WeedLife News Network

Flora Growth Corp. (NASDAQ: FLGC) (“Flora” or the “Company”), a leading all-outdoor cultivator, manufacturer and distributor of global cannabis products and brands, announced today that the Company met with the author of a new bill to legalize recreational cannabis on the day the legislation was introduced to Congress.

Flora’s Chairman and CEO Luis Merchan met with Colombian Sen. Gustavo Bolivar prior to the bill's introduction to Congress on July 20. Bolivar, the key author of the bill, and Merchan discussed the top tenants of the bill, the bill’s implications for companies such as Flora in Colombia and what legalization means for the country’s burgeoning domestic and international cannabis markets.

Highlights of the discussion include:

Meat alternatives are on the rise globally. Could hemp take the lead as cannabis reform drives agricultural production?

Meat consumption is rising globally (starting with the U.S.). The American market alone is worth about $270 billion annually, out of a market worth about $1.5 Trillion dollars globally. Unfortunately this is also a vertical which is increasingly unsustainable from the climate change perspective—forget the moral issues involved. As Mr. Rogers famously said, he could not eat anything that had a mother.

Ghost Drops, Canada's Most Notorious Cannabis Brand, announces "The League" – a new brand platform created to propel the best brands from the legacy realm into the legal market.

Legends. Icons. Innovators. This is The League.

Designed to elevate more trailblazing cannabis names from the shadows into the spotlight, The League is another example of Ghost Drops' commitment to the cannabis community. With the launch of The League, Ghost Drops continues to execute its core business strategy: the mass conversion of legacy consumers to legal market consumers, while also delivering on its promise of "No Ghost Left Behind."

Legendary boxer turned cannabis entrepreneur Mike Tyson has expanded distribution of his namesake marijuana to four more states, including medical marijuana dispensaries in Maryland.

The expansion, through medical marijuana cultivation and distribution company Columbia Care, will also be available in Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania. His pot is called Tyson 2.0.

The expansion to medical marijuana dispensaries in Maryland also comes ahead of a ballot referendum in Maryland this fall that could legalize recreational use of marijuana.

Tyson launched Tyson 2.0 cannabis products, including flower, vaping and pre-rolled products, with Columbia Care last fall. It is currently available in nine markets.

The government is looking at legalizing industrial hemp production in Fiji by sourcing hemp seeds from Canada.

Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says industrial hemp is a lucrative and largely untapped resource in the global economy due to misconceptions about what it really is.

Sayed-Khaiyum says they will be engaging with the United Nations office on drugs and crime to arrange for the Fiji National University and its Agriculture School to grow these industrial hemp seeds, following which the seeds will be distributed to local farmers.

“We require many of the same types of machinery and outfitting — strong security systems, clean rooms, testing facilities, laboratories."

Vireo Health International, Inc. leased a former Pfizer site in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico to set up cannabis cultivation and processing operations several years back, seemingly one of the earlier weed companies to recognize it’s not always necessary to reinvent the wheel.

Per Fierce Pharma, a Pfizer spokesperson reported the company had earlier sold a site in Cruce Dávila to another company, while a Vireo Health official suggested pharma facilities are solid options for cannabis operations.

In the latest Headset report, budtender employees data exhibits the trends of new hires versus employees who work at a single location for more than 12 months.

The cannabis data collection company Headset released its latest report on July 13, which covers budtender/employee turnover rates in cannabis dispensaries.

Headset calls cannabis budtenders the “heart and soul of the industry,” because they are essentially ambassadors for the plant and the industry.

“Because of their extreme importance, budtender hiring, onboarding, and management is one of the most crucial tasks in any cannabis retail operation,” Headset writes in its introduction.

Re+Play products, created in partnership with Toronto-based company Avicanna, will also be sold at Walmart and Amazon.

The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) has announced a multi-year partnership with Re+Play, the performance-based wellness and recovery line founded by former player Al Harrington.

The deal makes Re+Play an official partner of the NBPA, alongside strategic partners Walmart and Amazon.

The first product release is scheduled to be a line of recovery creams, developed in partnership with the Toronto-based biopharma company, Avicanna.

The Colorado grant program is designed “to save small businesses money, foster equity and diversity in the cannabis industry, and create good-paying jobs for Coloradans.”

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis last week announced the first businesses to receive funding through the state’s Cannabis Business Pilot Grant.

A total of 16 aspiring cannabis retailers received the grants through a program that seeks “to save small businesses money, foster equity and diversity in the cannabis industry, and create good-paying jobs for Coloradans.”

The company holds A$6 million of cash that will allow it to continue to diversify away from the underperforming cannabis sector.

