Advocates in South Dakota have, for the second time in as many election cycles, turned in signatures to the Secretary of State’s office to force a vote on cannabis legalization, the Argus Leader reports. The signatures still need to be certified by the Secretary of State but the campaign, South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws, indicated an in-house screening process showed they had enough valid signatures to put the issue to voters in November.
In 2020, South Dakota voters legalized both adult-use and medical cannabis but a judge ultimately ruled the amendment invalid finding the reforms violated a 2018 law prohibiting constitutional amendment initiatives from dealing with multiple issues. The medical cannabis reforms, however, were enacted by the state.
Campaign Director Matt Schweich told the Leader that the group is “confident” their question would make the ballot but that organizers “have to respect the process and let the Secretary of State do its job.”
Instead of a constitutional amendment, advocates opted for an initiated measure that reduces the number of signatures from registered voters to qualify for the ballot. The initiative seeks to legalize cannabis for personal use, including possession and cultivation.
“This will withstand any potential lawsuits so we can avoid what happened after 2020,” Schweich told the Leader. “We don’t want to give politicians any kind of opening to thwart the will of the people.”
Schweich said the group collected 19,250 valid signatures while the initiated measure requires about 17,000.
The Colorado Summit, a new expansion team in the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL), has announced the team is officially sponsored by Star Buds, a Colorado-based cannabis dispensary chain. Under the partnership, the Star Buds logo will be displayed on Colorado Summit jerseys; it will be the first time a cannabis company appears as a featured sponsor on a professional sports team’s jerseys, the company announced in a press release.
The uniforms have similar colors to the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche and those of the Major League Soccer team Colorado Rapids. The Summit jerseys will display the Star Buds logo (without the cannabis leaf) prominently across the players’ chests.
The partnership was unveiled on May 4 at a media event with Randy Gradishar in attendance, a member of the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame and the team’s all-time tackle leader who was representing Long Dealerships, along with other Summit sponsors including Sun Run Solar and Ultimate Lending Team, which are also investing in the team. The UADL kicks off its season this weekend in Seattle.
Owned and operated by Schwazze, Star Buds has 19 locations across Colorado.
According to the league’s website, there are 25 AUDL teams. The organization’s mission is to “increase the visibility” of Ultimate frisbee “by creating fun, family-friendly events that showcase the sport being played at its highest level.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated for clarity.
Connecticut Innovations, the state’s quasi-public venture capital arm, has invested $1.25 million in 1906, a Colorado adult-use cannabis company that is moving to the Constitution State, the Hartford Business Journal reports. The investment is reportedly the first investment made by a state entity into a cannabis business.
1906 CEO Peter Barsoom called the investment, which closed in February, “a major milestone for the cannabis industry.”
“…Institutional investors don’t need to wait on the sidelines for changes to federal laws before they participate in the cannabis market.” – Barsoom to the Journal
1906 produces pills comprised of plant-based medicines and low doses of THC and CBD. The company currently has six different variations of the product at dispensaries in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma, the report says.
Connecticut lawmakers approved cannabis reforms last June but sales have not yet commenced. Commissioner for the Department of Consumer Protection Michelle Seagull said in September that while officials had expected adult-use sales to start by the end of this year, the timeline may be delayed.
Officials from Connecticut Innovations said they decided to invest in 1906 because of the company’s leadership in the cannabis space, its strong revenue growth, and support of social justice initiatives. The firm also saw investments from Arcview and Merida in the funding round, the report says. 1906 also plans to use the funds to scale up its employee count and presence in the state.
Connecticut Innovations Vice President of Marketing Lauren Carmody said the “investment will help accelerate the company’s ambitious plans for growth and establish 1906 as the first of many cannabis industry leaders based here in Connecticut.”
If the majority of cannabis sold in the U.S. were grown under the sun, it would unlock a sustainable future for the cannabis industry. But that future is hard to imagine considering the current industry landscape. A 2020 study showed that more than 1% of U.S. electricity consumption is used to grow indoor cannabis — and that number is expected to rise as more states come online with adult-use programs. As the climate crisis grows more imminent, the industry must take accountability for the resources used and waste made by the commercial cannabis industry.
For six years, Eagle Trees Farm has dedicated itself to using sustainable and regenerative cannabis farming methods in Washington state. The company is also registered to grow hemp with the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Siblings Jessica Straight and Kenny Ingebrigtson run the family-owned and operated farm, which is nestled against the Nooksack river in North Western Washington. The pair decided to go into business together when Washington state issued its first round of cannabis licenses. These remain the only licenses issued since the medical program transitioned to adult use in 2014.
“We could have a sustainable cannabis industry, but I’m not sure we could do it with indoor grows because they’re not sustainable at all. I think it’s possible if we all grew with the sun,” said Straight.
While scaling up their garden during that first year of operation, they noted how much had to be brought onto the farm to keep things running. In response, they started closing loops, meaning that the farm began producing everything that it needs in various channels of its operation. Each year, the team closed one or two more loops, which Ingebrigtson says is easier once you add some animals to the farm. Eagle Trees is currently home to five cows, seven beehives, four dogs, two cats, seasonal meat birds, two humans, and local wildlife. Last season, a few Northern Saw-Whet owls took refuge in their canopy, helping the farm combat voles who love to munch cannabis stalks. The owls were so comfortable on the farm that they stayed until the plants were harvested. In addition to making efforts to close loops, Eagle Trees only packages flower and pre-roll products in glass to avoid adding more of the industry’s infamous plastic byproducts. According to Ingebrigtson, everything starts with making compost.
