Lawmakers are moving to give the state leeway to deny new licenses based on supply and demand.
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon is awash in cannabis, glutted with so much legal marijuana that if growing were to stop today, it could take more than six years by one estimate to smoke or eat it all.
Now, the state is looking to curb production.
Five years after voters legalized recreational cannabis, lawmakers are moving to give the Oregon Liquor Control Commission more leeway to deny new cannabis-growing licenses based on supply and demand.
Gov. Kim Reynolds vetoed an expansion of the state's medical marijuana program.
Democrats in the Iowa Legislature are calling on their Republican counterparts to hold a special legislative session to override Gov. Kim Reynolds' veto of an expansion of the state's medical marijuana program.
But while Republican legislative leaders said the issue will be a top priority for them in 2020, they called the possibility of a special session "ill-advised," making it all but certain that Reynolds' veto will stand.
For Iowans like Joe Bohnert of Des Moines, who participates in the state's medical marijuana program to treat pain and other side effects stemming from his multiple sclerosis, it's "outrageous" that Reynolds would veto the expansion and delay any action by another year.
The Transportation Security Administration has changed its cannabis policy to allow passengers to travel with some forms of CBD oil.
This week, the Transportation Security Administration changed its cannabis policy to allow passengers to bring some forms of CBD oil on flights, “as long as it is produced within the regulations defined by the law” under the 2018 Farm Bill. Elsewhere, in Arizona, the state Supreme Court decided a crucial appeal by siding 7-0 with patients and state voters on marijuana resin extracts.
Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is over.
Canna Provisions CEO Meg Sanders says charity organizations declined her company’s monetary donations due to a lack of federal guidance on banking.
Cannabis companies eager to give back to their communities may find that charity organizations won’t take their money. This was indeed the case for Meg Sanders, CEO of Canna Provisions, an adult-use dispensary group in Massachusetts.
“There were a few different charities, locally and regionally, that we tried to donate to here in Massachusetts, and they wouldn’t take our money,” Sanders tells Cannabis Business Times. “The fear is that because a lot of them are federally funded, if they take our cannabis money, they might lose their federal funding. … I can’t say I haven’t run into a philosophical issue, as well, that maybe people just don’t believe in this product being available, but mostly it seems that the pushback is around federal funding.”
Although Massachusetts has financial institutions that work with medical and adult-use cannabis businesses, Sanders says that many charity organizations believe accepting donations from the industry is too risky until federal guidance on banking is issued.
“Until we have some type of federal legislation on the books that promotes safe banking—like the SAFE Banking Act, for example—it’s just one of those things where it’s a gray area and it’s too risky,” she says. “I think solving the banking issue goes a long way in creating opportunities for people to take our money.”
Until a solution is found, cannabis businesses looking to donate money to their favorite organizations continue to face pushback, particularly in Massachusetts, Sanders says, where charity is a large part of the state’s cannabis industry. The state requires cannabis business license applicants to outline a plan for positive impact in their community as part of their application, and this plan is reviewed as part of the licensing process.
“A lot of what’s happening in Massachusetts is very charity-based, equity-based, making sure that we’re hitting areas with disproportionate impacts through hiring [and] education,” she says. “That’s part of not just our corporate ethos, but also what the state of Massachusetts’ regulatory body, which is the Cannabis Control Commission, has laid out. Charity and giving has been a big part of our plan, and not just because of that, but because our experience in other states has shown that participating at that level in the community really helps move the needle in terms of acceptance of our products.”
Five organizations have accepted monetary donations from Canna Provisions, Sanders says, and oftentimes, the organizations have asked the company to describe its business and overall mission. Sometimes, she adds, the organizations have even consulted their boards for approval before accepting the donations.
“There are a lot that will take our money, but there are always a couple that won’t, so we have to do a lot of asking before we know exactly,” she says.
While some organizations refused monetary donations from Canna Provisions and other cannabis companies that Sanders has worked for over the years, she says the team has still been able to contribute manpower to various charitable projects, and she has taken advantage of these opportunities when possible.
“We not only write checks, but we spend a lot of time with volunteer hours,” she says. “I can say right now we have over 85 hours in our volunteer bank, as far as what our employees have done, and that’s anything from taking flowers to the assisted living facility on Mother’s Day to give to patients to several … sponsored cleanups of creeks or streets or that kind of thing. … We’ve also volunteered with the chamber of commerce to hang all the beautiful flower baskets for the summer season along the main street in our hometown, and we have several more in the works. It’s just so great for people to meet us and understand we’re great people and a great place to do business and encourage them to support our efforts here in Massachusetts."
Swell manufactures THC and CBD products at its 10,000-square-foot processing facility in Portland.
C21 Investments Inc.–a Vancouver-based, vertically integrated cannabis company that cultivates, processes and distributes cannabis- and hemp-derived consumer products in the United States–completed its acquisition of Oregon-based Swell Companies Limited May 27, marking the Canadian company’s fifth acquisition in the United States.
The acquisition, announced in July 2018, is part of C21’s broader vision of multistate expansion. In addition to Swell, the company has acquired Eco Firma Farms and Phantom Farms in Oregon, as well as Silver State Relief and Silver State Cultivation in Nevada.
Swell employs 41 full-time workers at its 10,000-square-foot processing facility in Portland and has expansion rights for an additional 18,000 square feet adjacent to the current facility, according to a company press release. At its current size, the facility has the capacity to reach up to 5,000 pounds of raw material throughput per month, which translates to 220,000 to 270,000 grams of processed, oil-based extracts per month, according to a press release. According to the company, Swell’s expansion will allow it to process an additional 1,200 pounds of raw material per month for an additional 65,000 grams of extracts per month.
“Consumption of cannabis oil-derived products, such as vapes, has grown substantially across all markets,” said Swell CEO Alleh Lindquist in a public statement. “This segment is quickly becoming the most significant component of the industry, and with the support of C21, Swell is poised to rapidly expand its consumer packaged goods product offerings in existing and new markets.”
Swell currently manufactures THC and CBD oil, encapsulates and vaporizers, which are distributed under the Dab Society Extracts and Hood Oil brands. Overall, more than 50 of Swell’s branded products are sold in over 275 licensed retail locations across Oregon, according to the press release.
“Acquiring Swell fulfills a critical segment of our expansion strategy, positioning C21 as a competitive player in the rapidly growing consumer packaged goods segment of the industry by bolstering our extraction and manufacturing expertise across all of our operations,” said C21 President and CEO Robert Cheney in a public statement.
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Melissa Schiller