Search Results for "massachusetts"

Curaleaf Completes Acquisition of Grassroots

7/24/2020

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Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. has completed its acquisition of GR Companies Inc. – better known as Grassroots – making it the largest vertically-integrated multi-state cannabis operator in the U.S. by revenue.

The deal expands Curaleaf’s presence from 18 to 23 states, 135 affiliated dispensary licenses, 88 operations dispensaries, more than 30 processing facilities, and 22 cultivation sites with 1.6 million square feet of growing capacity.

The deal was announced last July for $875 million in cash and stock. Grassroots Co-Founder and CEO Mitchell Kahn, who was named to the Curaleaf board of directors at the deal’s close, said the companies have “a combined strategic vision to create a dominant position in the industry.”

Joseph Lusardi, CEO of Curaleaf, said the deal firmly established the company’s market leadership position.

“The integration of Grassroots is expected to be immediately accretive to our financial performance, with our unprecedented scale providing significant opportunities to leverage Curaleaf’s powerful consumer brands as well as new form factor innovations across our expanded national presence.” – Lusardi in a statement

Curaleaf now operates in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, and Vermont.

Under the announced terms of the deal, Curaleaf paid $75 million in cash, 102.8 million subordinate shares of Curaleaf, and $40 million in Curaleaf shares priced at the 10-day volume-weighted average price prior to the transaction’s closing.

Curaleaf also this year completed their acquisition of Select brand parent company Cura Partners Inc. and last month announced that they were expanding that brand into four new state markets through next month.

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Jake Bullock: Redefining ‘Social Drinking’ With Cannabis

7/23/2020

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Cannabis beverages are becoming more and more common as the industry takes shape. As a self-made expert in cannabis beverage infusions, Jake recently joined our podcast host TG Branfalt to discuss Cann‘s company history, explain how his background in mainstream finance influenced his decision to enter the cannabis space, and describe cannabis consumers’ rapidly changing preferences, which have placed a new emphasis on low-dose and microdose cannabis products.

Tune in via the player below, or scroll down to check out a full transcript of this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode!

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Read the transcript:

Commercial: This episode of The Ganjapreneur Podcast is brought to you by CannaPlanners. CannaPlanners is on a mission to normalize the emerging cannabis industry through beautiful design and professional web and marketing solutions. Whether you’re looking to create a new cannabis brand, improve your packaging design, or get your company online, CannaPlanners has the perfect solution. Your website is the window into your cannabis company. Make sure that you look awesome, that your messaging is on point, and that traffic converts to customers through SEO. From CBD companies to dispensaries and everything in between, CannaPlanners has you covered. Visit them online today at cannaplanners.com for a free web demo. That’s cannaplanners.com.

TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host TG Branfalt. And thank you for listening to the ganjapreneur.com podcast, where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by Jacob Bullock. He’s one of the co-founders of Los Angeles, California-based Cann. They’re the makers of Cann social tonics, a low dose cannabis-infused beverage. How are you doing this afternoon, Jake?

Jake Bullock: Doing all right. How are you TG?

TG Branfalt: I’m great, man. I’m great. I’m really excited to talk about this. So, as many of the listeners on this show know, I actually don’t consume any alcohol. I don’t live in a legal state. I’ve actually never lived in a legal state, but through the underground markets, I’ve obtained many different sort of beverages, from the syrups… When I went to Michigan, I bought a bunch of root beer. I went to a Cannabis Cup there. When I go to Massachusetts, I try to find drinks. They’re not often available there, which is really frustrating. So talking about drinks in particular is something I’m very excited about.

So before we get into the culture and the products, tell me about yourself, man. How’d you end up in the cannabis space?

Jake Bullock: It’s kind of an interesting story. So I had grown up in Colorado and that kind of was the foundation for me. I’d followed the legal industry there as they sort of went recreational legal as the first state. And have been prior to starting Cann, worked with consumer brands. I’d done stuff in finance, banking, investing, consulting. Actually met my co-founder, Luke, as a management consultant in San Francisco. And the common thread there was really working with consumer brands.

And I always knew that I wanted to start a consumer brand. And it was right as I got to business school in California that California went through its Legalization process for the rec market. And it kind of was like this perfect storm of timing, where I had these two years of business school where you wake up every day and go to class to sort of think about these ideas and this new industry that was sort of transitioning into a legal industry in California right at the same time.

And so I got really excited about spending those two years thinking about, what would you do in the space and what would that look like? And for me, having followed what happened to Colorado and thinking as a consumer or sort of what products would resonate, a beverage was the most obvious thing. We have thousands of years of human history socializing around beverage. If you think about how most folks consume mild intoxicants, whether that’s caffeine or alcohol, we’re doing it in a beverage and we’re doing it in a micro dose in a beverage. And so the idea was, what happens? What does that look like in the cannabis industry? Can you create a product that sort of looks and feels like an alcoholic beverage, but with maybe not a lot of the downsides and a lot of the really positive sort of social buzz. And so that was the idea.

TG Branfalt: So you end up at some point during your career at Bain Capital, correct?

Jake Bullock: Correct.

TG Branfalt: And a lot of people associate Bain Capital with Mitt Romney Republicanism, right? And this sort of vulture atmosphere, right? And that’s not to say that that’s true or false, that’s just sort of the social conscious sort of way that they think about it. So how do you go from Bain Capital to the cannabis space? I mean, it seems like such a jump.

Jake Bullock: Yeah, it’s interesting. I mean, in some ways it is, right? I spent a lot of time at Bain Capital, before that at Bain & Company, before that, investment banking. Works in sort of a traditional mindset, right? Whether it’s client services or whether it’s investing. Waking up, having a very clear path about what you’re supposed to do, you’re working on a team, often with a lot of really smart people, but you sort of do the same thing over and over again. And in some ways there’s differences, but for the most part, it is sort of a corporate grind. And you think about that path and the politics and how do you move to the next level? And what does that require? And do you even like what you’re doing every day, right?

All those questions were ones that in more ways or not hit me while I took this two years to go to business school. And I think personally about my career in life up until this point, have always been really rewarded by taking risks that felt really uncomfortable and really different than what was expected of me. Even though in those moments there was a lot of short term anxiety and fear, potentially that things would go wrong and it would be terrible mistake. Leaning into those experiences in my life has actually served me really well. And so I kind of approached this problem similarly, which was, wow, are you really going to give up a career in investing and start brewing a cannabis beverage in your basement or garage? Which is where we started.

And you kind of approach it the way that I think smart people do, which is you talk to consumers. You ask them like, am I crazy? What do you think of this product? Would you use this? And you try to convince yourself that it makes sense. But that doesn’t take away how big of a risk it felt at the time and how scary it is in the moment.

But like I said, I think that to really break out of that grind, out of those expectations, and do something that you really love and that you’re excited about. We first started testing some of these beverage products and some of them were terrible, but some of them were really good, and the good ones were exciting. I mean, you would see people’s eyes light up and they would be like, you have to do this. You’re telling me that you’re going to do this. This needs to exist. And those are really cool moments where you’re like, okay, maybe there’s something here.

TG Branfalt: So what about your peers in the investment industry? What was their response when you told them that that’s what you are passionate about and that’s what you were going to do next?

Jake Bullock: Yeah, it’s interesting. So one of the things you learn while investing, and I learned, was how to describe an opportunity, particularly a financial one, right? I think I did a good job of selling them on the opportunity. I had no idea how hard and how crazy it was going to be, and in hindsight, I probably wouldn’t have done it if I knew.

But the interesting people were actually not my investing peers. It was friends and family, people really close to you that are sort of saying, what are you thinking? This is crazy. And one of the hardest things I think about starting any company, let alone something in the cannabis industry where there still is a little bit of a stigma, particularly in certain parts of the country, is the people closest to you are often the ones that are the least supportive, are the ones who have relationships that are sort of founded in fear and want you to sort of be the least risky as you can possibly be. And that’s really hard, because in those moments when you’re thinking, do I do this or not? They’re really lonely moments.

TG Branfalt: You had mentioned the challenges that you had. Can you describe to me some of those challenges that you faced when launching this company? I mean, you say you started it from your garage. I mean, that alone, to build something from your garage is a testament, right? So can you just sort of tell me about the journey, of the challenge?

Jake Bullock: Yeah, definitely. So we started kegging prototypes of this product in our garage, force carbonating it. We got a little pony keg and a little CO2 tank. Juicing ginger in a blender to try get that extract flavor. Playing around with all sorts of different formulations, dosage levels. And then bottling them in these brown bottles and sending them off. At the time I was in business school so I was sending these off with classmates basically, in six packs, and having them come back and say, okay, how many did you have? Did you share them? What was the effect? What did you like? What didn’t you like?

TG Branfalt: You had to do your own marketing research.

Jake Bullock: Yeah. A hundred percent.

TG Branfalt: Wow.

Jake Bullock: And did it face to face with consumers. And I think that was such a powerful point in the early development of the product, because you learned a ton. This is when we sort of settled on two milligrams as being the right amount of THC in a product. And that still to this day is somewhat controversial, but we saw it. We saw it in people’s eyes and in the data, in their feedback when they talked about this product. And that was the sweet spot. That was what allowed people that were first time, never to cannabis consumers, to consume one or two. And it allowed people that were more casual consumers of the product to do three, four, five. And that felt right, that’s sort of like how you might drink alcoholic beverages. And so, those types of learnings were huge.

I think the hard stuff… There’s so much, there’s so many things that were hard. For me personally, moving to my parent’s basement and living out of there for six months while we tried to formulate and fundraise and do all that stuff, was quite the experience.

And something that I wasn’t really expecting, if you would have asked me maybe five years ago where my career would have led me, me and Luke trapped in a room for six months, just the two of us, trying to figure out what this brand really stands for and what it says about people and what the voice and the culture and what matters in the company is. Convincing first people to come work for us was really, really hard. I mean, why would anyone do that? That seems like a crazy idea. And having to sell them on the vision and why this product matters and then actually having them join was this incredible experience.

And then thinking about how this job more from developing a product to then making that into a company and how does that fit strategically into this industry that has a whole host of challenges? In some ways we started out getting really excited about developing a consumer brand, right? That was our energy. That’s where our backgrounds were. And we probably spend 10% of our time talking about brand. We’d love it to be a hundred. The other 90% we’re spending on regulatory compliance, operations, all this stuff that’s just not very fun or exciting and only has downsides. But you have to do it because that’s what we signed up for. And so, I could go on and on about all the crazy hard things we’ve had to go through, but-

TG Branfalt: It’s sort of wild because you don’t have this background in brewing. You don’t really have this background in market research. But you do have this background in investment and money. And in January, you guys closed a $5 million financing round, which congratulations.

Jake Bullock: Thank you.

TG Branfalt: And then since then, I’ve read several reports that indicate financing in the space has been drying up lately due to first low company valuations and now the coronavirus. What’s been your experience either trying to find maybe additional financing or conversations with others in the space about financing right now in the industry?

Jake Bullock: Yeah. It’s really hard. And it’s been hard, really, since the fall. I think there are sort of two things that you identified there that are important. The first was, the cannabis industry, before even COVID-19 really, we started talking about that in a serious way, cannabis industry was having some issues. And I think it was primarily driven by the public market, the really big cannabis companies underperforming expectations, which had sort of an effect all the way down the entire market, just even to small folks like us. And I think primarily that’s been because in the early days of states legalizing recreational cannabis, there was a lot of energy behind oh, the entire industry in the state that wasn’t the black market is now going to the legal market and that just hasn’t happened. It’s been much slower. The implementation of regulations have real impacts. There are tons and tons of taxes which can often protect a black market.

And the biggest thing that we think is really slowing the transition in a lot of these states is the product mix. That you still have a lot of products that make sense for really, really heavy cannabis users, folks with high tolerances. We know cannabis tolerances are exponential, so they’re folks that over time, and particularly daily cannabis users, that need those products. But there’s so many more that don’t, and they come into a dispensary for the first time, say when you open up in Illinois or California, in these big cities, and they have no idea what to do. Or they’re recommended a product and they have a budtender tell them, oh, this is 10 milligrams, maybe take half of it and they take the whole thing. Or they even take half of it and that’s too much, right? So we think the product mix needs to evolve.

And the products at Cann are two milligrams. We’re the lowest dose on the market in California for THC, and that’s a perfect entry point for somebody that is looking to have a good cannabis experience and never have that scary, anxious, “I was too high,” or paranoid feeling. So we think that needs to transition.

The other big thing that you pointed out was COVID. And so that’s creating a lot of issues now as well. And I think it’s one of those things where it’s very much a wait and see. I know that for us, the retail side has been really challenged with shelter in place and curbside pickup only. A lot of dispensaries either didn’t have that in place or had to very quickly spin it up, which has been challenging. They’re seeing traffic way, way down. Where on the delivery side, it’s the complete opposite, right? Delivery platforms are adding thousands of customers every week. And there’s a real sense that folks that maybe weren’t interested in trying cannabis products are trying them for the first time, maybe after spending six weeks quarantine drinking alcohol every night, it’s driving them crazy.

So, all those things are creating a really, really challenging fundraising environment. Our view has been, in one way, we’ve been really lucky, which is we’ve been able to access capital outside of traditional cannabis investors. We’ve got both cannabis investors and non-cannabis investors in our portfolio. So the round that you mentioned, the five million that we recently closed, was led by Imaginary Ventures out of New York city, who this is their first investment in cannabis. And they think of us as a social beverage, right? THC happens to be our functional ingredient. Just like a lot of other social beverages may use caffeine or other adaptogens as their functional ingredient in their beverages, ours is THC.

And really what we’re trying to do is get people to drink 10, 20, 30% less alcohol and drink Cann instead. That story is a really interesting one that sort of transcends what’s happening in cannabis, into what’s happening in traditional consumer CPG. If you think about all these better for you products that take sort of an existing product, like for us it’s alcohol, but for others it may be meat, or it may be pasta, and they swap out the negative ingredient with an alternative. It’s kind of what we’re doing in some ways. And so, there’s a real opportunity for that.

We also had Global Founders Capital come in. It was their first cannabis investment. And that round was also led by …, which is a great cannabis investor. And so you have a little bit of both. We’ve taken the approach of, for us to really be successful we need to have one foot in the cannabis industry and one foot out of it because we’re constantly taking learnings from both places and bringing them together in this company.

TG Branfalt: So in your opinion, why did these institutions, these capital institutions, take that shot on you guys and your company for the first time, for their first investment?

Jake Bullock: Right. Yeah. I think there’s a lot of things we have going, and the first thing is the product. You have to try the product. I mean, every meeting we have with folks we’re like, have you tried the product? How do we get you to try the product? Because there’s really something special about the flavor. I mean, this is something we designed to be an innovative product in and of itself. This is not sort of, oh, it’s X, but we added cannabis. We were like, what is that new category of cannabis beverages that function a lot like light beer in that they have the same potency, but no hangover, low calorie, but not like zero calorie. We don’t need fake sugar or sugar substitutes. And so we spent a ton of time formulating this product to be that. People love it. They fall in love with it. They try it, they’re like, wow, this is incredible.

And then you have, I think, the moment, the timing, which is… When we first started this company, people were like, this is way too early. You should wait. Wait another two years. It’s too early for cannabis beverage. And then everything came out about Constellation and Canopy and they’re saying, oh, it’s too late. You missed the boat. And it’s like, okay, well maybe if people are saying it’s too late and too early, we’re probably somewhere in the right zone there from a timing standpoint. If you think about broad consumer trends, a lot of people are frustrated with their alcohol consumption. 21 out of 25 adults want to moderate or reduce their alcohol consumption. We’re seeing it even grow further with quarantine.

And a lot of folks are saying, oh, I’m not going to a bar or a restaurant. How do I socialize? What does that mean? What does socializing look like where I can’t drink a handful of alcoholic drinks at a bar? And that’s really cool. We’re taking advantage of that in some ways, by trying to get people to swap out Canns for their alcohol. And so the timing I think is also pretty good, which helps get an investor like that over the hump.

And then I think the third thing is, we have an awesome team and they’ve done an incredible job of executing in a really tough environment. I mean, the California cannabis market is hard. We’re selling a product we often say, which is like selling light beer in speakeasies at the end of prohibition, right? No one in a speakeasy wants light beer. They’re looking for liquor, and they’re totally fine with the liquor. And liquor is going to continue on and be a huge market. But so was light beer. And then that opportunity is what’s being missed, and it’s primarily because of the distribution sort of restrictions that we have in place. But we think that will change. Now it may take a while, but waking up every day and trying to convince folks that, hey, cannabis is not that scary. It’s better than alcohol. Alcohol is the worst thing you do to your body. We feel good about our ability to do that.

TG Branfalt: So, as I said at the top, I love cannabis beverages. I also love low dose beverages. I regularly will take five milligrams and it makes me feel great. I’m also a heavy consumer. I mean, I smoke quite a bit. So for me, I sort of bridge both, right? Because I don’t drink, I do use low dose cannabis in social situations, so I’m not eating everybody’s meals. What’s the pitch or what’s the appeal for Cann tonics for daily heavy cannabis consumers? Is that a demographic that’s included in your marketing, your longterm vision?

Jake Bullock: Yeah, it’s a great question. So the way I would try to sell you if you came into a dispensary and they were sampling Cann wouldn’t actually be, this is the perfect product for you. It would be something little bit different, which is, have you ever been in a situation where you have a bunch of friends that aren’t huge cannabis consumers, but you are? You don’t really want to drink alcohol, they tend to drink alcohol. And how do you sort of introduce them to cannabis? Your friends, people that you want to spend time with, but maybe choose to drink alcohol as their mild intoxicant of choice. And so what a cool way, if you’re hosting a party, if you’re going to a party, to bring a six pack of Cann and sort of introduce your friends that aren’t as into cannabis as you, to cannabis. It’s such a safe product for them, they are guaranteed to have a good experience. And it’s controllable, right? So they can have one, two, three, four, depending on what they want to feel and the timing that they’re thinking about spending.

And so that’s kind of how we think about it for folks that are maybe daily cannabis users. Now we hear interesting stories of people that are saying, oh, I love drinking Cann while smoking, because I get high and then it’s this nice sort of like THC/CBD blend that helps me through that. Or folks that say, yeah, I can’t always smoke everywhere I go, so crushing a couple of Canns is great. But again, that’s going to be a really, really mild buzz for them, but we hear it, so…

TG Branfalt: So is it sort of your thought that the industry is… Or are you seeing the industry in California… Said that your product is the lowest THC on the market. Do you think that it’s trending towards low dose and microdosing?

Jake Bullock: We’re definitely seeing that. I think one of the things that’s slowly happening, but it’s definitely happening, is you’re seeing folks that had a bad experience with cannabis in the past. Maybe this was like a brownie in college that they’ll never forget, or maybe recently in sort of the early days of the rec market in California were eager to get in and had a bad experience, that were sort of lapsed cannabis consumers that are coming back. And when they come back they know to say, I do not want to get too high. I had this horrible experience. What is the lowest thing? And there’s some great products on the market. And I think some of the really interesting ones that we see that aren’t beverages that are also low dose are growing really well. The mints that often can be really low dose seem to do really well as well. And so you’re starting to see that.

