DALLAS, Dec. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- PRESS RELEASE -- Puration, Inc. has announced that management anticipates 2018 sales may exceed the previously announced $1 million sales goal. The company has recently announced new EVERx CBD Sports Water sales in Georgia and Colorado. On Friday, PURA announced a 100 pallet Telluride Happy Water order is going to Austin, Texas to the same distributor that ordered twelve pallets last month. PURA expects to announce later this month one and maybe even two more new distributor orders opening new geographical regions. EVERx CBD Sports Water is also expected to go on sale online later this month on the new USMJ E-commerce site soon to be launched by North American Cannabis Holdings. Management plans to release an online presentation this Thursday, Dec. 20th, 2018 to update shareholders on progress against the company’s business plan to include exciting updates on the planned dividend of Nouveau stock to PURA shareholders in conjunction with the recent spinoff of PURA’s cannabis cultivation operation to NOUV.

Learn more at www.purationinc.com.

FRANKFURT, Germany, Dec. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- The Frankfurt-based pharmaceutical company Farmako is a research-based pharmaceutical company and distributor of medical cannabis. The company is active in all European markets that have created a legal basis for cannabinoid therapies. Farmako was founded by top managers of the German cannabis industry, experienced founders and scientific experts.

With the strategic investment of Heartbeat Labs, Farmako plans to accelerate its own research and development as well as its European growth. According to expert estimates, the market for medical cannabis in Europe will increase from 59.3 million euros in 2018 to 55.2 billion euros by 2028. As of Oct. 15, 2018, Canada was the first of the G7 nations to open its market for medical cannabis for recreational and occasional use, paving the way for more global markets to follow suite.

Farmako will concentrate heavily on research and development. The pharmaceutical company predicts that cannabis flowers, the biggest bottleneck for the industry today, will become a commodity in the future. That creates massive opportunities for pharmaceutical companies focussing on research and development.

Niklas Kouparanis, co-founder of Farmako, says, "The European market is becoming more professional. Farmako wants to drive change as a research-based pharmaceutical company. With the investment of Heartbeat Labs, we have a strategic partner to help us make that change in the healthcare industry."

Eckhardt Weber, founder and CEO of Heartbeat Labs, says, "The market for alternative medicines is a very relevant and rapidly growing area of pharmaceutical healthcare. Farmako complements our portfolio and we’re continuing continue to establish Heartbeat Labs as the leading platform for modernizing the healthcare sector."

Sebastian Diemer, co-founder and investor of Farmako, says, "We want to become European market leader in medical cannabis. With Heartbeat Labs, we have the ideal partner for health disruptions on board."

BEND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PRESS RELEASE--EVIO Inc., a provider of cannabis testing and research for the regulated cannabis industry in North America, has announced that it received a provisional license from Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) to operate as an independent testing laboratory. The license moves the organization into the final phase of being cleared to commence testing cannabis under the Commonwealth’s Adult Use of Marijuana Program. EVIO Labs in Framingham will be one of only four Massachusetts laboratories approved to perform mandated testing to measure product potency and to verify that cannabis is clean from contaminants including pesticides, heavy metals, including lead and mercury, and microbes, including e. coli and salmonella.

“We are excited to offer full service testing for the state’s exploding adult-use market. The first two recreational cannabis dispensaries opened on Nov. 20, 2018, and according to the CCC, sales exceeded $2 million in the first five days. Additional dispensaries are awaiting final license approval to enter this $1.2B cannabis market. We have already established relationships with a majority of the growers and producers across the Commonwealth and we look forward to serving them,” said Lori Glauser, COO of EVIO. “As more consumers try cannabis including CBD products, it is vitally important that the product is safe, and the product labels are accurate.”

The provisional license permits EVIO Labs to complete the relocation to its new Framingham facility, reoptimize the equipment to support EVIO’s ISO accredited methods and complete preparations for final inspection. It is forecasting this process will be complete within the next 30 to 45 days.

The cannabis industry is affecting higher education.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 trained workers will be needed in the industry in the first few years after legalization, and Canada’s universities and colleges are stepping up. New courses and degrees are being offered at schools from coast to coast;  McGill University’s graduate diploma on cannabis production, to be offered in 2020, has been attracting a lot of attention.

Open to those with a bachelor’s degree in plant science (or similar), the diploma will cover every aspect of the world o’cannabis from agriculture to philosophy.

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