investors only want to hear good news. What happens when investors only hear good news is their bullshit meter starts climbing and they know that no company is made up of only good news, and so they start to doubt it. And it’s only a matter of time before their doubts get proven accurate.

TG Branfalt: I mean, you have such an insight into… I mean, I didn’t go to business school, but the economy of scale and that sort of stuff. I mean, a lot of people I don’t think that I’ve spoke to anyway, don’t sort of take this really pragmatic approach and I really appreciate that. What advice-

George Allen: Well, it’s been a lot of fun. Yeah. Sorry, go ahead.

TG Branfalt: No, no. What advice would you have for entrepreneurs who are looking to enter this space either as an investor or a high-level executive looking to enter a sort of exciting space? What advice do you have for those people?

George Allen: Just get involved. The honest to God truth is, get involved in any way you can. Learn about the business in any way you can. What’s going to happen… Because if you’re looking from the outside, it’s hard to be constructive. In a lot of respects, this industry is so immature that it shocks a new entrance into it, is to how many corners of this sort of like this new world haven’t been explored. But you don’t even see that from the outside until you get involved. So find an opening. Take a job, take a role. It’s not going to be a role you’re going to be at forever, but get involved. If you can get involved in a leadership capacity, great. If you can get involved in an employee capacity, great. It doesn’t mean that’s where the journey ends, but certainly you got to start somewhere.

TG Branfalt: What excites you most about sort of the future of the industry?

George Allen: Wow, there’s so much to that question. There’s so much to that question. Truth be told, I see… Cannabis is really fascinating. It’s a product that for the most part delivers on its promise. There are very few products out there that do that. I think it’s really fun to be engaged in the industry like that. It’s also a challenge. It’s also a challenge to build a brand in an industry where pretty much all brands and all products at some level are delivering on their promise, right? There’s so many businesses out there that really fail to deliver on their fundamental promise. And when you look at those, then it’s easy to differentiate the ones that’ll be successful because they are delivering than the ones that won’t. But cannabis in the most part does deliver on its promise. And that’s a challenge, but also what makes it so exciting. How do you get through to consumers on a brand basis where the product itself does such a great job of delivering?

I personally think that there’s a huge opportunity here to capture at the moment where everybody goes from being somewhat discreet about cannabis consumption, to being more open and casual about cannabis consumption, to build a brand that is really sort of about that transition and about that moment in history, because I think that’s an indelible brand that will be around for a long, long time. And that’s what I believe we’re trying to build it Lowell.

TG Branfalt: I will say that when it comes to branding, I think that it’s especially hard for cannabis companies, because I mean I’ve been smoking cannabis every day since I was 16 years old and I’ve never had to rely on a company. I had to rely on my boy who I guess could be a brand. But I think it’s going to be really hard when we’re not used to even making those considerations for 30 years, 20 years.

George Allen: Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. And I think that’s going to change over time, how it’s going to change. As I said, it’s going to be more of a journey. The brand is going to be… It’s going to be really fun. For me, the reason why I get so excited about Lowell and the reason why I was so drawn to the brand from early days, it was one of the first brands that in my opinion gave permission to the consumer to show off cannabis to everybody.

TG Branfalt: Interesting.

George Allen: You know your experience with cannabis as a user, you understand that for you, you feel a certain way about cannabis. But what Lowell is about is telling you that the world is going to look at you as mainstream and normal and as beautiful as you feel about the product itself. And that’s really what I think Lowell does so well. It makes everybody accept cannabis in a way that you and I have accepted it for so long. And that’s not easy to do. And so that’s a starting point for what I think is a really great brand equity.

TG Branfalt: This has been a really fascinating conversation. Not exactly what I would’ve expected just because of your background. And I’m not saying that as a detriment. It just went in a different direction than I had thought, which is really excellent. Where can people find out more about you, more about Lowell Farms? Give us the socials and that sort of thing.