I think the other thing is beverage as a whole as a category is getting a little bit more traction, both low dose and some of the more moderate and higher dose beverages as people start thinking about… One of the biggest change has happened is emulsion technology has improved a lot. And so you don’t have those like really oily mouthfeel, sediment, particulates coming out of the beverage. They tend to be much stronger than maybe they would have been two years ago. And so you’re starting seeing people going to the one you’re seeing dispensaries putting in refrigerators and then the bud tenders and folks going to those refrigerator and being oh, this is interesting. I never thought of a cannabis beverage.

And we’re shocked the amount of times people say, I didn’t even know there were cannabis beverages. And we’re like, oh, this is what we do every day. But it’s still so new. I mean, I think it’s one or two percent of the market today in California. But of all the products that you look at in a dispensary today or on a delivery platform, I think it’s the category that has the potential to take the most share going forward. It would not surprise me in 10 years if you look back and 50% of the cannabis industry is beverage. It would kind of make sense. And you’d be like, oh yeah, that makes sense. Like, alcohol is in a beverage, so is cannabis.

TG Branfalt: Yeah. And something I’ve noticed about cannabis beverages in my experience with them is that, with alcohol, a beer tastes like a beer, right? I mean, your light beer tastes like a light beer. And that the cannabis beverages that I’ve generally tasted have always been very flavorful. And this goes to the root beer and the other stuff that I’ve tried. So just sort of a question, so in Massachusetts, for example, the dosing is capped at five milligrams. You cannot get an edible that’s a dose more than five milligrams singular dose. Are you guys sort of banking on these low dose sort of regs to keep passing? Was that something that was integral in your thinking? Is going, hey, they’re going to cap these at five or ten milligrams, so if we’re at two, we’re already well under. Are you sort of positioning yourself for future markets with that milligram?

Jake Bullock: Yeah, it’s interesting. So it was never a thought process of ours that the regulations would force us to be low. We actually kind of thought about it as, what is the right number of Canns you can have in any given setting? We think about sessionability a lot, which is like, okay, how do you think about dosing? Well, who’s your consumer and how many can they have? And we believe very strongly that that number was more than one. And a lot of the products on the market were definitely one or under that. And so, that was the foundation for thinking about where we should be from a dosing standpoint.

I think when we look at the bigger picture, having been in it for a couple of years, the way that we think this really takes off our product specifically, is that you have a bifurcation in the cannabis industry where products under a certain milligram of THC are treated differently. So if you think about some states where you have alcohol laws and essentially liquor can only be sold in one type of store, a liquor store, a state run liquor store, whereas beer and wine, you can get in the grocery store. It’s kind of that model. So we don’t know where those thresholds will ultimately land. Maybe it’s five, maybe it’s under five. But they’re just different products. And the risk in the safety level around a two milligram edible or beverage is so different than what you might find on the higher end, and so they should be treated differently from a regulatory standpoint. If we’re ever going to have consumption of cannabis and alcohol alongside each other, if we’re ever going to have cannabis sales in traditional retail, it’s going to have to be the lower dose stuff.

And that’s kind of the path that we think we have forward to ever being in a bar, for example, or ever being available in a grocery store. It’s probably a ways away. But I think one of the things that will be interesting to observe is, as more states continue to legalize recreational programs, and you start to see a lot of the really positive benefits from that, I don’t know a bar or restaurant owner that wouldn’t rather have a mix of their cannabis consumption. Just tends to be better for all of the negative outcomes that they’re worried about. Liability issues, people getting sick, people fighting, consumption of food. So there’s all sorts of really good, positive things, I think, over time that we’ll start to see. And I think you’ll see some of the folks that are opposed to those regulations will start softening.

TG Branfalt: I can definitely tell you, I know a couple of bartenders who wish that they never saw me drunk in my life. Wished they just saw me years later when I would just come in ripped.

Jake Bullock: Right, right.

TG Branfalt: Do you think that the future that you envision, where alcohol is sold alongside of cannabis or alongside cannabis beverages, do you think that that would require sort of a mass shift towards social use laws as programs go online? Because right now you just have basically California, they allow it city by city, Alaska allows it statewide, Denver, Colorado allows it, but that’s really about it. Do you think that would really sort of move the industry, especially the beverage industry, the canna beverage industry in the direction that you sort of foretold?

Jake Bullock: Yes. I think a hundred percent it will. I mean, one of the big challenges we have is around trials. If you think about, we sell our product in six packs. We think that’s the right amount to purchase at one time, similar to how you might buy a six pack of light beer. But the reality is, you probably tried that light beer in a bar and you just got one. And then you’re like, oh wow, I really like this brand, I’m going to go find it in the store. We don’t really have that ability in cannabis beverage. And so, how do you get people to try that first product and then want to come back and purchase more? And there’s something special about trying it in a social setting.

Now what’s interesting. And what we think a lot about at Cann is, what are the right social settings and spaces for our product? And maybe it’s not a loud bar dark with a lot of music and bar stools. It could be a totally different environment. We have fun as a team thinking about, if we could design one of those spaces, how it might be different than what’s optimized for our current alcohol consumption. And I think we’re starting to see that. You have a few in California, consumption lounges popping up. If those experiments go well and are successful and they manage the model and the risk really well, I think it provides a great example for other states looking to safely sort of expand their cannabis industry into social consumption.

TG Branfalt: So, you had said earlier that right now the canna-beverage space is about a one to two percent in California. Like I said, in Massachusetts, I’ve been to three dispensaries there and could not find a beverage in any of them. It’s something that just weren’t on any of the menus. Why do you think A, that right now, it’s still such a small percentage of the California market and B, why aren’t we seeing them sort of more ubiquitous on dispensary menus?

Jake Bullock: So we think, I mean, at a very high level, there are two things that are probably causing this. The first is, we talked about the dosing. When you do see beverages, they’re often way, way too strong for somebody to consume the entire thing. And that just doesn’t really make sense. The value of a beverage, the reason we drink beverages, is that you can kind of have this over time sipping, whether it’s a tea or coffee or an alcoholic beverage. It takes up time. It takes up space. It’s sort of an event in and of itself. You might sit down and do it with a friend or a handful of friends. That doesn’t really work in the context of a hundred milligram, 50 milligram beverage. And so it’s like you almost lose the social benefit of the form factor.

And then the other big thing is, this is not an easy product to manufacture. It requires expensive capital equipment, for sure. The processing is tricky, the emulsion science, stability, depending on your formulation. There are all these really tough sort of food, manufacturing, food science, questions that have been sort of slow to be adopted in the industry, primarily because there just hasn’t been the demand. It’s like one of these things, if it’s 1% of the market, why would you go invest in really expensive equipment and food scientists to help you go do this, when you can just start cranking out all these tried and true products. That’s going to change. I think it will take some time, but it takes products like Cann that are low dose that still tastes delicious for people to really come around and be like, oh, I see the potential. I see the future.

And these products are popping up. I mean, we probably follow it more closely than others, but we’re really excited to see more beverages like ours, because we think that you need that category to really exist. And you need dispensaries, like you say in Massachusetts, to put in big refrigerators and add a bunch of beverage brands, whether they’re like us at two milligrams on the low end of the spectrum, or even all the way up to a hundred. Just making this a category where people think about beverage and what use cases are right for what type of beverage, is going to be a great improvement over what we have now, which is in some cases, nothing and in others, very limited selection.

TG Branfalt: This, Jake, has been a really, really super insightful conversation about a space that I think is overlooked because I love it. When I go to dispensaries, I’m heartbroken when there is not a beverage, because I’m there with my friends. My friends, they end up going to the bar and what am I to do? So I really want to thank you for just being so forthcoming and really sort of peeling back some of the layers, because there’s so few opportunities for me to have this discussion. Before we get to further information about how to contact you, what advice would you have for entrepreneurs either in the cannabis space at large or those who are thinking about the cannabis beverage space?

Jake Bullock: Yeah. So I would say the most important thing and some of the best advice that we got early on, when you’re thinking about entering, developing a product, does it make sense? Is it worth committing to this career? Is really approach the prototyping process like you’re right. And approach the testing process, the listening process to your consumers, like you’re wrong. And so we would say prototype like you’re right and listen like you’re wrong. You will learn so much from consumers. And I think that the real success behind Cann was doing that early human centric design that set us up for success.

TG Branfalt: So finally, where can people… That’s great advice, by the way. I mean, that’s something I’ve never heard on the show before and I’ve asked this question literally hundreds of times. So, it just sort of goes to show, the insight that you have is really sort of different than a lot of people that I do have on the show. So, where can people find out more about you, find out more about Cann, and find out more about Cann social tonics?

Jake Bullock: Yeah, definitely. So we are www.drinkcann.com, and also on Instagram at @drinkcann. And if you’re in California, you can order our 24 packs from our shop.drinkcann.com site, which is the best price for Cann out there.

TG Branfalt: That’s Jake Bullock. He’s one of the co-founders of Los Angeles, California based Cann. They make Cann social tonics, a low dose cannabis infused beverage. Thank you so much, Jake, for taking the time to come on the show. And I may one day make it back to California if I ever get out of my house, and I will definitely be on the lookout for the Cann social tonics. Thank you so much.

Jake Bullock: Yeah. Thank you, TG.

TG Branfalt: You can find more episodes of the ganjapreneur.com podcast in the podcast section of ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes store. On the ganjapreneur.com website you’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. Oh yeah. We’re also on Spotify. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. I’ve been your host TG Branfalt.

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iAnthus Recapitalization Plan Could Leave Shareholders With Nothing

7/16/2020

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Multi-state cannabis industry company iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. announced on Monday a recapitalization transaction that will leave current shareholders with 2.75 percent of the company or zero percent.

In one scenario of the transaction, the company will enter “arrangement proceedings” under British Columbia, Canada’s Business Corporations Act. The other option is for recapitalization under the Companies Creditor Arrangement Act (CCAA), which would see the company file for creditor protection.

The company said the transaction “is expected to significantly reduce [its] outstanding indebtedness and annual interest costs, improve its capital structure and liquidity, and result in an enhanced financial foundation.”

“Assuming completion of the Recapitalization Transaction, the Company’s pro forma outstanding indebtedness will be reduced from $168.7 million (excluding fees and accrued and unpaid interest thereon) as at June 30, 2020 to $101.4 million (excluding $20 million of Preferred Equity).” – iAnthus in a July 13 press release

If the recapitalization transaction occurs through the Business Corporation Act, the firm’s secured lenders and unsecured debt holders will be issued an equal amount of common shares of iAnthus and each will own 48.625 percent of the company. This would leave current shareholders owning a total of 2.75 percent of iAnthus upon completion of the transaction.

If performed under CCAA, the secured lenders and unsecured debenture holders will each receive 50 percent of the common shares of the company and shareholders would get nothing.

Additionally, outstanding secured debentures will be cut from $97.5 million to $85 million and the interest rate will be reduced by 5 percent per annum. The original maturity date will be extended over four years, interest will no longer be “cash pay,” and the conversion feature will be removed. Another $60 million in unsecured debentures will be traded for equity.

Preferred equity of $5 million will be issued to the secured lenders, while $15 million will be issued to unsecured debenture holders, with the equity having a five-year maturity and no cash pay dividends.

Some of the company’s secured lenders have also agreed to lend iAnthus another $14 million on the same terms of the restructured debt, funded within three days of the support agreement.

All holders of secured debt owed to the company and 91 percent of iAnthus unsecured debenture holders have agreed to vote in favor of the plan of arrangement that is to be filed by the company. That plan is subject to stakeholder approval.

iAnthus operates in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont.

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Introducing Mehka King & CashColorCannabis

7/07/2020

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The story of CashColorCannabis is the story of believing in yourself, your voice and knowing when to pivot.

For those who don’t know me, my name is Mehka (pronounced Mecca). I’ve been a full-time journalist since 2004. Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, I’ve lived in the South for the last 20 years after attending Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It was while holding a co-editor role for the Johnson C. Smith Student News in 2000 that I realized how much I love and respect the art of journalism.

After college, I launched my own website, lastwordonline.com. Once a month I would interview upcoming rappers. After a year and a half in existence, I was able to catch the eye of several publications.

I would go on to contribute stories for the likes of XXL, Slam, Hip-Hop Weekly and Rolling Out and HipHopenquirer.com.

For a majority of my life, Hip-Hop culture was everything to me.

But like most things you do repeatedly, you can get bored. I did. It was in 2012 to be exact. I had just moved to Atlanta. After a few months of taking on freelance jobs, I had the feeling that it was time to do something else.

So I left altogether and went to work for a non-profit company.

A chance trip to Denver in 2014 sparked my interest in writing again. This time, it wasn’t about Hip-Hop.

This was after Colorado had decided to allow for recreational use of cannabis.

While in Denver, I can become fascinated with the culture of cannabis. To watch people casually smoke weed in public and go to dispensaries was new to me. I saw magazines about weed and the business of it.

After going back to Atlanta, I still had that new car feeling. I wanted to tell everyone about what I saw, but more, what I didn’t see.

When I flipped through magazines or went to websites at the time, I didn’t see Black people.

It was like Black people didn’t smoke weed or cared about the business. Neither of those was true. So I decided to do my part to change that.

In 2015, I put my money together and started to film “The Color Green: Cash, Color and Cannabis.” The documentary was supposed to take a look at the industry at the time and ask the question, “Why are we not seeing more Black people getting involved.”

I recorded that all the way up until mid-2016. After looking at the footage, I really didn’t feel like I was telling a full story.

For me, true cannabis culture includes Hip-Hop. It includes conversations about generational bias. It was politics and pop culture.

Rather than ditch the idea, I switched the idea.

In 2016, I pitched the concept of CashColorCannabis Podcast to Herb, owner of Live Hip Hop Daily studios.

I told him the concept and he loved it. He had Tuesday at 9pm open and if I wanted it, I could have it.

Doing a show like this wasn’t easy at all.

Even in a time when the discussion of cannabis legalization was high, me doing a podcast based around this burgeoning industry and all that surrounds was still a foreign concept. That goes double when you consider where I’m doing this from.

While Atlanta seems fairly progressive, Georgia is not. So it took a lot of courage for me as a Black man, to host a live show where everything from cannabis consumption to mass incarceration would be discussed.

I have had several people turn down the show in our first season due to fear of arrest.

In due time, we would find our audience.

I wanted our show to not just tackle cannabis directly.

Every week, we get to discuss bridging generations, pop culture, politics, racism and more.

200+ episodes later, CashColorCannabis has morphed into an entertainment news blog and curating live events across the country and a clothing line.

Since we first started the show, we have hosted Freeway Ricky Ross, Attorney Gerald Griggs, rap legend Big Gipp, cannabis activist Dasheeda and Ice Dawson, Hope Wiseman and more.

We hope that through CashColorCannabis, we hope to not just normalize cannabis conversation in the Black community, but to change the perception of the Black cannabis consumer.

In 10 years, we want to be known as the B.E.T. of cannabis. From the podcast to producing content for others, I want people to seek out CashColorCannabis when they want to really understand the Black experience from an honest perspective.

So follow us on our journey. Subscribe to the podcast and our blog and help us grow “A Higher Level of Conversation.”

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Curaleaf Expanding Select Brand Into 4 States

6/30/2020

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Curaleaf is expanding its recently acquired Select brand into four new state markets between now and August, the company announced on Monday. The expansion includes Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Florida and, once complete, Select will be available in 13 states.

Curaleaf announced the acquisition plan of Select parent Cura Partners Inc. in May 2019 for nearly $1 billion in stock. However, by February 2020, the deal was finalized for less than $400 million after cannabis industry stocks experienced sharp declines and led to lower overall company valuations in the space. In 2018, Cura recorded $118 million in sales and was Oregon’s largest cannabusiness.

Joe Bayern, president of Curaleaf, said the brand has since “performed tremendously well” in its current markets.

Select Elite and Select Nano Gummies will launch in Curaleaf’s home state of Massachusetts on July 3 along with company-branded Nano Gummies which will be exclusive to the firm’s dispensaries. In late-July, the company’s Select Elite oil cartridges and Nano Gummies will be available in Maine medical dispensaries. Nano Gummies are also expected to be available to Florida and Ohio medical cannabis patients by mid-August.

Currently, Select products are available in Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Connecticut.

Curaleaf is also in the works of closing their deal to acquire Grassroots. Once complete the deal is expected to expand Curaleaf’s presence from 18 states to 23, with over 135 dispensary licenses, 88 operational dispensary locations, more than 30 processing facilities, and 22 cultivation sites with 1.6 million square feet of cultivation capacity.

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David Kessler: Optimizing Indoor Cannabis Cultivation Facilities

6/10/2020

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David recently joined our podcast host TG Branfalt to discuss the potential of Agrify’s cultivation technology, the important role being played by data collection and analysis in the modern cannabis industry, his advice for entrepreneurs who are feeling overwhelmed by the advent of technology in cultivation practices, and more!

Tune in to this week’s podcast episode via the media player below or scroll down to find a full interview transcript.

If you are a commercial cultivator and you haven’t already downloaded the free report that Agrify has published about indoor air quality, click here.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the transcript:

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

TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host TG Branfalt. And thank you for listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast, where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by David Kessler. He’s the vice president of Horticulture and Customer Success for Agrify, a developer of premium indoor-grow solutions for the cannabis and hemp marketplace, whose mission is to assist horticulturalists in producing the highest quality crop possible, with consistency, and superior yields. Kessler interestingly also served as a consultant and hydroponic system designer for the Hunger Games film.

How you doing this afternoon, David?

David Kessler: I’m doing great TG, and thank you so much for having me on the show. Really excited to be here with you today.

TG Branfalt: I’m delighted, man. I was really like talking to people who can talk about cultivation. Because as I’ve said on the show, people who listen know I’ve never grown a cannabis plant. I, for the first time, the other day sprouted some vegetable seedlings. So these conversations allow me to fill in a massive knowledge gap that I have and also helps inform that the listeners. But before you drop some knowledge on me man, tell me about yourself, your background, and how’d you end up in the cannabis space?

David Kessler: Sure. It’s an interesting story, because I actually started cultivating cannabis before I ever consumed cannabis. I had a lot of friends in my late teens that were cannabis enthusiasts. And I didn’t understand why they focus so much attention and time on cannabis, whether it was getting cannabis or being able to use cannabis to medicate, but it took up an inordinate amount of time. And I didn’t understand. Because the seeds literally came in every pack that they got. And so for me, as someone who had been used as child labor, my mother grew fruits, vegetables, and flowers. My father was an award-winning rose grower. I naturally had that green thumb, that background. And so the thing I did before I was ever even consuming at all, was to learn how to grow the plant. And I fell in love with it. I fell in love with the genetic diversity, the differences in the various genotypes or the phenotypes, the flavors, the aromas, the aesthetics.

