In the midst of a global pandemic with schools closing, businesses asking employees to work from home and events being canceled left and right, we have one event that will remain scheduled: The Infused Products Virtual Conference on March 31. The event is complimentary for attendees to register. Click here to sign up for this virtual conference.
On March 31, the event will begin with a presentation from the folks at Cresco Labs: Applying Food Science Principles to Cannabis Edibles. Marina Mincheva, Director of Manufacturing Quality Assurance and Stephanie Gorecki, Director of Food Sciences at Cresco Labs will deliver this talk. They will discuss what a research and development process looks like for creating cannabis-infused edible products, how to then commercialize those products and developing CPG products with input from marketing and quality.
Ellice Ogle, CEO & Founder of Tandem Food LLC, will deliver a talk on the importance of food safety culture in the cannabis space. Kathy Knutson, founder of Kathy Knutson Food Safety Consulting, will follow that talk with a discussion of GMPs, HACCP and how cannabis companies can apply preventive controls. The last presentation on the schedule is The New Canadian Edibles Market, where Steven Burton, Founder & CEO of Icicle Technologies, will discuss edibles regulations in Canada, a current state of affairs of the Canadian infused products market, as well as what US edibles companies can expect when it comes to new regulations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently recognized COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, a pandemic. What can cannabis businesses do to help reduce transmission?
At the time of this writing, community transmission of COVID-19 has been observed in every continent except Antarctica. While China and South Korea are showing signs of containment, with negative disease growth rates, the rest of world is experiencing positive – and in some cases exponential – disease growth rates. Many companies in the cannabis industry are asking: what can we do to slow the spread of the virus and get ahead of the outbreak?
By adopting sensible policies, businesses play a key role in reducing disease transmission. On March 13, 2020, The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), in collaboration with the WHO and New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI), released Coronavirus Guidelines for Business, a summary of actions businesses can take to reduce immediate risks to employees and long-term risks to costs and profitability. The guidelines have since been delivered to more than 45 million businesses worldwide.
There are four sections to the guidelines:
General Recommendations
Meetings, Travel and Visitors
Workplaces
Retail and Hospitality
Specific recommendations relevant to the cannabis industry include working remotely where possible, avoiding unnecessary travel and keeping clear records of each day’s contacts. Where possible, a pick-up and drop-off service, home delivery or drive by services are recommended.
Businesses should be developing, readying and implementing business continuity plans based on the ICC guidelines. At this point, a conservative position would be to assume that if an outbreak has not been reported locally it is only a matter of time before local cases are reported. Specific actions businesses should take will depend on location, nature of the workplace and potential disruptiveness to operations.
The ICC and NECSI Coronavirus Guidelines for Business can be found here.
endCoronavirus.org is built and maintained by NECSI and its collaborators and specializes in networks, agent-based modeling, multi-scale analysis and complexity as it relates to COVID-19.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is the institutional representative of more than 45 million companies in over 100 countries. ICC’s core mission is to make business work for everyone, every day, everywhere. Through a unique mix of advocacy, solutions and standard setting, they promote international trade, responsible business conduct and a global outreach to regulation, in addition to providing market-leading dispute resolution services. Their members include many of the world’s leading companies, SMEs, business associations and local chambers of commerce.
The New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) is an independent academic research and educational institution with students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty. In addition to the in-house research team, NECSI has co-faculty, students and affiliates from MIT, Harvard, Brandeis and other universities nationally and internationally.
On March 5, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a press release to the public about their work on devising a regulatory framework for cannabidiol (CBD) products. The FDA also submitted a report to Congress on their rulemaking progress.
The main theme of the report is the same story we’ve been hearing from the FDA for a while now: They are still working on figuring out how to regulate CBD products and wants to do more research before they tackle the rulemaking.
The most intriguing new development from this report is the FDA’s newfound interest in regulating CBD products like dietary supplements:
“FDA is actively considering potential pathways for certain CBD products to be marketed as dietary supplements. Under current law, CBD products cannot lawfully be marketed as dietary supplements, but FDA has the authority to create an exemption through notice-and-comment rulemaking that would allow products containing CBD to be sold legally as dietary supplements.”
