CCMA Greenbrief August 24: CA Consumers Blast Licensed Retailers Over High Prices… Sonoma Proposed Dispensaries Within City Limits… Nationwide Cannabis Sales Catching Up With Beer & Wine…

CCMA Political greenBrief

Friday, August 24, 2018

www.cannabismanufacturers.org

Melinda Rombouts, CEO Of Eve & Co Incorporated, A Cannabis Company West Of London, Aims Cannabis Products Specifically At Women And Wants To Build The Women’s Cannabis Market

“We can try to explain to people what’s happening and why, but customers couldn’t care less about regulations and legalization. The only things the average customer cares about is that the selection (in the regulated market) is smaller and the prices are higher. We can share our opinion, lobby, mobilize and activate, but ultimately we’re not regulators.”
Adolph Ward, Co-Owner Of Licensed Delivery Service ‘Around My Way’ In Oakland, On Facing Frustrated Customers
“We really wanted to bring a genuine perspective and women can do that for women. When legalization happens, we want a woman to feel comfortable walking into a cannabis store and feel comfortable with using cannabis as a natural product to address their needs.”
Melinda Rombouts, CEO Of Eve & Co, On The Women’s Cannabis Market

California Cannabis: The Path Forward, August 29th (CA – San Jose Event)

Join the CCMA, the California Cannabis Industry Association, Lori Ajax, Bureau of Cannabis Control and licensed operators from across the California cannabis industry two days after the end of the 45 day public comment period.Board member Gavin Kogan will be speaking. This is an opportunity for brands and manufacturers to voice their hopes and concerns to the regulators.  August 29th from 6-9pm in San Jose. Event details below.

http://futurecannabisproject.org/2018/08/california-cannabis-the-path-forward/

 

Roll-Out Feels Slow, But California Could Sell $2.5 Billion Of Legal Weed This Year (CA – Cannabis Sales)

Forbes (August 22, 2018) $250,000 in sales per month, per retailer. That’s about how much cannabis is being sold in California on average, as the state marks the halfway point in its first year of legal recreational sales. Cities are each able to make their own rules around cannabis, and a quick roll-out of the industry has been hampered as regulations are debated and implemented. Some cities are prohibiting cannabis storefronts and other cannabis related activities entirely, while others are welcoming the industry as a potential boon to the local tax base.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/julieweed/2018/08/22/roll-out-feels-slow-but-california-could-sell-2-5-billion-of-legal-weed-this-year/#6feff4c74e7f

 

Public Comment To California Bureau Of Cannabis Control On Things That Are Right And Wrong In Their Proposed Regulations (CA – State Regulations)

Center For Tobacco Control Research & Education (August 21, 2018) Legalization of recreational (adult-use) cannabis in California and other states is a significant regulatory shift despite continued illegality under federal law. While there may be positive impacts of such change from a social justice perspective, there are also considerable public health risks.  Protecting the public health requires that both medical and recreational cannabis markets be well controlled.  Unless the State of California clearly adopts a public health framework for regulating this new legal market, normal corporate profit-maximizing behavior is likely to impose health costs on the people of California.

https://tobacco.ucsf.edu/public-comment-calif-bureau-cannabis-control-things-are-right-and-wrong-their-proposed-regulations

 

Higher Prices And Barer Shelves: California Cannabis Retailers Face Frustrated Customers (CA – Cannabusiness)

Marijuana Business Daily (August 23, 2018) Licensed marijuana retailers in California are struggling to cope with customers angry about price hikes and less product choice – a direct result of the state’s new packaging and testing regulations that took effect July 1. Here’s a look at some of the concerns related to the state’s current business environment as well as how some companies are tackling them.

https://mjbizdaily.com/higher-prices-and-barer-shelves-california-cannabis-retailers-face-frustrated-customers/

 

A Multiplatform Approach To Residual Pesticide Quantitation In Cannabis Flower For The California And Canadian Target Lists (CA – Cannabis Testing)

Lab Compare (August 22, 2018) The legalization of medicinal and recreational cannabis and cannabinoid products by states in the U.S. and Canada has created the need for safety, quality, and regulatory compliance testing prior to retail distribution. Each individual state that has some form of legalization has enacted regulations pertaining to safety and compliance testing. In Canada, medicinal cannabis has been regulated at the federal level for more than a decade. Recreational cannabis legalization is expected to occur in Canada soon and similarly will be regulated at the federal level.

https://www.labcompare.com/10-Featured-Articles/352875-A-Multiplatform-Approach-to-Residual-Pesticide-Quantitation-in-Cannabis-Flower-for-the-California-and-Canadian-Target-Lists/

 

Sonoma’s City Council Votes To Put Cannabis Initiative On Nov. 2020 Ballot (CA – Local Ordinances)

Sonoma Index-Tribune (August 23, 2018) Look for the Sonoma Citizens for Local Access initiative on the November ballot – November 2020, that is. That was the result of a 90-minute special session of the Sonoma City Council, meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 24, when city officials convened for a presentation of the study the council had ordered on July 23 to evaluate a proposed initiative to allow cannabis cultivation and licensed dispensaries within the city limits. Petitioners, led by Sonoma cannabis entrepreneur Jon Early, gathered more than 750 certified signatures, in the hopes of qualifying the initiative for the November 2018 ballot.