Ingebrigtson said, “Compost is the building block for the whole entire farm. We use it for potting soil, we use it for top dressing, we mix it into the soil. We use it for everything.” The compost is one great example of how animals contribute to the farm every day, it’s made from animal bedding (hay), manure, woodchips, cannabis chips (made from stems, stalks, and roots), cannabis leaves, and spent mushroom blocks from Cascadia Farms, their local edible mushroom cultivator. Ingebrigtson consulted with Cascadia and closed their loop in turn, creating a closed community loop that the farm is very proud of. Their efforts were rewarded in 2021 when the company’s Royal ACDC won a 2021 WSIA Sun Cup Award for best CBD flower.
Photo credit Brandon Sawaya
At the time of licensing, Ingebrigtson was interested in natural farming methods but didn’t have a lot of hands-on experience. He was happy to find the DEM Pure community to learn from and collaborate with: “I became friends with other farmers and started seeing what other people were doing in the cannabis scene. We started looking at Korean Natural Farming (KNF), we got super into that, making lactic acid cultures, fermented plant juice, and indigenous microorganisms, culturing them in the forest, and bringing them into our compost and our soil. That’s just crowd-sourced info.”
There was of course a learning curve to running a sustainable farm — for example, their first year making soil didn’t go very well. But year after year, the soil became more and more viable and their focus could move to other farming aspects. Ingebrigtson chooses to use methods from many different natural farming modalities, which he calls “mixed natural farming.” Every farm is different and every soil is different, so being flexible and experimenting with different methods lets Eagle Trees cater to their farm’s environment. They don’t just apply methods to the land, they take notes from the land and provide what it needs.
Occasionally, they send soil samples to the lab which gives a readout of what compounds are in the soil. After getting these results, they can alter the inputs given to the plants and soil to improve bioavailability. These tests produce better soil which creates better bud and a richer environment for future harvests, and Eagle Trees takes on the cost. They also pay for state-required testing, which is one of the many regulations that hinder growth for small family farms alongside often changing traceability software management and superfluous internal camera monitoring requirements as required by the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB), a state agency that previously managed only liquor sales in the state.
The LCB had no experience with regulating agriculture before it was appointed to oversee the cannabis industry and as such, the regulations do very little to serve farmers. Many family-owned farms and small businesses struggle because of heavy regulation, high taxation, and a robust legacy market.
Straight and Ingebrigtson are confident that if the state deregulated in areas that don’t serve farmers, it would take a lot of pressure off of small business owners. Currently, many of the regulations are set to stop growers from “backdooring,” a term for filtering cannabis grown in regulated operations into the legacy market. These regulations make cultivators who are struggling to make it work in the regulated market feel like criminals — the regulations also haven’t protected outdoor farms like Eagle Trees from robbery. Theft during harvest season can take a cultivator out of a market like I-502 in Washington, where almost 50% of the sale price goes to taxes.
“When you buy any Washington state cannabis product at retail, about 50% of the total cost goes directly to the state and about 30% goes to the grower. That means the state is making much more on our products than we bring in,” said Straight. “It’s a very difficult business on the scale that we’re running on and we’re doing it for the love. There’s no other way to say it. Indoor growers can have up to 5 harvests a year. We get one harvest, maybe two in our light dep greenhouses. I wish that the state would do more to level the playing field between the two methods by allowing sun-grown sustainable farms with a larger growing area to account for the difference in harvests. They should want to incentivize sustainable growing methods.”
Photo credit Brenda Phillips
The high taxation hits the customer, who can get much better prices from their neighborhood dealer, so the shops must drop their prices to accommodate and bring in more customers. This drop in price then hits the growers, who are forced to find a way to grow amazing cannabis at a price point that isn’t sustainable. While this is a huge issue, farms like Eagle Trees understand the uphill battle of lowering taxes and instead focus on ways to improve. When I spoke with Eagle Trees, WA HB 1260 was still on the floor, which would have made direct-to-consumer sales legal. Both co-founders were excited at the prospect of opening up a new channel of sales while also welcoming customers to their serene riverfront farm up the historic Mount Baker Highway. The bill would also have allowed sun growers to upgrade to a 30,000-square-foot canopy, which would mean more room for profits despite expected crop issues from pests or weather. Unfortunately, the bill died when the 2022 legislative session ended. Hopefully, it will be reintroduced next session.
“Direct sales for farmers would change the game. Right now it doesn’t feel sustainable as a small farmer and business owner with all the taxes, all the restrictions, all the LCB oversight and overreach,” said Ingebrigtson.
Straight added, “Direct sales are the only way to make a decent living with a small farm — any farm.”
Right now, Eagle Trees Farm is doing the hard work that comes with the early season and looks forward to a balanced Washington market that supports small farms. Each 4/20, they deliver cookies made by their mom to budtenders around town. In the summer, they host a family-friendly river party at the farm where they provide farm tours, live music, great food, and a chance to celebrate the local cannabis community. Supporting small cannabis farms like these puts money back into the local community, and contributes to a sustainable future for the industry. And for those who want to advocate for small businesses, writing your representatives about supporting legislation that directly supports small cannabis businesses goes a long way.