And from there continued, and started consuming. But then I just didn’t see it as a viable career option at that point. And so I went to university, I studied to become a lawyer. And before going to law school, I decided what I really love is plants, and I don’t want to do something I’m not passionate about for the rest of my life. So I went back to school for graduate work in horticulture. And that fostered an incredible level of opportunity in a lot of really diverse weights. So it allowed my various interests and expertise to kind of intersect.

And I opened an orchid nursery. I became a judge with the American Orchid Society. So I’ve traveled the world, looking at flowers, internationally. Started doing a facility and hydroponic system design consultations. And then that actually turned into some grant writing. Won a six-figure grant from Google, and started bringing science and technology or STEM curriculum into the public schools. And from there, got hooked up into these consultantships for Hollywood. So I got to consult on the Hunger Games film franchise, the Allegiant series, more recently Black Panther. And then someone gave me this opportunity. I never thought I’d have, to grow cannabis legally or to work with a technology company that fosters that. And I jumped on it. I’ve never looked back, and I’ve never been happier.

TG Branfalt: That might be the most wild background for any cultivator that I’ve ever heard. So I got to ask you a couple of questions. First is, so you talk about the genetic diversity. And you’ve worked a lot of plants. You studied horticulture. Is cannabis the most genetically-diverse plant that you’ve personally dealt with?

David Kessler: It depends on how we want to look at that question TG. And the reason I say that is this. From a genotype background, cannabis genetically doesn’t have a lot of speciation, doesn’t have a lot of varieties. In fact, the government only recognizes one species, cannabis sativa. Cultivators kind of push on that. And they’ll be dichotomies between sativa, indica, ruderalis, chinensis. But ultimately if we’re only talking about four or five species, that’s not really a diverse group of plants. When I fell in love with orchids after cannabis, I did so because they had a high value, they were really beautiful, really coveted, and they have the most diversity of implant family on the planet. There’s over 50000 natural species. So if you think about that 50000 times the number of species of cannabis, and there’s over 250000 registered hybrids.

And that’s a point that I just want to talk about just quickly. With orchids not being illegal, there have been records kept of every species, every hybrid, every hybridizer, going back into the 1850s at the Royal Horticultural Gardens in ACU. And with that knowledge base, we’re able to really understand the breeding of those plants, what traits are dominant and what those expectations are. What’s interesting about cannabis from the diversity standpoint, even with those minimized number of species, because of the huge diversity of chemotype, the chemicals actually produced by the plant over 400, you get this incredible variance in actual expression.

And so whether you love those fruit flavored strains, or maybe you’re more on the gassy side of things, whatever your preference is, it’s the recombination of the DNA that we have, that leads to that various expression and that diversity that so many cannabis enthusiasts, and cannabis producers really strive for. And what we’re looking for is not something that’s good, but something that’s great, something that’s exceptional, a very unique combination of DNA that produces a plant or a flower that really has a unique chemical profile, and that chemical profile might be an expression of potency. It might have certain medical effects, but it also might be producing a certain aroma or an aesthetic, like some of the new slurry cane hybrid, almost a white. It’s hard to find green under all the tricombs.

So what I love is that diversity, and the ability to take a genome, a particular set of DNA, and really push it to see what it can become in an optimized environment. And that environment might be the cultivation environment, it might be having to do with how long it’s in a particular stage of its life. But there’s a lot of work to be done to understand the boundaries of what cannabis can do as a plant. And now that it’s come into a legal status, we’re able to really foster that understanding and Agrify’s technology is able to help not only discover what those maximized potentials can be, but also to get some consistency and reproducibility of those traits.

TG Branfalt: So before we get to the Agrify technology, I got to ask, just about, you said that you were growing cannabis before you were using it. Can you tell me about your journey to actually becoming a consumer?

David Kessler: Sure. You know, again, I had lots of friends that were quite enthusiastic about cannabis, and I just didn’t understand why when they were given the seeds, no one tried growing it. So initially I started just planting them in soil in the backyard, and in pots around the house, and seeing what would happen. And I would get seedlings that get up about six or eight inches and then just wither over and die. And at that point I really decided, “Okay, what I need to do is take an approach that I’m comfortable with. Which is learn everything I possibly can about this, so I can learn how to do it.” I wasn’t comfortable that I couldn’t grow this plant.

So I started learning, reading everything that was available. This was pre-internet. So I’m dating myself. There was very limited information that was available to us at that time. And I started cultivating. I found lights that were being disposed off at a country club. And I learned how to wire electricity so I could use those. And found a place in the basement that I didn’t think my parents would look. I was wrong. And that is how I started my journey. But once I started growing the plant, and understanding that three plants that came from the same seed, the same mother plant, if you will, were so different from one another, even though they had the same parent.

I was surprised, although I look back and I shouldn’t have been. My sister and I look nothing alike. And we came from the same parents. So why would I have expected cannabis to be any different? And it’s that diversity that I’ve loved, and the challenge of growing and maximizing those particular traits that I really feel fortunate to be able to help with today.

TG Branfalt: When did you decide to actually smoke it?

David Kessler: I had a girlfriend, and she was a very heavy consumer. And she convinced me to try it. And the rest is history from there. Was led down the path of sin by a good woman. So it was a great experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I finally understand what my friends were doing, and why they were doing it. And it was from then on just a part of my life. And again, it’s something that I became passionate about. But I just didn’t see it as a career option that I could go back to my parents and say, “I know you want me to be a lawyer or a doctor.” I’m a Jewish boy from New York. Those were the only options, lawyer, doctor, or disappointment. So to go in and have to tell them that, this is what I’m passionate about, it was an interesting experience. And I can tell you one where I didn’t get spoken to for several weeks after.

But once your name is associated with things like Hollywood films, all of a sudden, all of the nay say in the family kind of turned around. And I was in good graces again.

TG Branfalt: Super interesting, man. Thank you for telling me that story.

David Kessler: No. No worries.

TG Branfalt: Tell me about Agrify, and what you specifically do as Vice President of Horticulture and Customer Success.

David Kessler: For sure. So Agrify, I think as you mentioned, is a premium supplier of the indoor agricultural technology and solutions. And what we’ve done is take a different approach to cultivation. I mean, I think a lot of cultivation today has emerged from the illicit black market era. And a lot of the best practices that were used were just scaled as reasonably as possible to address this increase in demand. But what we’ve done is take a different approach. We looked at it as a way of systems engineering, specifically designing hardware and software solutions for cannabis cultivators that really work together.

One of the challenges that we identified in the industry early on, was that a lot of cultivators and investors/entrepreneurs were taking kind of a best-of-breed approach. They wanted the best light. They want the best HVAC system. They want the best computer control system, and fertilizer, and checks and system. But then you’re hiring an integrator and you’re trying to get kind of closed systems to communicate with each other. And that doesn’t necessarily foster the best results. So what we wanted to do is provide that ecosystem of equipment; hardware and software solutions that could really address cannabis cultivation, bringing into practice things like best practices from pharmacology, and horticulture, and plant science. And combining that with proper sanitation procedures from the food production industry. And also involving more commercial agricultural best practices.

And so in doing all of that together, we think we’ve put together a really effective system for cultivators that allow them to produce a very high-quality cannabis flower to do that consistently, and still do it at a reasonable or low cost, making them more viable long term.

TG Branfalt: So how does this tech sort of… I’ve interviewed people from grow box companies, that sort of industry. How does your tech in these vertical farming units is … What sets it apart from similar tech?

David Kessler: Sure. Well, one of the things is that it is in smaller environment, I think, than most of the other, what I would call prefab or box cultivation solutions are on the market. A lot of those cultivation solutions are more hardware driven, like retrofitting shipping containers with more of a traditional cultivation approach. But in terms of what sets it apart, aside from industry leading efficiency on LED lighting and custom design software, is the fact that we’re taking an enormous amount of data, each one of our grow chambers or VFUs, which is only 32 square-feet of floor space, has two layers of canopy. So that’s 64 square feet of canopy. But is taking one-and-a-half plus million data points each year. And because we are amalgamating that data, our clients have the opportunity to review that data, to learn from that. And it’s also a unique approach. If I’m trying to optimize a new cutting, a new strain that was brought in, let’s say law the cake, and I’m in a traditional grove where I have eight flowering rooms. I can only really put it in one room with a lot of other genetics and trying to get it to produce a good result.

Using Agrify’s VFU technology, each one of the VFUs is a completely independent climate. And in that, we have independent testing grounds. So I can take that same cutting, run it in one of the VFUs at 80 degrees, one at 84 and one at 88, and see if the temperature impacts the results that I’m looking for. Maybe it’s not yield that this cultivator is interested, maybe they’re looking for quality. Maybe this is about maximizing the total cannabinoid production. And then from there, maybe I’ll do it again. And I’ll look at optimizing the fertilizer utilized throughout the life cycle of the plant or the CO2 levels. And by gathering all of these data points, and by being able to do these iterative experiments, we’re really able to push the boundary of what that genetic is able to do. And because of the data collection, and the granularly controlled internal environment of each VFU, we can then deliver and reproduce the desired result.

And if you don’t mind, I just want to mention one thing. Earlier I had talked about how the plant, how cannabis can produce over 400 different chemical compounds. Well, the plant cannabis is extremely plastic or variable based on its environment. If I take the cutting and I grow it outdoors in New York, and I take the same cutting and I grow it indoors in a VFU, although it’s genetically identical, the phenotype or the outward expression, the look of the flower, the chemical profile of the two flowers are going to be dramatically different. And that’s because plants can’t move away. And so they react to their environment by kind of changing with that environment.

And so that plasticity is minimized using Agrify’s technology, which means for the first time, cultivators can really start to dial in, not just the recipe by which they cultivate, because a lot of cultivators do that. A lot of cultivators look in kind of develop the fertilizer program, and the light recipe, and so forth. But not a lot of them can control the internal cultivation environment so granularly that you can minimize that plasticity, which allows cultivators to deliver a high-quality product to a consumer that is going to have that same effect, whether it’s a chemical profile or an aroma. But I think that consumers really demand consistency.

If you look at say the adoption of brands like Coca Cola or McDonald’s, they are successful because every Coca-Cola tastes pretty much the same. Whereas in cannabis, I was on a panel in a Michigan conference and they asked, why do people try a strain twice and then not try it a third time? And I said, look, I have to guess that they loved it the first time. They didn’t have the same experience the second time. And they weren’t going to give you a third chance. And so I think in order for entrepreneurs to build brands, they need consistent products, uniformity. And that is really what Agrify delivers.

TG Branfalt: Well, and to your point, I had a guest on a few months ago who they collect basically all of the terpene data, and basically everything comes out of state testing programs where they take terpenes. And he was basically like, “We got the same what was marketed as the same thing, and had the same strain name.” And he goes, “And then we look at the data points and they weren’t even close. But it’s still marketed as it’s an indica, or it’s a sativa. And it had the same strain name.” So could this possibly make… I mean, you’re saying that this is a way to ensure consistency. And so we don’t end up with, as you mentioned dissimilar experiences.

David Kessler: Absolutely. And to your point, I think that, yes, this is a way cultivators can guarantee consistency of their crops. But you’re also bringing up a larger industry wide issue, which is that there isn’t a taxonomic structure. And unlike orchids, which have this huge database of information, and also a specific scientific naming structure to allow us to separate the hybrids. Without that we’re in a situation with the cannabis industry, where there is no right way for naming. So routinely, we see people share cuttings, change the names of those cuttings. In fact, one of the genomic testing companies looked at samples of 39 different strains and found them to actually all be genetically identical, but they were being sold in the California market as 39 different things. And that’s the challenge, that’s the problem. So without kind of a widespread adoption of a taxonomic structure, which wouldn’t be that hard.

For example, if you cross Blue Dream with Green Crack, you might get a particular hybrid. Anyone anywhere on the planet that takes Blue Dream and Green Crack and hybridizes those two varieties together, is going to get that same end result name. But every seed that is produced from that would be a cultivar, a unique variety, because it’s a combination of DNA that’s not identical to others. And so if we can say that this is the name of a strain, this is the name of a cultivar, then all of a sudden we can kind of wade through this confusion or ambiguity that we have.

TG Branfalt: So as somebody who comes from this background where everything is has its place, if you will, in terms of name and breed. And when we were talking about you judging, what would you sort of… Do you have this thing in your brain that would help people create this database, this controlled database to prevent these broad generalizations about products, I guess?

David Kessler: Being a pragmatist, I have to assume that it’s going to be really hard to have a emerging industry, even as nascent as it is, kind of adopt a taxonomic structure this late in the game. But there is a solution. And so the solution is to look at the genomic testing, your DNA doesn’t lie like that company test all the different varieties in California. And so what we can do is say, look, a lot of people call it Purple Punch. Some people call it Purple Pixie, but it’s all genetically identical. And you can actually have strains now, genetically identified.

And so it’s that level of specificity that will remove the ambiguity of the name game in the cannabis industry. And then you still have a huge amount of variance in the phenotypic expression. So your Purple Punch, you might be a better grower than I am, and mine might not have as high a cannabinoid content. You might have a higher terpene profile, whatever that is. And so there’s still room for people’s skill sets to evolve and to be demonstrated as a superior. But what’s really at play is it eliminates the names and in favor of just a pure genetic identifier. And so even the Agrify software, Agrify insights has both a section for a name and a genomic identity as well, so that you can try and limit this kind of ambiguity.

TG Branfalt: I want to just take a step back and talk to you about your role as VP of Horticulture and Customer Success. On its face, it doesn’t really seem like the VP of horticulture the science guy would have a ton to do with customer success. And VP’s of the horticulture are not… it’s not rare in this industry. How does your role differ from others with that title, Vice President of Horticulture?

David Kessler: Absolutely. And I think what it comes down to is a lot of people that are a VP of Horticulture are focused on specifically and only the cultivation, or more likely even just ongoing operations. They have to be more of an operations manager, and produce cannabis as a commodity, as a widget. And so with that in mind, I really get to focus on helping our clients succeed. Because if they’re successful, then that means that we are going to be successful. And so I get to take my unique experiences and skill sets, and help our customers maximize the quality of their genetics. And that might not be the only thing I’m doing for sure. I’m also helping develop biosecurity procedures, and implement standard operating procedures, training new facilities coming online on best practices, or shaping the R and D at Agrify to allow us to maximize the qualities of cannabis even further.

And so, while I wear many hats, ultimately my job is to support our clients, both their current and future success. And it’s something I love. I get to do what my 18-year old self would have thought was one of the coolest things that I could have ever come up with.

TG Branfalt: When you deliver these VFUs, or you start working with a company, I’m sure there’s a learning curve. Can you tell me about what that learning curve is like, and what is the most common question you get from people who begin working with you?

David Kessler: Sure. And if we take a step back, I think that, that question, the common question is, this looks different than how a lot of cultivators are comfortable cultivating. And so even if we look at what is becoming a little bit more popular, which would be an LED and a rack style system, so people can use that vertical space, it still is even more foreign than that. And so the most common question is how do we cultivate in that? And you’ll get, or I hear a lot of concern from the growers themselves. A lot of growers that I’ve met, most in fact are somewhat competitive. They do this as a labor of love, but they also want to be good at their craft. They consider it a craft.

And so what I try and explain to them is that the Agrify technology, the VFUs while different, is ultimately just a toolbox, and we’re not trying to replace growers. This isn’t robotics and automation. We use limited automation to lower the labor, so cultivators can focus on actually improving the quality of the plant. But what I explain to them is that this is a toolbox at their disposal. This isn’t about replacing cultivators. This is about empowering them. We want to give them the tools to grow the best cannabis that they’ve ever grown, that anyone’s ever grown.

And so what we normally have to do is just kind of walk through how the cultivation process works, explain how we can utilize vertical space differently, and manipulate the plant both physically and biochemically using things like photo period adjustments in order to maximize the traits that we’re looking for. And so, while early on we get a lot of discomfort from cultivators, they generally become our biggest advocate because they love what the technology allows them to do, which is improve their craft, and show their scale, and grow great cannabis.

TG Branfalt: Additionally, I mean, this is an indoor setup, and many states require indoor cultivation. And you’re based in Massachusetts, which I’m fairly certain does. Am I correct there, that they require indoor cultivation?

David Kessler: My understanding is, yes.

TG Branfalt: So when that legalization initiative passed in 2018, and cannabis growers needed an indoor solution, did that drive interest in the product?

David Kessler: I think definitely when new markets emerge, there’s newfound interest, and people are somewhat captivated and always looking for a better mousetrap. So absolutely it drove interest. Primarily though, what we saw from the Massachusetts contingency was that with regulations centered around required vertical integration, there was a lot that they had to understand. And they also had to try and estimate what the market was going to be. Do they want to produce flower, or concentrates, or edibles, and how is the market going to respond to that? And then if you have to both cultivate, and then you also have to extract, and then you have to make your value added products, then you have to own a dispensary. There’s a lot involved in that vertical integration.

And so what Agrify wanted to do was provide cultivation expertise, and a method of growing that let clients focus on the business of cannabis as a whole, but let them rest easy, knowing that they had a lot of insight and control over the actual cultivation, and that they didn’t have the kind of key man risks of being tied to a master grower if they themselves, weren’t an expert in cultivation. And so by providing a really valuable service and also some really interesting software, like production planning algorithms that let you model different utilizations of the facility space, and different cost inputs and so forth, they could actually model what was the most appropriate or advantageous way to proceed in the Massachusetts market. And so we were really happy to help those clients find a better way of being vertically integrated in the Massachusetts market.

TG Branfalt: What’s your favorite part of the Agrify tech? Because you have this deep history with gardening in general, with growing plants. What’s the biggest appeal to you? What’s your favorite part of this stuff?

David Kessler: Well, I’ve been doing this a long time. I won’t tell you how long. But I’ve gotten a lot of experience with every facility I’ve designed, with every cultivation round or cycle that I’ve myself undertaken which is many, I have learned. And so what the Agrify technology really is, is the culmination of my wishlist. It’s that granularly controlled environments, and the ability to reproduce that. So if I get a really phenomenal result, I can get it again. There was one point I was growing a California orange strain from Amsterdam. And I swear to this day it was one of the most flavorful varietals that I’ve ever had. And while I cloned it, I was never able to reproduce those results. It was one of the biggest frustrations that I’ve had as a grower. I have the genetic, but I can’t make it do what I did once.

And so Agrify’s technology really is about controlling that environment, producing a great result, and then allowing it to be reproduced time and time again. It’s that consistency that I think is really going to drive client success and the market in the future.

TG Branfalt: What advice would you have for entrepreneurs who are not, I don’t want to say afraid of using tech, but a little averse to… they want that hands in the dirt, or that experience that relies less on technology? What would you say to those entrepreneurs who may be a little nervous about handing that aspect over to technology?

David Kessler: First, that this isn’t a replacement of human beings. Agrify takes a hands-on eyes-on approach to cultivation. The technology is there to help you. In terms of their trepidation towards adopting technology, I would say that unfortunately those that don’t adopt technology are not going to have as an easy time competing in the future. I think as new markets emerge and prices might be artificially high, everyone’s doing great at $4000 a pound wholesale. Colorado last summer experienced sub $800 per pound on the wholesale market for indoor A-grade flower. And that really changes your perspective. You can have ideals and values about not using technology until you can no longer afford to be in business.

