CBD OIL

Buckeye Relief Finds Top Shelf for Carefully Crafted Edibles

April 6, 2021 by CBD OIL

The Buckeye Relief infused-foods team, including Kitchen Manager Emily Rollo (front left), Executive Chef Marc London (front right), Kitchen Tech Lupe Rivera (back row, from left), Kitchen Tech Ricardo Yepez and Assistant Kitchen Manager Ryan Fatica, carefully craft a line of cannabis edibles with a focus on taste and effectiveness.

The first time Marc London received a complaint about the taste of his chocolate, there was only one response he deemed appropriate.

“Thank you,” said London, the executive chef at Buckeye Relief, a medical cannabis cultivator and processor in Eastlake, Ohio, about 15 miles northeast of Cleveland, where he and Kitchen Manager Emily Rollo carefully craft infused foods with a focus on taste and effectiveness. Their line of edibles includes chocolates; locally sourced honey; Wana gummies; and Keef Brands, an infused beverage available in lemonade and strawberry kiwi.

Buckeye Relief’s 25,000-square-foot indoor grow facility became operational in July 2018 in Eastlake, Ohio.

Buckeye Relief, which has a 25,000-square-foot indoor grow facility that became operational in July 2018, launched its kitchen operation shortly after getting an extraction license in the spring of 2019. While Ohio legalized medical cannabis in 2016, statewide sales didn’t begin until early 2019.

An executive chef by trade, London always worked with chocolate when he owned a prepared-foods store and a catering business in the mid-80s, he said. Since London believes chocolate is one of the most complex food products on the planet to work with, he made it his mission to search high and low for the best commodity on the globe to infuse, he said.

Buckeye Relief co-founders Andy Rayburn, CEO, and Scott Halloran, chief operating officer, began the planning phases of their company in 2016, shortly before Ohio’s passage of medical cannabis House Bill 523—two years before Buckeye Relief became operational—which provided London ample time to track down the right chocolate for the operation.

“I was even down in Ecuador looking at chocolates down there, because I think Ecuador is one of the best producers of chocolate in the world, even though most of our chocolate comes from South Africa,” London said. “And I just happened to be in Ecuador, so … I just started doing some research down there and brought some back here.”

Buckeye Relief offers a 72% cacao dark chocolate, a smooth and creamy milk chocolate and a 1-to-1 ratio marble chocolate year-round.

While his prospects from Ecuador showed promise, London and his team at Buckeye Relief eventually decided on a Belgian chocolate to infuse in their kitchen. They now offer a 72% cacao dark chocolate, a smooth and creamy milk chocolate and a 1-to-1 ratio marble chocolate, as well as seasonal flavors, like a white-minted chocolate with sprinkles during December holidays.

Key to Buckeye Relief’s line of infused foods is the kitchen’s focus on producing edibles that don’t have the flowery or grassy taste of the cannabis plant, and that goes for all of the edibles, not just the chocolate, London said. “I wanted products that tasted just like the ingredients that went into it with the exception of the extraction ingredients,” he said.

In turn, London steered clear from compound chocolate, which can be melted down and deposited into molds without being tempered, and put his attention on “real” chocolate, which requires the breaking down of fats and waxes before being tempered back to its original state with the cannabis extract infused, he said. The end product retrieves a nice, glossy finish, he said.

“When you look at really good chocolate, you’re like, ‘Wow, that is beautiful,’” London said.

He and his team—which, along with Rollo, also includes Assistant Kitchen Manager Ryan Fatica and kitchen techs Lupe Rivera and Ricardo Yepez—were not just after an infused chocolate that had good health benefits, but a product that both presented itself well and had great taste, he said.

So, when Buckeye Relief Communications and Community Engagement Director Leslie Brandon notified London that she received a complaint about the taste of his chocolate, specifically regarding how one consumer “could not taste the cannabis” in the product, there was only one response he deemed appropriate: “Thank you.”

“And that’s literally happened numerous times where I’ll get emails from Leslie, ‘Marc, we just got a complaint. They can’t taste anything in the chocolate,’” London said. “And the first time she ever sent that to me, I just emailed her back, ‘OK, I’m going to take that as the ultimate compliment, because that’s what I set out to achieve from day one.’”

London also attributed the taste of Buckeye Relief’s chocolate to the extraction team’s understanding of how to process a cleaner and redefined end product from the plant to infuse into the edibles, he said.

Planting Their Roots

Still in its infancy, Ohio’s medical cannabis program has more than 176,000 registered patients as of Feb. 28, 2021, according to the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program. On the retail front, Ohio averaged $5.7 million in total product sales per week through the first 10 weeks of 2021, compared to an average of $2.5 million per week during the same timeframe in 2020, according to the control program.

But London and Rollo’s connection to cannabis and to the kitchen extends beyond Buckeye Relief. Friends with Rayburn for more than 30 years, London’s first customer for his catering business in the ‘80s was Rayburn’s ex-wife, he said.