Hygrovest Ltd (ASX:HGV) achieved some of its goals to diversify its investment portfolio, reduce its exposure to the cannabis sector and ultimately, reduce the difference between the share price and NAV, during the financial year ended June 30, 2022.

Some of HGV’s activities during the year included:

New York is off to a strong start with their recreational market, as certain hemp growers got the green light to start their outdoor growing.

New York is finally kicking off their recreational cannabis sales, after years of back-and-forth and push back against antiquated and racist drug laws. Now, the industry is up and running with some of the first 203 hemp growers given recreational licenses starting up their grows. And plot twist: the first of these are outdoors. 

Not exactly what you’d expect for New York, but weather-wise, it’s prime season. The indoor growers are expected to join in soon, but for now growers like Frank Popolizio of Homestead Farms and Ranch are getting started with their outdoor crops. 

Fluence CEO and a leading lobbyist call for Congress to finally pass federal SAFE legislation that would put financial institutions more at ease with lending in the cannabis sector.

Cannabis lighting firms take note: As rapidly as the legal marijuana industry is growing, it is held back in the U.S. by a lack of federal action that would allow tens of thousands of firms to access banking services.

That view came across loud and clear in a recent installment of Fluence Unfiltered, an online video series in which David Cohen, CEO of cannabis lighting vendor Fluence, interviews a leading industry figure.

Leading CPG packaging company expands cannabis division to scale support in MA, NJ, PA, NY, RI, ME and CT

Liz Kirkaldie’s grandson was near the top of his class in high school and a talented jazz bassist when he started smoking pot. The more serious he got about music, the more serious he got about pot.

And the more serious he got about pot, the more paranoid, even psychotic, he became. He started hearing voices.

“They were going to kill him and there were people coming to eat his brain. Weird, weird stuff,” Kirkaldie said.

“I woke up one morning, and no Kory anywhere. Well, it turns out, he’d been running down Villa Lane here totally naked.”

Kory went to live with his grandmother for a couple of years in Napa, California. She thought maybe she could help. Now, she says that was naive.

Kory was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Kirkaldie blames the pot.

Some analysts have become more optimistic about the stock.

Aurora Cannabis (ACB -5.10%) is one of the most beaten-down cannabis stocks in the entire industry. Investors will recall that back in 2018, Aurora announced it was acquiring medical marijuana company MedReleaf for more than $2.5 billion in what at the time was the sector's largest deal. Today, Aurora is worth about one-fifth of that value, with a market cap of over $400 million.

A top cannabis researcher is predicting that despite valid concerns surrounding inflation, sales on July 4th will generate a double-digit increase, likely racking up the highest number in sales for any day in the market this summer.

The reason for this surge? “Cannabis is a ‘sticky’ good and the market is resilient,” said Roy Bingham, co-founder and CEO of Colorado-based BDSA. “We predict that summer cannabis sales will remain steady, peaking around the 4th of July holiday.”

Also, with more people travelling and many social activities commencing after the COVID-19 restrictions of the last two years, the summer season’s festivities will be especially pronounced.

Branded Legacy, Inc. ( BLEG), a holding company focused on the commercial development of hemp and cannabinoid-infused beverages, along with an array of CBD topicals and tinctures is pleased to announce it has added two new stores to its growing list of retail locations.
Happy Cork, located in Brooklyn, NY has added the new TCH-0/Delta-8 gummies and Delta 8 Tinctures to their growing market. In addition, Transformative Acupuncture in Jacksonville, FL, will now be carrying Spikes CBDX products. They will offer all 4 of its gummies including the new THC-0/Delta-8 blend, Massage oils, moisturizers, Delta-8 / CBD tinctures, and its CryoGel. Products will be offered not only within the services of the business but also available for retail purchases.

With investors becoming more cautious and capital more expensive, only the strongest cannabis firms will survive a downturn in the global economy. 

Cannabis startups in Europe are facing a harder time raising capital amid recession fears and sinking stock markets, but that could ultimately help the industry. 

“This period will be really good for clearing out those who were just trying to make a quick buck,” said Alastair Moore, the founder of Hanway Associates, a research firm focused on marijuana. “That’s a good thing for the sector.”

Startups likely to survive include those that have already built strong, sustainable business models, according to Moore. That will help them keep winning over investors who are becoming more cautious, he said.

The popular edibles brand introduces an innovative alcohol alternative through their “Summer of Quick” campaign.

Summer is in full swing, and Michiganders are celebrating with lakeside parties, backyard barbecues… and the inevitable hangovers that follow. But one cannabis company is offering consumers a new, hangover-proof way to enhance their sunny celebrations: fast-acting, THC-infused gummies.