Vertically integrated operator Bask Inc. recently moved its cultivation operations to the new Massachusetts Cannabis Center (MCC), a high-tech cultivation and processing facility in Freetown, Mass. Bask entered into a 15-year joint venture with MCC’s owner, AmeriCann Inc., to cultivate and process cannabis in a 30,000-square foot building on the 52-acre site. MCC will eventually encompass 987,000 square feet of cannabis cultivation and processing infrastructure for the medical and adult-use cannabis marketplace. Americann, a developer of cannabis cultivation, processing and product manufacturing facilities, hopes to have up to eight tenants when the project is completed.

 

Cannabis Business Times recently touched base with Americann President and CEO Tim Keogh to discuss how COVID-19 has impacted start-up plans. CBT will feature Americann and Bask in the upcoming May issue.

When did Bask move into the facility?

Bask began operations at the end of February, so their first harvest was Feb. 28.

So, Bask started operations right around the time coronavirus was becoming an issue in the U.S.?

It’s obviously progressed very rapidly. I think at the time we were aware of it, but it wasn’t front of mind the way that it is now, when we’re in the midst of a stay-at-home advisory. Before moving plants in, we went through a deep sterilization with a professional cleaning company. We use integrated pest management, so our people use gloves, hand sanitizer—everything is wiped down with hand sanitizer before it goes into the facility—and we’ve been doing this before the whole coronavirus pandemic as a way to protect the plants.

How have the COVID-19 restrictions impacted business? Did it impact start-up at all?

No. The process and the systems were all laid out, and a lot of the team from Bask moved in from their existing grow to the greenhouse and then just scaled up. It was probably around the week of March 10 that we started looking at our supplies, and we started to have a growing concern about our ability to access PPE (personal protective equipment). So, if you’re a visitor, we have you put on a Tyvek suit. Also, a lot of the team uses face masks. And we use rubber gloves everywhere. We were reading the tea leaves a little bit and realizing that we were going to have some supply chain issues. We’re being pretty conservative. We’re not having any outside visitors come in, so that removes the need for Tyvek suits. I think we were a little ahead of the curve in terms of communicating with staff and making everybody aware that there’s going to potentially be an issue here—just letting them know to be mindful and if you’re sick, don’t come to work. It’s been a progressive process where we’ve been enhancing things either based on direction from the Cannabis Control Commission or the CDC and Gov. [Charlie] Baker has been putting in policies, so we’ve been following that. A lot of the things they’ve been suggesting we’ve already been doing, so we’re feeling pretty well protected, but obviously it’s a little bit of a scary time.

Can you talk a little more about the supply chain issues and how you handled that?

The personal protective equipment, we talked about rubber gloves, which we use throughout the whole facility. Any time you’re touching a plant, you need to have gloves on to protect the plant material. Massachusetts has some of the highest testing standards for microbials, yeast that can be transferred from the skin, so we wear gloves, facemasks and then the Tyvek suits. Those are all supplies that are being put toward the pandemic that are part of our day-to-day operations. More recently, we were fortunate enough to order a trailer of soil, but we were having some issues identifying good soil vendors. I don’t know the real reason behind it. But anecdotally we’ve heard a lot of people are ordering soil in preparation for doing home cultivation, home farming. I haven’t pushed into finding out if that’s a valid reason, but the point is soil has been an issue.

Were there any lessons learned from that in terms of preparation?

I mean, we could have ordered in bulk or eight years’ worth of rubber gloves at a time, but that’s not the most efficient thing for storage space or utilization but also from a cashflow standpoint. For the most part, cannabis companies can’t access traditional lines of credit where you can make those bulk purchases. There’s enough supply on hand to continue. We’re being resourceful with the stuff we have on hand.

How did you manage the shortages in supplies?

We were able to identify vendors who were not our traditional vendors. We had to dig in a little deeper, a lot deeper, to find those resources and get them ordered and get them in. As an example, we are not using the N95 facemasks as the standard; we’ve taken a step back because, one, they’re not available, and, two, the ones we did have we were able to find a home for them through local police and fire departments.

Have you been able to gauge what impact the shelter-in-place and shutdowns will have on your business?

The licenses held in Americann’s project are both medical licenses—medical cultivation, medical processing—so from that standpoint nothing has changed. There has been a bit of a spike in the over-the-counter medical sales at the Bask dispensary in Fairhaven. Over the last two weeks there’s been a little bit of stockpiling, certainly before the stay-at-home advisory was put in place—and there was concern about the dispensaries both medically and recreationally being shut down—but even since the stay-at-home advisory patients are still coming in to access cannabis. It will be interesting to see what happens on the wholesale side of the market in Massachusetts.

As far as the recreational licenses, the directive from the CCC was that they were able to maintain their plants, so the recreational cultivators don’t have to shut their grow down but they’re not able to transfer their product out. But for the most part they’ve seen an increase at the storefront. Bask also does home delivery and they’re looking at picking up a second vehicle and expanding the home-delivery business they run. I think what we’re seeing is everyone has switched over on the storefront side to order ahead—whether it’s through a Leafly pickup or call ahead or through their websites—so that you’re placing an order before you come in. The state does not allow curbside pickup to come in the building. The idea is to minimize the transaction time. Between that and home delivery I think we’re going to see a shift in how patients, and I think if the recreational dispensaries are allowed to open back up, how consumers are going to interact with cannabis purchasing. I think just by being forced to doing it through these venues, I think you’re going to see a lot of adoption more so than what was happening. I think it may change the way consumers and patients are purchasing cannabis for a long time.