“That’s how I met Andy, and what bonded us was our love of music, live music, and our love for sports,” London said. “I’ve seen over 250 [Grateful] Dead shows in my life. A hundred of them were probably with Andy. And we haven’t stopped yet. So, when we had that jam-band connection, that carried us through all these years. We’ve gone all over the place. It’s great.”

On Dec. 5, 2018, the night before Buckeye Relief’s first harvest and the plants’ last night in the flower room, Rayburn gave the crop a special treatment. He played the Grateful Dead’s legendary 1977 concert at Cornell University’s Barton Hall over the PA system, making sure the plants had a “good last evening,” Rayburn said.

After his prepared-foods store and catering business, which he transitioned into a smoothie juice bar operation, London went on to extend his expertise in the publishing industry, where he built a Cleveland-based magazine called Fine Lifestyles that shared editorial about the people, cultures and businesses that make up Northeast Ohio.

London said he’d still be running that magazine if it were not for Rayburn.

“I’d still be in that business if Mr. Andy Rayburn hadn’t said, ‘Marc, I think I’m going into the cannabis business,’” London said. “And I heard that and said, ‘OK, well, if he’s going in the cannabis business, then I’m going into the cannabis business—just let me know when and where.”

Once Buckeye Relief built its facility and started its grow, it was just a matter of time before the company received its extraction license and opened a kitchen for infused foods. Until then, London sometimes helped out in other facets of the operation, including trimming plants. That’s where he first crossed paths with Rollo.

Intern to Kitchen Manager

Tony Lange | cannabisbusinesstimes.com
Buckeye Relief Kitchen Manager Emily Rollo got her start as an intern in the trim department in 2018.

Rollo first started working at Buckeye Relief as an intern in the trim department in 2018, an entry-level, yet important phase of cannabis cultivation.

Working in the restaurant industry for five years to help put herself through college, Rollo graduated with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and earned a certificate in non-profit leadership, before starting a short career in the advertising industry, where she worked sales and marketing.

During that time, Rollo had a grandmother who struggled with opioids and being able to control her doses, she said. That was around the same time Ohio passed its medical cannabis bill, which sparked Rollo’s interest in researching related opportunities before networking and eventually getting her foot in the door at Buckeye Relief, she said.

“I came from working in the advertising industry, which I really loved my job,” Rollo said. “I really enjoyed it. But I wasn’t feeling fulfilled, you know, I wanted to help people and I wanted to feel like I had that purpose.”

Once in the door, Rollo’s journey shifted toward making herself standout among 30-some interns in the trim department, she said.

“I had to create a system for myself and a strategy for myself to kind of set myself apart and start networking with people,” Rollo said. “I spotted Marc in the trim room and just started talking to him, chatting with him. Over conversation, I was able to figure out his history—I didn’t know at that point that he was in charge of the kitchen. I didn’t know at that point that he was hired in. I just knew that he was back there helping us trim.”

Diving deeper into conversation with London and picking his brain about his expertise and his soon-to-be kitchen operation, Rollo quickly went from intern to kitchen manager in roughly a year. Through her desire to be on a team that provides edibles for patients in Ohio, Rollo travelled out to Colorado with London in July 2019 to train under experts from Wana Brands, a U.S. leading infused-products company known for its gummies.

Gummy Trends

Shelby | Adobe Stock
Cannabis-infused gummies are the most popular edible in the U.S.

According to cannabis market research expert BDSA, a consumer insights data report from September 2020 revealed that infused gummies made up 84% of candy ingestible sales at that point in the year across Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon. In addition, 60% of U.S. edible users reported consumption of infused gummies, while baked goods were the second most popular ingestible product at 46%. And 33% of U.S. ingestible consumers cited gummies as their preferred type of edible, with a 15-point margin over baked goods as the next most popular preferred ingestible product.

“Seeing how the sales trends go, as legalization spreads throughout the United States, I saw this big opportunity that this is going to be the future of the industry,” Rollo said. “This is going to be the future of dosing. People, especially the older generations, love how convenient it is. You don’t have to smoke it. It’s something you can keep in your pocket and dose throughout the day. So that is kind of what really, really sparked my interest in that part of the industry, [where] I really saw myself thriving.”

After their weeklong training with Wana in Colorado, Rollo and London received additional hands-on instruction from Wana experts, who flew out to Ohio for detailed recipe explanations at Buckeye Relief.

And in order to meet testing standards in Ohio, Rollo said she and the Buckeye Relief team fine-tuned their gummy trials for maybe six to nine months before finally dialing in their operation. Now, a team of three to four people in the kitchen can produce anywhere from 40,000 to 70,000 gummies in a typical day, Rollo said.

In order to be more efficient, the kitchen team sometimes operates in longer shifts, working from Monday through Thursday, so that it only has to go through the time-consuming processes of setting up and cleaning up four times in a week rather than five times, Rollo said.