And so I would caution them to make smart decisions to adopt technology as they’re comfortable with it, but also just to be open to it. You know, cannabis cultivation as a science is about 100 years behind every other flora culture crop Because of the fact that it was illegal for so long. And unfortunately we don’t have the benefit of all of those decades of research. So in order to compete in a modern time, I think it’s really critical that they start considering the adoption of technology, and to aggregate as point. I really believe that the technology, again, it’s about empowering those cultivators. And once they can get over the fact that the box looks different, they love it. And so I think that that’s really the key.

TG Branfalt: So I want to ask you one last question is, can companies like Agrify and others that do collect a lot of data, how can they work towards filling in this 100-year knowledge gap of cannabis cultivation?

David Kessler: Well, I think the first thing is to start collecting the data. You really need to have data to work from. But from there, you have to then figure out how to parse that data, and then how to translate that data into useful information. And that’s part of what the Agrify insights software really affords and allows, that data collection and that understanding. And so you can go back through and figure out what changed between this cycle and the next cycle in your cultivation of slurricane that got you a 17% increase in cannabinoids, or why is it that this variety for the first time ever produced terpene profiles above 4%. And you might go through and you look at the environmental data, you look at the irrigation data, you look at the light data. And you might realize that there was an anomaly, and prior to harvest the temperatures actually dropped more than they should have. And so that low period of temperatures might be connected to that increase in terpene profile.

And it’s, without those data points, without having a way to look back, you’re never going to be able to figure out where those successes came from. And so what we really value is that, that data, and then the interpretation of that data. And I think that that’s how they will be successful. Is to not just collect it, but interpret it, and then utilize their findings to further improve the process with more iterative experiments, which having instead of eight cultivation rooms, if you have 200 of our VFUs, you’re going to have a lot more ability to experiment with a lot less risk. And you’ll also have a lot easier time collecting all that data.

TG Branfalt: Now I have a lot more questions about experimentation, and we don’t have time for that. This has been really a great conversation, man. I really appreciate you taking the time. And now that I have your email address, I’ll email you when my radishes and my Ps ultimately don’t grow. But where can people find out more about Agrify? Where can people find out more about you?

David Kessler: Absolutely. You can learn more about Agrify by following us on Instagram @AgrifyCorp, or Facebook @AgrifyCorp, or Twitter @AgrifyCorp. You can also find us on LinkedIn @AgrifyCorp. And my personal email address is David.Kessler K-E-S-S-L-E-R @agrify.com. And if anyone would like to have any questions or continue a conversation that might’ve been started during this podcast, I would be thrilled.

TG Branfalt: Well, I am definitely going to be thrilled when I have you on again. And when I can ask you a lot more questions that I jotted down during this conversation that we just don’t have time for. David Kessler, Vice President of Horticulture and Customer Success for Agrify. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

David Kessler: TG. Truly my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. Stay safe, stay well. And I look forward to coming on again.

TG Branfalt: Thank you so much. You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast in the podcast section of Ganjapreneur.com, and in the Apple iTunes store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website, you will find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily, along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

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Columbia Care Sued Over Alleged License Interference

6/03/2020

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Florida MCBD, a cannabis company focused on low-THC products, is suing New York-based Columbia Care claiming tortious interference with contract, unjust enrichment, civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting fraud, and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty over Columbia’s cannabis license in Florida, the New York Law Journal reports.

According to lawyers for Florida MCBD, the company has sought a medical cannabis license in Florida since 2015 and entered into a joint venture agreement with Sun Bulb, a Florida-based nursery, to help it meet the state’s medical cannabis dispensary license requirements. While Sun Bulb lacked experience with cannabis, Florida MCBD filed confidential information related to its expertise as part of the license application, according to court documents outlined by the Law Journal. The state Health Department initially denied the application from the joint venture but over the next two years the partners lobbied the state legislature to allow additional licenses, the report says.

In the court filing, Sarmad Khojasteh, a partner at law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres, said during that two-year period, Columbia “feverishly sought to obtain a license” but the company’s first two applications were rejected.

The lawsuit claims that in the summer of 2017 Columbia Care executives allegedly entered into secret negotiations with Sun Bulb, conspired to defraud Florida MCBD and the Department of Health, and that the companies agreed to pay Sun Bulb for Florida MCBD’s ownership claims to the dispensary license.

Sun Bulb described its new relationship with Columbia Care in updates to the Health Department, but Florida MCBD’s lawsuit claims that Sun Bulb presented those updates as supplemental information, not as fundamental changes to the license application, which the plaintiffs’ attorneys claim were “prepared, paid for, and filed by” Florida MCBD. By the end of 2017 the Sun Bulb and Columbia Care partnership received a state cannabis license, the report says.

In the complaint, Khojasteh also accused Columbia Care of “a pattern of racketeering and tortious activity” in other states, including Arizona and Massachusetts.

The case is filed in New York County’s Supreme Court Commercial Division. Arbitration between the companies is ongoing.

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Eaze Lowers Revenue Projections, Plans Retail Expansion

5/29/2020

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Cannabis delivery and tech company Eaze drastically cut sales predictions and is working to become a vertically integrated retailer – including its own brands – according to the company’s pitch deck outlined by Business Insider.

In 2017, the company estimated it would have sold $1 billion worth of cannabis by 2020, but this year’s pitch deck drops that figure to $190 million, generating $125 million in revenue.

In January, Eaze indicated they would transition to the retail side – raising $35 million a month later from FoundersJT LLC, Rose Capital, and DCM to fund the pivot. The company said the transition would reduce costs and increase working capital. That shift to retail is two-fold, the company outlines in the pitch deck, including “depot consolidation and private-label brand launches.” As part of that effort, Eaze says its “Circles” products and the upcoming “Anarchy” brand would comprise 40 percent of its menu share, giving it bigger margins to work with. Within the first two weeks of launching Circles, the house brand represented about a quarter of its vape and flower categories.

According to the company documents, within four months – from week 1, 2020 to week 16 – Eaze went from owning none of its depots to owning 60 percent, and a spokesperson told Business Insider that figure was closer to 65 percent by mid-May.

Additionally, Eaze anticipates that at $20 million in gross transaction value per month, the company would break even and post a small profit as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), and they expect that break-even to come later this year.

Currently, the company only operates in California but indicated plans to expand into 12 other states once EBITDA positive. According to the pitch deck, the company is eyeing Washington state, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. Most of those target states only have medical cannabis programs; however, several of those states – namely New York, New Jersey, Arizona, and Florida – are expected to legalize cannabis for adult-use over the next few years.

Last year, Eaze says its gross transaction value increased by 78 percent, totaling $176 million.

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Catharine Dockery: How Cannabis Complements Traditional ‘Vice’ Industries

5/20/2020

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Catharine recently joined host TG Branfalt for our latest podcast episode to discuss the investment strategy behind Vice Ventures, how she transitioned into specifically working with businesses that other investors frequently avoid, her advice for finding and building a successful brand, and more.

Tune in to the interview via the media player below or scroll further down to read a full transcript of this week’s podcast episode.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the transcript:

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

TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host TG Branfalt. Thank you for listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast, where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of entrepreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by Catharine Dockery. She’s a founding partner of Vice Ventures, a venture-capital fund that has raised about 25 million in its first round and invests exclusively in nontraditional, quote, bad-for-you verticals, such as cannabis, alcohol, sex tech, CBD, and more. How are you doing this afternoon, Catharine?

Catharine Dockery: I’m doing well. Thank you. How are you?

TG Branfalt: I’m great. You’re the first person that I’ve ever interviewed or even really known about that is focused on the sort of bad-for-you industries. So I think we have a lot of ground to cover up, but before we do tell me about yourself. Tell me about your background and how did you end up launching a VC firm focused on vice?

Catharine Dockery: That’s a fantastic question. I grew up in the New York City with my dad, went to NYU, studied a combination of neuroscience and finance. Then my first job out of college was trading high-yield debt. I absolutely hated that job. So I quit after my second bonus, spent nine months contracting for different hedge funds, trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do. Met up with a PR agency, ran their research team two days a week for two and a half weeks.

Then that’s when I met Andy Dunn, who’s the founder of Bonobos. I was presenting research. We got along really, really well. We decided to get dinner afterwards. We decided I should work for him, which is an incredible opportunity, and manage his venture portfolio and just finances in general.

So when Walmart acquired Bonobos, I followed Andy to Walmart. Kind of realized very quickly that Walmart M&A was not for me, despite some people absolutely loving the job. So I interviewed to leave. I had personally invested in the canned-wine business. So when I was interviewing at this consumer venture firms, I kept pitching the company. All these fund managers were like, “We love the founder. We love the brand. We love what she’s doing, but we can’t invest in alcohol. So it’s a pass for us.”

I just couldn’t believe that they couldn’t invest alcohol. I just kind of kept asking, “Why, why, why?” Finally, someone was very honest with me and they’re like, “We have a vice clause.” And I was like, “Well what’s a vice clause? And they’re like, “It just prohibits us from investing in cannabis, alcohol, and nicotine, sex tech, online gambling, sports gambling.” There’s just this whole wide range of categories I thought both had highly … just huge growth potential. Then the other one had just high multiple exit potential. And I was like, “There’s something wrong here.” So that’s how I came up with the idea.

TG Branfalt: So, I mean, that’s a really broad sort of thing. It’s sort of interesting to me if we talk about cannabis and also sort of online gambling, which is being re-legalized or legalized in many cases through the United States. So is there sort of a trend going on of this sort of, I don’t know, acceptance or normalization of vice culture?

Catharine Dockery: So that’s exactly what my Vice Ventures is trying to do. That’s the mission, besides delivering superior returns to the people who believed in us. But we also want to change culture and change stigma and prove that these quote, bad companies, actually aren’t bad at all.

TG Branfalt: What’s been the response to your fund by the venture capital community at large?

Catharine Dockery: Great question. I think some people love it and get it and understand it. I think some people are laser focused on environmental funds or they think social impact is more important, without really realizing that Vice Ventures is also a social impact fund, in a way.

TG Branfalt: Can you elaborate on why you would consider it a social impact fund?

Catharine Dockery: Yes. Because, I mean, just look at the portfolio. All our portfolio companies are harm-reduction companies, whether it’s, we just announced recently a big investment in Lucy, which is a harm-reduction nicotine business. I would call that social impact, educating people that nicotine would not … and consumed in a carcinogenic fashion, i.e. through vapes or through combustible cigarettes, it’s actually no worse than coffee, which is just as addictive as caffeine.

TG Branfalt: So what do you look for specifically when investing in the crowded cannabis space? Are you focused on the same sort of thing that you’d be focused on, say, with the nicotine cessation with Lucy?

Catharine Dockery: So really quick, Lucy isn’t nicotine cessation for the record.

TG Branfalt: My apologies.

Catharine Dockery: They’re a recreational brand. No, it’s okay. Just legally it’s important to specify. When it comes to cannabis, I looked pretty exclusively at cannabis brands, whether that’s edible, company is lower-dose THC, joints. I think it’s really important to invest in really, really sharp brands. I just don’t think we’re there yet.

TG Branfalt: What do you mean by that?

Catharine Dockery: I think we’re very early stages in the cannabis brand section. I think in the next few months, a lot of these companies will run out of money and we’ll be able to see kind of which brands stand the test of time, if you will. I think then it would be a great time to invest in them.

TG Branfalt: So you mentioned low THC. I’m a huge sort of proponent of low THC products. Massachusetts has actually a cap for recreational five milligrams, which a lot of people are like … they’ll boo and hiss at it. But for me, I’m like, “This is fantastic.” Are you seeing more and more companies offer these low-THC or are developing these low-THC products?

Catharine Dockery: Yeah, definitely. I would say almost every cannabis deal I’ve seen in the past week or two weeks or so have been all low-dose products, whether it’s low-dose beverages, low-dose chocolates, it’s low dose is definitely the future.

TG Branfalt: So do you give particular attention maybe to crossover businesses, such as companies that make THC-infused lube?

Catherine Dockery: I mean, I’m all about crossover businesses and I think as long as it fits the Vice thesis, it is definitely worth looking at. But I just think a THC lube or vice lube is a very difficult business to be in, just because it’s so niche.

TG Branfalt: So is there anything else that you … because THC lube, when it first sort of came out, and I worked in the adult shop industry for a very long time.

Catharine Dockery: Awesome.

TG Branfalt: So I saw what lubes worked and what lubes didn’t. So I have this sort of perspective there. My question is are you seeing a lot more companies trying to maybe cross over? I mean, we see beer companies getting involved in the cannabis space, big time. Are you seeing more of this sort of corporate crossover or these partnerships happening from your perspective?

Catharine Dockery: Yes, actually, which is why I think vice investing and the venture capital space is so exciting because I think because of all the crossover, there’s a lot more exit potential than say a normal CBG grocery company. You could, like a CBD beverage, for example, could get bought by Pepsi. It could get bought by AB InBev, by Constellation, by Coca Cola, by Nestle, literally by anyone. So I think that’s what’s so exciting about it.

TG Branfalt: It sounds like you’re half expecting these sort of major deals to occur.

Catharine Dockery: I think some of them will be, for sure. I think a lot of this is brand new products to the market, more so than in any other industry, in a way.

TG Branfalt: So I mean, your firm balances this social responsibility and taboo. How do you think other companies, large companies, such as the ones you mentioned, Coca Cola, Nestle, are going to be able to sort of jive that with their investors?

Catharine Dockery: I think it just comes down to overcoming stigmas. I think a lot of these companies will kind of go wherever is making the most money, as proved by the Canopy-Constellation deal.

TG Branfalt: Which is, I mean, was shocking.

Catharine Dockery: It’s huge. It’s massive.

TG Branfalt: And now they own, they’re majority stakeholders in that company.

Catharine Dockery: Yes.

TG Branfalt: Right. Yeah. Speaking of stocks, last year was not a great year for cannabis stocks. Some of the biggest players, Aurora, Canopy didn’t do particularly well towards the end of the year. What’s your take on that and sort of expectations for 2020?

Catharine Dockery: I think, I don’t know. It’s a weird analogy to me. But I think it’s very similar to Donald Trump getting elected, everybody just thinking that the market is so much bigger than it is. Then people just not admitting that they participate or don’t participate or anything. So I think that’s kind of what happened is people realized that people actually didn’t really smoke, especially when they say that they did. I think that will have some effect on cannabis exits, which is why I think a lot of these companies will go under the next 6 to 12 months. I think we’ll really see which brands resonated with consumers and all that.

TG Branfalt: What makes for a successful brand in your opinion? I mean, does it involve sort of that sort of celebrity, which we just saw Whoopi & Maya decided to close. But we do see a lot of celebrities sort of coming in the space. Or is it leadership? What sort of draws you in with regard to brands?

Catharine Dockery: So I’ll give you example a great brand. Are you familiar with the CBD water called Recess?

TG Branfalt: I am familiar with the name.

Catharine Dockery: Yes. We were early into Recess. They’ve launched in multiple cities across the country in a short 16-month period. We invested in Recess just because of the brand itself. We didn’t even test the product before making a commitment. Just the brand, the idea of taking a recess, that is a nostalgia to every single American who’s taken a recess as a kid.

TG Branfalt: Interesting.

Catharine Dockery: So that to me is a great example of a really strong brand.

TG Branfalt: Something that sort of sticks out in your head, where you hear that and you think of that.

Catharine Dockery: Yeah, exactly.

TG Branfalt: So what are the risks in investing in these industries, sort of aside from the sort of obvious ones. Right? I’m not an investor, a lot of our listeners are. They probably have a better idea on what those risks are than I do, in many ways. But aside from the basic, “You can lose money,” what really are the potential rewards here, sort of the abstract bigger picture, I guess?

Catharine Dockery: I think some of the biggest risks are definitely regulatory, especially for CBD. Nobody knows if it’s going to be outlawed in food and bev or not. I would say also this isn’t a rant, but for cannabis, it’s definitely regulatory as well. So the laws change every three months on that. The alcohol, you need to make sure you comply with the three-tier system. Some people swear by drawing it to alcohol. But that’s even more difficult. I don’t know. There’s a lot of risks.

TG Branfalt: What do you tell your investors are the rewards in this space aside from sort of the returns? You know what I’m saying?

Catharine Dockery: No. What do you mean?

TG Branfalt: So this idea of social responsibility and this idea of sort of ending stigma, is this something when you are making that pitch to your investors that intrigues them just as much as the profits in many cases? Or is it purely profit-driven?

Catharine Dockery: I think any investment should probably be profit driven, just because you have a fiduciary responsibility to help your investors make more money than they had when they put in. Besides that, I think there’s also a social responsibility to make sure that you’re investing in really intellectually honest operators, who know exactly their products, the harm that it can give to the users and just didn’t hide it.

TG Branfalt: I like the term intellectually interesting.

Catharine Dockery: Yeah.

TG Branfalt: Several states expected to legalize this year. Where we are in New York, which we know it happened last year. You’re a lifelong New Yorker like I am, basically. We know Cuomo’s history and the legislature here is a mess. New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont lawmakers are right now in the middle of bringing in a taxed and regulated system. Does one state or a couple of states stand out to you as most ripe for investment?

Catharine Dockery: I think Oregon is a really interesting one, just because I think it’s less fragmented than the other states. I mean, tons of people are pouring money into California brands. I’m not sure that makes sense yet.

TG Branfalt: What about as far as the ones that we sort of expect this year?

Catharine Dockery: Give me an example.

TG Branfalt: Like New York, Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island.

Catharine Dockery: I think New York would be a great place. I think brands are built in New York City. I mean, look, you have Away, Glossier, Bonobos, Warby Parker. Really strong brands are built here.

TG Branfalt: I mean, and the other thing too, that we have to consider, is the way the medical licensing is set up. It’s really going to be a prime opportunity, I think, the way they’re going to set it up, for branding.

Catharine Dockery: Yep.

TG Branfalt: In your experience thus far with your fund, has there been a particular state that has proven to be a solid enough industry investment? Maybe Nevada, considering it is pure vice?

Catharine Dockery: Yeah. Not yet. Most of our investments to date have been between East LA and New York. Which I don’t know, maybe that’s because that’s where I spend most of my time. But definitely looking at Vice in a every state.

TG Branfalt: So what advice do you have for entrepreneurs who are looking to enter this space as far as brands go?

Catharine Dockery: Well, depends which category. I mean, nicotine is arguably more difficult than cannabis, I would say. But I think it’s all about just pairing up with somebody who’s really good at branding, finding somebody who can do operations and just going out there and doing it, finding distribution and finding partners that can help you.

TG Branfalt: Awesome. Where can people find out more about you, about the firm? Give us the plugs.

Catharine Dockery: Viceventures.com. There’s an email address on there, that’ll link you to me.

TG Branfalt: Brilliant. Thank you so much, Catherine. It’s really been nice to have you on the show, pick your brain a little bit. Like I said, it’s a super sort of interesting angle that you’ve taken there and I really appreciate your insight.