To learn more about Eagle Trees or find their products near you in Washington, check out EagleTrees.com.
Former U.S. House speaker-turned-cannabis industry lobbyist John Boehner is accused in a lawsuit of stealing data and talking points from another cannabis advocacy firm before backing out of a deal to join the group, according to a New York Post report. Boehner had signed an agreement to become co-chair of the 10 Campaign in 2018 but the following year launched his own group – the National Cannabis Roundtable – and the 10 Campaign alleges that Boehner “repackaged” the group’s talking points as his own.
“Boehner served to legitimize the industry … and paved the way for other politicians, elected officials, and influencers to come to the table after years of opposition to cannabis legislation. And he did it by intentionally misleading [10 Campaign Co-Founder James] Pericola.”
In April 2018, Boehner said his “thinking has evolved” on cannabis despite opposing the reforms while in Congress. In 1999, two years before he would lead the lower chamber, he voted against a bill to implement a voter-approved medical cannabis program in Washington, D.C. In 2004, Boehner, a Republican, was given a 0% score by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, indicating an “anti-legalization stance.” Two years later, he was ranked a -30 by the advocacy organization – indicating a “hard-on-drugs” stance. A -30 is the lowest score a lawmaker could receive.
The lawsuit contends that in 2018, Pericola approached Boehner’s aides and Squire Patton Boggs after Attorney General Jeff Sessions struck down the Cole Memorandum and that Pericola saw the former speaker as the perfect man to normalize cannabis – with his cigar habit and conservative base. Pericola then sent Boehner proprietary materials and both parties signed non-disclosure agreements. The lawsuit alleges that Boehner used those materials to start the National Cannabis Roundtable.
“I did not make this decision lightly and realize we are taking on Goliath, but the truth matters and we look forward to our day in court.” – Pericola to the Post
The lawsuit contends that Boehner, who joined the board of Acreage Holdings in 2018, has been living the “high life” and making millions off of fees associated with his cannabis dealings, although it is unclear the extent of his cannabis-related earnings.
Senators from both parties are supporting a plan to include the SAFE Banking Act in a separate bill – the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act – that is intended to bolster the nation’s supply chains and manufacturing, The Hill reports. The SAFE Banking Act, which would give cannabis companies normalized access to banking and financial services, was included in the House version of the law – the COMPETES Act – which passed the chamber in February.
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray (WA), the third-ranking Senate Democrat, is leading the effort and told The Hill she is “fighting every which way” to get the measure included in the Senate bill. The SAFE Banking Act has passed the House six times but has never been voted on by the upper chamber.
“This is a cash only business right now. It’s dangerous for the employees. It’s dangerous for the patrons, and it can be fixed.” – Murray to The Hill
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is one of nine Senate Republican co-sponsors of the bill and told The Hill that he thinks other Republicans could support including the SAFE Banking Act in the legislation.
“We’ve got nine Republican co-sponsors officially on it, close to 50 Democrats,” Daines said in an interview with The Hill. “There are some other Republicans that I’m confident if we had a vote, would vote for it. So, we’ve got the votes to pass the SAFE Banking Act as a standalone, if we’d like to.”
Steven Hawkins, president of the U.S. Cannabis Council, told The Hill that advocates “really have an open playing field to push for passage of” the SAFE Banking Act because broader legalization reforms are likely on hold until the end of summer after Democratic leadership indicated they would delay introducing a bill until August.
“Clearly it’s not aimed for passage this Congress if it’s coming out in August,” Hawkins said in the report. “Even if it comes out sooner than that, it’s too late in the calendar year.”
In a letter to lawmakers last week, the American Bankers Association and bankers groups from all 50 states urged Senate leaders to include the banking bill in the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.
The SAFE Banking Act is a narrowly tailored solution designed to bring this growing industry into the regulated banking system and provide much-needed visibility into its financial activity,” the letter states. “The inability of the state-licensed cannabis industry to access safe and regulated financial services is a pressing concern for so many of our nation’s communities and the banks that serve them.”
Workers at a Gresham, Oregon cannabis growing operation walked off the job on Monday claiming their employer is blocking their efforts to join a union, according to an OPB report. Workers and officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 CBN Holdings have been interfering with unionization efforts involving about 20 employees who work in multiple roles at the company – from nursery to packaging – and six walked out.
Justin Brown told OPB that he was one of four workers who was fired after initiating the unionization process, which he called “very suspicious” timing.
“It was after we had signed union cards, it was after we had been talking about it. We did have some co-workers talk with at least one of our managers about it.” – Brown to OPB
CBN Holdings chief operating officer Matt Hurd said the company had just learned about the organizing efforts on Monday and denied the company was interfering with the employees’ efforts. He added that assertions that anyone was fired due to the effort “is completely false.”
“This morning’s walkout by a small group of 6 employees, was the first that any union has been mentioned,” he told OPB, “and Cannabis Nation was completely unaware of any efforts to unionize.”
Hurd said that the UFCW had not contacted national authorities to form a union on behalf of the workers.
Brown indicated that the efforts to unionize were sparked by safety concerns, including training in the handling of pesticides and the lack of fire drills. Hurd defended the company’s practices saying employees “undergo extensive and ongoing training to keep them safe in the workplace” and that the company has “an open-door policy for employee complaints.”
