Cannabis News

DeMario Vitalis, owner of New Age Provisions Farms, a farming business based in Indianapolis, has experience growing a variety of crops outdoors, but a couple years ago, he began searching for something new—a method that might provide him more control over his work. 

In 2019, Vitalis started to explore cultivating hemp indoors hydroponically—the process of growing plants in soilless nutrient solution, Cannabis Business Times previously reported.

That year, Vitalis began working with Freight Farms, a Boston-based company that provides farmers with cultivation software integrated within a 320-square-foot shipping container. He received his first shipping container from the company in August 2020 and his second one in January.

Through the use of automation equipment, the Greenery S and farmhand, Freight Farms has created a way for growers to control and access their farming operations from anywhere in the world.

According to James Woolward, chief marketing officer at Freight Farms, the Greenery S manages the environment inside the 40-foot shipping containers using four specialized systems: air, light, water and nutrient control. It also has sensors throughout the grow area so it can relay information, data and updates about the grow directly to farmhand, an operating system app that growers can download on their phone.

Freight Farms works with farmers who grow several different crops hydroponically inside shipping containers, including lettuces, leafy greens, herbs, flowers, roots and more, but the company recently started incorporating cannabis and hemp.

“We have three or four [growers] at the moment that grow cannabis and hemp,” Woolward says. “They’re independent customers, so they buy the farm from us, and then they build their own business. We have quite a lot of customers [who use this as] an addition to their traditional agriculture because you’re removing seasonality, basically.”

The Benefits

One of the most significant benefits of growing hydroponic cannabis and hemp in a shipping container is that growers do not have to worry about the outdoor climate, Woolward says. Instead, they can harvest year-round, even in areas that reach extremely hot or cold temperatures.

“We have a lot of customers in Alaska and Canada, and you can imagine during the winter, the [shipping containers] become more of an engine of their business because it gives [them] that control 365 days a year,” he says.

© Courtesy of New Age Provisions Farms

Despite Vitalis’ experience with outdoor cultivation, he says he prefers growing in the shipping container. It has given Vitalis better control over his crops—something he felt he needed, as he can manage his crops even when he’s not in the vicinity. The Freight Farms environmental control system allows him to see what’s happening within and around his hemp crops.

“It reminds me if levels are getting too low or too high to check the app and set alerts,” he says. “If I leave the farm, I’m able to get into the app, turn the lights on and make sure the fans and pumps are running. And as that stuff is going, it also measures the environment in the farm. It measures the temperature, humidity, CO2 [carbon dioxide] levels, pH levels and EC [electrical conductivity] levels. So, all of that is at the palm of your hand, and you can also control and set those levels as well, according to what you’re growing.”

Additionally, Woolward says the harvest time in a shipping container compared to growing outdoors can be shorter (depending on the variety) because of the intensity of nutrients going straight into the plants, combined with the LED lights, which growers can use to replicate natural light but at a higher strength, he says.

Challenges

Vitalis says one of the biggest learning curves from transitioning from growing outdoors to growing to growing hydroponically indoors was learning the correct dosing of nutrients for his crops.

As Robert Eddy, a consultant and former Purdue University greenhouse manager, previously wrote for Cannabis Business Times, when growing hydroponically, the “nutrient solutions are automatically fed into irrigation lines using a fertilizer injector drawing from concentrated fertilizer tanks or pumps drawing from reservoirs of pre-mixed solutions.”

“When you grow outdoors, the nutrients are provided with the soil, but in a shipping container, you have to supplement the nutrients and the dosing tanks,” Vitalis says. “In [hydroponic cultivation], the nutrients that the hemp plants need are also absorbed by other plants, such as your herbs and your lettuces. So, you just have to do trial and error and see what the hemp likes and what the other lettuces like. [Freight Farms] also gives you a supplemental tank to put extra nutrients in as well.”

Ensuring the tanks inside the shipping container are filled with water was another challenge Vitalis faced when transiting to hydroponic farming. If the tanks aren’t filled, it effects the nutrients as well.

“When growing hydroponically, you’re totally reliant on water,” he says. “One of the things I had to learn was to make sure the tanks are filled, the pumps are running, and that there’s water flowing because the machine will tell you that the pump is on and that it’s running, but it won’t tell you that there’s water flowing through the pumps.”

He suggests growers pursuing hydroponic cultivation to check the water flow frequently to ensure their plants remain healthy, he says.

Opportunities

Growers can purchase a farm from Freight Farms for roughly $140,000, and operating costs could range from $25,000-$30,000 a year depending on wages like electricity, water and annual supplies, Woolward says.

Woolward suggests growers have a good understanding of their local zoning, regulations and customer base before cultivating in a shipping container.

“The key to our successful customers is their good business people that go and find the market and understand their market and the best way to service that market to get the occurring revenue,” Woolward says.

Vitalis also suggests that growers weigh the pros and cons of growing hydroponically versus growing traditional depending on their area.

“Sometimes there may be more benefits to doing a traditional type of farming than it is to grow hydroponically,” Vitalis says. “For example, if you have access to a bunch of land, it may make sense for you to grow traditional farming. You just want to make sure your numbers are right before you jump in.”

In this “Flower-Side Chats” series of articles, Green interviews integrated cannabis companies and flower brands that are bringing unique business models to the industry. Particular attention is focused on how these businesses integrate innovative practices in order to navigate a rapidly changing landscape of regulations, supply chain and consumer demand.

The California legal flower market is the largest in North America. According to recent BDSA data, monthly cannabis sales in January 2021 were $243.5 million. Flower sales represented 35.6% of overall sales, or about $87 million, representing a $1 billion yearly run rate for 2021 flower sales in California.

Union Electric was founded in California in 2020 as one of OpenNest Labs’ first incubator brands. Its model is uniquely asset-light, and focused on filling an area of opportunity with a consumer-first approach, aimed at an underserved market: the working-class customer. The name Union Electric was inspired by the punching-in and punching-out aspect of working a union job — more specifically, the average cannabis user’s job. The name also represents the brand’s union of stakeholders: Customers, cultivators and retailers alike, working together to provide affordable, quality products.

Max Goldstein is the CEO of Union Electric and Founding Partner at OpenNest Labs. Max incubated Union Electric at OpenNest Labs, a cannabis venture studio he helped co-found, and launched the brand in 2020 the day after COVID lockdowns began in California. Prior to Union Electric, Max worked at Google managing a 90 person, 12-market partnerships team.

Aaron Green: How did you get into the cannabis industry?