If you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple years, here’s a recap: In June of 2018, the FDA approved GW Pharma’s drug, Epidiolex, for the treatment of rare forms of epilepsy. This allowed a drug containing CBD to go to market, but only through the agency’s drug approval process. When the 2018 Farm Bill (Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018) was signed into law in December later that year, the federal government removed cannabis (hemp) with less than 0.3% THC from the Controlled Substances Act, essentially legalizing it on a federal level. Congress tasked the FDA with figuring out how to regulate the market. Without any FDA guidance in the early days, the subsequent market growth created mass confusion for the industry and consumers alike, with no one really knowing if selling CBD products is legal or not. In May of 2019, the agency held a comment period and public hearing on CBD, which included a lot of discussion around the benefits, the risks and further research on CBD. Throughout 2019, the FDA sent a large number of warning letters to companies marketing CBD products with unsubstantiated health claims. Towards the end of 2019, Congress passed a bill mandating that the FDA update them on their progress to regulate the market within 60 days. That deadline came and went, and then the FDA issued the public update and submitted the report mentioned above to Congress last week.
The FDA says they intend to take a number of steps towards providing some market clarity, while still protecting the public from unknown risks. Firstly, they want to educate the public more about potential risks associated with CBD. “We remain focused on educating the public about the number of questions that remain regarding CBD’s safety,” reads the update. “There may be risks that need to be considered before using CBD products outside of the monitored setting of a prescription from your health care provider.” Those concerns mentioned above include potential liver injury, drug interactions, reproductive toxicity and more benign side effects like drowsiness.
The agency also wants to try and close knowledge gaps in the areas of safety and potential benefits. In this section of the update, the agency asks industry stakeholders for help. “We’re seeking reliable and high-quality data.” The agency is requesting data on sedative effects, impacts of long-term use, pharmacokinetics, safety of various drug delivery mechanisms, safety for animals, different processes for full or broad spectrum or isolate derivation, among other areas of interest. They plan to re-open the public docket from the public hearing back in May 2019, extending the comment period indefinitely as a tool for stakeholders to share information with the FDA.
As far as enforcement actions go, the agency wants to take a risk-based approach to it. While there is still no official enforcement policy, the FDA is working on it. Their biggest concern is with companies marketing CBD products using drug and health claims, which could “deter consumers from seeking proven, safe medical therapies for serious illnesses – potentially endangering their health or life.” The agency is also worried about potential contamination risk and consumer exposure to things like residual solvents and heavy metals. Their last concern in this area involves truth in labeling, like making false label claims, not listing every ingredient or incorrectly stating the amount of cannabinoids in the product.
“Our ongoing efforts related to CBD, including the steps we’re announcing today, are in line with our mission to protect the public, foster innovation and promote consumer confidence. We recognize the significant public interest in CBD and we must work together with stakeholders and industry to develop high-quality data to close the substantial knowledge gaps about the science, safety and quality of many of these products. We are committed to working efficiently to further clarify our regulatory approach to these products – as always, using science as our guide and upholding our rigorous public health standards.”
Overall, the public update and the report don’t disclose anything groundbreaking. They do, however, provide some much-needed guidance for the CBD market on how stakeholders can help the FDA’s efforts. The fact that they are investigating dietary supplements as a path toward a regulatory framework is the by far the biggest take away from all this.
EDGARTOWN, MA, March 11, 2020 – Innovative Publishing Co., the publisher of Cannabis Industry Journal and organizer of the Cannabis Quality Conference & Expo is announcing the agenda release for the Cannabis Labs Conference. The event will address science, technology, regulatory compliance and quality management as they relate to the cannabis testing market. It will take place on June 3–4 at U.S. Pharmacopeia in Rockville, MD.
Two keynotes for the Cannabis Labs Conference are listed in the agenda: Rowing in the Same Direction:The Biggest Safety Issues Facing the Cannabis Industry & How We Intend to Tackle Them – this talk will be delivered by Andrew Kline, Director of Public Policy at the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA). The second keynote is titled Cannabis Testing in Maryland: Protecting Patient Safety – this talk will be delivered by Lori Dodson, Deputy Director of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Control Commission.
The event will begin on June 3 with an opening general session with Charles Deibel speaking to both the cannabis and food lab testing industries: The Evolution of the Lab Testing Market: A History of Food and Cannabis Testing & How Far We’ve Come
Other notable presentations include: Building a Comprehensive Analytical Testing Program for Hemp by Grace Bandong, Global Scientific Strategy Leader at Eurofins; FDA Compliance for Cannabis- Stories from a Cannabis Public Health Investigator by Kim Stuck, Founder of Allay Consulting; Evaluation of Cannabinoids Reference Standards by Shiow-Jyi Wey, Reference Standard Scientist at the US Pharmacopeia; and more.