George Allen: Well, I would generally say if people are trying to find out more about me, they’d be real bored. But I’d definitely point them to Lowell Farms. We’re on all of the major social media platforms. We got one of the largest footprints on Instagram in the industry. We’ve got a lot planned for the near future and super excited to keep moving forward. The way I view it is everything that we can do for Lowell, we’re going to do as well for the cannabis industry and for people who’ve been working real hard on this promise for a long time. I think we’re a good mouthpiece for it. We’ve got a great team that’s dedicated to the mission. We have lowellfarms.com. It’s got all the goodness around our financial reporting, which is fundamental to any investment decision. I think it’s all out there. And I look forward to talking to investors. We’re grateful for anybody who’s interested in either employee or investing in the business. We always love to hear from you.

TG Branfalt: Thank you so much. That’s George Allen. He’s the chairman of the board for Lowell Farms. He’s also the founder of cannabis industry investment firm, Geronimmo Capital LLC. Thanks again, George. I hope to hear from you soon and maybe we’ll see you out here in New York in a year and a half.

George Allen: We’ll be there. You can count on. Looking forward to it.

TG Branfalt: You can find more episodes at the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast in the podcast section of Ganjapreneur.com on Spotify and in the Apple iTunes store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website, you’ll find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. And after what? Seven years of being the host of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast, I am moving on to Cannabias where I will be helping to demystify some media bias coverage in the cannabis industry pertaining to the cannabis industry. Thank you so much for listening to me, rattle on for these seven wonderful years. I have been your host, TG Branfalt.

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Sacha Baron Cohen Drops Lawsuit Against Massachusetts Dispensary

Actor Sacha Baron Cohen on Tuesday dropped his lawsuit against Solar Therapeutics, the Massachusetts cannabis company that used the image of his Borat character on a billboard without his permission, the Associated Press reports. The legal filing dropping the case did not mention settlement details.

The billboard advertising had featured the Borat character with two thumbs up and the words “It’s nice!” – one of the character’s catchphrases.

In the lawsuit, Baron Cohen’s attorney attested that the actor has “never has used cannabis in his life” and “never would participate in an advertising campaign for cannabis, for any amount of money.” The lawsuit sought $9 million in damages.

In the original complaint, Baron Cohen’s attorney argued that, with his ‘Ali G’ character, Baron-Cohen “has spent much of his career making a mockery of ‘stoner’ culture – a culture which the defendants’ Billboard overtly celebrates,” according to a Benzinga report.

The lawsuit noted that Baron Cohen has never allowed his characters or likeness to be used for advertising purposes other than TV or films involving them and that the three-time Oscar nominee had once turned down a $4 million offer to appear in a car commercial.

The billboard along a Massachusetts interstate highway was removed three days after Baron Cohen’s attorneys sent a cease-and-desist order to the dispensary.

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Canopy Growth Set to Acquire Jetty Extracts

Canadian cannabis company Canopy Growth on Wednesday announced a plan to acquire California-based Jetty Extracts. The deal will take effect once the U.S. government legalizes cannabis or earlier at Canopy’s election.

Jetty is a top 10 brand in California and a top-five brand in the vape categories, based on industry tracker BDSA data. Canopy notes that Jetty holds more than 75% share in the solventless vape market in California and that their monthly sales increased 45% from February to March.

“Their products have received critical acclaim winning Best Vape at the 2021 Cannabis Cup, in addition to consumer success with the top eight solventless vape SKUs in California and the #1 PAX Era pods brand three years in a row.” – Canopy in a press release

David Klein, Canopy CEO, said the firm is “building a house of premium cannabis brands with a focus on the core growth categories that will power the market’s path forward.” He added that the company plans to bring the brand to the Canadian market.

Jetty Co-Founder and CEO Ron Gershoni described the deal as “mutually beneficial,” providing “long-term growth opportunities” for the Jetty brand and its employees.