Max Goldstein: I’ve had a fun entrepreneurial and professional journey.  I started my career in my 20s with Google working in the marketing department sitting at the intersection of new product development and customers. During that time, I really learned the ins and outs of bringing products to market and building brands. I had to understand how to value and champion the customer, or the user. At Google, I was sitting at the intersection of people building products that are affecting billions of people’s lives and users and customers that potentially have really cool insights and feedback. It was an incredible learning experience. I was able to focus on what I’m good at, which is that early stage of businesses and most importantly, listening to the consumer and developing products and services that they ultimately really want.

Near the end of 2018, I co-founded OpenNest Labs, a cannabis venture studio. We came together as a four-person partnership to form OpenNest, as an assortment of skill sets, with all of us contributing an area of focus that we could really combine our experiences to take focused and concerted efforts at building brands that resonate with different consumers across various form factors in cannabis and health. My partner Tyler Wakstein has been in the cannabis industry for several years and helped launch the brand, hmbldt (which is now Dosist) and a number of other projects in the cannabis space.

Green: Was Union Electric an incubation project out of OpenNest?

Goldstein: Yes. Union Electric is the first project we incubated out of OpenNest. We launched the day after the pandemic. So, it was interesting timing.

At Union Electric we’re focused on the core, everyday consumer of cannabis. I think a lot of folks, particularly the new money that have come into the industry, have often focused on new form factors or things that they think the new cannabis consumer is going to enjoy or appreciate. Because quite frankly, that’s their level of familiarity with the industry. For us at Union Electric, we want to hit the end of the market with exactly what they want and that is high-potency, affordable flower with a brand that really stands for something and has values.

Union Electric is positioned as an advocate for the legal cannabis industry as a whole. We look at the stakeholders and the work that needs to be done across the board. The idea of just being one member of the value chain and not trying to ultimately uplift and elevate everyone in that value chain, it’s just not going to work in cannabis. We’ve seen a lot of people trying to go at this alone and I think the pandemic, if anything, showed that you’re only as good as your partners. We truly believe that the investment in our partners, in the local communities and everyone that’s really touching this industry is critical to ultimately building success for one company because a rising tide raises all ships.

Green: How did you settle on the name Union Electric?

Goldstein: One of the things that we wanted to do was focus the brand on who we see as the core consumer, which is somebody that is working hard, like a shift worker punching in and punching out and putting in the long hours on a daily basis and using cannabis as a critical part of their personal wellness and relief. There are elements of that which we certainly want to tap into. The “Union” represents our stakeholder approach, which is, all of us are in this together and our tagline “roll together” represents that. The “Electric” part is what we’ve seen cannabis sort of representing culturally, and for people more broadly. This is an exciting product that’s going to change a lot of people’s lives and, and I just don’t think there’s anything else in our lifetimes that we’re necessarily going to be able to work on from a consumer-packaged goods perspective, that’s going to change as many people’s lives. It’s electric. That’s how we came up with the name.

The coloring and a lot of the brand elements that we focused on were about providing transparency and simplicity to the marketplace: big font and bold colors. There are little nuances with our packaging, like providing a window just so people can see the flower on our bags. We look at the details and made sure that we’re ultimately out of the way of the consumer and what they want, but providing that vehicle that they’re really comfortable with.

Green: You have an asset-light business model, focusing on brand and partnerships. How did you come to that model?

Goldstein: I think everyone who’s operating and working in cannabis right now is looking at strategy and what the model is that’s going to work for them. We’re ultimately going to find out what works, which is why this industry is so fun and exciting. Our specific approach is really under the assumption that vertical integration in a market that’s maturing as quickly as California is going to be hard, if not impossible – it’s just too competitive. There are too many things going on in order to be successful in California. You have to be really good at cultivation, really good at manufacturing, really good at distribution, and then ultimately, you have to be able to tell a story of that process to ensure sell-through and that you really resonate with the consumer.

I think the big, missed opportunities that we’re seeing are that a lot of great cultivators are not marketers or storytellers. They really do need people that are there to help amplify and provide transparency to their stories. There are amazing stories out there of sacrifice and what cultivators have done to create a new strain. We all enjoy Gelato. What’s the process to make that happen or to create any other new strain? It’s fascinating. It’s too hard for a lot of these cultivators to go out and tell that story themselves. So, we act as a sales and marketing layer on top of the supply chain to provide visibility, transparency and trust with the consumer so that they know who grew their product, how it was grown, when it was cultivated and that they can build a real strong relationship with that cultivator as well.

It’s also hard to be a brand that’s using 19 different suppliers, selling the same genetics and expecting the same results. As an example, we’ve gotten Fatso from one of our partners, Natura. We’ve also gotten Fatso from Kind Op Corp (fka POSIBL). We renamed one of the strains – by adding a number on the end – just so that the consumer knew that we’re not saying that this is the same product, because it’s not. It’s from a different farmer and there’s going to be differences. While it does create a little bit more complexity for the consumer, we ultimately believe that every consumer has a right and will expect to know that type of information in the future.

Green: You launched Union Electric one day after the COVID lockdowns began in California. How did you navigate that landscape?

Goldstein: A lot of praying to the cannabis gods! It was really an incredibly challenging and difficult time. We were all concerned about the impacts of the virus. There were moments where we didn’t even know if dispensaries would be open, particularly in states that just legalized. You went from something being completely illegal to an essential business in 12 months. As a team, we were just trying to hold on to our hats and focus on product and partnerships.

Fortunately, with a brand like ours and the price point that we’re operating at, we just needed to consistently be on the shelves and available, and to be present with the bud tenders. So, we focused on that and shoring up our supply chain and just trying to wait it out. COVID forced a lot of cannabis companies to make a lot of decisions quickly and I think in some ways, because we have not been in the market for 24 months under one paradigm, we were pretty quick to be able to adjust and keep the team super lean to fit the emerging and rapidly changing environment. We learned a lot. We focused on partnerships and we leaned into the model that we set out to build which is being asset-light and focusing on the sell-through.

Green: I understand you have a 2% giveback program. Tell me about that.

Goldstein: The 2% giveback program was something that we wanted to put on the bag from day one. It’s on every bag that we made and put out into the market. We’ve seen a lot of cannabis companies come in and invest tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure. Then, month 24 they realize “oh, crap, I gotta figure out what I’m going to do to get back and actually tap into the issues that are most important to cannabis consumers.” These are issues like social equity, equitable development of the industry, and ensuring that cannabis companies and its owners are active, responsible members of society.

What we’re going to focus on with our giveback program is working with our supply chain partners. We highlight the local communities, because when you look at the landscape in California, two thirds of its municipalities still don’t allow cannabis operations. We’re in a heart and minds battle still, even here in California, just proving that the operators here are not criminals and that they’re not going to bring negativity to local communities.