“I am extremely passionate in every single batch that I make, you know, my passion shows through it,” she said. “So definitely the gummies [are my passion], cause it’s kind of in my heart and soul from the beginning. I kind of had to go through a lot of testing issues, you know, to kind of get that formulation correct on it for probably six to nine months until we really dialed it in. So, yeah, it’s been a journey.”

The Buckeye Relief kitchen team produces several different cannabidiol (CBD)-to-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) ratios in gummies. For example, there’s a five-to-one pomegranate blueberry acai gummy that has 25 milligrams of CBD to 5 milligrams of THC, which is popular among people who haven’t tried edibles before and are interested in the micro-dosing market, Rollo said. And then there are strawberry lemonade and watermelon flavors that include a one-to-one ratio of 10 milligrams of CBD to 10 milligrams of THC, while more exotic flavors, like yuzu, offer a two-to-one ratio.

Meanwhile, Buckeye Relief also produces gummies that are straight THC, including 10-milligram pieces as well as a new macro line of 30-milligram gummies in raspberry-limeade and blood orange flavors, which are for the more experienced consumers, Rollo said.

The specific flavors come from proprietary blends of terpenes—aromatic compounds found in many plants, including cannabis—that are picked out by Wana, Rollo said. In addition to flavoring, terpenes also provide different effects, she said.

“So, the mango is more of the sativa, which has the uplifting effects,” she said. “Indica more for the asleep. And hybrid obviously for a little bit of both.”

Attention is in the Details

When it comes to creating products that not only land on the shelves at dispensaries, but also stay on those shelves, Rollo and London both said their efforts boil down to running a detail-oriented operation.

Tony Lange | cannabisbusinesstimes.com
Buckeye Relief’s flower room includes several cannabis varieties.

“We operate exactly like any other [non-cannabis] medical facility in the state of Ohio,” Rollo said. “We want to make sure that we have a professional representation of how we operate. We’re trying to prove ourselves in some ways, showing that we are this legitimate business, and this is a medicine that helps people.”

On the edibles side of the industry, London said his team treats infused foods like artisanal products. For example, one batch will generate 700 gummies—only a fraction of a daily production. But rather than use a bigger cooking pot, the team at Buckeye Relief controls the quality of each gummy by simply producing more batches, London said. The same dialed-in concept applies to chocolates, he said.

“I could take a giant chocolate tank of 200 gallons of chocolate and fuse the whole thing and then start pumping it out,” he said. “I am not going to end up controlling the quality or the potency the way I can in a 15-pound run.”

Each 15-pound run will produce about 120 bars of chocolate, London said. If market demand increased beyond Buckeye Relief’s current output, then the best avenue to scale up production and maintain the quality of the brand would be to train more staff to handle more runs, he said.

Another factor pertaining to chocolate, especially the volatility of milk chocolate, is humidity, which can create a bloom, or a white, shadowy appearance that puts an eyesore on the presentation to each bar, London said.

“Up until this past summer, when I put new dehumidifiers in here, I had to produce a lot of my milk chocolate in the springtime,” he said. “There’s just too much moisture in the [summer] air. You can’t get it to cool down properly and harden properly. So, it really, it’s not as much what we produce on a daily/weekly basis, but it’s how do we control it so we can put out the highest quality year-round.”

Buckeye Relief also has a brand of locally sourced raw honey that is harvested using natural methods and then infused with a little extra buzz. While the company has its own beehives, it doesn’t have enough to keep up with demand. In turn, Buckeye Relief connected with a local beekeeper from Bainbridge Township, in neighboring Geauga County, who provides a few hundred gallons of honey any time the kitchen needs it, London said.

And then Buckeye Relief’s line of Keef—a brand in the cannabis beverage space that was originally launched in 2010 in Boulder, Colorado—includes a strawberry kiwi beverage that tastes similar to flavored water and a lemonade that tastes like a powdered-beverage mix, London said.

“I think the market is going to really, really enjoy it,” he said. “If I was making that beverage and when you drank it you were like, ‘Oh my, god. What’s that bitter, nasty plant taste?’ we would never have that product here at Buckeye Relief.

“One of the things is, we have worked really, really hard for shelf space at dispensaries. So, our commitment is, we worked so hard to get it, we can’t lose that shelf space, which means we need to be able to duplicate and produce enough to never run out. And some products just aren’t designed for that.”

Political & Corporate Lobbying Influences Emerge in Cannabis

April 6, 2021 by CBD OIL

In a press release sent out this morning, a new coalition announced their launch to “end the prohibition, criminalization, and overregulation of cannabis in the United States.” The Cannabis Freedom Alliance (CFA) says their core values include federal descheduling, criminal justice reform, “reentry and successful second chances,” promoting entrepreneurship in free markets and reasonable tax rates.

