CCMA Political greenBrief
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
www.cannabismanufacturers.org
CEO Of Raw Garden John Friel Is One Of Many Cannabis Farmers Whose Farm Sits Among Cabbage Patches And Wineries In Santa Barbara County, Where Agriculture Is Being Reshaped By The Legal Market
“As long as there is onerous regulation and taxation imposed on the legal market, you can forget about getting rid of the illicit market.”Tom Adams Of BDS Analytics On The Illicit Cannabis Market Always Being Apparent In The Legal Market
“Canada fully legalizing marijuana for adult use is a historic moment that the whole world should celebrate. This is the first developed nation to recognize that legalizing and regulating marijuana is a better way to go than a blanket prohibition that stigmatizes and criminalizes people for using something that enhances lives.”Vahan Ajamian, Managing Director Of Analyst Relations At MedMen, On The Significance Of Canada Legalizing Cannabis
Contracts & Agreements in the Cannabis Supply Chain, October 16 (Los Angeles)
Join the CCMA and a group of lawyers and licensed operators along the cannabis supply chain to talk about contracts and agreements between cannabis operators – from cultivators to manufacturers, distributors, labs and retailers. We even have a lawyer focused on deal terms for companies raising $$ or getting acquired.
http://futurecannabisproject.org/2018/10/cannabis-contracts-legal-agreements-operators/
OP-ED: What Canada Can Learn From California On Marijuana Legalization (CA – Legalization)
New York Times (October 15, 2018) Dear Canada: You’re in for a wild ride. It’s been 10 months since recreational marijuana became legal in California, and my email inbox here in San Francisco fills up every week with companies offering new products. There’s cannabis roll-on pain reliever, sparkling water infused with marijuana, cannabis for pets. I get invited to cannabis lounges and a marijuana history tour of San Francisco. Cannabis is infused — that seems to be industry’s word of choice — into a huge variety of foods and candies. Chefs are concocting gourmet dinners that pair marijuana with another drug, the liquid one that California is famous for. How about some marijuana-leaf pesto with a glass of Napa chardonnay?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/world/canada/marijuana-canada-legalization.html
Marijuana Is Emerging Among California’s Vineyards, Offering Promise And Concern (CA – Cannabis Appellations)
The Washington Post (October 14, 2018) It is the fall harvest here in this fertile stretch of oaks and hills that produces some of the country’s best wine. This season, though, workers also are plucking the sticky, fragrant flowers of a new crop. Marijuana is emerging among the vineyards, not as a rival to the valley’s grapes but as a high-value commodity that could help reinvigorate a fading agricultural tradition along the state’s Central Coast. Brushed by ocean breeze, cannabis has taken root, offering promise and prompting the age-old question of whether there can be too much of a good thing. Cannabis has been fully legal in California for less than a year, and no place is generating more interest in it than the stretch of coast from Monterey to here in Santa Barbara County, where farmers now hold more marijuana cultivation licenses than in any other county.
Pot Stocks Rally After Canopy Growth Buys U.S. Hemp Researcher To Help It Grow Marijuana Better (USA – Cannabusiness)
CNBC (October 15, 2018) Marijuana stocks rallied Monday after one of the largest Canadian cannabis companies announced that it has agreed to acquire a U.S.-based hemp company. Canopy Growth told investors its purchase of Evergreen, Colorado-based ebbu will “complement and accelerate” its ambitions to expand into new types of consumer products. At closing, Canopy Growth will pay 25 million Canadian dollars in cash and issue 6,221,210 common shares to the research company in exchange for the assets being acquired. Shares of Canopy Growth, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, rallied 9 percent following the news. Tilray, the largest player in the space, saw its stock rise 7.1 percent on the Nasdaq; Aurora Cannabis climbed 7.5 percent in Toronto.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/15/pot-stocks-rally-after-canopy-growth-buys-ebbu.html
These Two States Are Poised To Be The Next Big Marijuana Markets (USA – Cannabis Market)
Forbes (October 16, 2018) With federal prohibition still alive and well despite record public support for marijuana legalization, the cannabis industry in the United States remains a state-by-state business. The inability to cross state lines has led to a web of complex and disparate state laws and regulations for businesses to navigate. This forces cannabis producers to recreate their entire infrastructure in every new state, rather than scaling up production and shipping products across the country, which impedes their ability to build economies of scale enjoyed by all other businesses. Retailers generally pay higher wholesale prices because of this, leading to higher prices for consumers at the register.
Building A Solid Foundation For Your Cannabis Brand Is Step One To Success (USA – Cannabis Market)
Beaumont Enterprise (October 15, 2018) The cannabis industry has evolved since legalization, but old habits die hard. The industry’s anti-corporate mentality, which stems from years spent operating in an illegal market, is still pervasive — and it’s easy to see why. After all, before legalization, profits were high, and cannabis companies could afford to make some mistakes as they operated, without the business structures and discipline required to succeed in other industries. For several years after legalization, cannabis operations could still function with this attitude and without business fundamentals in place.
