After a failed attempt to delay South Dakota’s voter-approved medical cannabis program, Gov. Kristi Noem used taxpayer dollars to advertise that she’s “100 percent committed” to the program.

The 60-second advertisement, which ran June through September, featured the Republican governor in a public-service announcement setting.

Noem, who campaigned against the voter-approved ballot measure last year, and then unsuccessfully advocated for the South Dakota Legislature to amend and delay implementing the program, offered a different tone in the taxpayer-funded advertisement.

“The medical cannabis program is on schedule,” she said. “And we’re working to implement a responsible program that follows the direction given by the voters. … I’ve heard from people who are hurting and are hopeful for relief. I can assure them that we are working hard to streamline the process to get medical cards out to people. And my team is 100 percent committed to starting this program as quickly and as responsibly as possible for South Dakota.”

The ad was funded through $322,500 of amendments to the state Department of Health’s contract with Imagine Agency LLC, of Rapid City, as first reported by KELOLAND Media Group.

The one-year contract that was issued June 1, 2021, was originally for Imagine Agency to design, plan and execute South Dakota’s Opioid Abuse and Misuse Prevention Plan communications and marketing for $375,000, which was funded through a federal grant.

That contract was amended twice—adding $180,000 and then $142,500—to cover “medical cannabis,” with the $322,500 total coming out of the state’s general fund. The medical cannabis provisions of the Imagine Agency contract also included social media posts and tracking, Department of Health spokesman Daniel Bucheli told KELOLAND.

Bucheli said Senate Bill 35 was the source of the funding for the medical cannabis ads. The Legislature passed S.B. 35 in March, appropriating $4,161,605 to the departments of Revenue and Health for the purposes of implementing provisions contained in the adult-use and medical cannabis ballot measures passed by voters, by 54% and 70%, respectively, during the 2020 general election.

In February, before S.B. 35 passed, Noem said it was her intention to delay implementing Initiative Measure 26 a full year—to July 1, 2022. She worked with House leaders to amend the voter-approved medical cannabis measure through House Bill 1100, legislation that died in March after Senate leaders deviated from Noem’s plan.

In turn, medical cannabis was legalized July 1, 2021, with no changes to the statutes passed under voter-approved I.M. 26—allowing qualified patients or designated caregivers to possess up to 3 ounces of cannabis or three cannabis plants.

But South Dakota has until Oct. 29 to finalize the program framework. Specifically, the Department of Health must promulgate rules necessary to implement the program and must begin issuing cards no later than Nov. 18.

“Throughout the rules and the public input process, the departments of Education and Health have been careful in their approach,” Noem said in the taxpayer-funded advertisement. “Other states have made mistakes that we do not want to repeat. I want South Dakota to have the best, the most patient-focused medical cannabis program in the country.”

While she opposed I.M. 26, Noem said she would support federal medical cannabis legalization if it first receives approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Once regarded as a fringe technology, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have supplanted high-pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) lighting fixtures as the most popular in the commercial cannabis cultivation industry, according to new data from Cannabis Business Times’ “State of the Cannabis Lighting Market” report.

Produced with support from Fluence by OSRAM, the 2021 “State of the Cannabis Lighting Market” study found that the majority of commercial cannabis cultivators growing under mixed or artificial lighting have LED fixtures in propagation, vegetation and flowering rooms. HPS lights, which in 2016 were the most commonly used fixtures (adopted by 62% of growers), are now in use with just over one-third (37%) of growers.

“LED adoption is expected to continue to rise as growers strive for further efficiencies, whether to maximize profitability, comply with state energy use regulations, or both,” according to the report. “Of the research participants who currently do not leverage LED fixtures in flowering, 63% indicated they are planning to use or are considering using LEDs in the flower cycle within the next 12 months.”

Industry groups advocating for sustainable cannabis production and resource use, such as the Resource Innovation Institute (RII), say market conditions are ripe for LED growth to continue.

“A combination of factors is creating a perfect storm to motivating cultivation operations to adopt LEDs: energy efficiency, productivity, choice, pricing, utility programs, regulations, and transparency,” said Gretchen Schimelpfenig, Technical Director for RII, in a statement to CBT.

Data collected by RII through its Cannabis PowerScore platform, a free resource-benchmarking tool, “shows how facilities using LED for any stage of plant growth can achieve 19% better electric energy efficiency while also getting 53% higher yields per unit of electricity,” Schimelpfenig added.

She also noted the incentive created by utility rebates, saying “[cultivation] executives are realizing that it’s in their best interest to scoop up utility incentives while they can.”

Other findings in the published research include an increase in vertical rack use across both vegetative and flowering stages. In 2021, 37% of cannabis cultivators indicated growing using vertical rack systems in vegetative (up from 25% in 2017), and 21% indicated using such systems in flowering (up from 13% in 2017). This finding is in line with the increase in LED adoption, as LEDs are better suited for stacking thanks to their lower heat loads compared to HPS and MH fixtures.

