If you’ve never been up the North Coast of California into Humboldt County, it’s an unusual paradise. Giant redwoods tower over backyard barbecues, flowering trees sprout gargantuan blossoms, and dense rainforests snuggle shoulder to shoulder with sandy beaches. The Pacific Ocean, violent and unpredictable, beckons visitors to a shoreline littered with fallen trees and rocky islands just out of reach. It harbors a bit of magic and somehow the Kraken and Bigfoot don’t feel like fairy tales in the greatness of Humboldt’s often untamed wilderness. This is the setting in which Case Mandel and Lizandro Salazar V built their bond with cannabis. Before launching the county’s first operationally licensed botanical extraction company, they spent years living out of their trucks in ancient forests, tending secret fields, and learning firsthand why the Emerald Triangle is the world’s finest climate for cannabis cultivation. Mandel has already found success with Cannadips, the nation’s first cannabis and CBD dip. As that brand continues to grow, he and Salazar are building a new kind of extract company. They’re using single-source, flash-frozen, sun-grown buds to form the foundation of their live resin line — Arcata Fire. In this exclusive interview, we speak with Mandel and Salazar to discover their inspiration, their strategy, and what’s next for their award-winning line of live resin extracts. Cannabis & Tech Today: When did you realize you wanted to launch ArcataX?Case Mandel: I was the first one of us actually involved in hydrocarbon extraction even though Lizandro and I were using bubble bags years before. I bought one of the first closed-loop extraction machines ever built in the early days of hydrocarbon extraction. After working in the traditional extraction market I met my wife. She gave me an ultimatum — if she was going to continue to spend time with me and look to build a family, I needed to stop working in a market that could jeopardize my freedom. Luckily, I had just completed an MBA and California just passed prop 64 for recreational legalization, so I took my skill set to the newly legal market. My first step in creating the business was doing what I do best and connecting people. I went out and found a capital partner as well as a partner for cutting-edge custom extraction equipment. Then I brought in my high school best friend Lizandro [Salazar] to design and manage the project. He took it by the horns and we were able to become the first legal, operational extraction facility in Humboldt County. Lizandro Salazar V: The aha moment was a little different for me. I was working on a cultivation premise, building it from scratch actually. Everyone was cultivating, but no one had a license because many were in the application process — at that time, the application process was as far as you could go. One morning we went down to the house to get our breakfast, and there was a huge convoy of sheriffs, the state water board, natural resources, fish and wildlife… all these people were there. The next thing I know there were shotguns in my face. Long story short, they let us go, but we ended up being the first farm in the application process in Humboldt County to get raided. When I saw that happen, I was like, “Wow, legal cultivation is a little bit sketchy.” We need to look to manufacturing as a potential next step. Very shortly after we started, we realized the industry was commoditizing extremely quickly. Within a few months we saw prices start dropping, and as that drop started happening, margins changed, competition went up. That’s truly where the transformation from ArcataX as a crude manufacturer turned into ArcataX as a premium, live resin manufacturer. C&T Today: What’s unique about what ArcataX is doing in the industry?LS: We’re one of a very few companies that actually go to farms to harvest the crops ourselves. We started doing these harvesting SOPs, which were all about preserving the freshness of these aromas and profiles, to be representative of what that plant smells like while it’s growing. Because of the scale of our equipment, we were also able to harvest and freeze within a very small amount of time, and also extract that material — sometimes the same day. If you’re harvesting 2000 square feet, and it takes you two months to extract, well that’s cool, but we would harvest a couple thousand square feet and extract it the following day. We were able to take these gardens all the way from peak ripeness to almost a finished product in very, very little time. Then we started seeing the data around these oils being extremely high in terpene content, extremely diverse in types of terpenes, even terpenes you wouldn’t ever see at other places. Then we realized this is something really special. C&T Today: The ability to get your products to the shelves faster — was that the result of the specific technology you were using or rather the scale of the technology you were using?LS: I like to think of it like a perfect storm of knowing the right people, growing the right genetics, at the right time, at the right place. It’s technology alongside SOPs. Then we started really digging into — not only how fast can we extract this material, but how pure can we make it? That’s where our solvent-free process became one of our foundational components. We use certain solvents that were chosen because of the selectivity they have when attracting these certain special cannabis compounds. Then, recovering all of that solvent out of the finished product to a non-detectable level. C&T Today: Why did ArcataX choose to pursue live resins, specifically?LS: The plant itself has a code, or a recipe, or a certain fingerprint it’s putting out. Every strain and every plant has a different one. Within that code, there are good things and bad things. Through our extraction process, we can pull out what we consider the best parts of that code. We don’t want to break that code into little chunks. We want to make sure it’s cohesive because that terpene profile, that