Catharine Dockery: Thank you so much.

TG Branfalt: That was Catherine Dockery. She’s a founding partner of Vice Ventures, a venture capital fund that has raised about 25 million in its first round. Invests in vice, such as alcohol, cannabis, and more.

You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast in the podcast section of ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes Store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website, you’ll find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs, updated daily, along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

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Oklahoma Approves Cannabis Breathalyzer Pilot Program

5/18/2020

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Oklahoma lawmakers last week approved a bill requiring the Department of Public Safety to spend $300,000 on creating a pilot program for breathalyzers that test for cannabis impairment, the Oklahoman reports. Under the program, the results of the test would not be admissible in courts.

Rep. Scott Fetgatter (R) said that the state has “a lot of problems when it comes to medical marijuana and DUI laws and determining impairment” but that participation in the program would be voluntary and the results should not be used in a punitive manner.

Rep. Ross Ford (R) described it as a “trial program to make sure the system works.”

Department of Public Safety Spokeswoman Sarah Stewart told the Oklahoman that it could take up to a year for the pilot program to be operational because the agency has to come up with program rules and may end up having to bid out that work. She indicated that officials will want to see if other states have done similar pilot programs.

The state is reportedly considering using a THC breathalyzer from California-based Hound Labs. CEO Mike Lynn told KGOU that their device can accurately detect cannabis use within the last two hours.

“When you find THC in breath, you can be pretty darn sure that somebody smoked pot in the last couple of hours. And we don’t want to have people driving during that time period or, frankly, at a work site in a construction zone.” – Lynn in a KGOU interview

Police in California trialed a Hound Labs device in 2016. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) has supported the use of THC breathalyzers and in Vermont, the DUI issue has been a sticking point by lawmakers before moving into a taxed-and-regulated market.

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Andi Novick & Brian Farmer: Fighting for Craft Cannabis In New York

5/06/2020

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Andi Novick is a New York lawyer/activist combo and Brian Farmer is co-founder of the Cannabis Conservancy — together, they have partnered to help lead New York Small Farma in its push for regenerative and sustainable cannabis farming in the state of New York. For the latest Ganjapreneur.com podcast, the two joined our host TG Branfalt to discuss New York’s legalization prospects, what they hope the Empire State’s cannabis industry will look like, why it’s important to specifically write opportunities for small farmers and craft cannabis businesses into state legislation, and more!

Tune in to this week’s podcast episode via the media player below, or scroll down to read along with a full transcript of the interview.

Editor’s note: This interview was recorded prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and some of the episode’s key points of discussion — such as New York’s 2020 legalization prospects — have unfortunately shifted since then.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the transcript:

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TG Branfalt: Hey there. I’m your host, TG Branfalt, and thank you for listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders.

Today, we’re going to be talking about my home state of New York with Brian Farmer and Andi Novick. They are board members for New York Small Farma, an industry community working to ensure social and environmental justice for cannabis growers and supporters in New York State. Andi is also an attorney and farmer, while Brian is also the co-founder of the Cannabis Conservancy, and he’s making his second appearance on the podcast. How you guys doing this morning?

Andi Novick: Great. Thanks for having us on.

Brian Farmer: Thanks, Tim.

TG Branfalt: Absolutely a pleasure. Before we sort of get into what your organization does and we talk about New York, why don’t you give us sort of a brief background on yourselves? How did you end up in the space?

Andi Novick: Brian, you want to start?

Brian Farmer: Well, sure. I’ll do a quick one. I’ve been involved in organic agriculture for three decades. About four and a half years ago, co-founded the Cannabis Conservancy, which is a sustainability certification that has now moved international. We’ve been working on that on the ground very hard for four years. So, that’s how I came into the, quote, “cannabis space,” the industry as such.

So, we’ve been really working around sustainability issues in this country, in terms of our certification, and this seemed to really link up with what Andi got started here. And I’m very interested, because I live in New York as well, about how this is all going to play out. So, we want to make it as sustainable as possible.

Andi Novick: Okay. My turn. So, this is Andi, hi. I first started … I’ve always been comfortable with cannabis, but I first really looked into it about seven, eight years ago when a really good friend got cancer, and I was looking for alternatives, and at that time, I thought that cannabis was good for nausea and for stimulating appetite, and found through my research that, “Whoa! It could actually kill cancer cells in certain situations and leave the good cells.” And so, I started paying attention, and the medicinal benefits were extraordinary.

And that was sort of it until about a year and a half, almost two years, ago when the plant actually spoke to me during my meditation and she said, “Look, someone’s got to do something. I don’t have a voice. You have a voice. But they’re about to lock me …” Well, “Increase the locking me in the windowless warehouses, and I’m never going to see the light of day, and I’m going to be sprayed with all sorts of growth hormones and toxic chemicals. And someone needs to say something.”

So, I took it on. I don’t have a business. I’m an activist, but I’m an attorney, and this is an actual trajectory for me because I’m a farmer. So, I suppose the plant is my client. And I founded this organization about a year and a half ago, and realized that the legislature was already, last year … It was the third year they were taking up the issue of ending prohibition, and I was in there saying, “Wait, wait, wait! You don’t even mention that it’s a plant in any of the statutory language. It’s a crop. It’s a plant. Farmers should be growing it.” And they were like, “What do you mean? It’s a drug.” And so, that took last year in trying to get over on them.

And this year, I have to say Brian and I have been up to Albany, and we’re all going back again this week and next week. We’re really busy. And people aren’t looking at me with the same three heads as last year just for mentioning it’s a plant as opposed to a drug.

TG Branfalt: Well, and I want to mention that, last year, just for the listeners who don’t know, New York did vote on legislation and basically it ended up being squashed in the Senate by largely downstate Democrats, just so we are speaking the same language here.

So, tell me, what does your organization do and why is an organization with your mission important as New York eyes legalization this coming session?

Andi Novick: So, our organization is really important, and sometimes we sit around, a small group of us, thinking about how in this great state of New York are we the only ones working on this? But there it is. What’s really important is we’re no longer talking about, “Is cannabis going to get legalized? When’s it going to get legalized?” It’s going to happen, whether it happens now, which it looks like it will, or a year from now, isn’t so much the issue for us as how it’s going to get grown.

It’s true that we want to end prohibition first and foremost to end the racial discrimination and the way in which prohibition has been enforced. And there’s a wonderful coalition in New York that’s doing that work, which freed us up to let go of that issue and just focus on the issues we focus on because nobody else is, and that is the planet, the environment, the plant, the soil, how the plant is grown.

We advocate that, in exchange for this license, the state require that the plant be, as much as possible, or as much as we can get out of it, grown outdoors, including in greenhouses, but using the sun as energy, and grown regeneratively, and grown without any synthetic chemicals, any pesticides. And that the greatest attention be paid to craft farming.

So, we propose that 50% of the demand in New York, which is huge, be supplied by small farmers outside, and that the small business industry, whether it’s farming, or whether it’s creating product, whatever, we want to see this $3 billion that New Yorkers are willing to shell out of their pockets every single year for cannabis, we want it recirculated in New York State by way of lots and lots of small farms and small businesses throughout the state. We do not want to see those $3 billion being dissipated in the pockets of a few large cannabis industries while our legislators fight over where the 300 million is going to go. That’s the tax revenue off the projected 3 billion. We want to keep some of that home, and we want the plant grown consciously with respect for the planet.

And I just want to add, it’s particularly important in this industry … I would be saying this anyway because all plants should be grown regeneratively. We’ve seen that industrial agriculture has … What the damage that it’s done to this planet. But particularly this industry because people think that cannabis has to be grown indoors. Cannabis doesn’t have to be grown indoors anymore than tomatoes have to be grown indoors, but because people think that, that’s where their mindset is. And the indoor cannabis cultivation industry is one of the most energy-intense industries in the United States. And therefore, it uses a huge amount of fossil-fueled electricity, but it’s therefore putting out tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases.

So, if New York welcomes this new industrial cannabis industry, it’s going to totally nullify any of its goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. So, it’s particularly important in this situation because of what the state’s about to invite into New York.

TG Branfalt: Well, and in your conversations with lawmakers, how have they … Have they been receptive to such a plan, say 50%? Because as we know, the current medical makeup is all corporations. And in other states, these corporations generally get the first crack, these medical operators get the first crack at these licenses. So, how is your proposal been received in Albany?

Andi Novick: Well, it’s true that what they call here “Medical marijuana,” got in first, and it’s true that their model was one of vertical integration, and that gives them all sorts of advantages, but it’s also true that the legislature seems to have recognized that that’s not a good way to go about setting up the industry. So, going forward, they’re going to try to restrict vertical integration. So, what happens with medical is going to happen with medical. You know? They’ve got a lot of money invested in this, and they’re not letting go of their domain.

But what the new law is focusing on is who is going to be producing the so-called “idle use”, the non-medicinal. Although, frankly, the medicinal/non-medicinal is just a fiction. It’s not true. It’s the same plant. But nonetheless, they’re going to be focusing on that aspect. And what we have been saying is you’re regulating this. You’re not even really legalizing it. It’s not like once prohibition ends, everybody can start growing.

TG Branfalt: Correct.

Andi Novick: It’s all being regulated for tax purposes.

TG Branfalt: Correct, thank you.

Andi Novick: So, what we said is, “Hey, you have to limit the number of licenses you give to large canna. We get that you’re dying to suddenly supply all this demand in New York overnight, but limit the licenses so they don’t get too big. And then have the other 50% of licenses go to small farmers and craft growers, and have absolutely no limit on the licenses that you give out to those people because we’re trying to encourage small business opportunities in this new industry that state is giving birth to.”

And since these craft farmers will, by definition, and by virtue of their license only be able to grow a smaller amount, there’s no risk that they’re going to take over and consolidate the wealth. So, we want to have as many people in New York growing regenerative, organic … And I don’t mean organic, necessarily, with the having to pay for what you need to, but just without pesticides, and grown in a conscientious way, the way … Brian knows how to make sure people grow this.

And that’s what we’re asking the state to do. In terms of their reception, the only way it seems that they understand what I’m talking about is if I mention the craft industry, and then people’s light … you know, it’s like you can see a light bulb go off, and they’re like, “Oh, right!”

And so, one of the things I’ve done, I drafted proposed legislation for the new bill. And I’ve called, what’s essentially the equivalent of a craft brewery … We have it in New York, we have craft breweries, we have craft wineries, we have meaderies. What I figured out is if you add E-R-Y to the end of the word, you get a craft business. So I called them cannabiseries.

And I’ve said, “Okay. How about a cannabisery?” Which would essentially be a micro-license, but it would be for a farm. And when I talk about it as a craft industry, they’re more open to it. But you know, the governor’s language is coming out tomorrow. I don’t think we’re in there quite yet, but we have 90 days to get in there.

TG Branfalt: So, as we move towards legalization, as you said, we’re expecting Governor Cuomo to give us information … already exist. But in other states, you know, especially … I mean, California does include energy-efficiency requirements, but most states, they don’t include these regulations on energy consumption, especially the early adopting states. Why do you think that most state cannabis legislation doesn’t include these regulations on energy consumption, knowing very well that it’s a very high-energy industry when you have to do it indoors?

Andi Novick: I think it goes back to … I mean, for the longest time, I haven’t heard anyone who’s pro-cannabis, which we are, talking about the energy problem. And I think that’s because there is this acceptance, as I said earlier, that you have to grow this plant indoors. And so, because they want to see cannabis not being a criminal issue anymore, they don’t talk about it.

But we talk about it because it really is important to the planet and because we have a really fantastic solution, which is let it be grown outdoors in the sun. But we have put in the statutory proposal language. We’ve learned from the experiences in other states. So, for example, in Massachusetts, they put a cap on how much energy use it could be. And I think in Denver, they put a requirement that the energy use be off-set 100% by renewables, all of which isn’t good enough. The best solution is just to use the sun. But we are talking about it.

And of course, legislators do pay attention to that because that’s not something they see a lot, the energy problem. What they’re going to do with it? I don’t know, but it’s in there. It’s in our proposals.

Brian Farmer: Yeah. And it’s interesting, states, especially Colorado, two years ago, Cannabis Conservancy did a report for the Colorado Energy Office assessing the resource use, particularly energy, for the entire industry there, including black market, gray market, and adult-use, medical. And what we discovered was what they had kind of know, but the energy use in Colorado, particularly because they by and large until recently, mandated indoor-growing, the energy footprint just for the City of Denver is massive. It’s a huge percentage given it’s just one industry.

So, now that the metrics are coming out, and Evan Mills just came out with a new study as of a couple of weeks ago. It was a big … For people who follow energy in the cannabis space, he’s been really on doing the research here. He came out with another one looking at the national industry and the energy footprint, and it’s sobering for anybody that’s got all their money invested in indoor production. You know, there’s a lot of environmental reasons why we should be looking at this very seriously.

The other is, as the industry nationally shakes out, the return on investment for some of these big, indoor producers is going to be really screwy. As the prices, in general, come down in the adult markets, that return on investment piece is not going to be there for them based on the huge amount of money they’re putting into energy.

So, there’s a bunch of different ways to look at it, but we want to see some kind of forward-thinking language in the law that pushes people toward outdoor production, but if they are already invested in the indoor production scheme, that they’re doing more than just off-setting. There’s a lot of other things they can do as well. So, that’s where we are with that.

TG Branfalt: So, let me ask you, how much of the responsibility should the industry bear with regard to this energy problem? Should they be more forward-thinking without the need for regulations? Are we seeing companies do that?

Andi Novick: Brian, you know companies who do-

Brian Farmer: Yeah. To some degree, there are indoor producers in a variety of states: Colorado, and Washington, and Oregon, who have proactively used only sustainably produced power. So, they’ve got that. I’ve actually seen small indoor operations in California that are using only green power. They’re actually doing rain catchment, and only using rain water that they catch for their indoor grow. It still looks like an indoor grow, but they’re going about as far as you can to increase the efficiencies and sustainability.

And a lot of those folks are in it because they’ve been growing that way for 20 or 30 years by virtue of being in a situation where they were growing in an illicit manner, so to speak. So, there is all of that energy and knowledge, frankly, that’s invested in that style. And that’s probably going to continue.

So, there are people that are very proactive in that, but as an industry, and you see this all the time, the big money that’s chasing these indoor spaces and that whole paradigm still. And I hope if states can push a real energy efficiency model, that it’s going to push that investment money away from these massive indoor grows to smaller, decentralized kinds of methods. Even if the money that’s invested is coming from these big companies, they’re not going after these massive operations.

So, I think the industry as a whole needs to really step up, but it takes those big players to really do that, and not green wash it as well. So, there’s a lot of pieces that still need to be put in place.

Andi Novick: And in response to the beginning of your question, I absolutely think it’s the responsibility of industry, I just don’t know that certainly big industry is going to care unless the state requires it. But the reason we’re trying …

Maybe it looks different from your perspective because I know you’ve just come into New York recently and because you have a much broader view of what’s happening. But, me-

TG Branfalt: I’m a Bay City worker.

Andi Novick: Okay. Well, me, as a totally New Yorker, I’m looking at this and I’m thinking, “Okay. For 100 years, we’ve been stuck under this industrial agriculture model that has done such damage.” And I know the legislature earnestly talks about, “How can we cajole farmers to change their ways? How can we get them to grow differently?” And they’re looking at carbon tax credits.

And I’m saying, “If you’re going to allow a plant to be grown for the first time in 100 years, the first time since we’ve been under this yoke of industrial agriculture, then don’t repeat the mistakes we already know.” We’re trying to learn from the post-Prohibition states and of Canada, of all the things that have gone down wrong, having waited this long. And these are the things we know. We know that the climate is in an emergency right now. We know what we shouldn’t be doing. And we know we have to change things. So, “As you’re about to authorize this new plant, Governor Cuomo and legislators, what’s necessary is to do it differently and to do it right.”

The people have said to me, “So, why is it so important that cannabis be grown regeneratively as opposed to corn or tomatoes?” And the answer is it’s important that they all be grown regeneratively. The only reason we’re singling out cannabis is because there aren’t any regulations about it right now. It’s all brand new. And so, we’re saying, “Get it right from the start.” And if the state does that, then industry coming in won’t have any choice.

TG Branfalt: So, what are you guys hearing overall from lawmakers regarding the 2020 session and legalization? I know that most of the people that I speak to are not anticipating being able to grow their own, and unsure of what licenses will be available. I know that you’re pushing for these provisions that would give 50% of these licenses to small farmers. But what are you hearing in Albany regarding some of these issues?

Andi Novick: Well, I have to say, people are much more responsive than they were last year. Last year, there was this mad dash to get what was called the MRTA Path, and the reason it was critically important was because it was necessary to end the incarceration of all of the people who have been used in the name of this War on Drugs. And because of that, I think that was the main focus and we couldn’t get anyone to hear anything else.

But this year, it seems like, “Okay. The legislature gets that that’s a necessary thing. We’ve got to stop criminalizing people. So, what else can we think about?”

And we’ve had, so far, really good sessions. And I have to say, in the email exchanges I’ve had with various legislative aids and people I’ve gotten to know over the year and change, who are opening up, they’re all saying, “We really care about the environment. We really care about it’s grown. We really care about how it’s grown. We really want to do this.” Whether or not there’s going to be the will to do it, we’ve got three months to hopefully make that happen.

But there has been more of an embracing, and it could possibly be because we are intentionally meeting with the heads of the agricultural commissions and departments in the … Both … The committees, sorry. The agriculture committees at the assembly, and at the Senate, and people who would care about this stuff. And hopefully those people who care about the environment, care about the planet, will take a more active role in whatever legislation ultimately comes out of the budget this year.

But up until now, no one’s thought about it that way. It was literally just, “Oh, my God, our children are going to start driving stoned, and the police need more money to figure that out.” You know, “How are we going to stop them from driving stoned?” It’s just been a fear-based response.

It’s interesting to be at the cusp of the end of prohibition when you’re around a lot of people who don’t know anything about cannabis and don’t understand it. They’re just responding to the various fear-based misinformation that’s been, I don’t know, indoctrinated over the last century or so.

But again, every year that goes by, more and more people are open to different information. And I certainly had that experience this year, of people who are willing to talk about more than just the fears, and talk about how it could be a real opportunity to revitalize farming communities throughout the country. Well, certainly, but throughout the state.

And then we have other proposals, which would take more time than this podcast to talk about, about how we could really make the seed to sale journey be equitable in terms of who’s growing it, and how it’s being supplied, and where it’s being sold, ultimately. You know, we want to work together, but we need to be given the ground to do that, and that means we need to protect a piece of this ground for small growers and not just let Big Canna come in and take it all.

TG Branfalt: So, I mean, we’re all New Yorkers here. I’ve lived in and out of the state my entire 35 years. And I covered the capital for Reuters and for The Legislative Gazette for several years when I still lived in Albany. And at that time, Colorado was going online. They were voting on it, Washington, Oregon. And I would look at my friends and my colleagues in the press and hear Cuomo, “We will not legalize cannabis. I have no interest in recreational.” And here we are, into his third term, and he’s talking about it in two successive budget addresses, including it.