Who’s Behind the CFA?

The organizations that founded the CFA are Americans for Prosperity (AFP), Mission Green/The Weldon Project, the Reason Foundation, and the Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce (GACC). Take a look at that list and see if you recognize the names. AFP is a well-known conservative and libertarian political lobbying group founded and funded by the Koch brothers. The Reason Foundation, another Libertarian think-tank and an advocate for prison privatization, also listed the Koch brothers as some of their largest donors in disclosures filed in 2012.

The Koch family business, Koch industries, makes hundreds of billions of dollars a year in the oil and gas industry and has held massive political influence for decades. They regularly donate hundreds of millions of dollars to Republican campaigns. Historically, they’ve played a major role in opposing climate change legislation. They’re widely known as conservative advocates for lower corporate taxes, less social services and deregulation.

Interestingly enough, prominent criminal justice reform advocate Weldon Angelos and rapper Snoop Dogg appear to have joined forces with the Koch-backed group, CFA, following a Zoom meeting where Charles Koch told them he thinks all drugs should be legalized, according to Politico. “We can’t cut with one scissor blade. We need Republicans in order to pass [a legalization bill],” Angelos told Politico. The tie between cannabis legalization and traditional Republican and Libertarian values is obvious: their free market, personal liberties and small government ideology fits well within the legalization movement.

Big Oil, Alcohol and Tobacco, Oh My!

The Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education and Regulation (CPEAR) is a group that was founded in March 2021. Two of the founding members are Altria, the company that makes Marlboro cigarettes, and Molson Coors, a multinational alcohol company. The CPEAR website says that they want to work on responsible federal reform. “We represent a vast group of stakeholders — from public safety to social equity — focused on establishing a responsible and equitable federal regulatory framework for cannabis in the United States.”

Founding members of CPEAR also include: The Brink’s, a private security firm, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers and the Convenience Distribution Association. In other words, the group is made up of large and powerful corporate interest groups that represent the alcohol, tobacco, insurance and security industries.

Both NORML and the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) have spoken out against CPEAR. Erik Altieri, executive director of NORML, says it’s a matter of corporate interests coming in and working to change laws for their companies to capitalize on legalization. “We’ve seen how big corporate money and influence have corrupted and corroded many other industries,” says Altieri. “We can’t let the legal marijuana industry become their next payday.”

The DPA also released a statement opposing CPEAR. Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the DPA, says that she urges caution to elected officials in taking counsel from these corporate powers. “We have long been concerned about the entry of large commercial interests into the legal marijuana market,” says Frederique. “Big Alcohol and Tobacco have an abysmal track record of using predatory tactics to sell their products and build their brands – often targeting low-income communities of color and fighting public health regulations that would protect people.”

While their motives and desired outcomes remain unclear, it is apparent that we’re reaching a new age in the cannabis legalization movement, one where powerful corporations outside of the cannabis space want in. Whether its oil and gas, insurance, security, tobacco or alcohol, these groups are using their power and money to influence cannabis policy reform.

P.L. Light Systems Celebrates 40 Years in Business

April 6, 2021 by CBD OIL

ORLANDO, FL – (April 5, 2021) – GIE Media Inc., the publisher of Hemp Grower magazine, announced today the launch of Hemp Grower Conference, which will take place Nov. 8-10, 2021 at Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Fla. The event will feature three days of education and expo, bring together hemp growers, industry experts, solutions providers, and more.

“The inaugural Hemp Grower Conference will be an opportunity for hemp industry stakeholders to come together to learn valuable market insights and discover grower-specific innovations and technology solutions that will bolster their businesses,” said Group Publisher Jim Gilbride. “GIE Media and the team behind the event have a deep history of creating successful events that bringing together industry constituents to help advance agricultural markets and the businesses in them.”

“Hemp growers—whether they’re growing hemp for grain, fiber or CBD—face many hurdles in this young industry. But they also have great opportunities,” said Editorial Director Noelle Skodzinski. “The Hemp Grower Conference will bring together industry pioneers, successful businesses, leading researchers and regulators to help all hemp growers navigate the cultivation, business and regulatory challenges they face, as well as understand the coming market trends and opportunities that can help shape the future of their businesses. Attendees will come away motivated with new tools in their toolbox that will help them find success.”

The Hemp Grower Conference education program will be created by the editors of Hemp Grower magazine and a conference advisory board of professional hemp growers and other industry leaders.

Members of the Hemp Grower Conference 2021 Advisory Board include:

Jeff Kostuik, Director of Operations for Hemp Production Services and Hemp Genetics International

Rachel Berry, Farmer and CEO of the Illinois Hemp Growers Association

Bear Reels, Senior Director of R&D Cultivation for Charlotte’s Web

Alyssa Ann Collins, Director of Penn State University Southeast Agricultural Research & Extension Center

Luke Zigovits, Owner and Farm manager for Higher Level Organics

Louis Vega, Founder and CEO of ¡WEPA! Farms

Marty Mahan, Farmer and President of the Heartland Hemp Co-Op

Maureen West, Chief Compliance Officer for Functional Remedies LLC

In addition, an expo hall will feature leading technologies and solutions providers dedicated to helping hemp growers succeed.