“Canopy shares our vision and will support us as we bring the highest-quality Jetty products to consumers across North America and the world,” he said in a statement. “We can’t wait to be a part of what Canopy is building as we continue to define the future of cannabis and introduce more consumers to what makes Jetty products so special.”

The deal includes upfront payments of $69 million in cash and stock which will give Canopy 75% of equity interests in Jetty.

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DOJ Requests Supreme Court Not Take Up Case Involving Medical Cannabis & Employment

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has requested the Supreme Court not take up a question related to cannabis involving two cases out of Minnesota, Marijuana Moment reports. In both cases, employees had asked their employers to pay for their medical cannabis following on-the-job injuries but were denied, triggering the lawsuits.

The employees, and groups like Empire State NORML, argued that since employers do not have to provide the medical cannabis itself, simply compensating employees for their medicine would not run afoul of the Controlled Substances Act. Eventually, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in favor of the employers, finding that the employer did not have to provide for their employees’ medical cannabis because federal law outlawing cannabis preempts state law, the report says.

The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court after the two employees appealed the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision. The court then sought input from top lawyers at the Justice Department. On Monday, the Solicitor General’s Office replied with an amicus curiae brief, which recommended that the court remain silent on the question, suggesting the issue would be best addressed by the executive or legislative branch.

“The petitions in these cases, which present a novel question in a rapidly evolving area of law, do not warrant this Court’s review,” DOJ wrote in the brief. “When a federal law such as the CSA prohibits possession of a particular item, it preempts a state law requiring a private party to subsidize the purchase of that item.”

Acknowledging other state courts have ruled differently on the issue, the solicitor general explained those cases had not “meaningfully considered all of the possible grounds for preemption,” so “no further review” was warranted. They reminded the court that “petitioners intentionally possessed marijuana, which is a crime under federal law even if permitted under state law.”

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Rhode Island Lawmakers Advance Cannabis Legalization Bill

Two Rhode Island legislative committees on Wednesday advanced the Rhode Island Cannabis Act, setting the bill up for votes in both the House and Senate next week, WJAR reports. The measure passed the Senate Judiciary Committee 9-1 and the House Finance Committee 12-2.

Democratic Gov. Dan McKee told WJAR that he is “willing to sign the piece of legislation” the way he understands “it’s going to be delivered.” The proposal approved by the committees was amended to include automatic expungement for any prior civil violation, misdemeanor, or felony conviction for possession of cannabis decriminalized under the bill.

State Sen. Joshua Miller (D), the sponsor of the legislation and chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, said in a press release that he was proud that advocates, businesses, patients, legislative leaders, and the governor’s office “worked very cooperatively to smooth out the bumps and create a proposal that works for all the stakeholders.”

“We all wanted to do this in a way that is safe, keeps revenue in Rhode Island, and is as fair and equitable as we can possibly make it. The amended bill is a collaborative effort to address concerns about protecting medical use, ensuring fair governance and recognizing that we cannot make this transition without taking action to make whole the communities and individuals who have been punished for decades under prohibition.” – Miller in a statement

The legislation would allow Rhode Island adults aged 21-and-older to sell and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, keep up to 10 ounces in their home, and cultivate up to six cannabis plants at home (including three mature and three immature plants).

Under the measure, the state would license 33 retailers across six zones and impose a 10% excise tax, along with the state’s 7% sales tax, and a 3% tax which would go to municipalities. Licensing would begin on August 1 with sales commencing on December 1.

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Cannachange: Facilitating Sustainable Cannabis Retail with Technology

The sustainability problem in cannabis is no secret, and packaging is one of the industry’s biggest waste contributors. O’Neil Rudolph is Founder and CEO of cannachange, a sustainability-focused app that helps users work with dispensaries to address the cannabis industry’s packaging waste problem. “I’ve always had an interest in how tech and innovation can help push sustainability initiatives,” Rudolph recently told Ganjapreneur.