As New Yorkers, A, did you think it would be under a Cuomo Administration that this happened, and B, what is your reaction to being on the cusp of legalization in this state?

Andi Novick: Brian, you want to try it or do you want me to?

Brian Farmer: Sure. Well, what I’ve learned in some of these meetings is that Cuomo, for those who are not familiar with the political atmosphere, he’s very concerned about not looking bad. He sees where the winds are blowing. He sees the states around New York legalizing and he doesn’t want to miss that opportunity. So, he flipped pretty quickly based on all of those factors. You know, he’s a political animal, for sure. So, that really … I think, that’s my opinion, was the driving factor behind all of this.

And we have a $6 billion budget deficit, so people look at cannabis as somehow this massive pile of money that they’re going to be able to extract tax revenue from. Yes, if it’s done right, that could exist, and I think that’s another piece for Cuomo. So, it’s kind of multi-faceted.

But it’s a bit surprising to me that it’s happening right now, but a lot of things I’ve learned in the past four years being involved with all this, is surprising in terms of how rapidly things are changing. The snowball is getting bigger all the time. So, we’ll see.

But in these meetings, we really heard about how it works, which I always kind of assumed in New York, but the governor’s office has a huge amount of power to craft how these things end up being put into law. Andi, you want to take it from there?

Andi Novick: Well, I think it’s a lot of legislators are afraid of voting in favor of ending prohibition because they’re afraid of what their constituents might think about it. So, a lot of people think it has a much better chance of passing in the governor’s bill where it sort of gets subsumed and they don’t have to get identified that way.

And given … I wasn’t involved until last year. For three years before that, both Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Liz Krueger were fighting really hard to do this. And when I came into it a year ago … Well, two years ago in the fall of … Two falls ago, I was new to what was going on and I was talking about it from a totally different perspective and it was frustrating because nobody could hear it. But in the short year, as I said, people are hearing it and now the conversations I’m having are about how it’s grown and how it’s going to impact the health and the environment.

And so, I’m not surprised in that that’s what education does if you can avoid the polarization that exists around other things, and people can listen to you. And people have been listening. And so, of course, it makes sense that, like other things in this country, once it gets into a different generation or a different people speaking about it, it does change.

And so, I guess I’m not surprised. I, at this point, would be surprised if it didn’t pass, but I really want to see it pass with respect to the planet and respect to the plant. I think that’s critical. I think if we don’t get in in the first few shots of this, that we’re not going to make it because once … The experience of other states is, once Big Canna comes in and does its thing, it’s very hard to change the way. Just like we have to change the ways farmers grow from industrial to regenerative, that’s why we really want to get it right from the start.

So, to the extent you have a New York audience, we really need people to check out our website and help us because we are a very small group for a very big state doing something that’s extremely important for the planet, and we need everybody else to get behind it.

TG Branfalt: Do you think that the energy proposal, are they being a little more accepted by, I guess, sort of the … Maybe the Republicans who might not be on board that are, say, from the districts that I live in? I know that Elise Stefanik, my representative, unfortunately, she wouldn’t vote for it. But do you think that these energy proposals that are included, or these licenses for smaller farms … Do you think that those would help sway the up-state Republicans who might oppose this, or do you think it’s cannabis, it doesn’t matter what we try to do to help that economy?

Andi Novick: Well, that’s precisely what we’re trying to do this year, which is to talk to people at a place where they can hear us. So, whether it’s talking to people who care about the environment, or people who care about agriculture, or people who care about their rural communities, or wherever it is, we’re trying to bring that information so that it’s not just, “Oh, cannabis? I don’t want to talk about cannabis. Cannabis is bad. I can’t talk to you.”

We’re trying to come in a different way because the issues you’ve raised about the electrical consumption, or the licensing, if people are opposed to cannabis you never get to those issues. Even with people who are into it, those are down the road that you get into those issues as much as we try to bring it to the forefront. But with Republicans, who we’ve largely stayed away from, but again, there’s just a few of us, and we’re trying to talk to some of them, and if there was more of us, we’d talk to all of them.

But talking about those issues that I mentioned already, the environment, the agriculture. But also this other issue, which, for reasons I don’t understand, falls on deaf ears, which is everyone is fighting over these $300 million in taxes. And I’m talking about, “Well, what about the billions coming in? Don’t you want to get those billions going into your community?” And I’m hoping people that care about their communities that need a shot in the arm will look at the potential for this $3 billion coming in annually, and try to take it for their communities by way of small businesses. But that one, I haven’t gotten a lot of traction on so far.

Brian Farmer: Yeah. Actually, we are going to be doing some events in Southern Tier, western New York, and hopefully that’ll attract some folks. But there’s a couple things. One is that the hemp industry and the way it’s grown in New York has been a real big foot in the door in opening up people’s minds around how this can fuel the farm economy, not just big, consolidated producers who are in the medical program. This could really open it up in communities that are already oriented towards agriculture. But there’s education and other kinds of things that need to happen there, and we’ve had conversations around how that can be a driver for some of these rural communities.

One idea is to set up, with some state support, hubs in various places in the state that can be centers for education and innovation in those communities that support a new cannabis-based agricultural industry. So, there’s a lot of ways that the state could work with communities to really get this launched in a very “organic” way on the ground and away from that consolidated kind of approach.

There are companies that are already in New York, who I won’t mention, but they’re large, multi-national cannabis businesses who are pushing a certain kind of agenda and model, and I think our platform is more oriented towards decentralization and empowering more growers and business related to those growers in rural communities.

So, there’s a lot of opportunity, but it really is a big paradigm shift for a lot of conservative politicians. There’s not a lot of vision there, so as you lay this out, it’s like, “Oh, yeah. Maybe that could happen.” But it’s a lack of vision in a lot of ways.

Andi Novick: Right. I’m glad Brian mentioned what we call the resource hubs, because that’s something … That’s like the last thing we get to talk about typically when we’re meeting with legislators. But that’s going to be necessary for the state to invest some money because what you’re looking at is these large, well-financed canna industries, and then small growers who have been growing vegetables and tomatoes, or nothing, and want to get into this industry, there’s just no way they’re going to be able to compete with such well-financed machines that have this model that they keep rolling in state after state. So, unless the state is willing … New York State is willing to level the playing field, it’s not going to succeed.

But were the state to do that, to do these resource hubs, it would be such a huge benefit. It’s so short-sighted to not look at it because the state will only benefit from this. The state will be providing jobs, good jobs, and will be learning as we go, and will be enabling all sorts of people to come into this industry, and will be able to receive a lot of the financial benefit that it’s so desperate for. It’s such a win/win, but it’s hard to get the state to-

TG Branfalt: Could you elaborate a little bit on what these resource hubs look like?

Andi Novick: Well, what we’ve said is that … And this has been true of farmers for a long time, is that, individual farmers, small farmers, do best when there’s some kind of cooperative structure that assists them, whether it’s in providing the seeds, or providing the know-how, or having an opportunity for collaboration, and learning from each other, or having a built-in way to sell. You know, you can sell to the co-op, and then the co-op, as we’ve envisioned it, this farmer co-op should be vertically integrated so it can do all of the things for all of its many members, whether it’s processing it into some oil, or into whatever. Whether it’s selling it.

And individual farmers can choose to participate in various levels, but it creates that structure that people who are first coming into the industry and don’t necessarily know how to do a lot of this branding, packaging, the regulations, which is a very high bar, it supports them in being able to do it. So, if we want to support small farmers, we have to create that structure.

And allowing it to just be self-created co-ops probably, over time, would work but not with this pressure of Big Canna coming in and taking it all over. So, to level that playing field, we’ve asked the state to support at least five resource hubs, which are essentially farmer co-ops, that would be strategically located throughout the state. And those would be these learning centers that Brian talked about. They could be for genetic researching. We don’t have the right seeds, necessarily, for growing in the North East, and we have to develop those, what works with our climate. There’s so much we’re learning to know.

With hemp, I know Cornell has taken the lead on some of that … but no one is taking the lead on it with cannabis. They’re both cannabis, excuse me. But with the cannabis that has a little bit more THC in it. But we could do it. We have enough farmers, and we have enough know-how, and we have organizations, but we need the state to support this some or we can’t compete with the money that’s going to be coming in.

TG Branfalt: I mean, what’s interesting to me is what you just sort of described is a by-product of what was enacted several years ago, the “I Love New York” program. And I just think about how amazing it would be to show up to an I Love New York sponsored craft cannabis event? Right? It would-

Andi Novick: Absolutely.

Brian Farmer: Yeah.

TG Branfalt: It would be wild! I’d also love to smoke a joint with Cuomo, but that’s one of those sort of pie in the sky things. So, tell me, guys, what advice would you have for New York entrepreneurs who are considering to get into this space that we’re right on the cusp of?

Andi Novick: Well, I know, Brian, you could take a crack at it. What I would say is-

Brian Farmer: Okay. Go ahead.

Andi Novick: … I’m not interested in what large entrepreneurs are doing, but I am interested in what small entrepreneurs could do. And what I think they should do is be joining with us to try to get this legislation first because without the legislations, there won’t be opportunity for small entrepreneurs.

And then, after the legislation, there’s first going to be a year or two during which we fight over regulations which really impacts what the industry is going to look like. So, if you want to be part of the industry, you need to be making sure that industry exists right now. Brian, do you have a different take?

Brian Farmer: Well, I mean, the one that I … Just because I’ve spent time in a bunch of other states, particularly in California. For those people that are true entrepreneurs, want to come into the New York industry and support small growers, is to do something that has been happening in California, and it’s actually creating these alliances, or co-ops. In California, they’re called alliances. That are essentially grower co-ops.

The investor comes in and has kind of 50% ownership of a common brand that all of the growers can market through, and then the growers own half of the equity in the venture, so that they’re all sharing in the profits, but the folks who actually have the bigger money can come in and help set up things like processing. Kind of like what a state-supported hub would look like, maybe on a smaller scale, with 30-50 small growers, so that they’re able to create a brand and do it that way.

What might happen, and I haven’t seen a lot of public movement on this, but I have heard some stuff in backroom conversations that some of the multi-state brands that are touting their support of small farms, organic production, and things like that, those producers … And I won’t name them because I’ll get into trouble, but people can do their own research. Some of those folks are looking very hard at New York, and once the legislation is passed, looking at being able to come in and start offering growers opportunities to develop these co-ops or alliances.

And I see that as a way to be able to launch and support the craft growing techniques, but not leave the responsible and the onus solely on each one of those individual growers, because that’s going to be a stretch for a lot of folks getting into it.

So, there’s a number of ways that that can happen, but it’s got to be folks who are coming in really supporting the notion that we need to grow it in a certain way and support an industry that’s very broad-based. And I think those entrepreneurs are out there. I think that’s the type of entrepreneur I would like to see coming to look at New York.

Andi Novick: Yep. You’re absolutely right. That would be the alternative to the state-supported. But someone has got to support the small growing movement because it’s just too much money on the other side.

TG Branfalt: No, and again, as people who listen to this show know I live in a very, very rural part of the state, which is heavy on farming. And not only are we facing a crisis of the climate crisis that’s associated, but the lack of second, third-generation farmers keeping these farms going. And this might also provide and opportunity for the next generation to say, “Hey, we have this land. Hey, I like cannabis.” And maintain that family farm. In a perfect world, you know?

Andi Novick: Right.

Brian Farmer: Yeah. No, I think that’s my vision. And it has … Like, the craft brewery, the on-farm brewery model that’s really been super successful in New York and has really supported a lot of struggling small farms that got into this, and it’s been a real boom for them. I mean, it’s kept some of these older family farms going when they wouldn’t have otherwise.

TG Branfalt: Well, in my tiny little mountain town, we have one business and it’s a brewery.

Brian Farmer: Whoo-hoo!

TG Branfalt: So, I would love for our next business to be a dispensary. That would be fantastic.

Andi Novick: Or to be a cannabisery!

Brian Farmer: Cannabisery.

TG Branfalt: Okay, that would also be fantastic. If they sold cannabis within walking distance from my house, I-

Andi Novick: And you would know your farmer because she’d be growing it and selling it off the farm. You know, when you’re a farmer … You know how important that is, right?

TG Branfalt: Yeah, yeah. So, where can people find out more about you? More about your organization?

Andi Novick: Well, newyorksmallfarma.org is the website, and there’s a lot on there about … We have a platform that’s only two pages, so you can read it. We have a platform that we’ve inserted statutory proposed language, and we have lots of documents because I’m a lawyer. I write a lot, you know?

But there’s a lot on there, and we will be adding to it, and it would be great if people signed up for our email because, at least weekly, we send out an email, especially right now while everything is moving very fast. And again, I just can’t say it enough that people need to get involved in this, because otherwise, it’s going to pass and the option you’re going to have is like they’re having in Canada now, crappy, expensive, fast-grown stuff, or you’ll continue to buy illegally, I guess, but you won’t have the option unless we fight for it now.

TG Branfalt: So, I want to thank you guys so much for coming on the show. Andi, I really hope that you’ll be a guest again and we can sort of talk about how lawyers are preparing and other issues that we couldn’t get to. Thank you, guys, so much for being on the show.

Andi Novick: All right. Thank you for doing this. Appreciate it.

Brian Farmer: Thanks, Tim.

TG Branfalt: That was Brian Farmer and Andi Novick. They’re board members for the New York Small Farma, F-A-R-M-A. It’s an industry community working to ensure social and environmental justice for cannabis growers and supporters in New York State. Before I sign off, I just want to note quickly, I am aware that Elise Stefanik is not a state representative. I just wanted to sort of illuminate the type of representatives that we have in the north country.

Yeah. You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast on the podcast section of ganjapreneur.com and on the Apple iTunes Store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website, you will find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily, along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

End

Nevada Dispensaries Allowed to Offer Curbside Pickup Starting Today

5/01/2020

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Nevada dispensaries starting today can offer curbside pickup as part of the governor’s easing of restrictions on the cannabis industry amid the state’s coronavirus response, KSNV reports. Cultivate Dispensary Chief Operating Officer Matt McClure said that many operators had moved to in-house delivery services which forced most of them to develop, “essentially, a new business.”

“I think as everybody moves into this new phase, if we continue to be responsible operators and abide by the rules – making sure safety is the top priority – that we will be able to move to the next phase more comfortably and gradually and hopefully get things back to normal very soon.” – McClure to KSNV

The new rules set forth by Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) allow customers to order online or by phone. The dispensary will prepare the order and an employee will deliver the order to the customer waiting in a vehicle in the dispensary parking lot. The employee is required to check the IDs of everyone in the vehicle. Cash is allowed to be used in the transaction.

Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom noted that there are more than 5,000 people employed in the cannabis industry in the county and county revenues have been impacted by the state’s shutdown.

“Right now, our revenues are down so anything we can do to increase tax revenues for schools, for homeless, for the programs that we use it for, very important,” he said in the report. “Plus, it employs a lot of people.”

The majority of states with both recreational and medical cannabis industries have implemented social distancing measures to allow sales to continue – except for Massachusetts where Gov. Charlie Baker (R) shuttered recreational sales over concerns that they would draw in people from out-of-state.

Those measures often include curbside delivery, drive-thru, online ordering, and ‘virtual’ budtenders.

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Report: Global Cannabis Industry Grows 46% From 2018-2019

4/29/2020

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From 2018 to 2019, legal cannabis sales worldwide grew 46 percent to $14.7 billion, according to market researchers BDSA and Arcview Market Research. Comparatively, the sector saw a 16 percent growth in 2018.

The analysts say recreational cannabis sales in Canada, California, and Massachusetts, and medical cannabis expansions in Florida and Oklahoma represented the largest contributors to 2019’s sales growth.

Roy Bingham, BDSA co-Founder and CEO said that the industry is expected to experience a revenue growth rate of 21 percent through 2025 and that it “may soon reach a watershed moment when U.S. states, faced with a looming global recession, consider cannabis legalization as a new and potentially lucrative source of tax revenues.”

“By relaxing product restrictions and adopting more of a free-market approach to licensing, states like Florida are realizing the potential of medical cannabis sales. In addition, light regulation and low tax rates in states like Oklahoma enable citizen access, greater performance over the illicit markets and a healthy tax revenue stream for the state.” – Bingham in a statement

The analysis forecasts global cannabis sales will reach $47 billion by 2025 and U.S. legal cannabis sales would represent 72 percent of those total global sales by 2025 – down from 84 percent in 2019. BDSA projects that U.S. legal cannabis sales will increase at an 18 percent compound annual growth rate.

The report also notes that international medical cannabis spending – excluding the U.S. and Canada – jumped 64 percent in 2019, from $446 million to $732 million. The researches attribute the rise to the expansion of medical cannabis programs in the Germany, Australia, and Mexico.

The authors note that the report is “unchanged in the context” of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Pamela Althoff: The Evolution of Adult-Use Cannabis In Illinois

4/22/2020

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Pamela joined our host TG Branfalt for a discussion in January about the launch of Illinois’ adult-use cannabis program, the legislative efforts that preceded it, the work being done by the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois to make the transition smooth for both cannabis patients and companies working in the space, how Illinois could influence even more states to legalize, and more!

Tune in to this week’s episode of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast via the media player below or scroll further down to find a full transcript of the interview.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the transcript:

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TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host TG Branfalt, and thank you for listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by Pamela Althoff. She’s the Executive Director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, a statewide cannabis industry organization advocating for patient wellbeing, consumer safety, social equity and inclusion, job creation, community investment, and responsible cannabis use. She’s also a former state senator, an Illinois Senate Republican Caucus Chair. How are you doing this morning, Pamela?

Pamela Althoff: I am great. How are you, sir?

TG Branfalt: I’m doing just fine. I’m really excited to sink my teeth into this interview today. We’re going to talk about Illinois, we’re going to talk about politics. But before we do any of that, I want to get to know about you a little bit. What’s your background and how’d you end up in the cannabis space?

Pamela Althoff: My background is actually as a long ago graduate of Illinois State University in education, taught school for a long time, met a boy, moved, could not find a job in education, so went through a series of sales positions, ultimately got engaged in local politics, and when my state senator stepped down due to illness, I was at that time a local mayor and my mayors advocated for me to be his replacement. I was appointed to the State Senate in 2003 and served until 2018. That’s my professional background. How I got in the cannabis space is another crazy story which just goes to prove you got to take those opportunities when they’re given to you.

The executive director of the Medical Cannabis Alliance, which is what our organization began as when the State of Illinois only had a medical program, stepped down to take a position with the new administration in Illinois after the 2018 election, and when they went searching for a new executive director, my name showed up on several of the lists of lobbyists in Springfield as well as some of the board members, and here I am.

TG Branfalt: That’s really incredible. In the change from medical to recreational, what is the organization doing differently? What are they advocating for now?