As we scale in California and scale to other states, the giveback program for us is a platform and a medium to work with our supply chain partners to make sure that we’re giving back and investing every step of the way. As founders and operators, it’s how we show that we are being mindful of the importance of equitable development of the industry. Ultimately, prosperity is going to come if everyone is getting a piece of the pie.

Green: What are you most interested in learning about?

Goldstein: I’m a student of history (I was a history major) and I was very fortunate to be part of a big evolution of technology development starting in 2011 working at Google and other tech companies. In some ways, this is the second generational industry that I’ve been a part of, and I have a lot of regrets about how the first one developed – not that I necessarily was the chief decision maker. The idea that large tech companies would always act responsibly (i.e. “Don’t be evil”) didn’t really pan out. I think it was an ignorant thought process as a person in my young 20s.

What I’m most interested in learning is: Can the cannabis industry develop consciously? Can you keep the greed and the things that bring industries down at bay? How can I, as an operator, be the best facilitator of that future? I’m always thinking how I can continue to bring in the people around us and around me as the CEO of Union Electric to ensure that we’re always focused on that.

Green: Great, that concludes the interview. Thank you, Max.

Goldstein: Thanks Aaron. 

From Union Electric: Union Electric Cannabis will be offering their first Regulation CF crowdfund raise in an effort to give everyday consumers a stake in one of California’s fast growing cannabis brands. Due to the ever-evolving legal status of cannabis in the US, there have been very few opportunities for individuals to invest early on in American cannabis brands. This decision to give everyday cannabis smokers access to investing in their favorite cannabis brand (for as little as $100) is a natural manifestation of Union Electric’s mission: Collective power and championing accessibility for the plant. You can learn more about their raise by visiting https://republic.co/union-electric

A public cannabis company with a strong focus on the international market is stepping into Mexico’s nascent medical cannabis industry.

Clever Leaves, a cultivator, manufacturer and distributor listed on the Nasdaq, announced its entrance into Mexico last month with an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) supply agreement with CBD Life, beginning with cannabidiol (CBD) isolate.

In 2017, Mexico legalized medical cannabis with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrations below 1%. But Mexico’s health ministry didn’t pass medical cannabis regulations, including those addressing cultivation and harvesting, until this January. (The country’s supreme court also declared adult-use cannabis prohibition unconstitutional in late June.)

Luisa Conesa, an attorney and cannabis activist, told Reuters of the medical regulations: “[The regulation] is not aimed at patients growing their own cannabis, it is aimed at pharmaceutical companies producing pharmaceutical derivatives of cannabis which are classified as controlled substances that need prescription.”

Some companies aiming to create products can import cannabis plant material, according to the news source.

A June press release from Clever Leaves said the company’s partnership with CBD Life “is Clever Leaves’ first commercial agreement in the Mexican market, and it comes shortly after regulations were fully approved in the country, providing a strategic growth opportunity in one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical markets.”

Speaking with Cannabis Business Times and Hemp Grower, Clever Leaves CEO Kyle Detwiler said he and others at the company see Mexico as a “great demand center for medical cannabis, for other cannabinoid products.”

The opening of the market is allowing Clever Leaves to get in on the ground floor with shipping cannabis product there. “I think an announcement like our first shipment to Mexico is a reminder that—listen, in other geographies, cannabis hasn’t really reached the saturation—both societally as well as regulation-wise—as it has in the U.S.,” Detwiler said. “A lot of these countries are just beginning their cannabinoid journey.”

Photo courtesy of Clever Leaves

Clever Leaves follows in-depth quality procedures to produce the pharmaceutical-grade product the Mexican government requires, Detwiler said, noting the company’s adherence to European Union Good Manufacturing Practices (EU-GMP).

Clever Leaves has about 400 employees, 2 million square feet of greenhouse production and 70 million square feet of expansion potential in Colombia, and more than 100,000 square feet of greenhouse production on 9 million square feet of “agricultural and agro-industrial land” in Portugal, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.

“So, we have a smaller operation [in Portugal], but it’s for the production of flower, whereas Colombia’s for the production of extracts right now based on what’s permitted in those two geographies,” Detwiler said.

Simultaneously, Clever Leaves is focused on other operations around the globe, including in the U.S. Its wholly owned subsidiary Herbal Brands, which “manufactures and distributes non-cannabinoid nutraceutical products to more than 15,000 retail locations” across the U.S., per the SEC filings, entered into a partnership with LooperGroup and TruSource Hemp Group in February to import CBD into the U.S.

Detwiler said the goal there is to build upon existing relationships with U.S. retailers to provide them with CBD products, pending greater regulatory clarity in the country.

In Colombia, the company manufactures the CBD isolate that it sells into Mexico, and grows the cannabis from which it derives that isolate.

When asked about future plans for working in the Mexican market, Detwiler said: “Clever Leaves is really out there to be a B2B partner to the industry. I think there’s probably a lot of companies in Mexico thinking through the decision calculus of ‘Hey, wait a minute. Maybe I should go out and build a huge cultivation operation, maybe even a big processing center.’”

However, it could take several years to build out those facilities, become GMP-certified and -compliant—which the Mexican government requires for the entire supply chain—gather stability data and so on, Detwiler said.

“Let me save people the suspense: It’s a pretty low cost to produce our products in Colombia, so even if you could build it in Mexico, I don’t think you would be able to be cost-competitive with sort of a Colombian-produced solution,” he said.

In April 2020, Clever Leaves announced it would supply Canopy Growth subsidiary Canopy LATAM with cannabis extract that Clever Leaves produced through its Colombia operations.

One grower aside from Clever Leaves who has decided to cultivate in Colombia noted the low production costs in speaking with CBT. Cultivator Flora Growth shared its costs to cultivate flower—6 cents per gram—though that business cultivates its entire crop outdoors.

But there are always challenges exporting cannabinoids, Detwiler said, adding: “Imagine showing up with 10 kilograms of fine white powder coming from Colombia into a country for the first time.”

And, when the United Nations’ (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) voted in December 2020 to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the CND “opened the door to recognizing the medicinal and therapeutic potential of the drug, although its use for non-medical and non-scientific purposes will continue to remain illegal,” according to a UN webpage.

Still, Detwiler remains optimistic about Latin America. He said he has a history of investing in the region, including while serving as a principal at The Blackstone Group and as a member of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.’s private equity practice.

The cannabinoid journey is under way there, as elsewhere, though he said global demand for minor cannabinoids has yet to really take off.