Melissa Etheridge Talks Art, Culture And Marijuana Advocacy In The Legalization Era (USA – Cannabis Advocacy)
Marijuana Moment (October 15, 2018) It’s been a little over a year since singer, activist and marijuana entrepreneur Melissa Etheridge was arrested for cannabis possession by federal agents in North Dakota near the U.S.-Canada border. Her tour bus was stopped and searched shortly after touring in Alberta, and agents discovered a vape pen containing cannabis oil. Etheridge, who’s become an outspoken advocate for legalization in the years since she started using the plant medicinally after being diagnosed with breast cancer in her 40s, told Marijuana Moment in a new interview that the experience of being busted did not deter her.
5 Of The Most Unique Marijuana Stocks (USA – Cannabis Investments)
The Motley Fool (October 15, 2018) The sands of time are passing quickly. In a mere two days, adults in Canada will be free to legally purchase recreational cannabis in licensed dispensaries and on websites in provinces where online sales are permitted. Though legalization has been a long time coming, the expectation is that it’ll result in billions of dollars in added annual sales. The assumption that the marijuana industry will be a resounding success is very much reflected in the share price of most pot stocks. For example, the North American Marijuana Index, which tracks the performance of a basket of growers, ancillary players, and makers of cannabinoid-based drugs in North America, has risen by more than 700% since February 2016. Investors have practically been able to throw a dart and come out winners.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/10/15/5-of-the-most-unique-marijuana-stocks.aspx
A Cannabis Industry Insider’s Take On Day 1 Of Legalization (Canada – Legalization)
The Motley Fool (October 15, 2018) The clock is ticking down to October 17, when Canada becomes the first major country to legalize recreational adult-use of cannabis nationwide. To learn more about what will happen on day one and beyond we talked to a cannabis industry insider, Vahan Ajamian, who has boots on the ground in this fast-growing category. Ajamian is the managing director of analyst relations at MedMen, which operates dispensaries in several states in the U.S. and recently announced the largest acquisition to ever take place in the U.S.cannabis industry.
https://www.fool.ca/2018/10/15/a-cannabis-industry-insiders-take-on-day-1-of-legalization/
Cannabis Jobs In Canada Boom, As Cannabis Becomes Legal This Week (Canada – Cannabis Market)
MG Retailer (October 14, 2018) You have until Wednesday to apply to Canadian cannabis producer AHLOT (which stands for A Higher Level of Thought), for one of five positions available on their cannabis Connoisseur Committee. The company’s website said simply this about the jobs; “We’ll pay you $50/hour (to a maximum of 16 hours per month) to evaluate the best that Canada’s growers have to offer. Expenses of $200 per month. Five Connoisseur Committee jobs available.” Wednesday, October 17, is also the day that cannabis becomes legal in Canada, the second country to legalize marijuana nationally for adult use behind Uruguay. Though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had originally hoped for legalization to be implemented as early as July, in the year leading up to adult-use legalization several Canadian cannabis companies have achieved billion dollar valuations.
Boomers, Remember The Real – And Perceived – Harms Of Cannabis Use (Canada – Cannabis History)
The Globe & Mail (October 16, 2018) Cannabis is not the devil’s weed. Nor is it a magic elixir. Come Wednesday, the country will not go mad as stoners take over the streets, nor will we achieve doobie-inspired world peace and universal love. No, come legalization on Oct. 17, Weed Wednesday, life will go on much like it did before. Some people will smoke, or otherwise consume, pot but probably not many more than did before it was legal. According to Statistics Canada, 42.5 per cent of Canadians have tried cannabis at some point in their lives and 16 per cent have partaken in the past three months. Canadians consumed about 150 tonnes of cannabis annually prior to legalization. The prospect of capturing a good chunk of that black market has caused a frenzy among investors and speculators, and fuelled reefer-stock madness.
Marijuana Stocks To Watch: GW Pharma Is A Drugmaker That Grows Its Own Cannabis Plants (UK – Medicinal Cannabis)
MarketWatch (October 16, 2018) The cannabis sector has been making waves lately, from plans for full legalization in Canada this week to companies seeing the potential for CBD-infused drinks. But cannabis is expected to have many medical applications. One of the major players in the space is the Cambridge, U.K.-based GW Pharmaceuticals which has been working to develop and sell cannabinoid medications for the last 20 years. Epidiolex, the company’s lead therapy, became the first cannabis-derived drug in the U.S. in June, when it was approved for seizures associated with two rare types of childhood epilepsy. The drug is expected to come on the market in the next month. Drugmakers commonly make their medicines synthetically — think a lab, not a greenhouse. But because its medications employ cannabinoids, GW Pharma is also involved in agriculture, growing cannabis plants both in partnership with another company, British Sugar, and on its own.
First Steps Towards Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Happening In Cultivation Facilities Across The State (OH – Cannabis Cultivation)
News 5 Cleveland (October 15, 2018) If not for one tray of plants that stands just a few inches tall, you might not realize that Grow Ohio Cultivation Manager Nick Cline is growing marijuana at all. The building he does it in shows how the company has gone to great lengths to keep it as clean as possible. State regulations don’t allow Cline to use the pesticides that more traditional farmers can use to keep bugs away. The materials he does put on the plants are tested in a lab within the facility to try to get the most out of each plant.