For more information and to sign up for email updates, visit www.HempGrowerConference.com. More details—including speakers, sessions and other conference events—will be announced in the coming months.

About Hemp Grower

Launched in November 2019, Hemp Grower’s mission is to support licensed hemp cultivators in the newly legal U.S. hemp industry and emerging and expanding hemp markets in North America by providing actionable intelligence in all aspects of the business—from regulatory news to analysis of industry trends and business strategy, as well as expert advice on cultivation, extraction, marketing, financial topics, and legal issues. In addition to its monthly print magazine, readers can access Hemp Grower’s content at HempGrower.com, via weekly newsletters, and on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram). It is owned by GIE Media Inc.

About GIE Media Inc.

GIE Media was founded in 1980 and has grown over 36 years into a leading marketing and communications business-to-business media company serving 17 industries — including the horticulture industry through its Horticulture Group (Greenhouse Management, Produce Grower, Nursery Management, Garden Center, Cannabis Business Times, Cannabis Dispensary and Hemp Grower). The company employs nearly 100 editors, publishers, sales representatives, marketers and other professionals. For more information, visit www.GIEMedia.com.

UCANN Drops Patent Lawsuit Against Pure Hemp Collective

April 5, 2021 by CBD OIL

Thrive Agritech Releases New 600W Pinnacle LED Grow Light

April 5, 2021 by CBD OIL

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NEW YORK, March 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — PRESS RELEASE — Thrive Agritech, Inc. announced today the market release of the new Pinnacle LED grow light.

Energy-efficient LED technology allows the 600W Pinnacle light to effectively replace the best 1,000W double-ended high pressure sodium lights commonly found in greenhouses and high intensity indoor cannabis operations. The new light can achieve the most demanding requirements, having demonstrated canopy intensities exceeding 1,500 PPFD in indoor flower rooms. Pinnacle utilizes leading-edge LED chip technology that generates an ideal combination of power and efficiency with a spectrum optimized for plant health and crop yield.

Thrive Agritech CEO, Brian Bennett, added, "We are truly excited about this announcement. Pinnacle makes it simple for our customers to replace their legacy lighting technology with state-of-the-art LED technology. And for customers designing a new facility, they will benefit from Pinnacle’s ease of installation, low maintenance, high energy efficiency, and exceptional crop yields."

As with all Thrive Agritech products, Pinnacle is IP66 waterproof, UL8800 certified for safety, and comes with a standard 5-year warranty.

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Hemp Grower Conference Launches in Orlando November 8-10, 2021; Announces Advisory Board

April 5, 2021 by CBD OIL

Galloway, N.J., April 1, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE – A new Cannabis and Hemp Research Institute at Stockton University (CHRIS) will provide education, research and resources for the local and national market.

The new institute builds on the Cannabis Studies academic programs at Stockton to develop research focusing on hemp cultivation practices, non-medical cannabis research, lab testing and the creation of hemp and cannabis educational materials.

“As the first university in New Jersey to offer a Cannabis Studies minor in 2019, Stockton is poised to do important research into areas that can provide opportunities for our students and emerging industries, and enhance the economy of the state,” said Professor of Biology Ekaterina Sedia, coordinator of the Cannabis Studies minor.

Robert Mejia, an adjunct professor of Cannabis Studies at Stockton, said the institute will host educational and career fairs and help set the standard for hemp and cannabis education in New Jersey and the nation.

Initially, the CHRIS testing lab’s focal point will be to provide testing services to hemp growers, processors and finished product manufacturers. Although New Jersey was the third state to institute guidelines for hemp cultivation, the state’s hemp industry is barely in the beginning stages.

Opportunities to create a whole host of environmentally friendly hemp consumer products, including building materials, food, and ethanol and plastic replacements will lead to a more sustainable future, Mejia said.

“Hemp was an important part of America’s past and we’d like to make it an important part of America’s future,” Mejia said. “We used to know how to grow and process hemp, but because of cannabis prohibition, we have to learn all over again. As we learn, we will be sharing these valuable lessons with our community and the nation.”

In addition to hemp testing, CHRIS plans to grow hemp in Stockton fields and greenhouse and host educational events.

Another goal is working with community partners to provide education, training and employment opportunities for the post-prison population.

“We see this as a way to engage with our local community and to help those harmed by the war on drugs,” Mejia said.

The new institute’s first event will be a virtual Cannabis Curriculum Convening on April 21 and 22, which will bring together cannabis educators across the nation to exchange ideas, network and discuss strategies to enhance cannabis education in higher education.

