WeedLife News Network

The record wildfires that have blanketed the West Coast in smoke and ash also have blocked out essential sunlight and set back the growth of outdoor marijuana plants by weeks, leaving growers with less-than-ideal options for when to harvest their plants.

Cannabis growers in California, Oregon and Washington state are contemplating two choices in the face of wildfires that have burned more than 5 million acres:

Michigan has taken an innovative approach to getting more entrepreneurs involved in the state’s marijuana industry—Microbusinesses, self-contained businesses that do not interact with the rest of the marijuana market. 

Are These Pot Stocks Going to Make Gains in The Future?

To understand the unique distribution challenges of Oklahoma’s exploding cannabis market, one must first address the question that has preoccupied researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors ever since Oklahoma became second in the nation for dispensaries per capita, trailing only Oregon. That question being,  “Why Oklahoma?” According to a 2018 Verilife study, for every 100,000 Oklahomans there are approximately 15.6 dispensaries.

Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized the sale or use of cannabis. Yet, the federal government is struggling to keep up, and cannabis legislation has been stagnant. As a result, there is no safe harbor in the cannabis industry, meaning there is no legislation that assures the safety of banking cannabis. So, many who enter the cannabis industry have preferred stealthier ways of banking. While banking workarounds to open, or compliant, banking may work, they come at a cost. In the long term, businesses that openly bank have access to more reliable financial options.

You may not think a fourth-generation family business with a century of engineering excellence would play a part in the still-evolving cannabis industry.

And yet, this kind of expertise and technology is a strong fit for an industry where product quality is paramount.

For cannabis producers, preserving the integrity of the plant, in terms of flavonoids, cannabinoids, and terpenes is essential.

It’s these chemical compounds that lend the plant its unique features and effects.

But historically, imprecise processing equipment tended to destroy these valuable aspects of the plant while also releasing undesirable, potentially contaminated byproducts.

The Ohio Department of Commerce has issued a mandatory recall on medical cannabis edibles due to noncompliant levels of heavy metals, according to a Cincinnati.com report.

The cannabis-infused chocolates, sold under the Encore Edibles brand, were processed by Canton-based Mother Grows Best and sold in eight dispensaries across the state between Aug. 17 and Oct. 1, the news outlet reported.

The stock market can be the best place to create wealth because of the endless opportunities it offers to grow your money -- you can back anything from value plays to rule-breaking mavericks. Whatever your style, you'll want to put your cash behind companies that can grow their revenue. Some of the most promising can be found in the cannabis sector.

Cannabis is one of the fastest-growing industries across the world. In the U.S. in particular, the sector is expanding at a rapid pace; 11 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana completely, while 33 states and D.C. have done so for medical purposes. Voters in five other states are voting on some form of legalization in November.

The cannabis business is a sprawling, unfriendly hydra, destroyer of serious men with good intentions.

It all sounded so promising.  

Medicine Man Technologies, one of the more highly respected dispensary and cultivation operations in Denver, run by a well-respected cannabis business executive considered a pioneer in the industry, President and Co-Founder Andy Williams, rebranded the name of its subsidiary in mid-April to perhaps capture the whimsy of an industry built on getting people high. 

Israel Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch have announced a new subsidy program that will reduce the cost of medical cannabis products until the end of 2020 and also allow Israeli producers to export their products.

Will Pot Stocks Continue Recent Downtrends?

Here we are, in the month of October, and marijuana stocks are showing downward pressure because of COVID again. With recent concerns over president Donald Trump contracting the Coronavirus the market is feeling the effect. On top of that, you have a miss in September job growth that suggests the recovery is slowing up. Once again, the reality and graveness of this pandemic is brought to the forefront of market stability.

When Randy Strode and (partner at the time) Gerry Abner bought a property off Kelly Park Road in Apopka, FL, in 1984, it marked the humble beginnings of Agri-Starts, Inc. The little trailer lab and Quonset hoop houses only totaled about 6,500 square feet. But since that time, through continued diversification and innovation, the nursery is now home to 210,000 square feet of greenhouses — and in need of more space. Ty Strode, the President of Agri-Starts, took over day-to-day management of operations from his father at the beginning of this year.

The long-awaited launch of Maine’s recreational cannabis market will likely fall short of expectations, with some shops unsure if they will even have marijuana to sell, much less the THC-infused food and drinks readily available on the state’s existing medical market.

One state-approved shop said it may skip opening day altogether, its owners unsure whether they will have any products to sell Friday, the state’s first official day of adult-use sales. Retailers blame a licensing backlog for the expected shortages. Regulators agree, but say that’s what happens when you try to launch a new market during a global pandemic.

The legal cannabis industry continued to make inroads against its illicit counterparts, as one-quarter of all sales took place among regulated players in the first quarter of the year, according to new data from the Ontario Cannabis Store.

The provincial pot distributor's quarterly review showed that the province controlled a 25.1-per-cent share of the cannabis market in the fiscal first quarter of 2020, a slight uptick from the 24.7 per cent share observed in the previous quarter. The number lagged behind the national share for the legal market, according to OCS and Statistics Canada calculations.  

Can These Pot Stocks Make Big Headway Next Year?

With the green light given for a cannabis testing laboratory to begin operations, Missouri’s medical marijuana program supply chain is now complete and will soon be serving patients. Last week’s approval of EKG Labs in St. Louis comes nearly two years after voters legalized the medicinal use of cannabis with the passage of a constitutional amendment in November 2018.

Canopy Growth Corp., the cannabis company that attracted Corona beer producer Constellation Brands Inc. as an investor, is moving to bring cannabis beverages to the U.S. in 2021.

The drinks will contain THC, the psychoactive compound found in marijuana, in dosage amounts designed to keep people buzzed and social in a similar way to beer, cocktails or wine.

“Just as hard seltzer disrupted beer by providing a lighter, low calorie alternative, we believe cannabis beverages will be an attractive option for what have traditionally been alcohol-driven occasions and mood states,” said David Klein, Canopy’s chief executive officer, in an email exchange with Bloomberg News.

With cannabis prohibition on the decline and medical marijuana now legal in 33 states, it’s a great time for innovators to create new and exciting technology to improve how people cultivate and consume cannabis. 

However, it hasn’t always been this way. 

Bryan Buckley, who is the CEO and Founder of Helmand Valley Growers Company, explained the struggles of funding medical cannabis research during the early days of legalization on Episode 42 of the Cannabis Tech Talks podcast. 

“We’re playing a game as we’re still making up the rules, and we’re very comfortable being uncomfortable,” said Buckley. “When you really believe in something…you’ll figure out a way to make it work.” 

A lot of innovators could probably agree with Buckley’s statement.