Rudolph grew up in Colorado where she was able to access medicinal cannabis when she was 18. Soon after dialing in her medical consumption the 19-year-old entrepreneur had noted the waste that her medicinal use was creating: “That regular accumulation of the waste building up made me feel like I needed to take action. I was just really surprised to find out that there wasn’t some type of program to be able to return that packaging or something more direct to do with it rather than put it in your typical recycle bin that usually goes to the landfill anyway.” Rudolph could not find a cannabis packaging return program in the states, so she set out to build an app to connect sustainability-conscious consumers with participating dispensaries.

For consumers and dispensaries, cannachange is an easy-to-use app — but for Rudolph, it’s a hands-on project. After consumers return their waste to dispensaries, cannachange tracks it through the back end hauler to ensure it doesn’t end up in landfills. Then the waste is broken down into recyclable material. Users can also track the amount of total waste they have saved from landfills with an in-app counter.

Tracking the final destination of cannabis packaging waste is made complicated by multiple factors throughout the U.S., including sometimes limited access to waste management services and varying local and state policies. The process is made especially complicated given “how strict the regulations are around shipping anything that’s ever contained cannabis, even if its fully sanitized,” Rudolph explained.

“I’ve had to build very personal relationships with different waste haulers and figure out exactly where they haul and process the waste, and if they’re separating different types of waste, so it’s very different from state to state,” she said. “I’ve had to do a lot of research with all the options so I can then present them to each dispensary.”

Finding the back-end haulers can be complicated as well, as each state manages waste differently: some states don’t even offer glass recycling, for example, and some statewide recycling policies are far less progressive than others. Additionally, some dispensaries are already in communication with a compliant recycling company. In those cases, cannachange will coordinate with them directly but most of the time, cannachange will provide any necessary waste management details to dispensaries as soon as the business verifies its profile.

Consumers and dispensaries alike can each download the app and create profiles, further facilitating the connection between consumers and participating dispensaries. Once signed up and confirmed, dispensaries receive their bin for the recyclable materials. Signing up creates a unique QR code for consumers that the dispensary scans whenever the packaging waste is returned. Each scan results in points for the user account — from there, customers can track points to go toward their next in-store purchase. Users can also purchase the cannachange reusable bag, made from 40% recycled nylon, and receive a discount at participating dispensaries when using it as their exit bag.

Rudolph hired a small team of developers who worked over the last year to build out the project. Women make up a majority of the coding team, which is important to Rudolph who would like to see more women of color in the tech space.

cannachange is currently operating in Louisiana and the company is looking to build more dispensary relationships in other states as well as Canada. Initial growth will take time and effort because the model isn’t universally applicable, especially in the U.S.

During these first months of operation, Rudolph has also been working on opening up the program to sanitizing and trade-in programs — some dispensaries in Colorado and Oregon are interested in sanitizing and re-using glass jars, for example, and a dispensary in Maine is working on proprietary compostable packaging.

Rudolph credits her older brother and role model for inspiring her to make her idea into a business:

“My biggest realization was that if I was having these ideas that I could validate and recognize they could make a big impact, my mind wanted to do something with them. Not just think about them and ponder on them, but actually execute them — and if I didn’t, I could never have known what could have happened and how much of an impact it could have.

“Really, considering that and understanding that most of the time, executing your ideas is worth the risk of them potentially just not working out. It doesn’t hurt to try, and you never know where it could go until you try and do something with them.”

To learn more about cannachange check out cannachange.co or download the app on IOS or Android.

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Study: Cannabis-Related Videos on TikTok Mostly Positive

Cannabis-related content on TikTok is mostly positive, according to research published earlier this year in the Drug and Alcohol Review journal. The study coded videos related to cannabis on the platform with more than 100 million views by seven themes, using relevant hashtags, and the study used a final sample of 881 videos.

The researchers found humor/entertainment videos comprised most of the cannabis content on TikTok (71.7%) followed by experiences (42.9%), lifestyle acceptability (24.6%), informative/how-to (7.5%), creativity (5.4%), and warning (2.7%). The authors found “over half of videos portrayed cannabis use positively,” noting that “none were age restricted.”