“There is so much public confusion about cannabis and hemp and the topic affects so many different areas,” Sedia said. “Through our research and education, we want to be a leader both in academia, and in assisting businesses and local communities as the industry grows.”

Themes for the convening include cannabis curricula in science, cultivation, law, medicine and social justice.

More information about the institute and the curriculum convening are at stockton.edu/chris.

Jushi Holdings Inc. Completes Previously Announced Acquisition of Established Nevada Operator

April 5, 2021 by CBD OIL

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BOCA RATON, Fla., April 5, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – PRESS RELEASE – Jushi Holdings Inc. (CSE: JUSH) (OTCMKTS: JUSHF), a vertically integrated, multistate cannabis operator, announced that its subsidiary, Production Excellence, LLC, has completed the previously announced acquisition on July 25, 2019 of 100% of the equity of Franklin Bioscience NV, LLC (FBS Nevada). FBS Nevada holds medical and adult-use cannabis cultivation, processing and distribution licenses issued by the Nevada Cannabis Control Board and currently operates cultivation, production and distribution facilities in North Las Vegas. Jushi also owns the real estate associated with FBS Nevada’s facilities in North Las Vegas. The facilities acquired include two adjacent buildings with cultivation, manufacturing and distribution capabilities.

In July 2019, the Jushi’s subsidiary, Production Excellence, entered into the Nevada market under a management services agreement with FBS Nevada. FBS Nevada operates one of the two 7,500-square-foot adjacent facilities and has upgraded the facility with state-of-the-art, indoor, double-stacked cultivation that yields approximately 2,500 pounds of high-quality dry flower per year. FBS Nevada has partnered with third-party extractors to produce a suite of high-quality vape products and concentrates, under the award-winning brand The Lab, and offer pre-packaged flower and infused blunts, under the award-winning brand The Bank. Jushi has also introduced new products, including edibles, under the brand Tasteology, and fine flower and pre-rolls, under the brand Sèche.

To better serve the Nevada market, FBS Nevada plans to connect the two facilities to create a single production space for a total of approximately 16,600 square feet. The expansion is expected to more than double cultivation capacity and incorporate a CO₂ and hydrocarbon extraction facility with a full kitchen to ensure a broad assortment of products across all categories.

“We are extremely pleased to complete this acquisition and solidify our presence in Nevada, particularly the Greater Las Vegas region,” said Jim Cacioppo, CEO, chairman and founder of Jushi. “We look forward to continuing to serve the Nevada wholesale market with high-quality flower and a full suite of cannabis brands including infused products. While Nevada, and specifically Las Vegas, has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we see great opportunities with the expansion of our facility and exploring attractive M&A prospects as we look to expand our footprint in this strategic limited license market.”

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Cannabis education for the masses

April 3, 2021 by CBD OIL

The burgeoning cannabis market offers thousands of jobs, from budget tenders to extract technicians to pharmacy owners. These roles need to be filled by people who know the science behind the cannabis plant and how it affects the body. Although some U.S. schools have some cannabis-focused programs, it can be difficult to find quality cannabis education.

That’s why entrepreneurs like Emma Chasen are so important to the industry. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in medicinal plant research, Chasen co-founded Eminent Consulting, an agency that offers online cannabis education courses. You can learn the intricacies of cannabis in courses such as “Cannabinoids” and “Cannabis and Body Exploration of the Endocannabinoid Receptor System”. Industry professionals and amateur enthusiasts can use this curriculum to deepen their knowledge of the facility.

“Anyone can take these courses,” noted Chasen. This is because the curriculum is easily accessible to people of different backgrounds. Each course consists of several lessons, tests and a final exam. Finish the exam with a score of 80 percent or higher and you’ll pass the course. With this Proof of Entitlement, you can demonstrate your knowledge to potential employers in the cannabis industry. If you are an employer, you can use the material to train your current team.

“Dispensary owners can incorporate the curriculum into their employee training program,” said Chasen.

In addition to the extensive, detailed lessons and study guides, you can also access virtual chat rooms where you can talk to your colleagues and even to Chasen themselves. Mastering the material is possible because you have someone who can answer your questions when you get stuck.

For Chasen, the benefits of a science-based cannabis education go far beyond improving your career prospects: “Cannabis has the potential to help many people who suffer.”

Cannabis is legal in some form in 34 states, but many patients may feel that they cannot speak to their doctor about cannabis therapy. The education can make patients more comfortable understanding their own cannabis medications. For example, knowing about cannabinoids and terpenes can help determine which strains or cannabinoids to treat to treat conditions such as chronic pain or anxiety.

The reluctance of the medical community to join cannabis therapy led to Chasen’s trip with Eminent Consulting. While working with an oncology research team, she saw the researchers laugh at the idea of a cannabis study for cancer patients. Realizing that traditional medicine and research wasn’t where she wanted to spend her time, Chasen quickly entered the cannabis industry as a budget tender.

