In his veto message, the governor cited concerns about more marijuana ending up on the illicit market.
Governor Sununu has vetoed a bill that would have allowed medical marijuana patients to grow their own plants.
In his veto message, the governor cited concerns about more marijuana ending up on the black market.
Backers of the proposal, which would let qualified patients to grow up to six plants after registering with the state, said the home grow option would lower costs and increase accessibility for patients.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said the state regulating a federally illegal product would conflict with the Controlled Substances Act.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said Thursday in an opinion that the medical marijuana legalization bill that is parked on the first round of debate in the Nebraska Legislature is unconstitutional.
Peterson said that by the state creating a regulatory scheme to cultivate, process, distribute and sell a product considered federal contraband on an industrial scale would conflict with the purpose and intent of the federal Controlled Substances Act.
Garden Remedies offers other dispensary startups the help it always wanted—through its Catalyst Mentorship Program.
If you have launched a business in the cannabis industry, at one point or another you have probably wished for a guidebook or mentor to refer to when hurdles appeared insurmountable. Jeffrey Herold sure did.
Herold, COO of Massachusetts’ Garden Remedies, a vertically integrated cannabis company, remembers the company’s senior leadership sitting around a conference room table about 18 months ago, commiserating over the challenges they overcame to launch their operation in the Bay State. The wide-ranging conversation spanned lessons learned, mistakes made and “how just having a one-on-one mentor that had been through this would’ve really helped,” Herold says.
A team member chimed in: “Why don’t we launch a mentorship program?”
That thought sparked the idea for Garden Remedies’ Catalyst Mentoring Program that pairs team members with cannabis license applicants to help guide these license hopefuls through the early stages of launching their businesses.
Some might think that helping potential rival business owners is a bad decision, but Garden Remedies has a different perspective. “I think it's a big industry, and we think there's plenty of [market share] to go around,” Herold says. “We'd much rather help people do it right so that the industry as a whole doesn't get a bad name.”
Garden Remedies’ team knew that it wanted the mentorship program to have a personal feel to it. “Originally, it didn't feel like it was going to be too structured and more just a one on-one-mentor relationship, where if somebody has a question, they know somebody in our organization that they can call,” Herold details.
While it has retained a personal level of support, the program has evolved into a 14-week program with three separate tracks: cultivation, processing and retail, the same industry verticals in which Garden Remedies operates today. Each track has one designated mentor, and the inaugural class saw one mentee paired with each mentor.
Garden Remedies isn’t directly training program participants on how to cultivate cannabis, process edibles or manage a dispensary. Rather, mentors are there to answer questions and help their mentees avoid making the same mistakes they did in the licensing process, with design or with sourcing materials.
Mentees have weekly calls with their mentors to discuss any issues they encountered that week and get advice on what to expect from the next steps in the process. Biweekly calls with various company subject matter experts relevant to each mentees’ business and licensing stage are also scheduled. Those experts remain available throughout the licensing program to answer questions related to their areas of expertise.
Herold is clear that there isn’t a business relationship being established, but a personal one. And even though the program formally is 14 weeks, mentees are expected to make connections that last beyond the terms of the mentorship. “[These mentees] literally call us … when any kind of question comes up that may take them hours to research, and they can call our head of security [for example] and get the answer in just two minutes,” he says.
The first Catalyst class graduated May 2, and two of the three graduates had economic empowerment priority status, meaning they all qualified as businesses having “practices that promote … economic empowerment in communities disproportionately impacted by high rates of arrest and incarceration for offenses under state and federal laws, including the Controlled Substances Act,” according to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (MCCC).
Caroline Pineau, owner of Stem—a dispensary license applicant based in Haverhill, Mass. (a city designated by the MCCC as one of the 29 areas where drug laws had a disproportionate impact)—is a Catalyst graduate. A yoga studio owner and instructor, she first heard about the program through a business associate, and, after some additional research, reached out quickly.
“To have the opportunity to learn from some of the best in the industry … has been instrumental and has really helped to propel my project forward,” Pineau says.
Her mentor, Julia Wentworth, Garden Remedies’ director of retail operations, spoke with Pineau every week and discussed everything from “floor plan … all the way down to paper clips,” Wentworth says. Store design is Wentworth’s specialty, as she is in the process of designing her third dispensary—Garden Remedies’ Marlborough location.
Pineau, for her part, is quick to give credit to Wentworth and Garden Remedies for continuing to help shape her business to match her vision. “[Julia] has vast retail experience and really helped me hone in on exactly how I wanted the flow of the experience to take shape,” Pineau says. “I really felt like they were a resource in every aspect of my business and really helped to shape my business strategy, and also helped me to feel really empowered that I can be an aspiring leader in this industry, even as a mom-and-pop operator.”