The most viewed videos, with 417 million total views, portrayed cannabis positively and videos depicting cannabis neutrally were viewed less frequently – 331 million views – while videos with negative depictions of cannabis were viewed 28 million times. Most of the subjects in the videos were male, Caucasian, and between the age of 25 and 50 with just 50 of the 881 videos including subjects smoking, vaping, or consuming cannabis edibles, according to a PsyPost review.

Study author Brienna Rutherford, a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, told PsyPost that “the next step is obviously to assess whether viewing this content has any impact on viewers’ attitudes, behaviors or risk / norms perceptions around substance use.”

The authors say the study builds on previous research that demonstrates “exposure to cannabis-related content can influence adolescents’ attitudes and problematic cannabis use” and suggests that “more effective age restrictions and regulations [should be] introduced to social media platforms” for accessing cannabis-related content.

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Delaware Gov. Expresses Support for Cannabis Decriminalization Bill on His Desk

Delaware Gov. John Carney (D) has expressed support for the broad cannabis decriminalization bill passed last week by the Legislature but stopped short of saying whether he would sign the reforms, WMDT reports. The measure is a pared down version of a full tax-and-regulate system, instead allowing possession of up to an ounce by adults 21-and-older.

“I don’t think it should be a criminal offense but this bill that passed just decriminalizes it, it doesn’t have a regulatory piece that goes with it. So, we’re looking at the same concerns that I’ve been articulating for some time with respect to public safety and its effect on our young people and we’ll continue to keep those in mind.” – Carney to WMDT

Carney has said he opposes broad cannabis legalization. In 2018, Vermont lawmakers passed a similar bill only to approve legislation to allow retail sales two years later.

Under current Delaware law, possession of an ounce or less of cannabis by anyone 21-and-older carries a $100 civil penalty. Under the bill being considered by the governor, possession of non-medical cannabis by anyone under 21 would still result in a civil penalty, while possession of more than one ounce and public consumption would remain misdemeanors. The bill also allows adults to “transfer,” but not sell for payment or other consideration, an ounce or less to another adult.

A bill to regulate cultivation and commercial sales passed the House Appropriations Committee last Tuesday but requires a three-fifths majority to pass each chamber.

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Cannabis Legalization in Washington Has Not Led to Increased Cigarette & Alcohol Use or Abuse of Pain Drugs

The liberalization of cannabis laws in Washington state has not led to increases in the use of alcohol, cigarettes, and abuse of pharmaceutical pain drugs among adults 18- to 25-years-old, according to research published this month in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Researchers with the University of Washington looked at trends in alcohol, nicotine, and non-prescribed pain reliever use among more than 12,500 young adults in the state following adult-use cannabis legalization.

“Contrary to concerns about spillover effects, implementation of legalized nonmedical cannabis coincided with decreases in alcohol and cigarette use and pain reliever misuse. The weakening association of cannabis use with the use of other substances among individuals ages 21–25 requires further research but may suggest increased importance of cannabis-specific prevention and treatment efforts.” – “Trends in Alcohol, Cigarette, E-Cigarette, and Nonprescribed Pain Reliever Use Among Young Adults in Washington State After Legalization of Nonmedical Cannabis,” Journal of Adolescent Health, May 9, 2022

The researchers note that the “findings add to evidence that the legalization of non-medical cannabis has not led to dramatic increases in the use of alcohol, cigarettes, and non-prescribed opioids.”

“The findings indicate that the most critical public health concerns surrounding cannabis legalization and the evolution of legalized cannabis markets may be specific to cannabis use and related consequences,” the authors wrote.

In a statement, NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said the study “disputes longstanding claims that cannabis is some sort of ‘gateway’ substance.”

“In fact, in many instances, cannabis regulation is associated with the decreased use of other substances,” he said, “including many prescription medications.”

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