The state announced Wednesday it has dismissed appeals from six companies that were denied licenses to grow medical marijuana for Utah's program.
Utah officials preparing to launch the state's medical marijuana program next year face mounting pressure from county attorneys to scrap plans for a state-run dispensary system and lingering scrutiny from companies rejected for growers' licenses.
The state announced Wednesday it has dismissed appeals from six companies that were denied licenses to grow medical marijuana for Utah's program, shutting down allegations that the selection process was hasty and biased.
This week, an advocacy group announced its petition to legalize cannabis has gathered enough signatures to trigger a review by the Florida Supreme Court.
For years, Floridians have watched from the sidelines as states such as Colorado, California, and even Michigan have legalized recreational marijuana.
But with activists pushing to get recreational weed on the 2020 ballot in Florida, the possibility of legalization now seems likelier than ever. This week, the advocacy group Regulate Florida announced its petition to legalize pot has gathered more than 76,632 verified signatures — enough to trigger a review by the Florida Supreme Court.
The single product order surpasses the company's entire 2018 revenue from cannabis sales.
TORONTO, Aug. 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Aleafia Health Inc. is announcing that its wholly owned subsidiary, Emblem Cannabis Corporation, has completed the largest adult-use cannabis order in the company’s history. The value of the order is expected to generate proceeds from the sale of cannabis exceeding $1 million, and has been shipped to a Canadian provincial government for distribution to online and retail consumers. The single order features all of the company’s product formats and 17 individual product SKUs.
Aleafia Health’s average monthly gross revenue generated from the sale of cannabis now consistently and significantly exceeds equivalent revenues generated during Aleafia Health’s entire 2018 annual reporting period.
“Our largest cannabis sale to date again points to the consistent, upwards trajectory of Aleafia Health as we grow and refine our vertically integrated production supply chain across three facilities,” said Aleafia Health CEO Geoffrey Benic.
Niagara Greenhouse and Outdoor Grow Facility Update
The cultivation license application for the company’ modern, automated Niagara Greenhouse located in Grimsby, Ontario is now officially under review by Health Canada. In addition, 13,000 cannabis plants are now growing in the company’s Port Perry Outdoor Grow facility, including in the newly licensed Zone 2 area.
“Aleafia Health will continue its relentless focus on increasing product supply, allowing for the global scale of our cannabis health and wellness ecosystem,” said Benic. “We are delighted with the significant increase in cannabis sales to date, including a recent major increase in registered medical patients and product sales.
“This is just the start. With upcoming catalysts on the horizon, there is a tremendous amount of room for Aleafia Health’s continued growth."
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has proposed a new bill that would bypass federal barriers of marijuana research.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) proposed a new bill that would bypass federal barriers of marijuana research.
The goal of the proposed Expanding Cannabis Research and Information Act is to dive deeper into potential harms and benefits of marijuana in light of the recent marijuana bill Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed.
With Innovative Industrial Properties helping to finance the deal, MMAC sells Los Angeles cannabis campus to DionyMed.
DionyMed, a publicly traded Canadian cannabis brand, is acquiring MMAC’s 1.83-acre cannabis campus in Los Angeles. The purchase price is $13 million in cash and $6 million in stock. Because the real property in this transaction will flow through a real estate investment trust (REIT), the M&A deal functions as two deals in one.
The Canadian cannabis company used a cannabis REIT to do the financing on this deal. DionyMed will acquire the Los Angeles asset from MMAC and then sell the property to Innovative Industrial Properties (IIP) for $13 million; IIP will then lease the property back to DionyMed on a 15-year contract (with two optional five-year extensions).
The IIP leaseback model has been seen across the U.S. in different cannabis markets. For both DionyMed and MMAC, the net result is an acquisition that provides greater access to capital to both buyer and seller. Jonathan Storper, a Hanson Bridgett attorney who represented MMAC in the deal, said that U.S.-based cannabis companies are increasingly looking for creative ways to scale their business. Financing that growth through M&A—and, in many cases, going through public Canadian buyers—can be an effective strategy as competition among U.S. businesses continues to heat up in California and in other state markets.
“The overall issue is this is a maturing industry, but not a mature industry,” Storper says. “It's a growing industry that's looking for financing in a federal regulatory environment that makes it extremely difficult.”
IIP shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange. The company’s ability to work across the U.S.-Canada border and help facilitate a real estate deal like the DionyMed-MMAC deal has brought it into numerous M&A transactions recently. In this leaseback structure, time and money become more flexible variables in a deal.
RELATED: This Company Helps Medical Cannabis Cultivators Access Real Estate Capital
“A leaseback arrangement is useful when a company needs to use the cash invested in an asset for other investments, but the asset is still needed in order to operate,” according to Investopedia.com.
It’s a model that’s led IIP to pick up a 12-state portfolio of cannabis real estate. “We act as a source of capital to these state-licensed operators by acquiring and leasing back their real estate,” according to the company’s information on leaseback strategy. “This allows for the opportunity to redeploy the proceeds into core operations, yielding a higher return than they would otherwise get from owning real estate.”
As a DionyMed press release outlines, the Los Angeles cannabis campus provides the Canadian company:
“This acquisition strategically positions DionyMed as a leader in California’s cannabis market,” Edward Fields, CEO of DionyMed, said in a public statement. “By incorporating MMAC’s Southern California direct-to-consumer fulfillment center, distribution facility, manufacturing hub, cultivation facility and dispensary storefront, with our existing operational base in Northern California, DionyMed is positioned for long-term growth to serve the largest cannabis market in the country.”
For MMAC, the infusion of capital will allow the company to focus on its new dispensary in San Francisco (operating under the name Project Cannabis) and scale its operations in southern California. “The funds will allow them to continue to consider how to grow and scale their business,” Storper told Cannabis Business Times.
“Now that we’ve established our Los Angeles platform, the sale of the property provides MMAC additional working capital to quickly expand its footprint beyond the Los Angeles area,” Cameron Smith, COO of MMAC, said in a public statement. “Further, by partnering with DionyMed, one of the top operators in the cannabis industry, we can utilize their efficient direct-to-consumer cannabis platform to drive increased awareness of our brands.”
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
Eric Sandy