WeedLife News Network

Is franchising the future of grows, dispensaries and other cannabis business models?

It is expected that every nascent industry will adopt franchising at some point. The cannabis industry doing this is not surprising. In 2019, after the Franchise Times selected ONE Cannabis as the number one cannabis franchisor in the country, other cannabis business franchises started making waves—attracting widespread interest and attention and gaining higher credibility at the same time.

Today, there are dozens of licensed cannabis franchise establishments in cannabis-legal states. Every month, the Cannabis Intelligence business base records a higher number than the last. It's all thanks to the growing number of cannabis laws being approved across North America.

Marijuana sales hit record numbers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but those levels have fallen sharply in recent months as coronavirus infections in the U.S. have also decreased. Marijuana Business Daily (also known as MJBizDaily) reported Thursday that many cannabis industry executives have seen the correlation between marijuana sales and COVID restrictions easing in the U.S. The executives noted that people had more idle time at home when bars and other businesses were shuttered in many areas, and some found themselves with extra income as well. Many of those people turned to cannabis products, and MJBizDaily found that year-over-year total sales increased 777 percent in 2020.

Cannabis has become an increasingly popular source of pain management for medical ailments. With growing frequency, patients with breast cancer are turning to cannabis to help them cope with symptoms and side effects. An online survey of 612 patients with breast cancer, led by Dr. Marisa Weiss, Pennsylvania-based chief medical officer at Breastcancer.org, found that 42% used cannabis to relieve their symptoms. Most patients with breast cancer (79%) reported using cannabis to ease pain and discomfort from chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. A total of 78% of patients used cannabis for pain relief, 70% used it to counter insomnia, 57% used it to relieve anxiety, 51% used it to relieve stress, and 46% used it to counter nausea or vomiting.

Despite the large number patients who gained relief from cannabis, only 39% felt comfortable informing their physicians of their cannabis use. Especially given that marijuana is not federally legal, fear grips many patients regarding the prospect of discussing cannabis use with physicians. Dr. Weiss suggests that patients want to avoid being judged, or worse, getting into trouble for simply trying to help themselves from a medical perspective. What’s more, many patients who did speak with their physicians left feeling disappointed by their doctors’ dearth of knowledge as to the benefits of cannabis for medical treatment.

This leaves many patients with few options other than turning to the Internet for cannabis information. According to Dr. Weiss, 67% of cannabis users obtained their knowledge of medicinal marijuana online. About 56% got information from family, friends, or “budtenders”—cannabis dispensary workers who are not pharmacists. Dispensary pharmacists educated 36% of cannabis-using patients, and alternative healthcare providers, like acupuncturists or chiropractors, informed 18% of cannabis-using patients. A mere 12% of cannabis-using patients obtained medicinal marijuana information from their physicians, and an even fewer 7% obtained that information from a nurse.

Kevin Boehnke of the University of Michigan’s Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center stresses that although marijuana use is legal for medicinal use, this does not eliminate the stigma, legal ramifications, and possible medical issues surrounding it. According to Boehnke, health professionals are often hesitant to discuss and suggest medicinal marijuana use with patients due to the lack of supportive data available.

67% of Texans support the sale and use of recreational cannabis, but possession of any amount of up to 2 ounces is a Class B misdemeanor.

When it comes to cannabis, texas is divided. A recent survey from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University found that 67% of Texans support the sale and use of recreational cannabis. Yet possession here of any amount of cannabis of up to 2 ounces is a Class B misdemeanor and can land people in jail for up to 180 days. 

The medical use of cannabis has been legalized in Texas since Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Texas Compassionate Use Act into law in 2015. But it doesn’t serve all who need the help. Texans experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder and cancer of all stages couldn’t be prescribed medical marijuana until 2021. For years, many Texans who preferred to deal with debilitating ailments with cannabis couldn’t do so in the state they call home.

“I know a lot of people who struggle with that in the military, and cannabis  is something that they lean on to help them, whether it’s with their anxiety or physical pains or whatever they got going on,” says Houston hip-hop legend Paul Wall.

Cumbersome regulations and litigation are holding back an industry that should be growing faster.

State lawmakers find themselves on the verge of legalizing marijuana for medical use, but with stricter rules than the way cannabis has been cleared for use in other states.

The Kansas House passed a legalization bill last year. The Senate stood poised to start work on it in the opening weeks of the current session, but Republican Senate President Ty Masterson abruptly pulled the bill from the calendar.

Now the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee has begun three days of hearings on the measure, a signal that the conservative Republicans controlling the Legislature have blessed tightly regulated legalization.

Masterson said he wasn’t opposed to legalization. Rather, he said, he wanted to make sure that bill was written tightly enough to guard against doctor-shopping and other tactics that allow people to get the drug on flimsy claims of medical need.

