The National Institute for Drug Abuse has issued a notice of special interest encouraging grant applications on the "effects of changing cannabis laws and policies in the U.S. and globally on public health."

The federal institute is a science-centered research organization responsible for providing the government with actionable information related to drug abuse and drugs in general. The institute also provides funding for research opportunities.

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Boulder, Colo. (August 19, 2019) – PRESS RELEASE – Strong advocates of organic and regenerative farming, RE Botanicals, the Pure Organic Hemp Apothecary and Palmetto Harmony, a provider of organically cultivated natural essential life oils, have announced a stock merger between the two companies.

The merger of RE Botanicals and Palmetto Harmony was born from a chance encounter at the Victory for Hemp party celebrating the passage of the Farm Bill where the brands’ founders, John W. Roulac and Janel Ralph, discovered their shared passion for the hemp plant’s ability to regenerate the Earth and human body. A natural partnership, the merger brings new resources to both companies that allow for enhanced innovation and efficiencies which will ultimately increase accessibility to unique, USDA certified-organic CBD products.

RE Botanicals has grown retail distribution from four doors in November 2018 to over 1,200 doors and will be expanding their offerings of organic hemp-derived CBD products, both at retail and direct to consumer. Both companies now have the platform and resources to explore additional growth opportunities including private label, white label and bulk.

“This merger accelerates RE Botanicals’ mission to regenerate healthy soils and the Earth through organic and regenerative farming, while expanding our product offering of USDA certified-organic hemp CBD to support our consumers’ wellness,” says 20-year hemp industry veteran and environmental advocate, Roulac, the brand’s founder and Chief Hemp Officer. “Along with regenerative ag, hemp has fantastic potential to sequester carbon in the soil, reversing climate change in the process. Our combined companies are now more competitive in the marketplace, while moving the standards higher for the burgeoning hemp industry.”

Both brands will continue to offer the highest-quality, USDA certified-organic products. The combined company will operate as RE Botanicals, Inc. with the leadership team driving expansion plans for the individual brands. Ralph will become chief operating officer and oversee the hemp growing and manufacturing facility in South Carolina. The new entity aims to shake up the hemp industry by combining their powerful knowledge of organic, regenerative agriculture and deep commitment to ethical, safe formulations to scale rapidly.

“I started Palmetto Harmony in 2015 to improve the quality of life for my special needs daughter. That is why Palmetto Harmony is so passionate about producing safe, quality products.” says Ralph. “We focused primarily on growing and manufacturing the highest quality organic products while building trust with consumers through transparency and integrity. RE Botanicals shares these same values and that is why we are honored to be partnering with such an ethical company.”

Acknowledging each company’s strengths, Palmetto Harmony provides RE Botanicals with greater control of the supply chain, significant reduction in cost of goods and a nimbleness for innovation and scale. While Palmetto Harmony now has increased access to the network Roulac has built over his two decades of hemp innovation, which also yields access to a sophisticated sales and marketing team with extensive experience powering CPG growth.

BIGR ventures, who contributed seed funding to RE Botanicals, sees this merger of two powerful brands who share a unifying vision, as an opportunity to further support and help shape the exploding CBD market. BIGR’s managing partner, Carole Buyers says of the merger, “This is truly a meeting of like-minded and purpose-driven companies. One of the reasons that we invested in RE Botanicals so early in their growth phase is that we believe in the work that founder John Roulac is doing in the agriculture space. Uniting with Palmetto Harmony increases their footprint as a brand and opens them up to exciting new opportunities as product manufacturers. We’re excited to see where their continued growth takes both brands.”

Immediate post-merger plans include preparing Palmetto Harmony for growth and retail-ready product line building upon their loyal woman centric brand offerings. RE Botanicals will also leverage the synergies to ensure price competitiveness and provide further transparency into the growing and manufacturing of their organic hemp CBD products. Leadership expects the partnership to generate additional jobs at both their South Carolina and Colorado headquarters over the coming year.

MIAMI, FL, Aug. 19, 2019 /CNW/ - PRESS RELEASE - Cansortium Inc., a vertically-integrated, global provider of medical cannabis operating under the Fluent brand, has announced that it has begun growing in Phase 2 at its indoor medical marijuana cultivation facility in Tampa, Fla.

Cansortium Chief Executive Officer Jose Hidalgo emphasized, "This Phase 2 expansion of our Tampa cultivation facility is another important step in support of our strategy to increase our revenue-generating capacity toward our goal of achieving operating profitability.

"Expanding our Florida production capacity provides us with additional supply of high-quality cannabis to process into the wide variety of Fluent-branded medical marijuana products sold through our Florida dispensary network, currently comprising 15 dispensaries in key markets, which we expect to expand to more than 30 during 2020. In addition to our exciting progress in Florida, we continue to build our business platforms in Texas, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico, as well as pursue foundational licensing in other markets to support future growth."

Approved by the Florida Department of Health on Aug. 6, 2019, Phase 2 will enable the company to realize an effective canopy coverage which, when fully propagated, will more than double the company's existing production capability. Previously an indoor vertical lettuce farm, the Tampa cultivation facility utilizes a state-of-the-art multi-level vertical cultivation method which enables the company to produce a total cultivation canopy area equivalent to a 60,000-square-foot greenhouse in only a 21,000-square-foot footprint. The company expects the first harvest from its new Phase 2 Tampa facility to occur in October 2019, with subsequent ongoing harvests anticipated to mature approximately every week once the facility is fully propagated.

In addition to the company's Tampa cultivation facility, the company operates a 31,000-square-foot greenhouse and GMP-certified 9,000-square-foot processing facility in Winter Garden, Fla. Together, the company's Tampa and Winter Garden facilities are expected to supply the raw materials needed to produce the Company's full assortment of high-quality, consistently-formulated, Fluent-branded medical marijuana products for the Florida market, including premium dried flower.

Cansortium's cultivation operations and R&D are managed by a team of highly-qualified professionals, including accredited experts in agronomy and plant husbandry.

For a complete list of Fluent dispensary locations, current promotions and rewards programs and hours of operation, or to explore the entire Fluent product line and place an online order for home delivery, visit https://getfluent.com/.