Pamela Althoff: Well, I don’t know if it’s changed that dramatically, except that we’re acknowledging that the State of Illinois has decided to become the first state to legislatively legalize cannabis, and so we have changed our medical organization, which was pretty tightly, loosely grouped set of same players. We knew each other, we had gone through the application process together. Obviously, we provided the product to the dispensary, so it was a closed group. The state regulated that industry very carefully. There were only so many licenses available. So rather than being just limited to medical, we decided early February, March when it looked like we were going, the state was going to legalize cannabis, that we needed to evolve to meet the new needs of the State of Illinois in a larger more focused cannabis association. So we just went from that medical focus to now we represent the entire industry here in the State of Illinois.

TG Branfalt: So what were some of the changes that came about with the medical program specifically when legislators decided to legalize cannabis and the launch of that market?

Pamela Althoff: I think what it was is the medical industry, because we were so well vetted by the State of Illinois regulators, the larger piece moving into recreational was to allow the existing cannabis industry in the state to open recreational dispensaries and continue to cultivate the cannabis product. We also work very, very collaboratively with all of our stakeholders, which was law enforcement, regulators, legislators and other vested minority representatives to ensure that our social equity piece of this legislation met the needs of our elected officials, and a lot of that was to ensure that the cannabis industry reflected more of the population diversity in the State of Illinois. We wanted to give those who were just proportionately impacted by the war on drugs an opportunity to gain access into the industry. Whether that was through owner/operator opportunities or whether that was through a career, we didn’t care. We just wanted very seriously to provide that opportunity to those people that were impacted, those families that were impacted by the war on drugs.

TG Branfalt: When you guys were looking at these social equity provisions, did you look towards other states for your model or did you guys develop something in-house in collaboration as you said?

Pamela Althoff: Well, I’ll be very frank here. We didn’t find any other really viable options in other states. We’re all struggling with how that would look, and I think we took … It’s why the legislation which actually started many years ago, I would tell you that almost immediately after we started the medical pilot program, legislators started to advocate for recreational use, and so this was a significantly long … Even though I don’t think that most of the population in Illinois realized it, there was a great deal of upfront work done by concerned legislators, particularly the sponsors, Senator Steans and Representative Cassidy. We looked at how we wanted and how we wanted to ensure that it was legal, that our social equity programs would meet constitutional muster, and it took us, again, a lot of collaboration with a lot of individual people and I think that we’ve got a great framework, a really good template.

Now the challenge to all of us, the industry as well as those people, the regulators and elected officials and again the individuals who will gain access to the industry, it’s up to us now to ensure that we’re going to make it work. That’s always the challenge once you put the framework into place, is then to carry it out. I think that we are all committed to working together to ensure that there’s a great deal of success. I happen to know that other states, particularly out East — Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey — are looking at the State of Illinois social equity parameters and are trying to incorporate what we’ve done into their legislation right now.

TG Branfalt: Well, I think a lot of the states that you mentioned, I live in New York myself, we don’t have a ballot referendum, and I think a lots of states are looking towards the process in Illinois, again as you said, the first state to legalize through the legislature. Tell me about the run-up to recreational sales. What were the most prevailing concerns for business owners in the space?

Pamela Althoff: Well, the industry business owners were a little concerned about making sure that we had product availability. Let me take two steps back and set the stage. We had an administration, the Pritzker administration was very supportive and very committed to legalizing cannabis. We talked a long time about how we all recognize that there already is an illicit market here in the State of Illinois, and the idea is if it exists, then isn’t it our obligation to ensure that we legalize and make sure that those people who choose to consume have a safe and a quality product? The medical program worked extraordinarily well. In all of the time that the medical program was in existence, up and running, there was not a single diversion from the State of Illinois. So when you saw all of those “drug busts” throughout the country, not once did they ever find a product that came from the State of Illinois. That’s how well we had regulated the medical industry.

As we ran into recreational, two things happened. One, we kept the same high standards as we went forward. But as I had stated earlier, the Pritzker administration was so committed to this that they also chose to expand the medical conditions that would be acceptable to the medical cannabis program. So when we passed the recreational program, we had the perfect storm. We had an increase in the conditions that allowed patients to access the medical program, and then we legalized recreational. So we had this huge demand almost immediately from the medical side, and then we only had a six-month run up to January 1 to be ready for a brand new recreational market. So there was some concern again about product availability. The first license for recreational growth was not received until August.

TG Branfalt: Wow.

Pamela Althoff: Yeah, and I remind everyone that cannabis is not a widget. It takes time to grow. It’s a crop, it’s a product that needs 12 to 16 weeks to actually come to fruition. So there was concern about that from the very beginning. We believe that we will actually be up to full thrust by May of 2020, and we’ll be able to be regularly providing product not only to the existing dispensaries that now can sell recreational product, but also to those dispensaries that are currently in the queue to be reviewed and potentially licensed. There’s 75 new licenses that are available that are being reviewed as we speak, all of those applicants. That really was the largest concern. Then the legislation that was passed gave huge amount of ability to local units of government to make determinations on whether or not they wanted to engage in the new adult use cannabis market.

In other words, if they chose not to let these companies locate within their corporate boundaries, that in fact was up to them. So the industry, even though the state legalized it, was not exactly sure how that was going to be handled on a local basis. We did have communities that housed a medical dispensary already who chose not to engage in the adult use or in the recreational icing of cannabis. So then we had dispensaries that had to make decisions about where they’re going to stay there and continue to operate as a medicinal dispensary or whether they actually were going to choose to relocate and only deal on recreational. So those were some of [inaudible 00:13:38] the bumps, they’re a little bit of challenges, not unanticipated but certainly something that we need to address.

TG Branfalt: How many communities do you know, percentage wise, how many have opted out? I know in Massachusetts, it’s upwards of 70%, in California it’s over 60%. Do you have figures for that in Illinois?

Pamela Althoff: Not in that kind of a fashion. I can tell you that there were 55 medical dispensaries operating and approved by the State of Illinois that were permitted to immediately apply for and obtain, if they had local zoning, a license for recreational cannabis. Out of those 55, I believe we are only at 32 that have obtained their license and are operating. Some obtained a license from the state but did not get their local zoning, some of the dispensaries are still awaiting the decision by local government to decide whether or not they’re going to permit the adult use.

TG Branfalt: Since legal sales have launched, you said that there was concern about shortages, there’ve been reports of shortages, even some dispensers being forced to temporarily close due to these sorts of shortages, how are operators that you’re working with overcoming these early supply challenges?

Pamela Althoff: Well, I always tell people it depends what you mean by shortages. I would tell you that, first and foremost, the Illinois cannabis industry remains committed to their medical patients. Basically the way the legislation worked is cannabis patients had to register with a specific dispensary to obtain their cannabis product. So these are longterm relationships where often the patients were recognized right by the people who were selling them their cannabis product, their medical product. So we’re very cognizant of the responsibility that we owe these patients. So in the legislation, there is a requirement that each dispensary maintain a 30-day inventory that meets the need of our medical patients. So that too added to the recognition that we’re not going to have as much recreational product as people originally thought. So operators who have cultivation did apply for recreational licenses to be able to expand their existing facilities and start to grow immediately. All 20 cultivation sites that were approved by the State of Illinois also obtained permission to expand their facilities.

TG Branfalt: Oh wow.

Pamela Althoff: Yeah. They’re all up and getting ready, or some of them are actually almost completed with construction, which is why we’re saying that we anticipated this, we just ran into a few hiccups and bumps. One of them also being as obtaining equipment. California too is going through all of a sudden a large expansion within the cannabis industry, and off times we’re hearing here in Illinois that the required environmentally appropriate lighting, watering, all of the facilities or the equipment that we need for the expansions are on backorder because they’re being diverted to California right now, which just beat us a little bit in that kind of expansion role. So some of the construction is a little bit behind because of that, but everyone is committed to being up and running.

We are also, as an association, committed to trying to ensure that we are dispersing product across all dispensaries throughout the State of Illinois so that they all have some product. But as you might expect, some of our medical patients want to try the new strains that are available and may not be interested in gaining access to something that they had been using in the past. We also have noted that people still are very much interested in flower, and so there was somewhat of a run on a lot of the flower product while we still had available consumables. So again, it depends how you define shortages. We had product but we may not have had the product that you specifically wanted access to.

TG Branfalt: You said that you expect to be fully fleshed out the market by May where everyone’s up and running. What does your organization envision the market looking like, say in about a year? Are there any expectations for social use provisions in different cities or on a statewide basis?

Pamela Althoff: Sure. Tim, it’s funny that you bring that up. We are already anticipating social use. In fact, I believe at the end of this month, because the State of Illinois allowed local units of government to address those issues, we allowed consumption in tobacco shops and in areas that are under the same roof as dispensaries. There has to be a wall in between the dispensary and where you would have onsite consumption, but again it would have to be under the same … within the same building. It just so happens that the City of Springfield, Illinois is actually going to be considering an ordinance at the end of this month to approve an onsite consumption lounge in conjunction with one of their local dispensaries. So I anticipate over the next year we’re going to see a lot of that local action. City of Chicago is discussing how they’re going to deal with this, and I’m also going to suggest that, come spring session in Illinois, we’re going to see several pieces of legislation addressing some type of onsite consumption within the State of Illinois

TG Branfalt: Are there anything else that might be … Is delivery something that’s permitted or going to be permitted? Are there any sort of these adjacent services that you expect lawmakers maybe to address in the upcoming session?

Pamela Althoff: Illinois is still somewhat of a conservative state, which is again one of the reason that legislators chose to allow local units of government to make some of those decisions. We discussed during the crafting of the legalization, legislation, delivery and those kinds of associated services, and it was just felt that it was too early for Illinois to address those things and get a piece of legislation passed. Again, as we move forward, if we are responsible and again we demonstrate “good behavior,” I’m going to gather that we too here in Illinois will see the maturing of the cannabis industry. But as a former legislator, I always tell people we evaluate the next step based on current behavior by everyone.

So it’s one of our main goals and main missions to ensure that our message to now our consumers both medically as well as from a retail basis understand it is crucial for us to be responsible in the way that we utilize cannabis in the State of Illinois. Otherwise, we’re going to see the regulators remain vigilant and rather rigid I think. So it just depends on how well this is received and how well we do again with the social equity piece.

TG Branfalt: As a former lawmaker, you had said earlier that cannabis legalization was being talked about by lawmakers shortly after medical, and to many people watching the industry, it was a surprise that Illinois came out fast, quickly, had a market basically online six months after Michigan, which had voted for it the year prior. As a former lawmaker, was it a surprise to you at how, I don’t want to say quickly, but how much support I guess legalization had in the previous session?

Pamela Althoff: Well, I’m going to argue with you. I don’t think it did. I think that the sponsors of the legislation crafted a core group of legislators that worked very collaboratively and really worked to educate the rest of the legislators in Illinois. It really was a lengthy process, as I stated. They started working on this issue almost immediately after we had approved the medical program, which was back in 2011. So it may have appeared that Illinois moved rapidly, but that’s I think just because people started to read about it in the paper as the legislation moved forward. But there was a huge amount of upfront education that was being done in Springfield in the General Assembly to make legislators feel more comfortable. Again as I stated, part of our success was because the medical program had been so well regulated and so responsive to that regulation that there was I think a more comfort level felt by many of the legislators going ahead and approving the legalization of adults social use cannabis.

Then there was the provision about the expungement. That was an important piece to a lot of legislators to ensure that we did in fact have a vibrant expungement program for those people who were arrested for now the legal possession limits, and State’s Attorney Kim Foxx was very instrumental in helping us craft that program. As you can see now in Illinois, many of our state’s attorneys are moving forward to ensure that those records are in fact expunged in a timely fashion. Again, I think that the social equity piece was another incentive for many legislators to climb on board, so to speak, and support the legislation because it did give communities as well. There’s a provision in the bill that gives them access to grant programs to communities that also were just proportionately impacted. So we wove in a lot of good outcomes for a wide variety of entities within the legislation. It just wasn’t about the cannabis industry. It was broader than that. I think that that is what helped us gain additional support from other legislators. I mean, even a few Republicans voted for the bill, Tim.

TG Branfalt: I got to ask. You were the former Republican Caucus Chair for the Senate. Why do you think, as a Republican … I have two questions for you. Were you always pro-cannabis, and why do you think that so many in your party still stand opposed to broader legalization?

Pamela Althoff: For me, yes. I don’t want to give away my age or anything, but I was a child of the ’70s, so maybe my past perspective played into that. It was also, again, even for me, an educational process. I was always very supportive of cannabis as a medical product. In fact, how I think my association members became familiar with me is I was one of the advocates for the option of cannabis as an alternative to opioids. I was very, very much engaged in that process here in Illinois. Through that, I became, again, much more comfortable in offering the availability to people to legally gain access to cannabis. As I stated, we all know that there was a very robust illicit market here in the State of Illinois, and so I have to tell you that I believed strongly that it would be wiser and smarter and more of a health safety issue for people here in the state to have a good quality, safe product to consume as opposed to something that they’re not exactly sure what’s in it.

As to Republicans, I think that that’s just an easy division. I know many Republicans who voted for the medical cannabis program and I know several Republicans that also voted for the recreationalizing of cannabis here in Illinois too. If there is a perception, it might be because, again, the largest entity that really advocated against recreationalizing cannabis were church-affiliated groups. Again, there might be a thought process that many Republicans still are very faith-based associated or affiliated, and so it might be that they felt that they were truly representing their constituent base from that perspective.

TG Branfalt: I mean, but it does look like … I mean in New York, just to be fair, I mean it was the downstate Democrats that really stopped it from passing last year. But nationally, you look at the house, democratically controlled actually, passing the SAFE Banking Act, the committees are passing the Moore Act, which would federally legalize cannabis effectively. But the Senate, it’s a nonstarter. I mean, to say that it’s sort of an appearance issue, I mean I-

Pamela Althoff: You’re talking on a federal level?

TG Branfalt: Yeah. I mean, the Rs and the Ds, I mean there’s a split there when it comes to cannabis policy, and I’m just wondering is it purely the faith-base or is there really some entrenched moral position? I lean sort of libertarian and I believe in state’s rights and that people should have the ability to do what they want so long as it’s not harming other people. Right?

Pamela Althoff: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

TG Branfalt: If you talk to my dad, who is a Republican, he would agree with that statement. He supports cannabis legalization as well. But why is it a harder conversation to have amongst Republicans than it is Democrats?

Pamela Althoff: It’s hard for me to answer that because I’m one of those Republicans that’s kind of on the other side of that issue. I’m going to have to guess that most of those individuals feel that they are representing a portion of the population that still believes as … We were all educated. I was an educator and I can remember having numerous curriculum plans that cannabis was a gateway drug to harder substance abuse, etc, and that perception and that belief might still be very much ingrained in a lot of individuals across the board, and Republicans might feel that those are exactly the individuals that they represent.

TG Branfalt: Okay. How can advocates try to find common ground with people they typically don’t see eye to eye with regard to this one issue?

Pamela Althoff: It’s funny. That has been one of the skillsets that I think that most people identify with me as a former legislator. I think you have to create safe havens for conversation. Education is the only way any issue finally gets addressed, resolved, moves forward, whatever phrase you’d like to use in that respect. But it’s creating an atmosphere and a culture where people who disagree can walk into a room and start to exchange information and carry that conversation forward. It is. It’s education. I made that statement earlier in our interview. I believe firmly that that’s exactly why we were successful in passing the adult use/recreational use of cannabis in Illinois, is we spent a vast amount of time and detailed information was provided to educate and make our legislators feel more comfortable in taking the action.

I think that that’s what most elected officials need, is they need the information and ability to go back to their constituents who obviously elect them, place them in office, they need that information to have that dialogue with their constituents and bring them forward and understand that as with all things, it just changes. Our social agendas, our country, everything evolves and is completely different than it was 10, 15, 20 years ago.

TG Branfalt: What was the reaction from your former Republican colleagues when you end up the Executive Director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois?

Pamela Althoff: You know what? It’s funny. I would tell you that people who know me well rolled their eyes and said, “Of course, you’d do that,” again, knowing my background and my ability to pull very, very different diverse individuals into a room and come up and build a consensus and craft legislation that we could actually get passed. That was my forte. So obviously, I would be someone who wants to get involved in brand new and bringing people together and talking about the issue and shining the little spotlight on it so that we can have those conversations. I mean, I’m a former educator. Can you hear that? I truly believe that those kinds of exchanges are crucial in any nascent start of whether it’s an industry, whether it’s a social concept, whatever. I think it’s absolutely crucial to continue to have honest exchange between differing opinions.

TG Branfalt: Well, I think you bring up a really good point that this is not only an industry that launches, this is an entirely new sort of social structure, a new social sort of construct. I want to thank you for your candor. I’ve tried very hard to have Republicans on this show and they’ve balked assuming that I’m going to be confrontational but … So I really appreciate you answering those questions for me. That’s something I’ve wanted to ask somebody for a very long time. What advice would you have for entrepreneurs who are interested in opening up a cannabis business in Illinois?

Pamela Althoff: There are numerous opportunities to attend events and seminars. I would be cautious in determining whether they’re viable, but anything that is put on by the State of Illinois or by our association or by our affiliated association, Women in Cannabis in the City of Chicago, any local entity, you can attend them. Most of them are free of charge. We have panels. We’re actually involved in Chicago City sponsored event in February. Again, there are numerous ones that we are participating in. You can come and learn about either owner/operator opportunities, and that’s from a legislative perspective, as well as filling out your applications, as well as suggestions about how you would find investors into your business, as well as, again, as I stated, going the other direction and finding employment in the industry and not just within the dispensary or the cultivation market, but in ancillary industries, which might be transportation, which might be security, which might be marketing, all of those things.

We’re really trying to reach out into the public, and I would strongly suggest that people attend those free seminars and determine whether or not this is something that really meets their needs and piques their interest. A lot of people have misconceptions. It’s cultivation, it’s farming. It’s not, as you might think, reefer madness. It’s really serious and very regulated work. Most of those people, when you’re in a cultivation site, have on lab coats, have on little booties on their shoes and have hairnets. It’s like a food industry. So I would strongly suggest they come and hear exactly what the industry entails and make a decision. Then there’s all kinds of follow up resources that they can also then participate if they determine this is something that they want to pursue.

TG Branfalt: Again, I want to thank you so much for this opportunity. I can’t wait to see how you evolve in this space and how the association evolves as the market matures. Where can people find out more about you and more about the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois?

Pamela Althoff: You can find us at C-B-A-I-L.org, is the website, and also provides you all the information on emailing us direct or calling.

TG Branfalt: Awesome. This has been Pamela Althoff. She’s the Executive Director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, former State Senator and Illinois Senate Republican Caucus Chair. Thank you again so much, Pamela. It’s been a pleasure.

Pamela Althoff: Tim, can I have one parting comment?

TG Branfalt: Absolutely.

Pamela Althoff: I would just ask that consumers recognize that, with all nascent industries, we are going to run into bumps and some obstacles. But let me assure everyone that the industry is working very well with the State of Illinois, our regulators, also our stakeholders that have vested interest in the industry, to try and address them responsibly and in a decent timeframe, in an acceptable timeframe. I truly believe that you’re going to call me and we’re going to do this interview again in another nine to 12 months, and you’re going to hear how successful. We are truly, truly committed to making this a vibrant industry and being a template for the rest of the country.