UFCW said the state’s legalization law failed to lay out clear rules for unionization and UFCW Local 555 Secretary-Treasurer Sandy Humphrey told OPB that has left workers “without a legal process allowing them to address unsafe working conditions, insufficient pay, and lack of access to healthcare.”
Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission Chairman Steve Hoffman resigned from his position last week, the Boston Globe reports. The move comes just months before his term was set to officially end in August. He was the last of the five original commissioners who kicked off the program in 2017.
The now ex-chair did not give a specific reason for his resignation but said in a statement to the Globe it was “a natural inflection point when the time is right for a transition in leadership.”
“Throughout the past four-and-a-half years, the work of the commission has been sometimes challenging, often exhausting, but always gratifying. The commission now consists of recently appointed members, and it is appropriate that they pursue their own vision and take on the next generation of challenges.” – Hoffman, in a statement, via the Globe
Hoffman added that he would continue to “root” for the program and encouraged the Legislature to take up reforms to set up a cannabis tax-driven social equity fund that would include forgivable and low-interest loans, which was approved by the Senate last month. The measure, which is awaiting approval in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, would permit towns and cities to vote on allowing on-site cannabis consumption and includes an amendment to set up a drugged driving commission to look into developing technology and reliable methods to test drivers for cannabis impairment.
In this episode of Fresh Cut, Cara Wietstock meets with Kim Myles, host and designer for the new reality series High Design on Discovery+, where she travels around the country bringing her interior design wisdom to independently-owned cannabis dispensaries.
The pair take a deep dive into Kim’s passions for design and cannabis, and how her experiences as a winner of reality design competition Design Stars and host of the multi-season series Myles of Style led her to her new platform.
They also discuss how Kim combines her desire to make clients feel welcome in dispensaries with experiential factors that lead to increased sales, how she became interested in dispensary design in the first place, and much more. This is an episode you don’t want to miss: watch the full interview below!
The New York Supreme Court has ruled that a $600 million lawsuit against multistate cannabis company Acreage Holdings and nearly 30 other defendants can move forward, Syracuse.com reports. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants participated in the scheme to illegally push a partner out of a medical cannabis license.
The lawsuit names as defendants representatives of New Amsterdam Distributors, LLC, New York Canna, Inc. and other high-profile individuals including former Syracuse police chief Dennis DuVal and former WCNY president and CEO Robert Daino. DuVal and Daino founded New York Canna in 2013, which was later acquired by Acreage, and the lawsuit details a number of mergers, takeovers, and transactions in the company’s history, the report says.
The lawsuit contends that the plaintiffs, EPMMNY, LLC, played an instrumental role in obtaining the medical cannabis licenses under which Acreage currently operates and that the company and other defendants violated a contract for the ownership, management, and control of the business license. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2018.
Judge Andrea Masley ruled that EPMMNY has the capacity to move forward with the case, attorney Lawrence Lonergan, who is representing the plaintiff told Syracuse.com. Defendants had sought to dismiss the lawsuit during the pretrial evidentiary hearing.
The lawsuit seeks the value of the license – $200 million – in addition to $400 million in punitive damages and control of the license.
ATLANTA, May 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — via HempWire — Organa Kannalytics, an advocacy organization seeking to bring legitimacy to the hemp and medical cannabis industry through science and education, is pleased to announce the 2022 Southeastern Hemp and Medical Cannabis (SHMC) Convention and Expo will be held May 12-14 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to the live event, the conference will be available virtually via livestream.
The multi-day SHMC expo will offer networking opportunities and break-out sessions covering medical use and practices, as well as business opportunities in the hemp and cannabis space. Other topics will include the latest in scientific advancements and local, state and national legislation affecting the growing cannabis and hemp industry.
“We’re excited to offer people from all over the country in the cannabis space a place to connect and learn about the latest developments in our industry,” said Bridgett Graham, CEO of Organa Kannalytics. “After unavoidably postponing last year’s event due to Covid-19, we’re thrilled to welcome people back to Atlanta to meet face-to-face at the region’s top cannabis conference and expo. This year we will have outstanding keynotes, many new exhibitors and an informative Women in Cannabis luncheon. Whatever your interest in the cannabis business, you’ll be able to connect, learn and be inspired by your participation.”
SHMC keynote speakers will include Grammy award-winning producer Dallas Austin and former NFL wide receiver Tavarres King. Austin’s cannabis passion stems from seeing so many talented musicians and artists lost to the opioid epidemic. As a 7-year veteran of the National Football League playing for the Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants, King saw first-hand the results of injury and over-prescribing of painkillers in the NFL. Motivated to address these issues, he co-founded Rowdy Wellness, a CBD company headquartered in Atlanta focusing on research, education and developing quality products for overall health and wellness.
Special events at the conference include a “Women in Cannabis” luncheon on May 13 at noon, featuring a panel discussion by women entrepreneurs and executives selected from the cannabis industry. Women who work in the industry or are interested in working in the cannabis industry are encouraged to register for the luncheon.
Organa Kannalytics has been actively monitoring updates in the Covid-19 situation for the upcoming SHMC expo. The team is committed to keep all event staff, attendees, speakers and exhibitors safe. Organa Kannalytics is in frequent contact with public health authorities to ensure the appropriate event-related decisions are made. For the live SHMC event, health and safety protocols will be in place and Covid-19 testing will be available onsite. All who plan to attend should consult relevant public health authorities about matters related to Covid-19 and use this knowledge to inform their decisions.