“I think in the U.S., you are starting to see CBN [cannabinol] products often around a sleep claim that are starting to emerge,” he said. “CBG [cannabigerol], CBGA [cannabigerolic acid] are starting to pop up as—I guess some people are saying [they] kind of [accentuate] the cannabinoids that are otherwise already present. There are a variety of different things that I think we’re really just scratching the surface on.”

However, he said, “In any case, Clever Leaves is currently able to provide high THC, high CBD and balanced products to our clients, and also has the capabilities to develop a customized product in a reasonable period of time for our clients.”

Bespoke Financial was the first licensed FinTech lender focused on the legal cannabis industry. Founded in June of 2018, Bespoke offers four types of lending products: Invoice financing, inventory financing, purchase money financing and a general line of credit. With just over two years of originating loans to clients, they have benefitted from being a first mover in the cannabis lending space.

George Mancheril is the founder and CEO of Bespoke Financial. He has over fourteen years of experience in finance, with a special focus on asset-based lending, off balance sheet financing of commercial assets and structured credit. Following a stint with Goldman Sachs, he worked at Guggenheim Partners Investment Management’s Structured Credit Group in Los Angeles where he worked on structuring esoteric asset financing for a variety of commercial assets including airplanes, container leases and receivables.

Since 2018, Mancheril and his team at Bespoke Financial have deployed over $120 million in principal advances without any defaults and across eleven states. We sat down with Mancheril and asked him about the history of his business, how it’s been received so far and how the past few years of financial activity in the cannabis sector might shape the future.

Cannabis Industry Journal: What is Bespoke Financial in a nutshell?

George Mancheril: Bespoke Financial is the first licensed FinTech lender focused on the legal cannabis industry. Bespoke offers legal cannabis businesses revolving lines of credit that address the top problem in the industry – lack of access to non-dilutive, scalable financing to capitalize on growth opportunities and improve profitability. Due to the federal illegality of cannabis, traditional banking institutions cannot work with our clients even though these operators are working within the legal regulatory framework of their state. Bespoke solves this problem for businesses across the cannabis supply chain along with ancillary companies affected by the lack of access to traditional capital markets.

CIJ: How does your company help cannabis businesses?

Mancheril: Bespoke Financial offers 4 lending products – all are structured as a revolving line of credit but each allows our clients to access capital in a unique way based on their specific needs. Our Invoice Financing product, allows businesses to borrow capital against their Accounts Receivables in order to manage general business expenses, particularly if the borrower’s business growth is slowed due to a long cashflow conversion cycle. Inventory Financing and Purchase Money Financing allow our clients to finance payments to their vendors, which helps our clients achieve economies of scale by increasing their purchasing power. Lastly our general Line of Credit allows for the most flexibility for our clients to utilize our financing by either financing payments made directly to vendors or drawing funds into the client’s bank account to manage business expenses.

CIJ: I know the company is only a few years old, but can you tell me about your company’s success so far?

Mancheril: [Clarification, Bespoke was founded in June 2018 so we’ve been around for 3 years but we now have over 2 years of originating loans to clients.] Bespoke Financial has benefitted by being a first mover in the cannabis lending space as the first licensed lender specifically addressing the financing needs of cannabis operators, starting in early 2019. Over the past 2 years we have developed and refined our proprietary underwriting model to identify over 50 active clients spanning the entire cannabis supply chain. Since inception, Bespoke has deployed over $120 million in principal advances without any defaults to date and expanded our geographic footprint across 11 states. Our growth and success highlights our company’s expertise in structuring financing solutions which address the unique capital needs of cannabis companies.

CIJ: Can you discuss how the recent M&A activity, current and recent market trends, as well as the pandemic has affected your company’s growth?

Mancheril: The cannabis industry overcame a variety of challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, ending the year with record sales in both new and existing markets. The support from state and local governments, evidenced by the industry’s essential business designation and the easing of regulations, coupled with increasing consumer adoption of cannabis combined to increase the industry’s demand for capital throughout the pandemic. Bespoke was well positioned to partner with cannabis companies across the supply chain and was proud to help our clients thrive during this pivotal period.

Coming into 2021, the cannabis industry and investors shared a very positive outlook for the future based on the previous year’s experience and expectations of material easing of federal regulation. While M&A activity in the industry has increased over the past 6 months, the overall consensus has been that both the frequency of exit opportunities and the corresponding valuations will continue to increase as federal decriminalization opens new sources of capital and materially changes investors’ valuation assumptions. In general, we’ve seen cannabis companies focused on both capitalizing on the increasing opportunity presented by the industry’s organic growth and maximizing the benefits of future regulation changes by utilizing the resources and capital currently available to increase revenue, expand into new markets, and work towards profitability. All of these factors have further compounded the industry’s demand for financing and we expect to see continued growth in our lending activity in line with the industry’s growth.

CIJ: Who has been your most successful client?

Mancheril: We have a handful of cases studies and client success stories here on our website. One of the most exciting growth stories we have seen has been our client DreamFields whose in-house brand, Jeeter, is now the #1 pre-roll brand in the state of California. Prior to working with Bespoke, the brand was not ranked in the top 25 but was able to grow sales over 1,000% within the first year of working with us and achieve the #1 spot in their product category.

If you are interested in adding a new delivery option for your cannabis dispensary, choosing a third-party service is a great move. Generally speaking, the most significant selling points of third-party delivery services are overhead cost and convenience.

Not only will third-party delivery services run your entire courier operation under a single platform, but they will also streamline your sales process with the latest technology. In addition, working with a third-party vendor will help you avoid financial risk with workers’ compensation and auto insurance expenses.

Please consider the following points to build a successful partnership with a third-party cannabis delivery service.

Research Your Local Market Regulations

Before you can outsource a delivery option for your cannabis dispensary, you need to research if it’s legal to do so in your given market. Whether medical or adult-use, each state has unique regulations for delivery services. In addition, individual counties and municipalities within these states also have their own rules concerning cannabis delivery on a more granular level.

As an illustration, Denver, CO, has had an adult-use cannabis market since 2013, but the city just passed legislation approving delivery services. So, starting in late summer 2021, third-party vendors will be the only businesses allowed to deliver cannabis in Denver legally. As can be seen, just because cannabis is legal in a particular state doesn’t mean delivery is always an option.

How Do I Vet a Potential Delivery Partner?

You must be discerning when starting a partnership with a third-party cannabis delivery service. As these delivery companies will be representing your brand in the field, you want to make the best choice possible. Luckily, there are some specific parameters you can follow in vetting a potential delivery partner.