Brian MacIver is senior editor of Cannabis Dispensary magazine.
Father-and-daughter team John and Tyla Salley co-founded the cannabis lifestyle brand to not only distribute high-quality cannabis, but to also tackle social justice and industry education.
A love of high-quality cannabis has inspired John Salley and daughter Tyla Salley to embark on a quest to expand social justice and break the stigma in the industry, and a recent partnership with Nevada-based cultivator Flower One Holdings, Inc. has propelled their mission forward.
John, a four-time NBA champion, co-founded Los Angeles-based Deuces 22 with Tyla as a cannabis lifestyle brand with a focus on quality and convenience. The company strives to provide consumers with high-quality, locally produced flower, and has also established an educational platform called Deuces Academy to spread information about the plant.
Last month, Deuces 22 officially entered the Nevada market—and made its U.S. debut—when it inked an agreement with Flower One. Per the agreement, Flower One is now licensed to manufacture, distribute and sell Deuces 22’s selection of flower and pre-rolls in Nevada.
“We started basically just because of a love for cannabis and wanting to have quality cannabis … that had a good standard for always being great,” Tyla tells Cannabis Dispensary. “We found that was sometimes hard to find at the dispensaries, so we decided to take it into our own hands, especially since I personally felt like representation in the cannabis industry was lacking.”
John cites a friend who is serving 20 years in jail for growing cannabis, something that state-licensed operators across the U.S. are now doing legally in commercial facilities. “When we realized that [there are] more black people in jail for this and there were people growing hundreds of millions of acres of it and now it’s being [legalized], of course the social equity part was important to us,” he says.
“Cannabis is something that has a very long history in America, and right now, there are a lot of people who are in prison from something that we’re trying to make money from, and that in itself is institutionalized racism,” Tyla adds. “It all stems from the backs of different black people trying to make money … and being penalized for it. We’re trying to take over that narrative and destigmatize cannabis.”
John’s mother is 96 years old and taking CBD, something that would have never occurred to her in the past due to years of stigmatization surrounding cannabis, he says. This inspired Deuces 22 to launch Deuces Academy.
“We first decided on the idea of having Deuces Academy because we wanted to have quick facts that people could spit out when having conversations to combat any of the stigma that comes with cannabis, just because there are so many lies floating around,” Tyla says.
Deuces Academy is a platform that answers common questions about cannabis, she says. “We wanted to have a place where people could go, learn about cannabis, and empower themselves with all things cannabis and all things Deuces.”
As research is released, the company hopes to distribute it through Deuces Academy, John says, and it hopes to complement that platform with an upcoming documentary.
“We’re also shooting a show of the making of this brand, following Tyla through different grows, … having them explain their different grow techniques [and] what they put in it,” he says.
Flower One, a publicly traded company on the Canadian Securities Exchange, will license the Deuces 22 brand, but John and Tyla will choose the plant material that goes into the products to ensure quality and consistency, John says.
“With Flower One giving us over 400,000 square feet to pick from, we don’t have to worry about running out,” he says. “We don’t have to worry about the quality going from place to place. We know these growers, we’ve been inside, and we understand that they know how to get the things into our package.”
Tyla echoes her father’s assessment of Flower One: “Their quality control I was really impressed by. It also felt like they were visionaries in cannabis. They’re thinking 10 steps ahead, and they have ideas set in place almost as a safeguard to try and use cannabis to its fullest while also not compromising the plant. That’s something I really like because it shows that we could grow together.”
Deuces 22 will initially launch into the Nevada market with flower and pre-rolls, but John says the brand will later introduce cannabis oil, oral sprays, vegan edibles, and CBD topicals and tinctures.
The company’s products will be packaged in biodegradable and compostable materials that break down within 10 years’ time, John says. Next year, Deuces 22 will launch hemp-based plastic packaging that will decompose within three to five years, he adds. The company will also place an augmented reality feature on its labels, which, when scanned through the Deuces 22 app, will display a message about the product’s authenticity.
“We want to recreate this process in every recreational state in America and, eventually, the world,” Tyla says. “That’s why we’re launching in big markets like California and Nevada, so that the brand is recognized and we can continue with expanding throughout the country."
Ilera's cultivation and processing facility in Waterfall, PA includes a genetic library of over 170 cannabis strains.