The event is co-located with the Food Labs Conference, which will focus on regulatory, compliance and risk management issues that companies face in the area of testing and food laboratory management. More information about this event is available on Food Safety Tech. Some of the critical topics include a discussion of FDA’s proposed FSMA rule, Laboratory Accreditation Program for Food Testing; considerations in laboratory design; pathogen testing and detection; food fraud; advances in testing and lab technology; allergen testing, control and management; validation and proficiency testing; and much more.
“By presenting two industry conferences under one roof, we can provide attendees with technology, regulatory compliance and best practices that cannabis and food might share but also focused topics that are unique to cannabis or food laboratory industry needs,” said Rick Biros, president of Innovative Publishing Co., Inc. and director of the Cannabis Labs Conference.
To learn more about the agenda, speakers and registration pricing, click here. The early bird discount of $395 expires on March 31.
Innovative Publishing Company, Inc., the organizer of the conference, is fully taking into considerations the travel concerns related to the coronavirus. Should any disruption occur that may prevent the production of this live event at its physical location in Rockville, MD due to COVID-19, all sessions will be converted to a virtual conference on the already planned dates. More information is available on the event website.
After just one month of legalized recreational cannabis, Illinois is already seeing a massive return on their investment. According to the Chicago Sun Times, Illinois has raised roughly $10.4 million in tax revenue from their newly legal market ($7.3 million in cannabis tax revenue and $3.1 million in retails sales tax revenue).
When Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker first announced their estimated budget before the market was legalized, he predicted that Illinois would generate about $28 million in tax revenue in the first six months. The totals from January more than doubling the predicted per month revenue indicates that his office’s estimates were significantly lower than reality.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker
In total, dispensaries in the state did just under $40 million in sales in January, which makes it the second-largest first month rollout in the country. For reference, Illinois did $39.2 million total sales in their first month which, whereas Nevada took the #1 spot with $39.8 million.
About 35% of the tax revenue that Illinois generates will be used in the state’s general revenue fund, 10% will be spent on previous expenses, 25% goes to the Restore, Reinvest and Renew Program, an initiative for unemployment and preventing violence and recidivism, and the last 30% of that revenue goes towards mental health services, substance abuse services, public education and awareness campaigns as well as a police grant program.
Toi Hutchinson, senior adviser on cannabis control to Governor J.B. Pritzker, told the Chicago Sun Times that the tax revenue from legalization is to be spent on social equity and helping communities adversely impacted by the war on drugs. “Revenue raised in this first month will soon begin flowing back into those communities to begin repairing the damage done by the failed policies of the past and creating new opportunities for those who have been left behind for far too long,” says Hutchinson.
Germany, for all of the other developments going on right now (globally) is still chugging forward, in integrating medical cannabis. It is slow going – but certainly going.
In terms of overall numbers, there is certainly an interesting story to tell. The import of medical cannabis grade flowers also more than doubled last year over 2018.
Hooray.
But does the “average” German patient have easier access even with more product in the market?
Answer: There are certainly more Germans with more cannabis prescriptions. See the increase in imports and the numbers from the statutory health insurers.
But even though these are clearly positive signs, it has not necessarily gotten much easier so far. That said, it is about to get quite a bit cheaper.
The Mainstreaming of the German and EU Cannabis Market
National pride aside, the German government is in fact the entity which got this whole ball of wax rolling here, and it is they who still determine the pace of regulated change. The cultivation of medical cannabis is now fully underway in the country, with Demecan still in the most interesting position. Aurora has just gotten another certification and is back on the ground in pharmacies.
But many issues remain.
Photo: Ian McWilliams, Flickr
On the ground, pharmacists cannot get enough product on a reliable basis. Patients are still caught in the never-ending merry-go-round of chasing down willing doctors, battling insurance companies for reimbursement and trying to have a good relationship with their local pharmacist. If, of course, they can afford both the drug itself, along with its outlying costs and frustrations to access, and their health insurance company plays ball.
Even then, chances are, the most seriously ill patients are still relying on “other” sources. A reference wholesale price (of €2.30 a gram set by the German government last year) is likely to stabilize the market if not pricing. For everyone – not just those on public healthcare.
The plant is becoming commoditized, even if slower than most people in the industry long to see.
On top of that, while certification is currently gaining steam in the industry, especially in Europe, there are many problems and issues remaining – on everything from processing of the flower to registration of products made from it. And in both the medical and recreational market.