License: Perhaps the most critical part of vetting a delivery partner is ensuring they have the appropriate license. Especially in hotbeds like California, countless unlicensed cannabis businesses are in operation, including delivery services. Therefore, asking to see their paperwork should be the very first step in vetting.

App & User Experience (UX): Taking a good look at the User Experience (UX) provided by a third-party vendor’s app or website is a great way to vet them. In the end, delivery services are all about convenience. If their ordering software is robust and offers flexibility and great reporting, they will likely provide you the springboard to retain your repeat buyers. 

OSHA Certification: Another critical factor to consider when vetting a delivery partner is OSHA training. Those companies who have taken steps to train their employees on safety protocol appropriately will likely make good partners.

How Does Online Ordering Work with My System?

Payment processes for cannabis dispensaries are incredibly complex. Moreover, since cannabis is still federally illegal, major credit cards and banks do not accept charges from dispensaries. Because of such complexities, the prospect of accommodating deliveries might prove to be a challenge.

Enter Scarlet Express. Third-party cannabis companies like Scarlet Express can integrate with your established system to seamlessly add delivery payments. They even offer customizable software that integrates with your menu provider and POS system while also importing essential brand elements like logos and colors.

If you are a small cannabis dispensary that has never developed online ordering, certain third-party vendors can also help you build out an eCommerce page on your website.

What About Compliance & Seed-to-Sale Tracking?

Compliance is one of the essential elements of running a successful cannabis business. However, compliance regulations can get tough to follow when you begin dealing with third-party delivery companies, namely because cannabis products change hands several times before they are finally sold to the consumer.

The state has thoroughly vetted any third-party delivery service that has received a license. Therefore, not only are they up-to-speed on compliance protocol for your given market, but they are also trained on the appropriate seed-to-sale software. With these controls in place, you can trust they assume legal responsibility for cannabis products after leaving the dispensary.

To operate compliantly, third-party delivery services time-stamp their orders, which can then be tracked through GPS in the delivery car. Finally, all cannabis products are stored within a secure lock box that is only opened at the time of delivery.

Adding a delivery option for your cannabis dispensary is a great way to entrench yourself with your clients. Working with a third-party delivery service is a painless way to expand your business.

When considering a partnership with a cannabis delivery service, be sure to thoroughly vet them and make sure they share your goals and vision. In doing so, you will ensure an invaluable partnership that will continue long into the future.

A public cannabis company with a strong focus on the international market is stepping into Mexico’s nascent medical cannabis industry.

Clever Leaves, a cultivator, manufacturer and distributor listed on the Nasdaq, announced its entrance into Mexico last month with an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) supply agreement with CBD Life, beginning with cannabidiol (CBD) isolate.

In 2017, Mexico legalized medical cannabis with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrations below 1%. But Mexico’s health ministry didn’t pass medical cannabis regulations, including those addressing cultivation and harvesting, until this January. (The country’s supreme court also declared adult-use cannabis prohibition unconstitutional in late June.)

Luisa Conesa, an attorney and cannabis activist, told Reuters of the medical regulations: “[The regulation] is not aimed at patients growing their own cannabis, it is aimed at pharmaceutical companies producing pharmaceutical derivatives of cannabis which are classified as controlled substances that need prescription.”

Some companies aiming to create products can import cannabis plant material, according to the news source.

A June press release from Clever Leaves said the company’s partnership with CBD Life “is Clever Leaves’ first commercial agreement in the Mexican market, and it comes shortly after regulations were fully approved in the country, providing a strategic growth opportunity in one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical markets.”

Speaking with Cannabis Business Times and Hemp Grower, Clever Leaves CEO Kyle Detwiler said he and others at the company see Mexico as a “great demand center for medical cannabis, for other cannabinoid products.”

The opening of the market is allowing Clever Leaves to get in on the ground floor with shipping cannabis product there. “I think an announcement like our first shipment to Mexico is a reminder that—listen, in other geographies, cannabis hasn’t really reached the saturation—both societally as well as regulation-wise—as it has in the U.S.,” Detwiler said. “A lot of these countries are just beginning their cannabinoid journey.”

Photo courtesy of Clever Leaves

Clever Leaves follows in-depth quality procedures to produce the pharmaceutical-grade product the Mexican government requires, Detwiler said, noting the company’s adherence to European Union Good Manufacturing Practices (EU-GMP).

Clever Leaves has about 400 employees, 2 million square feet of greenhouse production and 70 million square feet of expansion potential in Colombia, and more than 100,000 square feet of greenhouse production on 9 million square feet of “agricultural and agro-industrial land” in Portugal, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.

“So, we have a smaller operation [in Portugal], but it’s for the production of flower, whereas Colombia’s for the production of extracts right now based on what’s permitted in those two geographies,” Detwiler said.

Simultaneously, Clever Leaves is focused on other operations around the globe, including in the U.S. Its wholly owned subsidiary Herbal Brands, which “manufactures and distributes non-cannabinoid nutraceutical products to more than 15,000 retail locations” across the U.S., per the SEC filings, entered into a partnership with LooperGroup and TruSource Hemp Group in February to import CBD into the U.S.

Detwiler said the goal there is to build upon existing relationships with U.S. retailers to provide them with CBD products, pending greater regulatory clarity in the country.

In Colombia, the company manufactures the CBD isolate that it sells into Mexico, and grows the cannabis from which it derives that isolate.

When asked about future plans for working in the Mexican market, Detwiler said: “Clever Leaves is really out there to be a B2B partner to the industry. I think there’s probably a lot of companies in Mexico thinking through the decision calculus of ‘Hey, wait a minute. Maybe I should go out and build a huge cultivation operation, maybe even a big processing center.’”

However, it could take several years to build out those facilities, become GMP-certified and -compliant—which the Mexican government requires for the entire supply chain—gather stability data and so on, Detwiler said.

“Let me save people the suspense: It’s a pretty low cost to produce our products in Colombia, so even if you could build it in Mexico, I don’t think you would be able to be cost-competitive with sort of a Colombian-produced solution,” he said.

In April 2020, Clever Leaves announced it would supply Canopy Growth subsidiary Canopy LATAM with cannabis extract that Clever Leaves produced through its Colombia operations.

One grower aside from Clever Leaves who has decided to cultivate in Colombia noted the low production costs in speaking with CBT. Cultivator Flora Growth shared its costs to cultivate flower—6 cents per gram—though that business cultivates its entire crop outdoors.

But there are always challenges exporting cannabinoids, Detwiler said, adding: “Imagine showing up with 10 kilograms of fine white powder coming from Colombia into a country for the first time.”

And, when the United Nations’ (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) voted in December 2020 to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the CND “opened the door to recognizing the medicinal and therapeutic potential of the drug, although its use for non-medical and non-scientific purposes will continue to remain illegal,” according to a UN webpage.

