Palm Springs, California—June 5, 2018—PRESS RELEASE—Local environmental and site conditions in Southern California can cause extreme temperature and humidity fluctuations that can have a detrimental impact on cannabis product value. With energy and resource costs sometimes commanding up 50 percent of operating costs, facility inefficiencies can make or break a cannabis operator's profit margins. Combined with dropping prices, these inefficiencies are massive roadblocks to success.

To combat these issues, Resource Innovation Institute (RII) and Calyx King Consulting will convene cannabis policy leaders for a Resources Roundtable to discuss resource-efficient cannabis facility design and operations at The Green Zone: Coachella Valley on Tuesday, June 26. The Roundtable will review siting, sourcing grid power in the desert, and techniques and technologies that drive quality production and lower energy expenses, with a view into emerging net zero strategies.

Facilitating the workshop is Matt Gaboury, cannabis architect and cultivator with operations in California and Washington, and an RII Board Member. “This Roundtable convenes some of the best minds who are solving technical challenges that drive cannabis yield, quality and consistency in a variety of grow environments all over the United States and Canada," Gaboury said.

This workshop will provide a comprehensive tour of the key design and operation considerations that go into indoor, outdoor and greenhouse cultivation facilities built for the competitive cannabis marketplace. Participants will include cannabis cultivators, business operators, architects, engineers, contractors and cannabis technology solution providers. Attendees will receive real-time feedback on their projects from nationally leading growers, designers and systems manufacturers. They will also be part of creating a Competitive Facility Checklist, which will be made available as a follow-on resource for attendees. Factors covered will include facility design, HVAC and lighting systems, automation/controls, energy, water, waste, and interaction with utilities and energy system service providers. 

“The winners in California cannabis will be highly resource efficient,” said Derek Smith, Executive Director, RII. “Resource constraints and regulation are on the horizon, and the opportunity to innovate in now.” 

The Green Zone Resources Roundtable will be held at the Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa. For more information or to register for the Summit, please visit infocastinc.com/event/the-green-zone/.

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO , June 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Helix TCS, Inc., in conjunction with its strategic capital partner, Rose Capital, has announced the closing of its previously reported merger with Bio-Tech Medical Software, Inc. dba BioTrackTHC. The merger closed on June 1st. Zachary L. Venegas will continue as the CEO of Helix TCS, Inc., and is to assume the role of Executive Chairman for the combined company. As previously announced, Patrick Vo will continue as CEO of BioTrack.

“The closing of this merger is a landmark event for Helix and BioTrack from a strategic and operational perspective. As a combined company, we are unique in the industry in serving virtually every segment of the market--whether it is compliance software through BioTrack, the wholesale marketplace through Cannabase, security, transport, or cash services through Helix, or the advisory that we can provide customers due to our data infrastructure. We continue to support our clients in whatever challenges they face in becoming safer, stronger, and more profitable, whether they operate in the U.S. or internationally. At the same time, investors will see margin improvement as reporting and administrative costs are spread across a much larger revenue base and costs are rationalized.

“As a combined company with $12MM in 2017 revenue, we will continue to generate greater value for clients and shareholders. Helix’s unrelenting focus on strategy and disciplined execution will allow BioTrack to further harness the spirit that made it a market pioneer, with significant market share in government, dispensary, and grow segments of the seed to sale market, and translate that spirit into renewed technological innovation and leadership. 

“This transaction represents the next step in our evolution as a market leader. It is also another milestone achieved by using our team’s deep experience in strategy, entrepreneurship, M&A, and frontier markets to build a world-class company,” stated Venegas.

Venegas further added: “We are very excited to move ahead, and we would like to thank Rose Capital, who shared our vision and had the fortitude to finance the transaction, as well as the team at BioTrack, who have been stalwart partners throughout this transformational deal.”

“BioTrackTHC celebrates a historic milestone today as we formally join the Helix family," said Patrick Vo, CEO of BioTrackTHC. "By merging with our highly regarded peer, under the Helix umbrella, we will be able to significantly increase our ability to deliver outstanding technology, capabilities and service to the cannabis industry while drawing on Helix's proven track record of fostering meaningful, strategic partnerships. The future has never looked brighter and we look forward to collaborating with Helix to embrace the exciting new challenges ahead.”

Despite much local enthusiasm for a cannabis dispensary in the Sonoma Valley, applicants have had a hard time making headway against wary neighbors, inconsistent permit processes and regulations that limit the places a new business can grow.

Locally, a Sonoma City Council majority is standing fast in its refusal to allow a dispensary, medical or adult use, inside the 2.74-square mile city limits. Outside of city limits, however, finding a legal and likely site poses a different set of problems.

That challenge is complicated by opposition from 1st District Supervisor Susan Gorin to one prime commerical corridor in the Springs that seems otherwise appropriate to a cannabis business.

Sonoma County is authorized to license nine dispensaries in unincorporated areas (though there is some discussion of raising that cap). As yet there are only five in operation and three more applications pending – two of them in Sonoma Valley.

Among the Valley applicants is Apothevert, a medicinal cannabis dispensary which has successfully applied for a permit at 15499 Arnold Drive, at the corner of Madrone. It’s a potential site which drew a protest of neighbors on May 14, and failed to garner support last month from the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission.

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Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday vetoed a bill that would have allowed licensed marijuana “tasting rooms” in Colorado—legislation that was the first of its kind in the nation—citing health and safety concerns.

House Bill 1258 would have let adults at current recreational marijuana retailers consume small amounts of cannabis through edibles or by vaping.

“We are concerned that marijuana use at consumption establishments could result in additional impaired or intoxicated drivers on our roadways,” Hickenlooper, a term-limited Democrat, wrote in a letter announcing the veto. “… This bill also poses public health risks. Allowing vaporization of marijuana in confined spaces poses a significant health risk for employees and patrons of consumption establishments.”

RELATED: Colorado’s First-in-The-Nation Marijuana 'Tasting Rooms' Bill Heads to Gov. Hickenlooper’s Desk

Colorado law prohibits marijuana consumption in public spaces; however, the state is home to several unlicensed cannabis clubs. Also, the city of Denver has started issuing licenses after a voter-approved initiative for marijuana social-use establishments.

The bill’s concept greatly differed from marijuana clubs in that it is limited to current recreational marijuana retailers and does not allow customers to share or bring their own cannabis into the consumption area.

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