Now Chasen focuses on Eminent Consulting. You can Check the course catalog online if you are interested in enrolling for a class.

Two States Stick the Landing on Cannabis Legalization: Week in Review

April 3, 2021 by CBD OIL

The SAFE Banking Act is back in Congress, and political momentum is swinging in favor of the cannabis industry’s need to normalize its relations with financial institutions.

Safe Harbor Services’ credit union banked $3 billion in cannabis funds last year, part of a vast but fairly under-the-radar ecosystem where businesses are building rapport with smaller independent financial institutions like regional credit unions. There’s a lot to know to make sure that it’s a productive relationship, and federal reform is only one piece of the puzzle. Much of the work falls to the cannabis business, of course.

Here, we spoke with Safe Harbor Services Vice President Amanda McComb about some of the recent trends and changes that she’s seen in banking the cannabis industry.

Eric Sandy: Could provide a bit of a biographical sketch of Safe Harbor, as of early 2021, and the scope of how the business is interacting with cannabis businesses?

Amanda McComb: We started our cannabis banking program in 2015 and have since gone through 15 state and federal exams. So, it’s been a long haul, most specifically just for the cannabis program to make sure that we were staying in compliance and doing it in a safe and sound way. We also started a national [cannabis] program back in 2017. A lot of our clients that we bank here in Colorado were going out of state, and we wanted to follow them out of state because it’s really important for us to see all of their business—to be able to stand in front of the money and say that they’re legitimate businesses and that they’re operating within compliance, within their regulations. So, we started following them out of state and realized really quickly that we couldn’t be the only financial institution to bank the nation as a whole. We started working with other financial institutions to give them a compliance program that had obviously gone through multiple exams and had feedback from our regulators that we’d really tried to fine-tune.

So, we have about seven or eight different financial institutions that we work with throughout the nation. Here in 2021 we’re actually consolidating all of our cannabis-related initiatives into a new company called Safe Harbor financial. It’s combining those relationships with financial institutions and our relationships with cannabis clients and putting it all together in one company and then expanding the services that we offer to the industry. We’re working on lending and other initiatives to support the industry and bring them more normalized banking, because, as I’m sure you know, they just haven’t had a lot of normalized banking or lending or investments. The CEO of [Safe Harbor’s] credit union is essentially stepping down from the credit union and running this new company, focusing all of her efforts on all things cannabis-related and then moving into other ventures like virtual currencies and things that might be of use to the cannabis space at some point.

ES: What are some of the common misconceptions that Safe Harbor has run into? Are there certain banking-related questions that cannabis businesses are bringing to you that they haven’t fully grasped yet?

AM: As the cannabis industry gets more normalized and more states pass regulations surrounding cannabis, there’s the misconception that it could just be a regular bank account or a regular business account. Unfortunately, like we saw with the 15 state and federal exams, it just can’t be a normal business account at this point. Even if the SAFE Banking Act were to pass, it’s still so close to that black market history. There is still a pull because it’s so expensive to be in the cannabis space—especially places like California where they had cannabis before they really had regulations.

Trying walk that back and put regulations on these companies that have been selling for some time is expensive and labor-intensive for the companies. When they go to get a bank account, we’re very intrusive and we always consider ourselves the nosiest bankers around because we have had to ensure that they are legitimate businesses. There’s just so much compliance that has to happen on our end in order to protect the financial system as a whole, that it is more expensive. We can’t offer the variety of products that we could offer, quote unquote, normal businesses or normalized businesses.

ES: On the due diligence side of the conversation, what are some ways that these cannabis businesses might help prepare to work with a financial institution?

AM: We collect a lot of the same data that they would provide to get their license with their state. If they’re very organized and keep all of that together, it’s a good place for us to start. Having sophisticated or at least up-to-par bookkeeping and accounting [helps], so that we can look through their financials—specifically if they haven’t been banked. That’s one of the hardest parts: trying to prove that the funds that they’ve earned when they were unbanked are legitimately earned in their state. Having solid records so that we have something to rely upon when our regulators come in and ask, “How do we know that these are legitimate funds?” is important.

ES: Going back to those 15 state and federal exams, could you elaborate on what that looks like? And do those exams differ from state to state in any substantial way?

AM: Typically, a financial institution will be on a 12-month to 18-month exam schedule, and when we started our program, it was a lot of education for us and the regulators. It was a lot of discussion of what cannabis banking looks like. Not a lot of our regulators had experience in financial institutions that banked cannabis. The exams were very collaborative in us trying to figure out the safest way to bank this and to not make it impossible for the cannabis industry to bank—but also to ensure safety and soundness for our institution and for the financial system as a whole. It was a lot of back and forth, collaborative efforts that actually prompted us to develop our own compliance software in-house that we, from all of the feedback that we were getting from regulators, were able to streamline and male as easy as possible.