In keeping with established SHMC policy, no THC products will be permitted on the event premises.
For tickets to SHMC and to explore sponsorship, speaker, exhibit or volunteer opportunities at the convention, please visit https://www.organakannalytics.com.
About Organa Kannalytics
Organna Kannalytics, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is a consulting agency, medical cannabis dispensary, educational research center and the organizer of the annual Southeastern Hemp and Medical Cannabis Conference. Organa Kannalytics’ mission is to bring legitimacy to the hemp and medical cannabis industry through science and education.
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Ohio’s Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CRMLA) has filed a lawsuit claiming state GOP leaders House Speaker Bob Cupp and Senate President Matt Huffman are attempting to delay a vote on the state’s adult-use cannabis initiative until 2023, the Cleveland Dispatch reports.
In Ohio, initiatives go first to the state legislature for consideration after they receive enough valid signatures. If the legislature fails to pass a bill encompassing the initiative’s scope, the measure can then be approved for November ballots.
On January 3, the legalization group submitted the first round of signatures to Secretary of State Frank LaRose. However, his office determined the petition fell short of the 132,887 valid signatures needed to advance the measure. The coalition returned in the following days with enough valid signatures, prompting the secretary of state’s office to send the measure to the Legislature for consideration on January 28.
However, with Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in opposition as well as other Republican leaders, lawmakers have so far failed to take action on the issue. In Friday’s testimony, lawyers for the Republican leaders took issue with the timeline the ballot language came to the legislature. The attorneys argue the adult-use measure had to be approved, not just submitted, prior to the legislative session. Emails disclosed during a hearing last week revealed that lawyers with Attorney General Dave Yost’s office agree with the Republicans’ counsel that the question should be put off until 2023.
The advocates’ lawsuit claims the January 28 submission date was met on time and asks a judge to allow the process to move forward. If the ruling lands in their favor, advocates will have until July to collect more signatures to put the question on state ballots later this year.
Maridose LLC, a Florida-based research firm, is in the final stages of obtaining a federal license from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to grow cannabis in Maine for medical research, the Portland Press Herald reports. Maridose is one of at least 37 companies that has applied to the agency to cultivate cannabis for federal research.
The DEA announced last year that it would approve applications to cultivate cannabis for research purposes. The decision ended the University of Mississippi’s half-century monopoly on growing research-grade cannabis for the feds. There are about 600 researchers throughout the U.S. who have federal approval to research cannabis but only one source to obtain research material.
Maridose is founded by Richard Shain, a former Procter & Gamble executive and product development specialist, and partners with Tikun Olam, Israel’s largest legal grower and supplier of medical cannabis. Shain told the Press Herald that the company plans to contract with researchers for specific strains and described the amount of cannabis they could grow as “minuscule.”
“We won’t be sitting there with 50 pounds of cannabis, waiting to sell it to the researchers. We’re not planning on growing mass generic strains. We will custom-grow the amount needed for the study.” – Shain to the Press Herald.
It’s so far unclear how many permits the DEA intends to issue. In the rule published in the Federal Register, the agency included cost estimates for three and 15 sites but did not commit to a number. Cultivators must have safeguards to prevent the diversion of cannabis to the illicit market, and the ability to provide an adequate and uninterrupted supply to researchers.
Tikun Olam won Israel’s first license to grow and administer medical cannabis in 2005 and U.S. researchers that use Maridose cannabis would be able to access clinical data collected from the 20,000 patients that have been treated with Tikun Olam’s cannabis
Between 2017 and 2020, the DEA increased its cannabis production quota from 472 kilograms to 3,200 kilograms. During that same period, the agency increased the number of registered researchers from 371 to 595.
A group of licensed cannabis retailers in British Columbia, Canada are suing the province for $40 million over what they claim is a failure to crack down on illegal cannabis shops on First Nation land, Global News reports. The lawsuit claims that each retailer has seen “a $500,000 yearly reduction in gross sales due to business lost to illicit retailers operating on reserves with the knowledge of the defendants.”
The lawsuit was filed on April 27 and lists B.C.’s attorney general, the minister of public safety, and B.C.’s Community Safety Unit as defendants. It names 14 companies as plaintiffs.
“These illicit retailers on Indian Reserves are not authorized under British Columbia law to operate retail cannabis stores. There is no retail cannabis store license issued by the (Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch) in relation to these retailers.” – the lawsuit statement of claim via Global News
The lawsuit contends that the unlicensed retailers are selling products that originated in the unregulated market or illegally obtained products that were not purchased from the B.C. government as required by provincial regulations and federal law.
The plaintiffs allege that the defendants have repeatedly been advised of the unlicensed sales occurring on First Nation lands “with specific information regarding the location of the illicit retailers. However, the defendants have failed to act.”
Along with seeking $40 million in damages, the plaintiffs want an order requiring the defendants to enforce the Cannabis Control and Licensing Act to prevent unregulated cannabis shops no matter where they pop up in the province.
New York’s top cannabis regulator said during a public forum on Saturday that adult-use products could be available from conditional cultivators in the fall, Syracuse.com reports. The estimate comes just weeks after officials awarded conditional cannabis cultivation licenses to more than 50 companies and farmers currently licensed to grow industrial hemp.