Still, Detwiler remains optimistic about Latin America. He said he has a history of investing in the region, including while serving as a principal at The Blackstone Group and as a member of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.’s private equity practice.

The cannabinoid journey is under way there, as elsewhere, though he said global demand for minor cannabinoids has yet to really take off.

“I think in the U.S., you are starting to see CBN [cannabinol] products often around a sleep claim that are starting to emerge,” he said. “CBG [cannabigerol], CBGA [cannabigerolic acid] are starting to pop up as—I guess some people are saying [they] kind of [accentuate] the cannabinoids that are otherwise already present. There are a variety of different things that I think we’re really just scratching the surface on.”

However, he said, “In any case, Clever Leaves is currently able to provide high THC, high CBD and balanced products to our clients, and also has the capabilities to develop a customized product in a reasonable period of time for our clients.”

A public cannabis company with a strong focus on the international market is stepping into Mexico’s nascent medical cannabis industry.

Clever Leaves, a cultivator, manufacturer and distributor listed on the Nasdaq, announced its entrance into Mexico last month with an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) supply agreement with CBD Life, beginning with cannabidiol (CBD) isolate.

In 2017, Mexico legalized medical cannabis with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrations below 1%. But Mexico’s health ministry didn’t pass medical cannabis regulations, including those addressing cultivation and harvesting, until this January. (The country’s supreme court also declared adult-use cannabis prohibition unconstitutional in late June.)

Luisa Conesa, an attorney and cannabis activist, told Reuters of the medical regulations: “[The regulation] is not aimed at patients growing their own cannabis, it is aimed at pharmaceutical companies producing pharmaceutical derivatives of cannabis which are classified as controlled substances that need prescription.”

Some companies aiming to create products can import cannabis plant material, according to the news source.

A June press release from Clever Leaves said the company’s partnership with CBD Life “is Clever Leaves’ first commercial agreement in the Mexican market, and it comes shortly after regulations were fully approved in the country, providing a strategic growth opportunity in one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical markets.”

Speaking with Cannabis Business Times and Hemp Grower, Clever Leaves CEO Kyle Detwiler said he and others at the company see Mexico as a “great demand center for medical cannabis, for other cannabinoid products.”

The opening of the market is allowing Clever Leaves to get in on the ground floor with shipping cannabis product there. “I think an announcement like our first shipment to Mexico is a reminder that—listen, in other geographies, cannabis hasn’t really reached the saturation—both societally as well as regulation-wise—as it has in the U.S.,” Detwiler said. “A lot of these countries are just beginning their cannabinoid journey.”

Photo courtesy of Clever Leaves

Clever Leaves follows in-depth quality procedures to produce the pharmaceutical-grade product the Mexican government requires, Detwiler said, noting the company’s adherence to European Union Good Manufacturing Practices (EU-GMP).

Clever Leaves has about 400 employees, 2 million square feet of greenhouse production and 70 million square feet of expansion potential in Colombia, and more than 100,000 square feet of greenhouse production on 9 million square feet of “agricultural and agro-industrial land” in Portugal, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.

“So, we have a smaller operation [in Portugal], but it’s for the production of flower, whereas Colombia’s for the production of extracts right now based on what’s permitted in those two geographies,” Detwiler said.

Simultaneously, Clever Leaves is focused on other operations around the globe, including in the U.S. Its wholly owned subsidiary Herbal Brands, which “manufactures and distributes non-cannabinoid nutraceutical products to more than 15,000 retail locations” across the U.S., per the SEC filings, entered into a partnership with LooperGroup and TruSource Hemp Group in February to import CBD into the U.S.

Detwiler said the goal there is to build upon existing relationships with U.S. retailers to provide them with CBD products, pending greater regulatory clarity in the country.

In Colombia, the company manufactures the CBD isolate that it sells into Mexico, and grows the cannabis from which it derives that isolate.

When asked about future plans for working in the Mexican market, Detwiler said: “Clever Leaves is really out there to be a B2B partner to the industry. I think there’s probably a lot of companies in Mexico thinking through the decision calculus of ‘Hey, wait a minute. Maybe I should go out and build a huge cultivation operation, maybe even a big processing center.’”

However, it could take several years to build out those facilities, become GMP-certified and -compliant—which the Mexican government requires for the entire supply chain—gather stability data and so on, Detwiler said.

“Let me save people the suspense: It’s a pretty low cost to produce our products in Colombia, so even if you could build it in Mexico, I don’t think you would be able to be cost-competitive with sort of a Colombian-produced solution,” he said.

In April 2020, Clever Leaves announced it would supply Canopy Growth subsidiary Canopy LATAM with cannabis extract that Clever Leaves produced through its Colombia operations.

One grower aside from Clever Leaves who has decided to cultivate in Colombia noted the low production costs in speaking with CBT. Cultivator Flora Growth shared its costs to cultivate flower—6 cents per gram—though that business cultivates its entire crop outdoors.

But there are always challenges exporting cannabinoids, Detwiler said, adding: “Imagine showing up with 10 kilograms of fine white powder coming from Colombia into a country for the first time.”

And, when the United Nations’ (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) voted in December 2020 to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the CND “opened the door to recognizing the medicinal and therapeutic potential of the drug, although its use for non-medical and non-scientific purposes will continue to remain illegal,” according to a UN webpage.

Still, Detwiler remains optimistic about Latin America. He said he has a history of investing in the region, including while serving as a principal at The Blackstone Group and as a member of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.’s private equity practice.

The cannabinoid journey is under way there, as elsewhere, though he said global demand for minor cannabinoids has yet to really take off.

“I think in the U.S., you are starting to see CBN [cannabinol] products often around a sleep claim that are starting to emerge,” he said. “CBG [cannabigerol], CBGA [cannabigerolic acid] are starting to pop up as—I guess some people are saying [they] kind of [accentuate] the cannabinoids that are otherwise already present. There are a variety of different things that I think we’re really just scratching the surface on.”

However, he said, “In any case, Clever Leaves is currently able to provide high THC, high CBD and balanced products to our clients, and also has the capabilities to develop a customized product in a reasonable period of time for our clients.”

A public cannabis company with a strong focus on the international market is stepping into Mexico’s nascent medical cannabis industry.

Clever Leaves, a cultivator, manufacturer and distributor listed on the Nasdaq, announced its entrance into Mexico last month with an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) supply agreement with CBD Life, beginning with cannabidiol (CBD) isolate.