“There is some legitimate medical benefit to the derivatives of the cannabis plant,” Masterson said in a pre-session interview with the Kansas News Service.

A violent trend of imposter law enforcement agents hit at least three medical cannabis businesses in various counties throughout Oklahoma.

On March 13, a group of six individuals—donned in believable law enforcement gear—furnished a fake search warrant and attempted to raid a Hughes County, Oklahoma medical cannabis grow operation in a brazen attack. The next day, other locations were hit including a medical cannabis business in Seminole County. Over 100 pounds of cannabis, machines, cash and cell phones were stolen. Law enforcement agents believe the rash of incidents are connected.

The names of the cannabis businesses weren’t released. Cannabis farms are already a target given cannabis’ value, but being forced to deal in cash due to the federal status of cannabis makes the industry a bit more dangerous.

Mark Woodward, spokesman of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control (OBN) agrees.

“I think that’s what makes them a target,” Woodward told High Times.

“There are people who see an easy opportunity to get both cannabis, money and cellphones very quickly—especially from a vulnerable population.”

Can the the opioid crisis be dealt with head on if there’s expanded medical marijuana use? That’s the topic of a South by Southwest panel in Austin Tuesday, exploring what that would look like and whether it would be effective here in Texas.

Opioid use is a big talker right now, in light of a recent uptick in overdoses in Austin. Officials have warned this impacts the entire state as they haven’t pinpointed where the drugs are coming from.

Texas lawmakers are currently researching the impact of fentanyl-related overdoses and deaths in the state, looking into ways to best deal with opioid abuse.

Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation Dispensary is one of few in the entire state of Texas.

USA medical hemp company Ananda Professional is opening enrollment for its study of endometriosis and other forms of pelvic pain.

Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows outside it. It can be a painful and at times debilitating condition.

Ananda Professional, one of Australian company Ecofibre’s businesses, has committed $40 million to advance the clinical evidence for hemp extract, including this study – which goes by the curious acronym of FREE HER (Finding Relief from Endometriosis and Exclusion).

The study, which planned to enroll 300 participants, will assist Ananda Professional in gathering information on how medications and other substances can reduce complaints of pelvic pain and related issues.

Each participant will be in the study for about one week and there are no treatments or procedures involved. However, study participants will receive one bottle of a cannabidiol (CBD) based cream; the use of which is entirely voluntary. Participants will also receive a $30 gift card if they complete the questionnaires over the 7-day study.

From social justice activists and brand leaders to doctors and authors, here are women who are making serious moves in the cannabis industry.

It’s March, and while that certainly isn’t the only month we should be recognizing the contributions of women and femme folks in cannabis, it’s an awesome excuse to recognize some of the best in the biz. Here are a few women who are doing some seriously cool things in the world of weed.

Ru Johnson, Owner, Roux Black

Ru Johnson is a consultant, executive producer and branding operations strategist, as well as the founder and owner of Roux Black Consulting. She also has a background working with hip-hop artists, nightlife, Red Bull and The National Cannabis Festival, to name a few. Johnson is dedicated to social justice and serves as a board member at Minority Cannabis Business Association.

“Stigma begets more stigma, so yes, there is a connection between stoner stigma and fat-shaming,” she explained to High Times in a piece on dismantling social stereotypes in 2021.

“The idea that one’s body is ‘lazy’ if it’s bigger than the ‘average’—on many levels, that’s ridiculous, because ‘lazy’ is a term that engenders capitalism and is ableist at the root. I think we’re doing a great job of elevating the uses of cannabis beyond the standard ‘stoner’ stigma (lazy, ineffectual, brain-dead or foggy), and movements for body positivity also combat standard fat-shaming.

“Both sentiments take away agency and autonomy. We all deserve to do with our bodies what we will and to take care of them the best way we can with the resources we have. And for many of us, cannabis is a major component to that care.”

Mike Bites represent a chewy and cheeky take on the infamous battle between Tyson and Evander Holyfield

The cannabis edibles version of one of Mike Tyson’s most infamous moments — chomping off a bit of Evander Holyfield’s ear — is in the offing.

In a tweet this week, the former heavyweight champ turned cannabis entrepreneur’s company, Tyson 2.0, giddily announced: “Holy ears! They’re finally here! Go get your Mike Bites now.”

While the “eearily” realistic, near blood-coloured gummies may give some consumers pause, Tyson clearly approves, responding to a tweet:

“These ears actually taste good!”

The marketing magic harkens back to 1997 when Tyson bit off part of Holyfield’s ear during the WBA Heavyweight Champion clash.

The very specific requirements for qualifying applicants, and the system for selecting dispensary locations and assigning applicants to these locations, may complicate the application process.