Overall, in other words, markers are all good. But the process is going to be (very) slow if steady for the next several years.
Don’t Expect Continual Explosive Growth
Dronabinol is still at least a third of the public healthcare market. The majority of patients who receive the drug still fit the same overall treatment profile (chronic pain). And doctors are still highly reluctant to consider it as a more standard practice.
But the most important conversation, by far, is still basic legalization and regulation beyond that. That too will change. Not to mention the recreational discussion now absolutely on the table. Four years of a medical market only continue to open doors, not close them. And elsewhere, across the continent, reform is generating new producers from not only southern Europe but just about everywhere else on the globe where cannabis is becoming legit.
For the next year, however, as all of these issues continue to be debated, and at both a national and increasingly local level, don’t expect “explosive” anything.
Those who have established themselves are dug in. It is going to be trench warfare from now on out, barring a major surprise, for the next few years.
What Is Likely To Change The Equation?
CBD battles are absolutely strategic manoeuvres through the intricacies of this regulatory shift (legalization of the plant). This alone, particularly for the next few years, is likely to also move the conversation forward – and not just on the medical front.
It is also patently obvious that governments (starting with Italy) are beginning to again consider the topic of limited home grow and recreational reform.
But the most important conversation, by far, is still basic legalization and regulation beyond that. And until that happens, nothing will be “normal” about a market that is clearly being allowed to grow, in a market which is being carefully tended and managed.
“Explosive” in other words, is far from the agenda of anyone in authority who is making the decisions. And that includes regulated market growth and numbers for the next 48 months at least.
Nepal’s parliament is debating cannabis reform. Even more interestingly, they are also considering cultivation as a way of curbing the harm done to the local population by the importation of distilled spirits. Namely, proceed with cultivation of cannabis and ban imported alcohol.
This is also the first time this specific discussion – alcohol vs. cannabis – has arisen in a national state legislature discussion about legalization quite like this anywhere in the world.
Specifically, instead of “legalize and tax” like alcohol – the mantra of many early American states like Colorado and Washington State, Nepal at least, is taking a directly different approach. Literally to accept cannabis as a drug and recreational substance while moving people away from distilled alcohol. And further doing so specifically as an act of public safety.
Western European nations if not North American ones, take note.
However, this is also a trend that is already showing up in the United States if not Canada all by itself. It is absolutely why the big beer and alcohol companies have invested early and big in this business.
Nepalese politicians clearly seem to want to make a different kind of statement right from the get go. Including potentially banning any cannabis company or funding that is directly tied to alcohol sales – or in the more likely inverse, giving a market alternative to global brands like Constellation. North American brands will sell well in a tourist market specifically there for outdoor sports, spiritual rejuvenation, or a bit of both.
Background on Nepal
Image: Gavin Yeates, Flickr
Chances are you know about as much about Nepal as, well, most people do. It is a small, relatively open country on the edge of a much larger Tibet. Nepal and Tibet literally meet at the Himalayas and share Mount Everest. Tibet being the land of the exiled Dalai Lama and the site of that movie with Brad Pitt.
Nepal is also mostly Hindu, although there is a wide smattering of religious belief in the country that includes Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism. And unlike Tibet, Nepal can be reached with a simple tourist visa.
It is for this very reason that such debates in the Nepalese parliament have taken on such an interesting geopolitical tint.
A Quick History of Cannabis and Nepal
Just like other countries touching the Himalayas, cannabis is hardly a “new” development. Indeed, this region of the world is likely to be home to many intriguing indigenous cannabis species – including of the intriguing “purple” kind. For those without a degree in cannabis cultivation, purple coloured cannabis, particularly in the wild, comes from areas that are cold at night – see Hindu Kush, albeit from Afghanistan.
Like other countries subjected to geopolitical forces of the early 1970s, the country was also forced to abandon its cannabis cultivation as part of the Cold War and War on Drugs that targeted this part of the world. Politicians are now calling for that to end.
Beyond tourism however, and local economic development (almost 50% of the economy is still subsistence farming), cannabis is deeply interwoven into local tradition and religion.
February 21 is known as the “Night of Shiva” – where millions of Hindus make religious pilgrimages to holy sites in the highest mountains in the world. Shiva is one of the three gods in the Hindu triumvirate.
Brahma is the creator of the universe. Vishnu is the preserver of it. Shiva, however is the destroyer of the universe in order to recreate it.