ES: One of the questions we’ve gotten pretty frequently over the years is from cannabis business owners trying to find credit unions who are willing to work with them in the cannabis space at all. So, how can credit unions signal to the cannabis industry that they’re open to this business, and how do these relationships start?

AM: At this point, what I’ve seen is it’s a lot of word of mouth. A lot of financial institutions are hesitant to come out publicly and say that they are banking cannabis because it does bring additional scrutiny. It can also be a reputation risk with our peers and with vendors that we work with. In my world, cannabis is more normalized just because I’ve had a front seat to it, but in talking to other financial institutions, they tend to be a lot more conservative with their risk. A lot of times it’s word of mouth between clients, which can be difficult because a lot of them are under NDAs with financial institutions. Some of it is just seeing the checks, if you’re getting checks from [financial] institutions. That’s not always super reliable, because the institution might not know that they’re banking cannabis necessarily.

There are some things to keep in mind, though, as the cannabis industry is looking for bank accounts and really investigating the financial stability of the institutions. Most of that is publicly available information. A lot of institutions, especially smaller institutions, think that cannabis will be the solution to their financial problems or the recessionary possibility. Sometimes, those are the ones that go out of business quickly because they just don’t have the capacity to handle all the compliance that’s necessary. So, it’s on the cannabis industry to do a little research on the financial institutions that they start to work with.

ES: Given that, what were some of the prime movers for Safe Harbor, years ago, to be willing to step into this space?

AM: The biggest one was community safety. When we started talking to the industry, a lot of Colorado was unbanked. We were hearing stories about these entrepreneurs who hadn’t been in a cash-intensive space. Working in a financial institution, we understand the risks of cash. We go through robbery trainings. A lot of my coworkers have been through robberies. So, we understand that level of risk. And when you’re talking to the industry and they’re going to ATMs late at night, shoving cash in ATMs and doing payroll in cash, the risk that we saw was very intimidating. We wanted to help in the sense of providing a place to put their cash—and they wouldn’t have to manage it. The other thing is, credit unions were really founded to bank the underbanked and serve the underserved. There didn’t really seem to be a more modern version of that than the cannabis industry, especially as they were being shut out of financial institutions and having to operate in cash. Those two are large driving forces for why we got into the industry.

ES: From your perspective, what sort of trends are you watching out of Washington—or what sort of aspects of federal reform, maybe in the SAFE Banking Act, are you looking for that would be legitimately helpful for the industry?

AM: The SAFE Banking Act will be helpful to institutions that are still willing to take on something that would be high-risk. FinCEN [The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] is our ultimate regulator. I’m hoping that if something federally passes like the SAFE Banking Act, then FinCEN can respond and give us more detailed guidance on what they’re specifically looking for in cannabis banking. They do have a guidance for us. It’s from 2014, so it’s a little outdated, especially with how fast the industry is moving at this point. It allows for institutions to come in and bank [the industry] without being prosecuted, just because it’s cannabis. Right now, with anti-money-laundering rules and BSA, what we’re doing could be determined as money laundering since it’s federally illicit funds.

So, a lot of working with our regulators was really being able to stand in front of that money and say, “No, this was legitimately earned in my state, and we are doing the best effort or a good faith effort to ensure compliance and ensure that it’s all legitimate.” That side probably won’t go away. While it does open the door for institutions to get in, they still are going to have to have the compliance resources to still stand up and say, “This isn’t from the black market. It is legitimate money,” even if the SAFE Banking Act passes.

It’s an interesting discussion to have with financial institutions, because most of us are federally insured and it is a complicated conversation to have. It’s not just the cannabis space where we’re looking for money laundering and things like that, but it does have those close ties to the black market. We’re just a few years outside of it, you know?

ES: California and Colorado have come up, but, just in terms of geographic scope, are there any major differences in how banking regulations are playing out in newer cannabis markets, like an Ohio or a Florida?

AM: With a lot of the newer states coming up, it’s an interesting change in banking because a lot of our initial due diligence changes. We aren’t trying to show legitimacy to their funds, because a lot of times it’s just investment funds or owner contributions to get these licenses off the ground. With the newer markets, the initial due diligence is typically a bit easier because they’re going through the licensing process, so they have all the documents handy. There isn’t a lot for us to go in and validate. A lot of the states have learned from some of the mistakes that California and Colorado and Oregon and Washington and all of us made initially getting into it.

A lot of the newer states are a little bit easier. It’s funny, though, because a lot of [the new cannabis businesses] are the ones that think that it should be normalized banking because they just haven’t had that history of not having banking. What’s also interesting is new states like Florida and Michigan and others, they have very sophisticated backing. There’s Fortune 500 and there’s a lot of this sophistication in their management and control. It’s different from some of the mom-and-pop shops that we saw initially, and it’s very fascinating to see where the industry is going as far as being publicly traded in Canada and all of the international aspects that are coming into the cannabis industry.

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