WeedLife News Network

The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development has granted millions of dollars to fund cannabis equity grant programs.

Throughout the past year, there has been much talk about how to make things more equitable for people of color and marginalized communities, and a big part of that is providing equity programs and expungements to the cannabis industry, in order to right the wrongs perpetrated by the war on drugs. Now, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and some other California cities are making history with their Cannabis Equity Grant Programs. 

A hemp farm in Australia is reportedly on the nose, with its odour causing problems for some local residents.

The ABC reports some residents living close to a trial hemp crop in  Red Cliffs, Victoria are reporting headaches resulting from the smell – but others say the smell doesn’t concern them.

iHemp Victoria is the officially recognised trade association for industrial hemp in state. The organisation’s president Darren Christie said he had never heard of these sorts of complaints and trial crops have been grown around Victoria for the last 15 years.

For the cultivator looking to achieve the highest efficiency, most consistent yields, and most predictable revenue results, this year has been a real challenge to say the least.

“It’s a new landscape with COVID-19,” says Derek Oxford, CEO and Founder of Total Grow Control, an engineering and manufacturing company that builds reliable nutrient delivery systems and water filtration solutions. Like many companies serving the cannabis industry, Total Grow Control thrives on in-person relationships and traditional sales processes. Hence, social distancing dealt a heavy blow.

Yet, Total Grow Control (TGC) adapted. They changed how they managed vendors and how they set up the manufacturing facility. What’s more, all TGC’s latest systems have built-in cameras.

When Sticky Detroit opened its first recreational marijuana shop in March 2020, partner Chris Jackson was certain the timing could not have been worse, thinking the coronavirus pandemic would surely be a damper on sales in the first months crucial to any new business.

“We put a lot of work and time into building it from the ground up,” Jackson told The Hill. “And we were really excited to be in Detroit.”

But Michigan deemed marijuana businesses essential during the pandemic, and people with plenty of time on their hands during the lockdown decided to check out the products on offer at Sticky Detroit and at their first location in Ypsilanti, just outside the city.

As water use complaints and violations landed on the radar of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, the state decided to lean in and see if an educational approach might help course-correct the burgeoning industry. A recent audit of hemp farms’ water sources shed light on the problem: About a third of licensed hemp farmers who received a visit from the state were found to be in some form of violation.

Once the 2018 Farm Bill decriminalized hemp cultivation at the federal level, growers of everything from canola to tobacco started seeing green in the idea of dedicating acreage to the cannabis plant—which, as the source of cannabidiol (CBD), also happens to be the source of one of the most hyped botanicals to hit the health-and-wellness sector in years.

But as often occurs when entrepreneurial spirits rush in to satisfy what they suspect will be stratospheric demand, these newly minted hemp farmers overshot the mark and grew more hemp than the market could absorb.

Years after the 2018 farm bill legalized hemp production at the federal level, Idaho legislators are close to lifting the state’s ban on growing the plant.

In a 44-26 vote Monday, House members approved a bill that would authorize the production, processing, transportation and research of hemp in the state. Idaho is currently the only state that hasn’t legalized industrial hemp.

House Bill 126 also would create a dedicated fund that would collect state revenues. The bill would initially cost the state $150,000 for a program manager and operations, according to the fiscal note.

It’s not just the turtles and the fish we need to worry about, humans are now breathing in microplastics from all types of packaging. According to the lead researcher of a Utah State University study, microplastics are turning into dust and are contaminated with toxic chemicals, plastic fragments, and metals. These contaminants are in 4 percent of the air we breathe.

The cannabis industry’s fear of big tobacco trying to elbow into the industry has finally come true with today’s announcement of a $175 million investment into Organigram Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OGI) from a wholly-owned subsidiary of British American Tobacco or BAT (NYSE: BTI). The BAT subsidiary has subscribed for approximately 58.3 million common shares of OGI, which represents a 19.9% equity interest on a post-transaction basis for total proceeds of approximately C$221 million (“Investment Proceeds”) at a price per share of C$3.792.

Back in the days when “skunk” was mainly associated with Pepé Le Pew and hydroponics was a way of improving cucumbers, most of the UK’s cannabis supply was imported from places such as Morocco and Lebanon. This changed in the past two or three decades in the UK and many other countries as organised criminal gangs set up growing operations closer to home.

One of the only bright spots in 2020 was the emerging cannabis industry.

Whereas the ongoing global pandemic has negatively impacted virtually every other industry on earth, the legal international cannabis industry has powered forward.

According to data firm BDSA, spending on the legal cannabis industry is expected to top $20 billion in 2020, up from an estimated $14.8 billion in 2019.

To put that number into perspective, the international music organization IFPI estimates that the entire global music industry is worth roughly $20 billion dollars, and unlike the music industry the cannabis industry has plenty of room for growth.

Cannabis can suck large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it grows, but the way it’s grown can have a major negative impact on its overall carbon emissions credibility.

A new study out of Colorado State University takes a deep dive into the burgeoning industry’s carbon footprint, and the news isn’t good.

The research indicates U.S. indoor cannabis cultivation results in life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of between 2,283 and 5,184 kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilogram of dried flower.

Many women around the world were raised to believe “this is a man’s world.” And, to a certain extent, that was the case back then. But as society progresses, we have come to understand that men and women should — and need to be — equal, both in and outside the workplace.

While the legal cannabis industry is slowly spreading across the U.S. and becoming legal, regulated, and accepted in more states, one thing the cannabis industry struggles with is having access to services that most businesses have access to, including banking and insurance. Now, one company has stepped forward to offer insurance services to the Arizona market, which is very much in need. 

As the cannabis and hemp marketplace continues to mature, more investors have begun to enter the playing field. These groups look at the cannabis space as an opportunity to acquire or merge with businesses that can offer potentially high returns.

But this process is not as simple as it seems.

Sometimes, the true financial picture of a company is not what it is portrayed to be. Companies could report a massive net income, but their operating cash flows may be negative. An extensive process of verification, investigation or audit of a potential deal or investment opportunity is required to confirm all relevant facts and financial information. This is known as financial due diligence.

Will Cannabis Stocks Resume Upward Momentum?

Marijuana Stocks have begun to regain some of the market value they lost at the end of February. On the first day of March, top cannabis stocks saw upward momentum as the day progressed. During trading top pot stocks like Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (OTC: CURLF) ended March 1st up 3.4% showing signs of possibly rising in the market. In reality, the cannabis sector has seen significant gains since the start of 2021.

A decade ago, I was spearheading company growth for Atlas Snowshoes, which had just invented and launched a modern snowshoe. Some consumers associated snowshoeing with flimsy equipment, tedious exercise and winter vacationers who prefer to veer away from ski resorts.

That simply wasn’t going to work.

So we utilized innovative engineering and design to create equipment that people want to own and developed partnerships with major ski resorts around the world to create the luxury snowshoe experience known today. The lessons I learned then serve me well now as I face challenges – both similar and new – in the cannabis industry.