Coming as it does a month before the spring equinox, the ritual to Hindus is not one of violence but rather one of the rebirth of spring and renewal just around the corner. It makes sense that cannabis would be associated with the same.
In Nepal, in other words, there is a political and economic turning of the wheel for the new decade that is also spiritually motivated at least, by ancient and traditional Nepalese traditions that are quite literally, as old as time.
Maine’s Office of Marijuana Policy (OMP), the government agency in charge of regulating their cannabis industry, announced today a six-year contract for traceability software with Metrc LLC. According to the press release, the software will be used for the newly formed adult use market, which is just a few months away from going live with legal sales.
Maine’s OMP was previously under contract with BioTrackTHC as their software provider before switching to Metrc with this new contract. The software is cloud-based and uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags on plants and products to track cultivation and distribution of cannabis products throughout the state. The software is commonly used across the country in states that have legal cannabis markets. It essentially prevents diversion to the black market, allows for a transparent supply chain with clear chain of custody tracking and it increases recall readiness.
Erik Gundersen, Director of Maine’s OMP, says Metrc is helping to make a smooth launch of the adult use market. “We are excited to partner with Metrc,” says Gundersen. “Metrc is an industry leader, and their team is committed to delivering a product that will allow us to proceed with the launch of our adult use program later this spring.”
Over the next few months, Metrc and OMP plan on helping the industry familiarize themselves with the new software. The two organizations will go on the road in March, giving licensees training and answering questions. Metrc will then offer online training and evaluations followed by credentialing licensees showing they are proficient with the software.
Jeff Wells, CEO of Metrc, says they are excited to get to work. “We’re excited to partner with the OMP to help launch the state’s adult-use marijuana market,” says Wells. “2020 is another significant year for cannabis industry growth, and we look forward to serving the OMP, local cannabis businesses, and the people of Maine.”
The agreement is a six-year contract with a value of roughly $540,000. License holders pay a $40 monthly fee to access the system, which helps support training and technical support, according to the press release.
In general, the industry is setting itself up for the next round of “invasion” just about everywhere. In Europe this is going to be a very interesting next couple of years as cannabis as a crop is integrated into the mainstream via changing rules both on a national and regional level.
There are two possibilities for the now Brexited UK. Either the UK is also going to be an insane madhouse of cannabis innovation, set free from its EU “overlords” or the entire discussion is going to get bogged down in another kind of elite private room. Namely which British company gets mostly monopoly rights on what is left of NHS patients (see GW Pharmaceuticals), and which foreign (probably US or Canadian) company is going to be able to buy market accessone way or another to both the medical market that flows over from this discussion and the budding recreational one. See CBD for starters.
In the meantime, strange hybrids are going to enter markets. British distilled hemp infused rum showed up in German mainstream grocery stores just before Christmas. Chocolate makers are setting out stakes across European states with suppliers attached globally.
In Italy, home grow has entered the discussion again, and recreational count down calendars are also on the walls if not sales projections of everyone in the industry. That said, the strategies and ground covered between now and the beginning of 2022, must be strategically chosen. There is no easy, much less “one” path in. All things cosmetics and tinctures will be difficult paths for years to come – although lucrative markets.
CBD vs THC
This discussion is in the room as a political topic as well as an economic one. Technically, anyone with a working farm and used to producing standards demanded across the EU, should be able to enter the industry at this point. That said, getting in, and getting established is not only expensive but also time consuming. The many quirks and stigmas of the past are still in the room. And as fast as norms are establishing, the rules are changed again.
As much as anyone wants to set out even a stake (medical vs. recreational, THC Vs. CBD), the rules, if not debate is bunted again – certainly this has been the case in Europe over the past few years. In fact, the entire plant must be and always is in the room, even if in discussion with several agencies at a time.
2020, in other words, is going to be an interesting year for the industry, even if the most significant achievements, companies and people are not “seen” much less lauded in any spotlight.There is no way THC can be entirely left out of the discussion to begin with. Starting with alarmed reports about the fact that traces of THC in CBD products can show up in human bloodstreams. Until there is a real understanding about the tolerance levels of THC, and for whom in other words, the CBD market will always be haunted by this bugbear. And when they do, recreational reform of all kinds will also be much easier to support.
That said, you cannot pay overhead with promises about future reform. And in the short term, it is necessary to find your niche, and stick to it.
Europe also is a far more interesting regulatory market. Namely, there are more trials afoot, and more people are exposed to the idea of cannabinoids and how to use them.