TG Branfalt: I can’t wait to talk to you again in nine to 12 months, and by then, we’ll probably be talking about how Illinois influenced New York’s recent legalization.

Pamela Althoff: I hope that that’s true.

TG Branfalt: Thank you so much, Pamela. This-

Pamela Althoff: All right.

TG Branfalt: … has been a great joy.

Pamela Althoff: All right, thank you.

TG Branfalt: You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast in the podcast section of ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes Store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website, you’ll find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily, along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

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Columbia Care Launches Online Platform for Sales & Doctor Visits

4/22/2020

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Multi-state cannabis operator Columbia Care has launched a virtual shopping experience – Virtual.Care – that allows patients to meet with physicians remotely, place orders online, and apply for the company’s credit card.

CEO Nicholas Vita said the system is “designed to deliver exceptional care, convenient access and continuity of service” to the communities served by Columbia.

“Using one, simple to use online portal, customers can access our highly trained team members and receive the same personal in-store experience from the comfort of their homes. This amazing leap forward in convenience is the first scalable, end-to-end solution in the cannabis space to offer shoppers a seamless online service and we’re proud to be making its debut at a time when our customers need it most.” – Vita in a statement

The launch comes as most U.S. states have implemented stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic. Medical cannabis has been deemed essential in states where it has been legalized and the Virtual.Care platform also allows patients to sign up with state programs where Columbia operates in real time. Several states have reported upticks in the number of medical cannabis applicants during the coronavirus outbreak.

Under state rules, essential businesses must maintain social distancing practices, which has led to officials in states with legal cannabis changing rules for the industry to allow them to, safely, serve patients and prevent the spread of the virus. Last week, Colorado regulators approved online cannabis ordering for both medical and recreational consumers.

Columbia Care operates in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C.. Currently, the Virtual.Care platform is only available at their San Diego location but the company expects it to be rolled out in its other markets by the end of the month.

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California Dispensary Uses ‘Virtual Budtender’ for Touch-Free Shopping

4/20/2020

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California’s Vallejo Holistic Health Center has rolled out a “virtual budtender” amid the coronavirus pandemic, KTVU reports. The system allows customers to order on an iPad, and communicate with staff via Skype, while a 6-foot long pole with an attached basket is used to collect the money and give the customer the order.

Ann Marie, a budtender at VHHC, said once the state implemented stay-at-home orders and implemented social distancing rules the dispensary started taking orders via curbside and nobody was allowed inside. She said that customers can still come inside the dispensary but have the option for contact-free shopping.

The dispensary started the system in an attempt to better serve customers on the 4/20 holiday. Ann Marie told KTVU that the shop often has a line that wraps around the building and they expected increased traffic on the holiday.

Throughout the U.S., states with stay-at-home orders have deemed cannabis dispensaries essential – except for Massachusetts, where Gov. Charlie Baker shut down recreational sales fearing they would draw people from out-of-state. Emergency pandemic rules for cannabis sales often include strict social distancing practices – such as limiting the number of customers in a store at one time – curbside pickup, and enhanced store sanitation.

Colorado, meanwhile, has allowed for online ordering and curbside pickup for the first time. Cannabis delivery companies throughout the U.S. have reported an uptick in business as most of the nation is ordered to stay at home.

Many virtual 4/20 events are also planned as large in-person gatherings have been shut down by states or organizers in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

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Colorado Allows Online Cannabis Sales, Delivery Not Included

4/14/2020

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Under Colorado’s emergency pandemic rules, cannabis dispensaries can now accept online orders and customers can pick them up at the shop, the Colorado Sun reports. Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the Denver-based National Cannabis Industry Association, said the changes are a step but it remains limited as credit card companies still shy away from doing business with the industry.

“We have an opportunity to prove that cannabis businesses can run these operations and do so effectively under extremely dire circumstances.” – Fox to the Sun

The order does not allow home delivery of adult-use products, which Cannabis Station manager Ben Prater called “a necessity at this point.” Lawmakers did approve cannabis delivery laws last year and companies can deliver medical cannabis this year; under the rules, adult-use products can be delivered in 2021, the report says. Localities can permit cannabis deliveries and Rachel Gillette, a board member for Colorado NORML, said municipalities should pass delivery laws as citizens are hunkered down amid the state’s stay-at-home order.

Gov. Jared Polis’ (D) office told the Sun that there are no plans to allow businesses to apply for recreational cannabis delivery licenses early and delivery of recreational products would not be allowed after the 120-day emergency order expires.

California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, and Oregon allow recreational cannabis delivery services, but the practice remains limited due to the lack of credit card processing companies that are willing to serve the industry.

Colorado‘s Marijuana Enforcement Division is unable to authorize online sales without changes in state law but can evaluate whether the emergency rules should be amended, renewed, or repealed.

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Cannabis Industry Seeks State-Level Coronavirus Assistance

4/10/2020

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Six cannabis business groups are lobbying governors to provide state-based loans for the industry since cannabis firms are not eligible for federal coronavirus aid programs, according to The Hill.

In states that have legalized cannabis recreationally or medically the businesses are considered essential (except for recreational-use dispensaries in Massachusetts) and the organization say like other essential businesses, the cannabis industry is “facing significant uncertainty and costs to provide for our employees and to maintain the medical supply chain during this pandemic.”

“Yet, unlike every other essential business, there is an underlying federal-state tension which puts our businesses in a uniquely vulnerable and dire operational and financial position. This is particularly true of our small and minority-owned businesses.” – Cannabis industry letter to governors

The letter’s signatories include the Cannabis Trade Federation, Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce, Marijuana Policy Project, Minority Cannabis Business Association, National Cannabis Industry Association, and National Cannabis Roundtable.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, provides loans, paycheck protections and other financial services to businesses to help keep them afloat during the pandemic which has forced the U.S. economy to screech to a halt. Not only are cannabis businesses that touch the plant shut out from the federal programs, but also cannabis adjacent firms including cannabis testing laboratories, equipment sellers, and consultants.

Hemp businesses are able to access the program if they are in compliance with state and federal laws.

In the letter, the groups ask the governors to speak with their Congressional delegation “about including a provision in the next COVID-19 legislative relief package that would make state-legal cannabis businesses eligible for [Small Business Administration] assistance.”

Last week a cohort of Democratic senators from states with some form of cannabis legalization sent a letter to senators on the chamber’s Appropriations, and Financial Services committees urging them to allow cannabusinesses access to the program.

“While the underlying federal issues with banking, taxes, and capital access remain, our businesses need access to some additional liquidity to ensure reliability in the medical supply chain for patient access and employee retention in these uncertain times,” the letter from the cannabis industry says.

The letter notes that cannabis companies have donated personal protective equipment to first responders and medical workers, produced hand sanitizer and hired laid-off workers from other industries.

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Profile: Ram Dass, Medicinal Psychedelics Pioneer

4/06/2020

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On December 22, 2019, Baba Ram Dass passed away peacefully at his garden home in Maui. Today — April 6, 2020 — marks the 89th anniversary of his birth, and as a father of the American psychedelic revolution, we want to honor him to celebrate.

The spiritual teacher first became Baba Ram Dass in the late ‘60s after a search for more led him to India. Then Richard Alpert Ram Dass embarked on a journey with Bhagawan Das through the temples of India. It was in the last temple where they traveled that he met Neem Karoli Baba, or Maharajji, the enlightened man who gave him his name.

Ram Dass means “servant of Lord Rama.” In the Hindu religion, Lord Rama is the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, a god of purity and marital devotion. However impactful this particular meeting was for him going forward, his whole life played a part in the lessons he taught. In his life, Ram Dass says he had three parts. He was an overachiever, he played a huge role in the psychedelic revolution of the 1960s, and finally, he became an Ashtangi; each part was essential in creating the Ram Dass cherished by the world.

Early Days

The psychologist was born Richard Alpert in Newton, Massachusetts. In his spare time, young Alpert was an amateur cellist and didn’t think much of the Jewish religion he was born into. His self-described achiever addiction inspired him to attend medical school at Tufts University. Soon he shifted his studies to focus on psychology, eventually earning his PhD. from Stanford University on the topic.

While studying at Stanford, Alpert developed severe anxiety, which would manifest physically as stomach cramps, diarrhea, and a severe rash between his fingers. During this time he committed himself to five years of psychoanalysis focused on the causes of his homosexuality. At Stanford Alpert learned from mentor David McClelland, and eventually accepted a tenure-track position working underneath him across the country at Harvard University. Before leaving, his psychiatrist informed him that because of his homosexuality he was too sick to function in modern society. But still, he persisted.

At Harvard, McClelland was the head of the Center for Research and Personality with Dr. Alpert serving as his deputy. It was in this research position that Alpert first met Dr. Timothy Leary. On a whirlwind trip to South America, Leary was fated to have his first experience with psilocybin and would bring it with him back to the States. A few months later, back in Massachusetts, Alpert walked from his childhood home over to Leary’s house to ‘turn on’ for the very first time.

The Age of Expanded Consciousness

This first experience with any psychedelic was pivotal for the young doctor: he described seeing the various social ‘masks’ he wore, like scholar and playboy, separate from him. He claimed he learned more in those few hours than he had in a lifetime of scholarly endeavors. This fact alone changed his world forever.

By this point, both Harvard Doctors were focused only on researching the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs. They were granted permission to research using graduate students, but rumors flew and the dean caught wind that their studies weren’t blind nor were they conducted only with graduate students. By 1963, both Leary and Alpert had been let go from Harvard.

Alpert, Leary, and their followers began living in houses rented out by Leary until their owners returned from academic leave. They conducted group LSD studies with the goal of cultivating divinity in every person. Their findings were published in the Psychedelic Review. This work culminated in the publishing of a 1964 book written by both Alpert and Leary alongside Ralph Metzger entitled The Psychedelic Experience. In 1966 Alpert co-authored LSD with Sidney Cohen and Lawrence Schiller.

The Psychedelic Experience, published 1966.

But the age of free hallucinogenics was destined to end sooner or later, and things became much more complicated in 1966 with the passing of the Staggers-Dodd Bill which made LSD illegal nationwide. By the end of 1967, Leary was on his own trip, and Alpert wanted to search for how this innate knowledge could be accessed without psychotropic medicines.

Pursuit of Enlightenment

According to a 1976 ‘Gonzo-style’ Rolling Stone article, Alpert’s final test was to take 400 micrograms of LSD every four hours for three weeks, and after finally coming down he remained unchanged. The Harvard-professor-turned-black-market-psychedelic-dealer knew that there had to be more. He set out to India on an opulent vacation, spending three weeks parading around the Southeastern Asian country in a Land Rover. This luxury halted when he met Maharajji, who gave Alpert his first task: present the guru with the Land Rover as a gift.

In Be Here Now Ram Dass describes how he felt after this meeting, “I cried and I cried and I cried… I felt like I was home. Like the journey was over. Like I had finished.”

After his initial meeting with Maharajji, Ram Dass spent another seven months at the temple. He rose at 4 am daily to work on meditating and deep breathing exercises, practicing raja yoga, reading Hindu texts, eating strictly vegetarian, and abstaining from all sex. He arrived home to Massachusetts barefoot and blissed out in his yoga whites. From that moment forward, Ram Dass could not function within society as it existed, and people noticed. His energy somehow was both enigmatic and transparent which prescribed him a magnetic quality. People were drawn to him, to his understanding, to his main mission: presence and love.

The Legacy of Ram Dass

From this point, his day to day is history, recorded in his many lectures, published books, and television appearances. Baba Ram Dass became a beacon of love for people all over the world, and though he was a fallible human like the rest of us, he was beloved.

Ram Dass left behind a reminder to be loving. His mantra may have continued to evolve from the original psychedelic publishing of Be Here Now, but it always centered around being present and living truthfully in love. That legacy will continue to permeate society as we continue to walk through our own challenges.

For anyone interested in learning more about the teachings of Ram Dass a body of his work — including text, videos, and more — can be found on his website, The Love Serve Remember Foundation. 

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Cannabis Industry Spent $11M on Federal Lobbying in 2019

4/06/2020

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Cannabis companies spent almost $11 million in federal lobbying efforts last year, according to a Cannabis Wire report. The spending is nearly three times what the industry spent in 2018.

Greenwich Biosciences, Curaleaf, Parallel, and the Cannabis Trade Federation each spent more than $1 million on lobbying the federal government in 2019. Greenwich — the U.S. subsidiary of U.K.-based GW Pharmaceuticals, makers of the cannabis-based pharmaceutical Epidiolex — spent $1.9 million lobbying Congress, the White House, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The Cannabis Trade Federation spent $1.7 million on more than 20 cannabis-related bills – including the SAFE Banking Act, which was approved by the House last September. Other measures the organization lobbied for did not receive votes in either legislative chamber.

Massachusetts-based Curaleaf’s lobbying spending totaled $1.4 million and Parallel spent $1.04 million, the report says. Other companies and organizations that spent money on lobbying include the National Cannabis Industry Association, the National Cannabis Roundtable, Canopy Growth, Acreage Holdings, and Trulieve. Collectively, cannabis companies also gave more than $200,000 to federal candidates; Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D) raised nearly $30,000 from the industry.

Former TILT Holdings CEO Alex Coleman donated $64,400 to the Republican National Committee. Native Roots Chief Strategies Officer Jonathan Boord, and Lightshade dispensaries owner Steve Brooks, each donated $2,800 to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s committee.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Corey Booker raised about $12,000 from industry executives – mostly from iAnthus – for his presidential campaign.

In 2014, the cannabis industry spent just $80,000 on lobbying efforts, which increased to $300,000 in 2015, to $430,000 in 2016, and to $1.62 million in 2017.

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Poll: 53% of Adults Say Medical Cannabis is ‘Essential’ Service

4/01/2020

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According to a YouGov poll, 53 percent of U.S. adults believe medical cannabis dispensaries should be considered an essential service as states shutdown businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic. The poll found just 26 percent didn’t think medical cannabis should be considered essential and 21 percent said they didn’t know.

The majority of all adults under 55-years-old polled said medical cannabis should be essential, while just 47 percent of those 55-plus agreed. Democrats and those who described themselves as “other” politically overwhelmingly believed that medical cannabis should be considered essential, 62 percent and 64 percent, respectively. The majority – 52 percent – of independents also said cannabis should be considered essential, but just 43 percent of Republicans agreed.

Support for medical cannabis as an essential service was highest in the Northeast (57 percent), followed by the West (56 percent), the Midwest (53 percent), and the South (50 percent).

As of Tuesday, 32 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico have issued stay-at-home orders, while three other states and one territory have closed non-essential businesses in order to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Every state that has issued a stay-at-home order has allowed medical cannabis dispensaries to remain open and operational as “essential” businesses; although, many have implemented rules such as social distancing, curbside pickup, or delivery.

Among states with recreational legalization, only Massachusetts has shut down adult-use sales.

The YouGov poll was conducted on March 25 and surveyed 5,369 adults.

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Colorado Implements Social Distancing Rules for In-Person Cannabis Sales

4/01/2020

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Colorado officials have re-opened in-shop cannabis sales but businesses are required to implement social distancing rules. Patients and consumers may still pre-order and pick up products and dispensaries can still offer curbside pickup services.

Under the Marijuana Enforcement Division rules published on Monday, businesses may not accept cash payments outside of the premises, meaning all curbside orders must be paid for electronically or on-site via credit or debit card.

According to the rules, dispensaries must limit the number of people allowed inside the premises and ensure that all people – including employees – are six feet apart. Dispensaries must also limit the time customers and patients can spend in the shops. Additionally, officials are suggesting other protective measures, including the installation of “sneeze guards.”

“To maximize Social Distancing and limit interactions inside the Licensed Premises for the safety of employees, patients and consumers, Medical and Retail Marjuana Stores are strongly encouraged to direct their patients and consumers to telephone and online options for placing orders and making payment. When any portion of a transaction occurs inside the Licensed Premises (pick-up, payment, product selection, etc.).” – Marijuana Enforcement Division, Updates to Guidance Regarding MED response to COVID-19, March 30, 2020

The MED notes that failure to follow the social distancing requirements set forth by the state could lead to fines or license suspensions or revocations.

Last month, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (D) had called for both recreational dispensaries and liquor stores to shut down amid the state’s stay-at-home order which closed non-essential businesses starting March 26. Hancock ultimately changed his order to allow both sectors to remain open “with extreme social distancing.”

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Pennsylvania Seed-to-Sale Glitch Blocks Patient Access

3/30/2020

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Pennsylvania officials have deemed the state’s medical cannabis businesses as essential and the Health Department has temporarily removed the five-patient cap for caregivers in order to ensure access; however, a technical glitch is preventing patients from registering with new caregivers, according to a Citizen’s Voice report.

The state’s cannabis patient and caregiver registry is managed by MJ Freeway, which said that work was underway to fix the glitch last week but as of yesterday patients could still not register with a caregiver if that caregiver had reached their five-patient cap. Caregivers are allowed to pick up medical cannabis from dispensaries and bring it to patients.

Additionally, the state has implemented curbside pickup for patients and some dispensaries have set aside some of their operating hours each day to serve older and at-risk patients.

Jason Erkes of Cresco Labs told WESA that the adjustments are a “new normal for everyone” but the company is trying to “mitigate risk.” Cresco is encouraging patients to order online, set a time to visit, show their ID, and get their product.

“There are a lot of people that rely on cannabis for their day-to-day wellness and it’s important that we have access for them to get their medicine.” – Erkes to WESA

Pennsylvania has about 153,000 registered patients enrolled in the two-year-old medical cannabis program.

In most states that have declared a stay-at-home order amid the coronavirus pandemic, cannabis businesses are considered essential services; however, in Massachusetts only medical cannabis sales are allowed as officials say recreational sales tempt out-of-staters to travel to Massachusetts and risk spreading the virus.

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Washington Cannabis Company Pivots to Hand Sanitizer

3/27/2020

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Although cannabis companies have been deemed “essential” in Washington state, some licensees have decided to pivot their operations to provide badly-needed supplies in the fight against COVID-19. New Day Cannabis in Newport, Washington is now manufacturing hand sanitizer using an excess stock of ethanol, according to the Spokesman-Review.

Company owner Joe Rammell said the sanitizer will be sold to hospitals and government at a discount.

“We watch the news like everybody else. We really can’t make masks. We can’t manufacture ventilators,” he said in the report.

“You don’t need a chemistry degree to make this stuff, but you need to know what you’re doing.”

The state has identified hand sanitizer and disinfecting sprays on its list of high-demand items to combat the spread of the virus. Rammell said the shift to hand sanitizer will also help keep his workers employed.

Around the world, cannabis companies have stepped up to help aid their communities as the coronavirus continues to spread. Massachusetts’ Central Ave. Compassionate Care is positioned to manufacture hand sanitizer for local hospitals, while Canada’s Canopy Growth and Hexo Corp. are donating face masks and other protective equipment to medical professionals on the front lines of the crisis.

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