CLACKAMAS, Ore., Sept. 15, 2022 – PRESS RELEASE – Wyld, a best-selling cannabis edibles brand in the U.S., launched its product offerings in Oklahoma. The Sooner State becomes the eighth state in the U.S. to offer Wyld products, joining Oregon, California, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Washington. 

Patients have access to Wyld’s expansive product offerings at a growing number of medical cannabis dispensaries across Oklahoma. Wyld’s 100-milligram-per-container lineup offers sativa-, indica- and hybrid-enhanced edibles in the following flavors: raspberry, huckleberry, marionberry, pomegranate, pear, elderberry, sour apple and sour cherry. In addition, the high-dose lineup supplies sativa-enhanced raspberry and indica-enhanced marionberry edibles as 1,000-milligram-per-container products. Strawberry 20:1 CBD:THC + hybrid enhanced and Peach 2:1 + hybrid enhanced edibles will also be available as 100-milligram-per-container products in the future.

“Oklahoma is the first state in the south-central region to welcome Wyld products. The state’s medical cannabis program gives us lots of opportunities for growth,” Wyld CEO Aaron Morris, said. “As the demand for edibles continues to advance across the country, Wyld plans to be in three more markets by the beginning of 2023. We know that people want high quality, consistent edibles, and we’re the ones to bring that.”

The company’s expansion into Oklahoma follows the launch of Wyld Sours earlier this year. Wyld’s sour gummy offerings are available in Oregon, California, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Washington. Additionally, Wyld has become a Climate Neutral Certified cannabis company. For more information regarding Wyld’s product offerings, availability and sustainability initiatives, visit www.wyldcanna.com/. 

Small cannabis producers may be able to ship and sell products within and across state lines under a new congressional bill introduced by Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02).

The measure, known as the Small and Homestead Independent Producers (SHIP) Act, is targeted to support small cannabis cultivators and manufacturers by allowing them to ship products directly to consumers and “provide them the certainty to sustain their businesses under a larger federal legalization law,” according to a release.

“Too often, the federal government falls behind, and the gears of Congress work too slowly to keep up with the pace of a changing economy,” Huffman said. “Under my bill, folks in our state will be able to ship their products straight to consumers when the antiquated federal prohibition on cannabis is finally repealed. As large, commercial cannabis operations squeeze out local producers from the market, this legislation is critical for farmers to survive and expand their small businesses. We cannot leave our smallest family farmers behind under full legalization.”

According to the bill text, a “small cultivator of marijuana’’ is defined as someone who grows 22,000 square feet or less of cannabis in a greenhouse, one acre or less using outdoor cultivation, or 5,000 square feet or less using indoor cultivation. A "small manufacturer of a marijuana product’’ is an individual who produces manufactured cannabis products and earns less than $5 million of annual gross revenue.

The measure would take effect once cannabis is removed from the Control Substances Act and once prior cannabis convictions are expunged, according to the bill text.

Ross Gordon, policy director of Humboldt County Growers Alliance (HCGA) and policy chair of Origins Council, said direct-to-consumer shipping is an essential tool “that enables a diversified market to survive and thrive.” He added, “The SHIP Act moves the conversation beyond the question of who can get a license to cultivate cannabis and addresses the practical reality of building an equitable and accessible market for small cannabis producers.”

Karla Avila, owner and operator of Flowerdaze Farm in Trinity County and executive director of the Trinity County Agriculture Alliance (TCAA), also expressed her support for the measure.

“As a legacy cannabis producer and family farmer located in the heart of the Emerald Triangle, I see the direct-to-consumer retail pathway as the only future of my small farm, and indeed—of all rural communities like my own whose cultural heritage is rooted in craft cannabis cultivation and artisanal medicine making,” Avila said.

The legislation is endorsed by the Origins Council, HCGA, TCAA and several other organizations, and is cosponsored by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR-03), co-chair and founder of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.

The city of Boston currently boasts 14 licensed dispensaries, but a proposal from the mayor’s office may allow a rush of new retail businesses to set up shop.

Mayor Michelle Wu recently announced plans to cut the city’s Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA) from the cannabis dispensary approval process. Typically, both the ZBA and the Boston Cannabis Board would offer local approval (or not) to prospective business owners. From there, the business would proceed onto the state level.