How long will this take to resolve? It’s anyone’s guess, but the likelihood is that the next two years are set to be just as interesting as the last several have been, although the ground, as well as the goalposts are also just as clearly changing.
2020 in other words, is going to be an interesting year for the industry, even if the most significant achievements, companies and people are not “seen” much less lauded in any spotlight. Namely a general, mainstream and global population is now being introduced to a wonder if not miracle plant, and in a variety of ways.
That is surely, just in and of itself, perhaps the most important aspect of celebrating at a Swiss resort and playground of elites. Cannabis has “arrived” and taken its sophomore spin at the ball.
Canndoc, an Israeli medical cannabis producer, just received a shipment of 250kg of dried whole flower cannabis. The company, a subsidiary of InterCure, just signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Canada’s Tilray.
Interestingly the agreement is both for the import and export of flower. So don’t count out a stream coming the other way. Or, more likely, the export of seed and cannatech related to the same.
Everything goes both ways – yin and yang. Even in this industry.
However what this also does is set up Tilray to have an excellent shot at being partnered at least with the first Israeli exporters when local demand is satisfied. And that, given their strategic footprint globally, but particularly in Europe, is a very unique advantage in a cannabis map that is shifting, literally, as the year becomes the new decade.
What Gives With The Ex-Im Discussion Anyway?
Israeli producers have longed for the day when they can bring their considerable tech and research advantage if not plant genomes and medicines to a global market. The medical program in Israel was originally funded largely by American federal money while domestic reform was fought, tooth and nail until the middle of the last decade. And of course so far, at least, despite Illinois clocking over into the 11th recreational state as of January 1 of this year, has remained stalled on a federal level in the U.S.
However, no matter the shifting politics of Israel (where lets not forget, the government is also mired in scandals and it appears the Israeli president, Benjamin Netanyahu delayed the export of cannabis in a deal with the U.S. to move the capital to Jerusalem), one thing was made clear last year by government officials: Israelis come first.
Tel Aviv, Israel
It is likely to be an attitude that spreads – particularly in places like Europe and even more so Germany. So far, the entire market here has been met with imports. This is the first year that there is regular medical production hitting pharmacy shelves thanks to Demecan and the former Wayland (now ICC).
Indeed, Wayland basically did the same thing in Germany as Tilray is doing now in Israel, although the firm had to sink a huge capital expenditure into setting up its cultivation sites. And at far greater cost.
Tilray appears to be hitching a ride on an existing industry to expand its reach, markets and of course, IP. Israeli cannatech, for sure, is going global.
How Could This Impact Other Discussions?
There are two places this development is likely to impact policy discussions outside of Europe where home grow has, let’s not forget, also hit Italy in the last months. But similar ripples are afoot everywhere right now – from Portugal and Spain to Greece. While exporting can be a lucrative game, should it come at the expense of domestic citizens?
The first place this issue has already been a theme is obviously Canada, where this spectre was much in the room last year as the country transitioned to recreational while its top companies also established themselves abroad. In Europe this was mostly done without cultivation domestically except in a few rare instances. See Tilray in Portugal, Demecan in Germany, ICC in Italy and all of the partnerships between the top Canadian cultivators and Danish, Greek and Maltese producers.
The second place this will undoubtedly have an impact, however, is very much likely to be the United States. While most pundits agree that federal reform is at least a year or so off (roughly equivalent with European change of a recreational kind), this discussion is already in the room.
These days, six years after Colorado and Washington State upped the ante, companies may operate separate operations in multiple states, but of course, cannot ship across the border of any of them.
As soon as federal reform hits however, also expect to see these discussions going on at a state level across the United States. With healthcare devolving very much to the states, locally grown cannabis is going to play a major role in all of these discussions (starting with the opioid epidemic). If not, as many expect, an influx of cannabis from south of the border.
Those days, however at least in the U.S. are still several years away. In Israel, however, as Tilray lines up a unique profile across all of said jurisdictions, look for intriguing cannabis developments coming soon, in multiple jurisdictions.
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On March 31, the event will begin with a presentation from the folks at Cresco Labs: Applying Food Science Principles to Cannabis Edibles. Marina Mincheva, Director of Manufacturing Quality Assurance and Stephanie Gorecki, Director of Food Sciences at Cresco Labs will deliver this talk. They will discuss what a research and development process looks like for creating cannabis-infused edible products, how to then commercialize those products and developing CPG products with input from marketing and quality.