It is an exciting time in New York, as there is finally momentum towards the first sales in the adult-use cannabis market. Just weeks after Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill to permit qualified hemp farmers to start growing the first batch of adult-use cannabis, the Cannabis Control Board has released draft regulations that would award the first 100 retail licenses to applicants that meet certain requirements, most notably that an individual applicant or an immediate family member have a past conviction for a marijuana-related offense in New York.

Colorado has launched a pilot grant program to help social equity cannabis applicants develop and grow their businesses.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis last week announced the launch of a state grant program for cannabis social equity companies, offering licensed operators a new source of capital for their businesses. The governor’s office said in a statement that the new grant program is “a bold, forward-thinking initiative to save small businesses money, foster a more equitable cannabis industry, and make it easier for Coloradans to thrive in one of the state’s fastest growing industries.”

The new grants are an initiative of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) and its Cannabis Business Office. The program is designed to provide financial support to licensed cannabis social equity companies to accelerate the growth of their enterprises.

“Colorado’s nation-leading innovations in the cannabis industry are strengthening our economy, advancing diversity, and inclusion, and saving small business owners money,” Polis said last week in a statement from the governor’s office.

Catching Up on Social Equity in Colorado

When Colorado legalized recreational pot in 2012, the state’s groundbreaking cannabis reform legislation failed to adequately address decades of racial disparities in the enforcement of cannabis prohibition. Since then, social equity has become a key issue as other states draft plans to remove criminal penalties for cannabis use and legalize a regulated cannabis economy.

Colorado is now taking measures to institute social equity provisions into the state’s cannabis regulations. In 2020, the state passed legislation to pardon those with past cannabis convictions. And last March, Polis signed a bill creating the Cannabis Business Office to provide financial and technical support to businesses owned by individuals disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs. The agency opened and began providing services to social equity applicants in July.

Most drugs come with their fair share of tall tales. These range from the fearful to the reverent, granting these substances powers that do not align with their actual effects. Cannabis is one drug that has been both understudied and over-mythologized.

“Cannabis has been around for a long time, but it has not been well studied,” said Harriet de Wit, PhD, a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago.

“People have decided for themselves what it’s good for. It’s hard for us to know how much of those effects are pharmacological or just expectancy.”

As cannabis legalization and access expands, it becomes increasingly crucial for people to understand it more fully. Part of this understanding requires learning how cannabis can uniquely impact different populations.

De Wit is studying the effects of THC — the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis — in specific groups of people. Her research team recently released two papers on the effects of cannabis in women and adolescents. The studies measured real-time effects of THC in human participants in tightly controlled settings. They found that increasing doses of THC can increase bodily anxiety in women, and that compared to adults, adolescents are more negatively impacted by THC on cognitive tasks.

Waitr is no longer planning to purchase a software company that helps streamline cannabis dispensary sales, the company said Friday, though it does intend to pursue a relationship as Waitr continues to try to expand into cannabis delivery.

In December, the Lafayette-based company announced it had entered into a letter of intent to buy Retail Innovation Labs, or Cova. The two companies scrapped the agreement on March 10, but Waitr said it is still looking at a partnership that would allow Cova customers to arrange payment for delivery services.

"These discussions remain preliminary and there can be no assurance that a definitive agreement with respect to this arrangement will be entered into or consummated in the near term or at all," the company said in a release.

The announcement came as the company reported its fourth quarter and yearend results for 2021, which saw the company lose $8.1 million in the quarter and $5.2 million on the year. In 2020, the company posted a profit of $15.8 million.

The company also said it was moving ahead with plans to rebrand as ASAP, which it said better reflects its mission to "deliver anything."

Federal marijuana taxes could hit 25% under Senator Chuck Schumer’s legalization plan.

The vast majority of Americans want to have legal cannabis on a federal level, there are numerous polls that support this notion. The problem, however, comes down to “how” it is supposed to be done.

For the past few years, Senator Chuck Schumer has been the most vocal about legalizing cannabis on a federal level and has been attempting to push his cannabis legalization bill which aims to remove cannabis from the controlled substance act, while also creating provisions for minority business owners to gain easier access to cannabis licensing.

One would think that this would not have too much opposition, however, as of now, the bill has not gained too much traction. One of the main reasons comes down to taxes. While the senator might be well intentioned in his approach, his proposal of high taxation got a lot of flak from cannabis reformists.

According to an article on Roll Call:

It (federal legalization) would land at 25 percent of a federal prevailing price, charged per ounce of product sold in flower form, or per milligram of THC — a psychoactive compound known to give marijuana users a high — for edibles, vapes and other alternatives.

Tax credits would slash rates in half for the first $20 million in annual sales, creating an effective rate as low as 12.5 percent for small businesses.  