In 2017, Mexico legalized medical cannabis with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrations below 1%. But Mexico’s health ministry didn’t pass medical cannabis regulations, including those addressing cultivation and harvesting, until this January. (The country’s supreme court also declared adult-use cannabis prohibition unconstitutional in late June.)

Luisa Conesa, an attorney and cannabis activist, told Reuters of the medical regulations: “[The regulation] is not aimed at patients growing their own cannabis, it is aimed at pharmaceutical companies producing pharmaceutical derivatives of cannabis which are classified as controlled substances that need prescription.”

Some companies aiming to create products can import cannabis plant material, according to the news source.

A June press release from Clever Leaves said the company’s partnership with CBD Life “is Clever Leaves’ first commercial agreement in the Mexican market, and it comes shortly after regulations were fully approved in the country, providing a strategic growth opportunity in one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical markets.”

Speaking with Cannabis Business Times and Hemp Grower, Clever Leaves CEO Kyle Detwiler said he and others at the company see Mexico as a “great demand center for medical cannabis, for other cannabinoid products.”

The opening of the market is allowing Clever Leaves to get in on the ground floor with shipping cannabis product there. “I think an announcement like our first shipment to Mexico is a reminder that—listen, in other geographies, cannabis hasn’t really reached the saturation—both societally as well as regulation-wise—as it has in the U.S.,” Detwiler said. “A lot of these countries are just beginning their cannabinoid journey.”

Photo courtesy of Clever Leaves

Clever Leaves follows in-depth quality procedures to produce the pharmaceutical-grade product the Mexican government requires, Detwiler said, noting the company’s adherence to European Union Good Manufacturing Practices (EU-GMP).

Clever Leaves has about 400 employees, 2 million square feet of greenhouse production and 70 million square feet of expansion potential in Colombia, and more than 100,000 square feet of greenhouse production on 9 million square feet of “agricultural and agro-industrial land” in Portugal, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.

“So, we have a smaller operation [in Portugal], but it’s for the production of flower, whereas Colombia’s for the production of extracts right now based on what’s permitted in those two geographies,” Detwiler said.

Simultaneously, Clever Leaves is focused on other operations around the globe, including in the U.S. Its wholly owned subsidiary Herbal Brands, which “manufactures and distributes non-cannabinoid nutraceutical products to more than 15,000 retail locations” across the U.S., per the SEC filings, entered into a partnership with LooperGroup and TruSource Hemp Group in February to import CBD into the U.S.

Detwiler said the goal there is to build upon existing relationships with U.S. retailers to provide them with CBD products, pending greater regulatory clarity in the country.

In Colombia, the company manufactures the CBD isolate that it sells into Mexico, and grows the cannabis from which it derives that isolate.

When asked about future plans for working in the Mexican market, Detwiler said: “Clever Leaves is really out there to be a B2B partner to the industry. I think there’s probably a lot of companies in Mexico thinking through the decision calculus of ‘Hey, wait a minute. Maybe I should go out and build a huge cultivation operation, maybe even a big processing center.’”

However, it could take several years to build out those facilities, become GMP-certified and -compliant—which the Mexican government requires for the entire supply chain—gather stability data and so on, Detwiler said.

“Let me save people the suspense: It’s a pretty low cost to produce our products in Colombia, so even if you could build it in Mexico, I don’t think you would be able to be cost-competitive with sort of a Colombian-produced solution,” he said.

In April 2020, Clever Leaves announced it would supply Canopy Growth subsidiary Canopy LATAM with cannabis extract that Clever Leaves produced through its Colombia operations.

One grower aside from Clever Leaves who has decided to cultivate in Colombia noted the low production costs in speaking with CBT. Cultivator Flora Growth shared its costs to cultivate flower—6 cents per gram—though that business cultivates its entire crop outdoors.

But there are always challenges exporting cannabinoids, Detwiler said, adding: “Imagine showing up with 10 kilograms of fine white powder coming from Colombia into a country for the first time.”

And, when the United Nations’ (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) voted in December 2020 to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the CND “opened the door to recognizing the medicinal and therapeutic potential of the drug, although its use for non-medical and non-scientific purposes will continue to remain illegal,” according to a UN webpage.

Still, Detwiler remains optimistic about Latin America. He said he has a history of investing in the region, including while serving as a principal at The Blackstone Group and as a member of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.’s private equity practice.

The cannabinoid journey is under way there, as elsewhere, though he said global demand for minor cannabinoids has yet to really take off.

“I think in the U.S., you are starting to see CBN [cannabinol] products often around a sleep claim that are starting to emerge,” he said. “CBG [cannabigerol], CBGA [cannabigerolic acid] are starting to pop up as—I guess some people are saying [they] kind of [accentuate] the cannabinoids that are otherwise already present. There are a variety of different things that I think we’re really just scratching the surface on.”

However, he said, “In any case, Clever Leaves is currently able to provide high THC, high CBD and balanced products to our clients, and also has the capabilities to develop a customized product in a reasonable period of time for our clients.”

A public cannabis company with a strong focus on the international market is stepping into Mexico’s nascent medical cannabis industry.

Clever Leaves, a cultivator, manufacturer and distributor listed on the Nasdaq, announced its entrance into Mexico last month with an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) supply agreement with CBD Life, beginning with cannabidiol (CBD) isolate.

In 2017, Mexico legalized medical cannabis with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrations below 1%. But Mexico’s health ministry didn’t pass medical cannabis regulations, including those addressing cultivation and harvesting, until this January. (The country’s supreme court also declared adult-use cannabis prohibition unconstitutional in late June.)

Luisa Conesa, an attorney and cannabis activist, told Reuters of the medical regulations: “[The regulation] is not aimed at patients growing their own cannabis, it is aimed at pharmaceutical companies producing pharmaceutical derivatives of cannabis which are classified as controlled substances that need prescription.”

Some companies aiming to create products can import cannabis plant material, according to the news source.

A June press release from Clever Leaves said the company’s partnership with CBD Life “is Clever Leaves’ first commercial agreement in the Mexican market, and it comes shortly after regulations were fully approved in the country, providing a strategic growth opportunity in one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical markets.”

Speaking with Cannabis Business Times and Hemp Grower, Clever Leaves CEO Kyle Detwiler said he and others at the company see Mexico as a “great demand center for medical cannabis, for other cannabinoid products.”

The opening of the market is allowing Clever Leaves to get in on the ground floor with shipping cannabis product there. “I think an announcement like our first shipment to Mexico is a reminder that—listen, in other geographies, cannabis hasn’t really reached the saturation—both societally as well as regulation-wise—as it has in the U.S.,” Detwiler said. “A lot of these countries are just beginning their cannabinoid journey.”