Cannabis Control Board Chair Tremaine Wright also told Central Harlem Community Board attendees that conditional dispensary license holders will be eligible to receive loans with interest, as opposed to grants or interest-free loans. Wright said that regulators aim to add a grant and/or zero-interest loan program and that she expects 200 businesses will receive conditional dispensary licenses.
Last month, the Cannabis Control Board approved draft regulations for those conditional retail licenses and reserved the first batch for “justice-involved” applicants – or those who have been convicted of, or whose parents, spouses, or children were convicted of, a cannabis offense prior to New York’s legalization. A Siena University poll in March found that 54% of New Yorkers opposed that plan.
Office of Cannabis Management Director Chris Alexander, agreed with Wright that sales by conditional licensees would begin in the fall but that general licensed businesses probably won’t launch until the end of this year, or early next year.
“By fall, we should have some products that are ready to be harvested,” Alexander said in an interview with Syracuse.com. “We’ll have the conditional growers, we’ll have the dispensaries online – some of them, at least – and so we’ll have a full supply chain and an active market.”
Last week, major food and beverage companies and trade associations wrote a letter to Congress urging them to stop the proliferation of cannabis products that mimic their brands. The companies say that the “copycat THC edible products create risks for children and must be stopped.”
In the letter, the companies contend that “Children are increasingly threatened by the unscrupulous use of famous brand logos, characters, trademarks, and trade dress on THC-laced edible products.” The letter features images of the brands often infringed on, including Trix cereal, Cheetos, and Oreo.
“While cannabis (and incidental amounts of THC) may be legal in some states, the use of these famous marks, clearly without approval of the brand owners, on food products has created serious health and safety risks for consumers, particularly children, who cannot tell the difference between these brands’ true products and copycat THC products that leverage the brand’s fame for profit. While law enforcement focuses on addressing illegal sales, this unscrupulous practice has pointed out a gap in existing law – the widespread online sale of packaging that leverages these famous brands.” – Letter via the Consumer Brands Association, April 27, 2022
The companies call on Congress to amend the SHOP SAFE Act to include protections for famous marks. The legislation currently seeks to create liability for electronic commerce platforms for advertising, sale, or distribution of goods with counterfeit marks that “implicate health and safety.” The brands say the THC copycat brands “clearly” fall under the purview of the bill’s health and safety provisions.
The signatories include Post Consumer Brands, LLC, Kellogg Company, PepsiCo, Inc., General Mills, Mondelēz International, Inc., and several industry associations.
The chairman of the Kansas Senate Federal Affairs Committee, state Sen. Rob Olson (R), told the Kansas City Star last week that while he believed the Legislature was getting closer to approving a medical cannabis bill, he does not expect it will be this year.
“You’ll see it in full effect in the next few years,” he said.
The House passed a version of the bill last year, but it stalled in the Senate. The chambers had convened a conference committee last Thursday to work on the bill but negotiators were unable to finish the legislation before the Legislature adjourned, although they could continue their efforts in May, the report says.
Under the legislation drafted by the committee, medical cannabis would be available to patients suffering from one of more than 20 qualifying conditions and allowed to obtain a 30-day supply with a purchase limit of three ounces for flower products – which would be capped at 35% THC. Physician recommendations would be valid for 90 days, after which they could be renewed for another 90 days.
The bill would provide licenses for cultivators, processors, laboratories, distributors, and retailers. Individuals would be barred from licenses if they’ve been convicted of a felony unless that conviction was expunged at least 10 years before the application is submitted. Counties would be allowed to enact local bans on the industry.
Under the measure, regulators would have to promulgate rules for the program by January 1, 2024, so even if lawmakers had approved the bill this session, patients would not see relief for at least a year and a half.
A bill proposed in California would allow cannabis to be sold at farmers markets and establish permits for offering cannabis at temporary state-licensed events, KCRA 3 reports. The measure passed the Assembly Business and Professions Committee on Tuesday.
The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Jim Wood (D), told KCRA 3 that the focus of the legislation “is to help legal cannabis farmers who grow less than 1 acre of cannabis get consumer recognition for their unique products” as the state has done for its craft beer, artisanal wine, and family farm industries.
“Giving these smaller farmers opportunities at locally approved events to expose the public to their products increases consumer choice and offers farmers a better chance to reach retail shelves which is their ultimate goal. This is not about circumventing retailers, but growing the industry overall.” – Wood in a statement to KCRA 3
The measure is opposed by the United Cannabis Business Association which argues that it violates the state’s adult-use cannabis law.
Genine Coleman, executive director of Origins Council – an advocacy organization that represents the historic rural cannabis-producing regions across California with about 900 members – told KCRA 3 that she supports the bill, saying that it is “really critical” for smaller producers “to have direct marketing and sales opportunities with consumers.”
Davis Farmers Market Alliance Executive Director Randii MacNear said, though, that even if the bill passes, the farmers market is a “food business” and that “cannabis is not a food.” She added that the final decision would come down to the Davis City Council.
The bill has been sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Canopy Growth laid off 245 employees on Tuesday, about 8% of its workforce, in an effort to reduce company losses and approach profitability, Marijuana Business Daily reports. The company, a federally licensed cannabis producer in Canada, said in a release that the move would save up to $150 million CAD over the next 12 to 18 months.
Canopy, which has yet to turn a profit and is struggling with falling sales in Canada, is partially owned by Constellation Brands, a major alcohol distributor.