Dreamer Dispensary in Southampton is using blockchain technology — the same computer code that drives cryptocurrency — as a workaround allowing customers to buy cannabis products with credit cards.

“Dreamer’s ability to figure out how to allow consumers to pay by credit card speaks volumes to our commitment to innovation,” said Kevin Perrier, chief operating officer of Dreamer.

“We’re trying to lead the way in consumer selection and customer service, innovating every day to bring customers the best experience. Our new credit card payment model is another example of that.”

Credit card purchases will help bring recreational cannabis, now a $1.4-billion-a-year industry in Massachusetts, into the mainstream, Perrier said. The recreational cannabis business has brought in $3 billion in Massachusetts since the first legal retailers opened in 2018.

Participants in the Radicle ACES study experienced significant improvement in five different health indicators while taking CBD, but they felt no difference between products with various cannabinoid spectrums.

While the effects of CBD on people are just starting to be studied, the effects of individual products have been mostly anecdotal. But a recent study has attempted to shed light on individual products and the cannabinoid as a whole.

Radicle ACES (Advancing CBD Education & Science), an Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved a study conducted by Radicle Science that included 13 different CBD brands, concluded late last year. Radicle Science is led by Dr. Jeffrey Chen MD/MBA, founder and former director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative, and Pelin Thorogood, president and co-founder of the Wholistic Research and Education Foundation.

The study took place over four weeks and included nearly 3,000 participants who were randomly assigned to take one of 13 CBD products, each from a different brand, in order to analyze the products’ effects on quality of life, well-being, anxiety, sleep quality and pain. (Meanwhile, one control group did not take any CBD products).

Overall, the study showed CBD had a significant impact on the participants–those taking a CBD product experienced “statistically significant improvement” across all health outcomes, Jessica Saleska, who led the research, said in an email. 

“The Radicle ACES study represents the largest clinical trial ever conducted on commercially-available CBD products and provides first-of-its-kind real-world evidence into what conditions users may experience benefit from CBD usage, whether these benefits are clinically meaningful, what attributes of CBD products may impact health outcomes, and what side effects may occur,” Saleska said.

Curt Varone warns departments that they face a new landscape when it comes to members who partake in grass.

The legalization of marijuana created a number of problems for the fire service and contributed greatly to an uptick in marijuana-related lawsuits that were filed by firefighters and applicants. It’s a multifaceted challenge that stands in stark contrast to the simple, straightforward approach to marijuana that existed for decades.

Times have changed

Until recently, cannabis, including its primary intoxicating ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), was illegal under state and federal law. As a result, any positive test that indicated the presence of THC was grounds for discipline. Thus, when a member tested positive for THC, whether on a random, post-accident or reasonable-suspicion test, there was no need to worry about the level of impairment that the test showed. The fact that THC was present was enough to suspend or terminate a member.

That straightforward approach did not change when states began to legalize medical marijuana or decriminalize marijuana possession. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) expressly excludes the use of illegal drugs from protection. Similarly, lifestyle discrimination laws that prohibit an employer from discriminating against an employee for legal activities while off duty were of no avail, because marijuana remained illegal under federal law.

The leading case in this area, Coats v. Dish Network, LLC, 350 P.3d 849 (CO, 2015), concluded that, because marijuana is illegal under federal law, it remains beyond the protection of the ADA or lifestyle discrimination laws. I still run into attorneys who assume that Coats v. Dish Network is good law.

Today, Coats v. Dish Network has become irrelevant in an increasing number of jurisdictions. In those states, the legislatures amended their discrimination laws to protect those who have a prescription to use medical marijuana as having a per se disability under state law. Those who lawfully used medical marijuana, thusly, are protected from any adverse employment action, including discipline or termination for a positive THC test.

“Our saying here is we grow weed at a prison to help people get out of prison for growing weed,” said Dan Dalton, a co-founder of the California cannabis company Evidence.

Halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, baking in the 100-degree heat of the Central Valley, a former prison is in the midst of an unlikely second act.

Inside its cinderblock walls, a company is growing the very product that led some prisoners to be locked up there. 

Longtime music manager Dan Dalton and Casey Dalton, his sister, bought the 20-acre site in 2016 for $4.1 million, choosing the location because its dry and sterile environment would provide a secure place to store marijuana.  

The purchase also allowed their cannabis company, Evidence, and others that have bought shuttered prisons to come face to face with the lasting effects of the war on drugs, particularly on people of color, as they try to shape the role the industry will play in confronting that legacy.

“We’re moving thousands of pounds of flower now, and I’m going to go home to my family tonight,” Dan Dalton said. “You know … there are people sitting in jail cells right now for personal possession of flower. And the hypocrisy makes no sense to me.”