Photo courtesy of Clever Leaves

Clever Leaves follows in-depth quality procedures to produce the pharmaceutical-grade product the Mexican government requires, Detwiler said, noting the company’s adherence to European Union Good Manufacturing Practices (EU-GMP).

Clever Leaves has about 400 employees, 2 million square feet of greenhouse production and 70 million square feet of expansion potential in Colombia, and more than 100,000 square feet of greenhouse production on 9 million square feet of “agricultural and agro-industrial land” in Portugal, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.

“So, we have a smaller operation [in Portugal], but it’s for the production of flower, whereas Colombia’s for the production of extracts right now based on what’s permitted in those two geographies,” Detwiler said.

Simultaneously, Clever Leaves is focused on other operations around the globe, including in the U.S. Its wholly owned subsidiary Herbal Brands, which “manufactures and distributes non-cannabinoid nutraceutical products to more than 15,000 retail locations” across the U.S., per the SEC filings, entered into a partnership with LooperGroup and TruSource Hemp Group in February to import CBD into the U.S.

Detwiler said the goal there is to build upon existing relationships with U.S. retailers to provide them with CBD products, pending greater regulatory clarity in the country.

In Colombia, the company manufactures the CBD isolate that it sells into Mexico, and grows the cannabis from which it derives that isolate.

When asked about future plans for working in the Mexican market, Detwiler said: “Clever Leaves is really out there to be a B2B partner to the industry. I think there’s probably a lot of companies in Mexico thinking through the decision calculus of ‘Hey, wait a minute. Maybe I should go out and build a huge cultivation operation, maybe even a big processing center.’”

However, it could take several years to build out those facilities, become GMP-certified and -compliant—which the Mexican government requires for the entire supply chain—gather stability data and so on, Detwiler said.

“Let me save people the suspense: It’s a pretty low cost to produce our products in Colombia, so even if you could build it in Mexico, I don’t think you would be able to be cost-competitive with sort of a Colombian-produced solution,” he said.

In April 2020, Clever Leaves announced it would supply Canopy Growth subsidiary Canopy LATAM with cannabis extract that Clever Leaves produced through its Colombia operations.

One grower aside from Clever Leaves who has decided to cultivate in Colombia noted the low production costs in speaking with CBT. Cultivator Flora Growth shared its costs to cultivate flower—6 cents per gram—though that business cultivates its entire crop outdoors.

But there are always challenges exporting cannabinoids, Detwiler said, adding: “Imagine showing up with 10 kilograms of fine white powder coming from Colombia into a country for the first time.”

And, when the United Nations’ (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) voted in December 2020 to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the CND “opened the door to recognizing the medicinal and therapeutic potential of the drug, although its use for non-medical and non-scientific purposes will continue to remain illegal,” according to a UN webpage.

Still, Detwiler remains optimistic about Latin America. He said he has a history of investing in the region, including while serving as a principal at The Blackstone Group and as a member of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.’s private equity practice.

The cannabinoid journey is under way there, as elsewhere, though he said global demand for minor cannabinoids has yet to really take off.

“I think in the U.S., you are starting to see CBN [cannabinol] products often around a sleep claim that are starting to emerge,” he said. “CBG [cannabigerol], CBGA [cannabigerolic acid] are starting to pop up as—I guess some people are saying [they] kind of [accentuate] the cannabinoids that are otherwise already present. There are a variety of different things that I think we’re really just scratching the surface on.”

However, he said, “In any case, Clever Leaves is currently able to provide high THC, high CBD and balanced products to our clients, and also has the capabilities to develop a customized product in a reasonable period of time for our clients.”

The Olympic dream for American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson has been crushed by cannabis.

The 5-foot-1 track and field star rose to fame in 2019 as a freshman at Louisiana State University, where she clocked 10.75 seconds in the 100-meter dash to break the NCAA record.

On June 19, Richardson won the 100 meters during the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., where the 21-year-old stopped the watch at 10.86 seconds to punch her ticket to the Tokyo Olympics that are scheduled to begin July 23. That’s the exact same time it took to land a top-three podium spot during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Richardson’s personal best of 10.72 seconds is the fastest time in the world this year.

But Richardson’s Tokyo aspirations were halted July 1, when it became public she tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component found in cannabis, from a urinary sample collected during the team trials, as first reported by Jamaica Gleaner.

Since Jan. 1, 2021, cannabis has been classified as a “Substance of Abuse” by the World Anti-Doping Agency and currently carries a maximum four-year ban. However, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said in a statement July 2 that Richardson accepted a one-month suspension—as permitted under the applicable international rules.

“The rules are clear, but this is heartbreaking on many levels,” USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart said. “Hopefully, her acceptance of responsibility and apology will be an important example to us all that we can successfully overcome our regrettable decisions, despite the costly consequences of this one to her.”

According to the USADA, the 2021 World Anti-Doping Code newly classifies THC as a Substance of Abuse because it is frequently used in society outside the context of sport. Should an athlete who tests positive for a Substance of Abuse establish his or her use of the substance occurred out of competition and was unrelated to sports performance, the athlete would receive a three-month sanction. However, if the athlete satisfactorily completes a Substance of Abuse treatment program approved by USADA, the sanction may be further reduced to one month.

NBC Sports Group 

On the Today show July 2, Richardson said she consumed cannabis after learning her biological mother died just before the trials. As shown on NBC television during the trials, she hugged her grandmother in a post-victory embrace following the 100-meter finals.

“My family has kept me grounded. This year has been crazy for me going from just last week losing my biological mother, and I’m still here,” Richardson said during an interview shortly after. “My biological mother passed away, and [I’m] still choosing to pursue my dreams, still coming out here, still making sure to make the family that I do still have on this earth proud.”

While Richardson is disqualified from her U.S. Trials victory, and therefore forfeits her automatic qualification to Tokyo in the 100 meters, her 30-day suspension ends July 27. That opens the door for her to possibly compete on the U.S. women’s relay team races, including the 4×100 relay scheduled for Aug. 5-6.

Beyond the one-month sanction, athlete eligibility for the Tokyo Games is determined by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the USA Track and Field eligibility rules.

“Right now, I’m just putting all of my time and energy into dealing with what I need to do, which is heal myself,” Richardson said during her Today show interview. “So, if I’m allowed to receive that blessing, then I’m grateful for it, but if not, right now I’m going to just focus on myself.”

In a July 1 tweet, Richardson said, “I am human.”

Richardson’s sponsor, Nike, released a public statement July 2 saying it would stand by her: “We appreciate Sha’Carri’s honesty and accountability and will continue to support her through this time.”