https://www.sonomanews.com/news/8662549-181/sonomas-city-council-votes-to

 

5 Reasons Why The Constellation Brands Cannabis Strategy Is A Home Run (USA – Cannabis Investments)

News Cannabis Ventures (August 23, 2018) The cannabis world is changing fast. Regulations are moving at warp speed, and every week the news feed is like a fire hose. The white noise is so overwhelming that being an active investor in the space like Merida can feel like having tinnitus. However, instead of the annoying buzz of actual tinnitus, it’s a never-ending plume of company pitches that typically extol the “next big thing” or the “best in class.”

https://www.newcannabisventures.com/5-reasons-why-the-constellation-brands-cannabis-strategy-is-a-home-run/

 

Is Marijuana The Future Of Beer? (USA – Cannabusiness)

Grub Street (August 23, 2018) Imagine meeting friends for a beer and choosing your drink not by style or brewer, but by the effect you want the beer to have on your body: an option to make you happier, or calmer, or more energetic. This is the dream of Keith Villa, the brewer that created Blue Moon, and one of the big ideas behind his new company, Ceria Beverages. Ceria isn’t a traditional brewery, but is instead focused on making cannabis beer, a nonalcoholic drink that will nevertheless leave you in a state of (gently) altered consciousness. Villa thinks Ceria will do for marijuana beer what his Blue Moon did for craft beers tastefully garnished with orange slices. He might actually be right.

http://www.grubstreet.com/2018/08/why-beer-made-with-marijuana-is-so-exciting.html

 

Can Cannabis And Spirits Survive Side By Side? (World – Merging Markets)

The Spirits Business (August 22, 2018) “Cannabis cannot be stopped. It will not be stopped,” asserts Spiros Malandrakis, industry manager, alcoholic drinks, Euromonitor. In 2016, he predicted cannabis-based beverages would become the “biggest disruptor that ever was” to the US drinks market – a ludicrous supposition for many at the time. But the pace of the drug’s legalisation has quickened in recent months – and the spirits sphere is now standing to attention, wary about what competition will rise from this psychoactive player. In 2017, Uruguay became the first country to legalise recreational cannabis use – and Canada is set to become the second, having passed the Cannabis Act in June this year. An amendment to the nation’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act will legalise consumption, and regulate its production, distribution and sale from 17 October 2018.

https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2018/08/can-cannabis-and-spirits-survive-side-by-side/

 

OPINION: American Cannabis: A Potential $90+ Billion Market (USA – Cannabis Sales)

Seeking Alpha (August 23, 2018) According to a note from RBC Capital Markets, American cannabis sales are quickly catching up to those of beer and wine, and the market could be worth $47 billion within a decade. In this article, I will look at how large the cannabis market might be based on data from states where recreational cannabis is legal, especially Colorado and Washington. This data may be useful for inferring the size of a “mature” legal cannabis market in the United States. I anticipate that recreational cannabis will be legal in a decade, given that more than half of Americans favor legalization. Thus, it may be appropriate to look at the potential size of the American market when measuring cannabis investments, be it in a personal portfolio, or be it a corporate investment like that of Constellation (STZ) into Canopy Growth (CGC).

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4201542-american-cannabis-potential-90-plus-billion-market

 

Cannabis And Some Conditions Hasten Brain Aging (USA – Cannabis Research)

Medical News Today (August 23, 2018) By studying a large number of imaging scans, researchers have identified conditions and behaviors that could make the brain age prematurely, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, alcohol use, and the use of cannabis. For what is thought to be the largest study of its kind, the researchers analyzed brain scans of 31,227 people aged 9 months–105 years.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322852.php

 

Why Cannabis Companies See Huge Potential In Marketing To Women (Canada – Cannabusiness)

CBC News (August 23, 2018) Eve & Co Incorporated CEO Melinda Rombouts used to grow flowers for a living. Maybe that’s why she can see the vast potential of a blossoming industry where some others don’t. So Rombouts did her research and after about six months, she not only saw a future in cannabis, but saw the potential in marketing it specifically to women. Rombouts is one of the few female CEOs in Canada’s budding cannabis industry. An irony, if you consider the fact the legal sale and production of cannabis was made possible by Justin Trudeau, an unabashedly feminist prime minister who once proudly declared his cabinet would be half women “because it’s 2015.”

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/womens-health-cannabis-1.4794901

 

Medical Cannabis Opponents Unveil Large Coalition – Including LDS Church – Against Prop 2 Initiative (UT – Anti-Cannabis)

KUER (August 23, 2018) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Thursday it is officially joining the fight against a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana that will go before Utah voters this November. Representatives of the Church joined a large coalition — which now includes the Utah PTA, law enforcement officials, lawmakers and business leaders — to urge Utahns to vote against the initiative known as Proposition 2.

http://www.kuer.org/post/medical-cannabis-opponents-unveil-large-coalition-including-lds-church-against-prop-2#stream/0