The recent layoffs follow a familiar trend for the company since appointing CEO David Klein, who previously served as Constellation’s CFO — since then, about 1,600 employee positions have been, according to the report.
Additionally, the company has liquidated multiple greenhouses in Canada, shut down its outdoor cultivation operations, and shuttered its Denmark-based facilities.
“To realize profitability and power growth, we are taking critical actions to further evolve Canopy Growth into an agile organization with a clear focus on the areas where we have the greatest potential of success. These necessary changes are being implemented to ensure the size and scale of our operations reflect current market realities and will support the long-term sustainability of our company.” — CEO David Klein, in a statement
Canopy is one of the few publicly-traded cannabis companies, trading as WEED on the Toronto Stock Exchange and CGC on the Nasdaq. The internationally focused company has operations in Canada and Germany and has committed to acquiring the U.S.-based firm Acreage Holdings when federal legalization there is finally realized.
This article was written by Ethan McLeodand originally published by Outlaw Report.
When Jonathan Wall’s federal cannabis-trafficking trial begins next week in Baltimore, there will be no discussion of the fact that cannabis is now legal in 18 states and counting.
That’s the order from U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, who on Tuesday approved a pretrial motion by prosecutors calling for the court to bar any discussion of the ongoing cannabis legalization movement across the United States. The Justice Department filed the motion late last week, requesting that the U.S. District Court of Maryland preclude Wall’s defense team “from asking questions, presenting evidence, or making arguments regarding the way the law in other jurisdictions treats marijuana.”
“Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance and under federal law, it is [a] crime to conspire with others to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana,” prosecutors wrote in their motion. “The fact that other jurisdictions have legalized marijuana, decriminalized marijuana, are considering decriminalization of certain quantities of marijuana, or have declined to prosecute individuals for crimes involving marijuana, is not relevant to the issues at this trial.”
The motion adds that “evidence and argument of this sort is not relevant and should be excluded from this trial.”
Wall’s case has attractednationalattention. It was recently publicized in a Washington Post ad that asked, “Who will be the last person incarcerated for marijuana in the United States?” The Maryland native was indicted by a grand jury in 2019 for allegedly moving more than 1,000 kilos of weed cross-country over two years, from California to his home state.
Federal authorities allege that Wall served as the architect of a cannabis trafficking that used commercial freight haulers to move “hundreds of pounds of marijuana at a time” during cross-country trips. He was working from Humboldt County, where he moved at the age of 20 when authorities began cracking down on the scheme in 2019.
Wall fled the country after his indictment in the fall of 2019 but turned himself over to federal authorities at LAX Airport the following summer. Now 27, he’s facing at least 10 years in prison and has been detained in Baltimore’s Chesapeake Detention Center, a maximum-security prison, for almost two years.
Advocates, joining Wall’s family and his attorney, have called attention to the case as a cruel example of U.S. drug policy. They note the legal cannabis industry is raking in tens of billions of dollars annually, and that 18 states plus the District of Columbia (potentially joined by Maryland and others this year) have enacted laws allowing adults age 21 and up to consume cannabis recreationally.
The Biden administration has so far failed to deliver on campaign-trail promises of legalization or even decriminalization. Biden himself took a new step Tuesday in commuting the sentences of 75 people with nonviolent federal drug convictions on their records. However, on the same day, U.S. Attorney General and Biden appointee Merrick Garland declined to say whether the Justice Department will resume following a piece of Obama-era guidance to not interfere with state-level legalization policies, which former Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded during President Donald Trump’s term in office.
Biden has yet to announce any plans to legalize cannabis at the federal level, even as Congress considers measures from both sides of the aisle to tax and regulate the plant.
“Right now there is this profound inconsistency in this country,” Wall’s Denver-based attorney, Jason Flores-Williams, said in an interview with Business Insider last year, nodding to Maryland’s lucrative medical cannabis industry. “I go to court in Maryland, and then just 40 miles down the road you’ve got a 72,000-square-foot warehouse that’s rented out for the next 20 years because someone was smart enough to buy it and convert it into a pot grow and rent it out.”
That outcry has been a key part of Wall’s defense with his May 2 trial date approaching. He’s attempted twice to have the court dismiss his case on geographic procedural grounds as well as equal protection grounds “due to disparate and arbitrary enforcement” of federal drug laws, given the widely varying legal climate from state to state.
Reached by phone on Wednesday, Flores-Williams declined to comment specifically on Gallagher granting the federal prosecutors’ motion, saying only, “we are facing challenges in this litigation, but the fight for justice always involves challenges.”
Wall’s trial is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Monday at the U.S. District Courthouse in downtown Baltimore. As of Wednesday, a petition on Change.org for Wall’s case to be dropped had gathered nearly 16,000 signatures, making it one of the top petitions on the platform.
The New Hampshire Senate on Thursday voted down two bills to legalize cannabis in the state, the New Hampshire Bulletin reports. The bills had been approved by the House of Representatives earlier this year.
One of the bills had been pared down to remove home grow provisions in an effort to make it more palatable to the Senate but came up two votes short, 11-13, the report says. The complete version of the bill was defeated 15-9.
The chamber also defeated the legalization bill that would have put the state Liquor Commission in charge of the industry – that measure was killed in a unanimous voice vote. The Senate Ways and Means Committee last week had deemed the legislation “inexpedient to legislate.”