TORONTO, Aug. 2, 2019 /CNW/ PRESS RELEASE - TerrAscend Corp., the first and only global cannabis company licensed for sales in Canada, the US, and the EU, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Ilera Healthcare, one of five vertically-integrated cannabis cultivator, processor, and dispensary operators in Pennsylvania, with such vertically-integrated licenses also referred to as "Super Licenses" in the state.
Ilera's cultivation and processing facility in Waterfall, PA includes a
genetic library of over 170 cannabis strains, a state-of-the-art greenhouse
designed for optimal plant growth and minimal environmental impact, clean CO2
and ethanol extraction capabilities, and leading-edge packaging technology.
Ilera's dispensary in Plymouth Meeting, PA was designed to create a welcoming,
safe, and secure environment for patients. In the next six months, the company
expects to open two additional dispensaries in Region 1, which includes
Lancaster, Philadelphia, Chester, Bucks, Berks, Delaware and Schuylkill
counties. In addition to selling its products in its own dispensary, Ilera
distributes its dried flower, concentrates, tinctures, and topicals to 50 of
Pennsylvania's 52 medical cannabis dispensaries.
TerrAscend has agreed to acquire 100% of the equity of Ilera for total
consideration of between US$125-$225 million, paid in a combination of cash and
TerrAscend shares. On closing, TerrAscend will pay to the sellers US$25 million
in cash, subject to customary closing adjustments, and an additional US$25
million worth of proportionate voting shares in the equity of TerrAscend
equivalent to approximately 5,059.102 proportionate voting shares (which are
each exchangeable for 1,000 TerrAscend common shares, being issued at an
issuance price of US$ 4.94 per share, based on the 45 day volume-weighted
average trading price of TerrAscend's common shares as of Monday, July 29, 2019
of C$6.5307 and an exchange rate of C$1.3216 per US$1.00). Additional cash
consideration of up to US$175 million2 in aggregate may be paid
to the sellers based on Ilera achieving certain specified revenue and
profitability targets, with staged payments being made in 2020 and 2021. The
transaction is expected to close in the 4th quarter of 2019, subject
to regulatory approvals by the Pennsylvania Department of Health as well as
certain customary closing conditions.
TerrAscend reiterates its current 2019 guidance of revenue in excess of
CAD$135 million on its current business, which does not contemplate
contribution from the Ilera transaction. The Company looks forward to giving
updated 2019 revenue guidance in the coming weeks, which will include projections
for Ilera's sales contribution post the transaction's targeted close in the 4th
quarter.
Ilera's senior operating team – including CEO Greg Rochlin, Director of
Cultivation Andrew Sack, and Chief Scientific Officer Oludare Odumosu– will
continue in management positions and are expected to work within the broader
TerrAscend organization. All the employees at the company's Waterfall
cultivation and manufacturing site and their Plymouth Meeting dispensary site
are expected to join TerrAscend's rapidly expanding US operations. Ilera is
currently the second largest employer in Waterfall, PA.
"Today's news marks another important step forward in our U.S.
expansion strategy," said Matthew Johnson, President of TerrAscend Corp.,
and TerrAscend USA, Inc. "Greg Rochlin and the rest of the Ilera team have
built a substantial business that delivers high quality, safe, efficacious
medicine to patients through scientific innovation, operational integrity, and
best-in-class patient education and service. Their team brings robust operating
experience and scientific knowledge that will be invaluable as we scale our
business in the U.S. and beyond. We see great potential in bringing Ilera
brands and formulations to the other jurisdictions in which we operate. We also
plan on launching California-born Valhalla Confections and State Flower brands
and our leading premium Canadian cannabis brand, Haven St. into the
Pennsylvania market. We are thrilled to have found a team that shares in
TerrAscend's values and vision and look forward to working together with
Greg and his team as we continue to build the leading North American Operator
(NAO) in the cannabis space."
"It's clear that we've found a great strategic and cultural fit with
TerrAscend," said Greg Rochlin, CEO of Ilera. "We're proud of the
company we've built and we're excited to have found a partner who recognizes
the quality and potential of our seed-to-store operations. TerrAscend's roots
in health sciences and their commitment to innovation and quality make them the
ideal partner for us as we grow our business. We're excited to become part of
this inspirational team which has made substantial progress in becoming one of
the leading companies in the sector, while putting patients first."
Osagie Imasogie, Chairman of the Board for Ilera Healthcare said, "Our
board is truly excited and fully supports this transaction. Together Ilera and
TerrAscend bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the market. Our
alignment will provide an even greater service of care to patients in our
state."
Cannabis Business Times’ interactive legislative map is another tool to help cultivators quickly navigate state cannabis laws and find news relevant to their markets. View More
Brian MacIver
Melissa Schiller