Responses were edited for clarity. This article has been revised to reflect that Americann could have up to eight tenants in its facility, not 12. Read more about Americann’s joint venture with Bask Inc. in the May issue of CBT.

As cannabis sales soar and a growing number of states declare dispensaries essential amid a growing pandemic, consumers are increasingly turning to medical marijuana and hemp for their health benefits. But in some states, those products may not be as beneficial as they seem.

At a time when public health is in the limelight, the team at North Coast Testing Laboratory LLC, based in Streetsboro, Ohio, is advocating for more stringent microbial testing requirements from states to prevent people from getting sick from harmful yeast and mold on marijuana products.

North Coast Testing became one of the first medical marijuana testing facilities approved in the state in 2018, and it has also received ISO 17025 accreditation.

The lab conducts cannabis microbial contamination tests for yeast and mold levels using two different methods—but the one method mandated in Ohio, as well as in most states around the country, they argue, is inferior. And in the face of a growing public health crisis, both the testing method and regulations need an overhaul, says Dave Moorhead, the president of North Coast Testing, along with other company leaders.

“The frustration lies in, are we putting patients at risk right now using this technology?” says Joe Moorhead, the head of customer relations for North Coast Testing and Dave Moorhead’s son. “We need to be able to utilize the technology that’s now available so we can really know the products going out are safe.”

10,000 Colonies and Aging Technology

Medical marijuana products in Ohio are currently tested for total yeast and mold counts using a method called plating. With this method, scientists spread a sample of marijuana onto a plate that encourages the growth of yeast and mold microbes. After letting the sample sit for a few days, the microbial colonies grow large enough for scientists to physically count.

Like many other states, Ohio mandates that medical marijuana products should have no more than 10,000 total yeast and mold colonies—a standard set forth by the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia in its 2014 publication, "Cannabis Inflorescence: Standards of Identity, Analysis, and Quality Control.”

But that colony limitation and testing method are both flawed, the North Coast team says. 

For one, not all yeast and mold is bad to ingest. In fact, some yeast is beneficial for gut health and the immune system. 

And cannabis may be naturally susceptible to picking up microbes, as they tend to get stuck in its sticky trichomes. “Some plants attract harmless fungi more than others,” Joe Moorhead says. “It’s just a sticky plant.”

Additionally, some biocontrols that have been approved for use on cannabis are actually fungi, like mold, and can be included in the total pathogen count even though they are harmless to ingest, says Adam Scavone, general counsel and compliance director for the company. That could drive farmers to use more harmful pest control agents, he adds. “The rule forces displacement of biological controls in favor of chemicals,” Scavone says. 

Taking the above factors into consideration, the total pathogen count method could be inadvertently hurting producers who are otherwise putting quality products on shelves. “We have taken these samples out and sent them for sequencing to see what types of yeast and mold are growing on these plants,” Joe Moorhead says. “A majority of cultivators that are failing are growing beneficial yeasts and mold.”

Conversely, an abundance of harmful microbes, like aspergillus, could be growing on the sample but could still pass if as long as they remain beneath the limit the state sets.  

Scavone explains that some states, like California, currently require labs to test medical cannabis samples for a variety of specific, harmful microbes, such as E. coli, salmonella and aspergillus using a testing method called qPRC, which is essentially genetic testing.

It’s the method the team at North Coast is advocating for, but it isn’t currently allowed in states like Ohio, as its regulations need to be changed first.

Hemp Testing

The Moorheads and Scavone also oversee operations for North Coast Analytical Laboratories LLC, a separate hemp testing company that is ISO 17025-accredited as well. North Coast Analytical is also registered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 

The North Coast Analytical team is also rallying around more stringent microbial testing for hemp grown for flower, as it can have the same contaminant issues as marijuana. When it comes to hemp testing, guidelines tend to be even looser, as federal regulations simply require pre-harvest cannabinoid potency testing.

In Ohio, the North Coast team says it worked with the state department of agriculture to include testing for other contaminants such as mycotoxins, heavy metals and residual solvents.

However, it’s up to individual states to decide what to test for beyond cannabinoids.

Moving Forward

The good news: The lab team’s advocacy may soon be paying off. Joe Moorhead and Scavone say they’ve been in discussions with Ohio’s medical marijuana authorities, and the state has indicated its interest in creating more stringent microbial testing guidelines.

“States are moving in that direction,” Joe Moorhead says. “We know it’s coming down the pipeline, and we’re hoping Ohio follows suit.”

For now, the North Coast team is advocating for all cannabis companies to test their products for harmful pathogens, especially aspergillus, which can cause fever, chills, a cough with blood and shortness of breath. The mold grows on cannabis buds, and its presence has been proven to cause severe illness in cannabis users.

“We just started looking at how we could reduce sending people to the hospital. One of the clear things we could stop in particular is aspergillus poisoning,” Scavone says. “It’s really a low-hanging fruit on the testing tree.”

And as cannabis companies wait for more stringent and unified testing guidelines from states or from the federal level, Moorhead and Scavone say they can improve testing efforts by seeking out labs that are ISO 17025-accredited and have successfully completed proficiency testing with accredited organizations like Emerald Scientific.

As for lawmakers, the North Coast team is continuing a push for, among other testing revisions, more stringent microbial regulations with updated methodology.

“It’s incumbent on all of us, especially in the medical marijuana field where patient safety is of utmost concern, to do everything we can. This crisis has really shined light on some technology we’ve been using and has really highlighted areas for better service to patients and patient safety,” Scavone says. “We have a good system now, but it could be better. If there was ever a time that was apparent, that time is now.”