During Thursday’s debate, state Sen. Becky Whitley noted that the Granite State “has become an island in New England” with “overly burdensome regulations of cannabis that are out of sync with what the scientific health and social data says.”
“Thirteen-point-nine times: That’s the number of times that Black people are more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession when compared to white people in Manchester, despite both groups using marijuana at roughly the same rate.” – Whitley via the Bulletin
According to a recent University of New Hampshire poll, 74% of New Hampshire adults support cannabis legalization; however, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu in March said he was unsure whether the state was ready for legalization.
The bill’s defeat in the Senate likely marks the last opportunity for enacting the reforms this year.
Three cannabis-related bills in Maine took effect on Tuesday without the signature of Gov. Janet Mills (D). The bills cover cannabis home delivery and curbside pickup, the expansion of legal protections for caregivers and other medical cannabis access reforms, and the repealing of prohibitions on hiring cannabis industry applicants with certain prior cannabis convictions.
Mills signed into law a fourth measure providing the opportunity for municipalities to receive financial reimbursements for costs associated with licensing and regulating cannabis businesses.
NORML State Policies Manager Jax James said in a statement that the bills are “common-sense changes” that “will further facilitate patients’ and others’ access to medical cannabis products and will provide opportunities for greater inclusivity within Maine’s licensed marijuana industry.”
The legislation permits reimbursement of up to $20,000 for expenses like legal fees and other costs associated with drafting or amending ordinances, conducting town meetings, or holding elections, according to a Financial Regulation News report. Funding would come from the Adult Use Marijuana Public Health and Safety and Municipal Opt-in Fund, which receives its funding from sales and excise taxes imposed on adult-use cannabis sales.
The bill allowing home delivery and curbside pickup includes language allowing the delivery of immature plants and seedlings. All deliveries must be conducted by licensed retailers and all customers must be 21-and-older.
The measure addressing state caregivers provides many new protections, including limiting the circumstances under which a law enforcement officer may access a location in which a caregiver, dispensary, manufacturing facility, or cannabis testing facility operates. The bill also limits disclosure to a law enforcement officer of information that could reasonably identify an individual patient’s identity without a warrant requiring the disclosure.
The bill also prohibits regulators from requiring a registered caregiver, registered dispensary, testing facility, or manufacturing facility to use a particular electronic system for tracking inventory.
The legislation also authorizes the use of telehealth for medical providers to meet with patients seeking a medical cannabis recommendation and allows for educational materials to be given to patients electronically.
Series C Comprised of Leading Fintech Investors Including: Long Ridge, Kayne Partners, and Synchrony Financial
SAN FRANCISCO, April, 20th, 2022 – Treez (www.treez.io), the leading enterprise cloud commerce platform that powers retail and supply chain operations for the cannabis market, today announced completion of a $51 million Series C funding at a valuation in excess of $260 million.
The round brings new investment from Long Ridge Equity Partners, a New York-based growth equity fund focused on high growth software and fintech companies, Kayne Partners, a Los Angeles-based growth equity group, and Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF), a leading consumer (B2C) financial services company. Existing investors also participated in the round.
JMP Securities LLC, A Citizens Company, served as exclusive financial advisor to Treez.
Treez will use the funding to fuel its aggressive sales growth, accelerate product innovation, including developing new payments and advanced analytics solutions, enhance the functionality of its open cloud commerce platform for single-store and multi-store operators, and expand its geographic reach. Already, Treez has unveiled new integrations that enhance online ordering and delivery options for retailers. Treez was also one of the few cannabis technology companies to achieve a successful SOC 2 Type 1 audit earlier this year, demonstrating the company’s commitment to compliance and customer data security. The company has recently expanded into two state regulated markets, and now supports retailers in eight states.
As part of the funding round, Treez named Angad Singh, partner at Long Ridge, and Gowri Narayanan, an experienced FinTech investor and global leader, to the Board of Directors.
Nishita Cummings, managing partner and co-head of Kayne Partners, the growth private equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, and Josh Aycock, principal at Synchrony, were named as observers on the Board of Directors.
“We look forward to working with a renowned group of investors and new board members with deep fintech expertise,” said John Yang, CEO of Treez. “They are very excited about this space, aligned and supportive of our vision to deliver the most innovative open cloud commerce platform that powers retailers’ growth as the industry moves forward.”
This latest funding round follows Treez’s 82 percent revenue growth in 2021, where it was recognized as one of the fastest growing companies by Inc. 5000 and Deloitte Technology’s Fast 500. Last year, it expanded its workforce by 40 percent across 19 states and three countries.
About Treez.io
Treez is the leading enterprise cloud commerce platform that streamlines retail and supply chain operations within the cannabis market. Through its innovative technology for retailers and brands, the company provides a robust breadth and depth of software solutions required to operate a successful modern dispensary.
Solutions include point of sale, dispensary inventory management, omnichannel sales capabilities and multiple cashless payment options all on a mission-critical platform that ensures regulatory compliance across every supply chain transaction. The innovative platform also connects essential brands with their retailers through a centralized brand catalog with real-time market insights. The extensible open API platform provides smooth integration into a variety of best-of-breed solutions, including CRM, marketplace, cashless payments and data analytics across the partner ecosystem, giving retailers everything they need to grow their business.