Under this proposed code amendment, the Boston Cannabis Board alone would decide the local fate of eager cannabis retailers.

At a public hearing earlier this month, officials from the mayoral administration insisted that this change will streamline the overall licensing process. Business owners and neighbors alike would have a clearer understanding of how cannabis might fit into the local economic development landscape. The main idea, according to Bryan Glascock, a deputy director at the Boston Planning and Development Agency, is to simplify the regulatory context for this emerging market within the city.

Prospective business owners, by and large, support the move.

“Please, end the system of double jeopardy,” equity applicant Jody Mendoza said at the hearing, according to the Boston Globe. His dispensary plans were rejected by the ZBA after his business had already won a license. “Equity applicants have the highest hill to get over, but when [we’re] faced with going in front of the ZBA, it’s another opportunity for people to come out and stop us. Please end the confusion and give us a chance.” 

Mendoza’s business is one of seven that have received approval from the Boston Cannabis Board only to be denied by the ZBA. In one case, the ZBA denial brought on a lawsuit from a jilted applicant.

The ZBA, variations of which exist in nearly every municipality in the U.S., oversees local zoning compliance and provides a platform for local residents and businesses to seek exceptions to certain rules (e.g. those residents and businesses who may want to build a commercial property closer to the sidewalk than what is allowed, particularly in areas that abut residential neighborhoods). It’s also a platform for local residents and businesses to voice opposition to those exceptions.

As the Globe reports: City Councilman Michael Flaherty pointed out this fundamental aspect of the ZBA: “A lot of folks voted for [legal adult-use cannabis] but don’t necessarily want it in their neighborhood.”

The ZBA is seen as a bulwark against a concentration of any one type of business in any one particular neighborhood.

Here’s the Globe’s Dan Adams with the broader state context:

Critics urged the planning agency to leave the ZBA in charge of siting marijuana firms and awarding exceptions to Boston’s required half-mile buffer between cannabis facilities. (The buffer was intended to prevent clusters of pot shops, but the city’s geography means officials will need to allow some marijuana retailers closer to one another to meet a state minimum of around 52 recreational shops.)

Public comments were provided to the Boston Planning & Development Agency, which must now decide whether to present this proposed amendment to its board. If the board were to approve the amendment, it would then be sent to the Boston Zoning Commission for continued debate.

More than 94% of California’s existing cannabis cultivation area is at risk of experiencing wildfires by year 2100, according to a report published by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

The report, “The threat of wildfire is unique to cannabis among agricultural sectors in California,” was published in the journal Ecosphere.

“Nearly all of the state's cannabis cultivation area (94.40%) was located in areas identified as projected burn pattern hot spots (new/intensifying, historical/persistent, sporadic/oscillating, or diminishing hot spots) for the prediction period 2020–2100,” the report states. “No other agricultural type exceeded 25% of cultivation area in these burn pattern categories."

Furthermore, the report states that the geography of California’s cannabis cultivation may only inflame wildfire issues for cultivators, saying the “remote, hilly, forested areas” that the state’s legacy operators have long held are more fire-prone than other areas.

RELATED: California's Cannabis Market at a Crossroads

Even in more populated locations across the state, such as the Central Coast, the threat of wildfires still remains of high concern.

The report notes that the top three cannabis-producing counties on the Central Coast have a majority of their farms located in zones classified as persistent, new or intensifying wildfire hot spots. Santa Barbara County, in particular—the top cannabis-producing county in California, per the report—has more than 95% of its cannabis farms located in new or intensifying hot spot zones.

The report also notes that wildfires across California pose threats not just to farms directly impacted by fires, but also farms that are indirectly impacted by smoke exposure, infrastructure damage and more.

“Our findings highlight cannabis’ particular vulnerability to wildfire in California and may in fact underestimate wildfire risks given the potential indirect impacts of smoke to crops and farmworkers, which were not evaluated in this study,” the report states. “In light of the sector’s growing economic importance in the state, these vulnerabilities should be considered in future cannabis and rural development policies.”

Read the full report here.