TORONTO, May 19, 2020 /CNW/ - PRESS RELEASE - The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd., a producer of certified organic cannabis, has announced that it has signed a supply agreement with Medical Cannabis by Shoppers, a subsidiary of Shoppers Drug Mart Inc., making TGOD's certified organic medical cannabis products available via the Shoppers online medical cannabis sales platform.

"We're thrilled to partner with Canada's largest pharmacy network, bringing together TGOD's unique expertise in developing high-quality certified organic cannabis products and Shoppers' unmatched national reach," commented Robert Gora, Vice President of Sales at TGOD. "We share their vision of facilitating access to medical cannabis for patients across Canada."

Under the terms of the agreement, TGOD will provide Shoppers with a broad portfolio of certified organic medical cannabis products, including its latest 2.0 offering such as Infusers (dissolvable powder), teas and vapes. The agreement is for a three-year term with a renewal clause for an additional two years.

Portland, Maine, the state’s largest city, opted in to hosting the cannabis industry and approved a local ordinance May 18 to create a licensing system, fee schedule and rules for businesses, according to a Portland Press Herald report.

Portland City Council voted 8-1 to approve the ordinance, which includes a residency bonus for license applicants who have lived in Maine for at least four years, the news outlet reported.

Just last week, Maine eliminated a similar rule mandating that adult-use cannabis business license applicants had to live in the state for a minimum of four years after the state reached an agreement with cannabis operator Wellness Connection of Maine, which filed a lawsuit in March to challenge the constitutionality of the residency requirement.

Portland will cap the number of cannabis dispensary licenses within its borders at 20 and use a scoring system to issue the licenses, the Portland Press Herald reported. Under its ordinance, Portland will give licensing preference to disadvantaged business owners, medical cannabis caregivers and companies that donate 1% of their profits to the city for substance abuse prevention, among others, according to the news outlet.

Portland has been working on its cannabis ordinance for more than a year, the Portland Press Herald reported, as city council has been debating the licensing structure since it unveiled a cannabis zoning map in February 2019.

Last month, the Portland City Council voted to issue temporary cannabis testing lab licenses before finalizing its ordinance in an effort to ensure a quick launch of Maine’s adult-use market after the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused regulators to indefinitely postpone the rollout of adult-use sales.

Forty other Maine communities have agreed to host adult-use cannabis businesses, according to the Portland Press Herald, although Office of Marijuana Policy Director Erik Gunderson has warned that authorization from the state’s municipalities could be the next obstacle in launching the market, especially as many communities remain shut down due to the coronavirus.

Like many other ballot initiative campaigns across the country, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana faced a great deal of uncertainty as the COVID-19 pandemic left circulators unable to gather signatures.

As state officials began to loosen coronavirus restrictions, the campaign announced plans to resume its signature drive while maintaining strict safety guidelines.

All circulators must wear masks and gloves, and will offer signers clean, sanitized pens, as well as hand sanitizer. Circulators are maintaining six feet of distance with signers, often setting up at a table, or in one unique case, out of the bed of a pick-up truck, according to Jared Moffat, a campaigns coordinator for the Marijuana Policy Project, which is supporting the campaign.

“In Nebraska, you have to read the object statement of the initiative while the person is signing,” Moffat told Cannabis Business Times. “Some of our volunteers have a little notecard, and they just read the statement from a distance while the person’s at the table signing.”

The campaign plans to follow all state guidelines and public health directives as they are updated, Moffat added, and he is optimistic that Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana can still gather the roughly 125,000 required signatures before the July 2 deadline to qualify for the ballot.

“We’re not halfway yet,” Moffat said. “We have a lot to go, but we’re still very confident that we have a good shot at doing this. Again, it’s been done, and more signatures have been collected in a shorter time period in other campaigns. It’s a huge task, but we still think there’s a very good shot at making it.”

Based on polling, Moffat estimates that roughly 70% of Nebraskans support medical cannabis legalization.

“That’s a very healthy number to have,” he said. “Our main goal is to put it on the ballot, and we feel pretty confident that if it can qualify for the ballot, then we’re going to get this done.”

The initiative itself is a constitutional amendment that broadly establishes the right for patients who have approval from their doctors to access medical cannabis. It authorizes the legislature to establish a regulated system to produce and distribute medical cannabis products to patients, but does not provide any detail into how that system will work.

“There will need to be legislative implementation that goes along with this, [and] it’s hard to say what that’s going to look like,” Moffat said. “I think if we succeed in qualifying, then you’re going to start to see more legislators take a position on how they want this to look.”

The campaign formed in the first place, he added, because the Nebraska Legislature has largely been unwilling to pass a medical cannabis law, despite strong public support.

“We know we have some opponents in the legislature and certainly in the governor’s office—he’s one of the most vocal opponents of what we’re doing,” Moffat said. “But at the same time, if it’s a constitutional right, it has to be implemented in some way. That right has to be respected, which is why the committee is pursuing a constitutional initiative as opposed to a statutory one.”

For right now, the campaign is laser focused on qualifying for the ballot, and Moffat said circulators have been reporting strong support from the public.

“We’re hearing mostly positive feedback from the circulators—people are happy to sign and they’re coming up to them—so it seems like things are going well,” he said. “It’s all about the signature drive until July."

Each phase will last a minimum of three weeks, though each has the potential of being extended, according to the “Reopening Massachusetts” report released by the Gov. Baker administration. Phase 2 includes guidance for nonessential retailers to reopen with “restrictions and some capacity limitations.”

The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) released additional guidance after the announcement, referencing state resources for procedures to reopen safely. In addition to adult-use retailers, those licensed to cultivate, manufacture, process and test cannabis under the adult-use program are able to resume production as of May 18, following social distancing and safety guidelines from the state.