Results from the 2021 “State of the Cannabis Lighting Market” report are based on 156 participants who own or work for an operation that cultivates cannabis indoors and/or in greenhouses with supplemental lighting, unless otherwise indicated. The margin of error for percentages based on this base is approximately ±7.8 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

The report is available in the October issue of Cannabis Business Times. Research data can be found here.

• U.S. growth capital provider Measure 8 Venture Partners is lead investor
• Curaleaf Executive Chairman Boris Jordan joins board
• Investment ushers in new era of “natural based medicine“
• Showcases Germany as the leading European market for medical cannabis
  

FRANKFURT, Germany, Oct. 18, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE – Bloomwell Group has successfully closed a seed funding round of over $10 million dollars—the highest publicly known seed investment for a European cannabis company to date. The lead investor is U.S. growth capital provider Measure 8 Venture Partners, specialists in cannabis industry investments. Among other investors, business angel Dr. Reinhard Meier is investing again through his Venture Capital Investors fund; and Philipp Weber of FPS acted as legal adviser to Bloomwell.

Concurrent with the announcement, Bloomwell Group, which includes Algea Care, Europe's leading telemedicine company for medical cannabis in terms of patient numbers, is repositioning itself as a holding company, allowing it to build, invest or acquire cannabis companies.

"With Bloomwell, we are revolutionizing health care through digitalization and the potential of medical cannabis as well as other natural medicines,” Bloomwell co-founder and CEO Niklas Kouparanis said. “Our portfolio companies will radically focus on a consumer-centric approach along the entire value chain of medical cannabis, with the exception of cultivation. The era of natural-based medicine begins now and Bloomwell is taking the lead."

Within a year, Bloomwell Group has grown to 160 employees, with projected revenues of 5 million euros in 2021. In addition to Kouparanis, CEO, entreprenuer and cannabis pioneer, the board is strengthened by telemedicine veteran Meier, who as founder, led Teleclinic to an exit, co-founder Samuel Menghistu and Boris Jordan, founding partner of Measure 8 Venture Partners. 

The accomplished board covers facets in medicine, digitalization, cannabis, investment and brand building across various market sectors.

• Dr. Reinhard Meier, Director of Radiology at Westpfalz Klinikum, previously founded and invested in several medical companies as well as initiating several VC funds.
  

• Boris Jordan, with the $285M acquisition of EMMAC, Curaleaf is the first and only multistate operator (MSO) to have a meaningful presence in Europe. Jordan is considered one of the most renowned cannabis experts in North America and has been responsible for the operations of Curaleaf, a global publicly traded cannabis company, as well as venture investments in the cannabis space via Measure 8 Ventures.

• Niklas Kouparanis, a serial entrepreneur, and a pioneer in the Euopean medical cannabis industry.

• Samuel Menghistu, spearheading the intersection of banking, investments, M&A transactions and IPOs for over six years.
  

"Many of the high expectations of both investors and global corporations within the European cannabis industry have not been fulfilled since the enactment of the 'Cannabis Law' in March 2017, even though the market has continued to grow steadily,” Bloomwell co-founder Anna-Sophia Kouparanis said. “With Bloomwell, we have shown within just one year how much can be achieved through entrepreneurial finesse. The nascent European cannabis industry is full of potential for Bloomwell’s future development. While the market is consolidating elsewhere, all signs point towards growth and expansion through the combination of cannabis, innovation, digitalization and a radical D2C or direct-to-patient approach."

“Germany is the leading European market for medical cannabis and the Bloomwell Group has proven within one year that it can identify and scale innovative solutions in this new growth market for the benefit of patients,” Jordan said. “Cannabis has a bright future in Europe and we look forward to supporting and working with the Bloomwell Group as they continue to scale."

"Digitalization is the key to finally putting patients at the center of an inefficient healthcare system,” Meier said. “Algea Care, a portfolio company of Bloomwell, has already proven that it has the expertise and clout to improve the well-being and everyday life of thousands of patients in a highly regulated sector through medical cannabis and digitalization as well as an immensely high service standard."

COLUMBUS, Ohio, October 18, 2021 -- PRESS RELEASE -- Worthington Industries announced the launch of its newest product family brand, Highpoint by Worthington Industries. Highpoint products are designed with the extraction community in mind to support clean, safe solutions for the cannabis industry.

For too long, the legalized cannabis extraction industry has depended on equipment from other sectors to make extraction possible. As the industry matures and new legal states come online, first-class extraction facilities realize the importance of implementing and using products and equipment designed with the industry in mind.

Bulk hydrocarbon tanks and hydrocarbon gases are an essential part of the extraction process. Highpoint products represent an industry shift with high-quality, clean and safe stainless steel tanks. Extractors know that in a rapidly-growing industry with a thirst for constant innovation, their processes must be purpose-built from start to finish.

"With Highpoint, we're excited to support the rapidly growing cannabis market by fulfilling an unmet need for storage solutions tailored to this industry," said Bobby Weinberg, product director. "Backed by decades of safety, regulatory and manufacturing expertise, we are elevating the process and setting a new standard together with our customers."