certain amount of potency and cannabinoids, types of cannabinoids and flavonoids, and all of these other compounds … those all are part of the musical orchestra that creates the symphony that is the experience that has given us award-winning results. What live resin does, is it captures that essence at the moment of harvest and preserves it almost in its entirety. When you open a jar or take a hit, you’re basically getting that same experience as if you were walking to that farm, squeezing that flower, and smelling it yourself. C&T Today: ArcataX sources much of its feed material from micro-climates. Why is that important to you?LS: Systems of plants and animals typically work better when there’s a diversity of different species occupying different parts of the three-dimensional environment. Our farms are usually surrounded by acres of forest. Our farmers typically plant tons of different types of species around their gardens that bring in predatory insects that eat pests. On the soil side, a lot of our farmers have been building their soil for decades and decades. These soils are native, and they’re extremely nutrient rich. A lot of these soils, because of the water table and the proximity to the river, have an ability to wick up during the night and then down during the day. Our best farmers don’t even have to irrigate. C&T Today: You launched Arcata Fire earlier this year and took first place in the Live Resin Cartridge Category at the Emerald Cup. What do you think made your product stand out to the judges?CM: Our win with the judges was a representation of the incredible starting material we’ve been able to source as a result of the relationships we’ve developed over the past twenty years. That material, coupled with the SOPs we’ve developed over hundreds of thousands of pounds of extraction, gave us the advantage. LS: There’s a sentence you’ll hear around the industry: fire in, fire out. You can’t get a good finished product unless you start with something good. Arcata Fire is from our best of our best, premium crops that we won’t sell to anyone else because it is so coveted by us. It’s all single source, meaning it all comes from the same place. It’s all single batch, meaning that I don’t mix and blend different strains together. It’s all 100% live resin, which means everything that’s in each product is 100% derived from that flash-frozen material. There are all these little things that come together and create a place where the consumer is saying, “Wow, Via https://cannatechtoday.com/fire-in-fire-out-two-industry-pioneers-creating-a-live-resin-legacy-in-california/
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The cannabis industry is still a new one, full of rapid growth that includes building new teams, new vendor relationships, and new protocols. The newness and rapid growth of this budding industry represents an incredible opportunity for threat actors who execute business email compromise (BEC) attacks. Threat actors target the lack of familiarity and policies to trick cannabis industry employees, via phishing emails, into performing actions and/or divulging confidential information, including credentials and passwords. In 2019, the FBI reported over $1.7 billion in losses due to BEC campaigns, and that only represents those incidents that companies reported. The ThreatA BEC is a specific type of phishing designed to impersonate a genuine employee, often an executive, in order to trick other employees or vendors into wiring payments to unknown bank accounts that are quickly drained, leaving the funds difficult to retrieve. It is part phishing, part intra-business social-engineering, utilizing situational awareness of business relationships to manipulate the movement of money. What makes BEC uniquely difficult to identify and report is the threat actor is often working within an authentic cannabis industry employee’s email account. Almost all successful BECs start with a phishing campaign wherein an employee is deceived into believing they should provide their username or email and password in response to a seemingly genuine email. Phishing schemes are so sophisticated that some of the most effective phishing tests trick nearly 100% of recipients into clicking a malicious link. Consistent use and reliance on e-mail has lulled many employees into losing sight of how quickly they can be duped. For example, a phishing test offering a free Netflix subscription as an employee perk deceived nearly 100% of its recipients. Beyond alluring phishing emails are the mundane, highly effective tricks that suggest an employee’s Microsoft Outlook account requires updating or an alert about a large number of files deleted from a shared drive. Once an employee has fallen for the initial phishing email and provided their credentials, the threat actor is able to log into that employee’s email account and begin impersonating them. It is much easier to identify a grift when it comes from an unknown individual associated with an unrecognized business, but it is a much tougher feat to discern a colleague or familiar vendor’s accounts payable contact is not who they say they are when one receives a message from their genuine email address. The RedirectionOnce the phishing attempt is successful and the threat actor is logged in with an authentic email account, the actor begins exploring. This often includes collecting old invoices and researching which employees, vendors, or customers are the best targets for a BEC scheme. A favorite tactic is to identify a new CFO or a new vendor, any party that is unfamiliar with routine practices or unlikely to be sophisticated enough to have appropriate controls in place to prevent redirection of payment to the threat actor’s account. Threat actors then set up rules within the email account, making sent and received emails virtually invisible to the authentic cannabis employee as they continue to use their account. These rules may redirect emails to a third email address or discretely push the email to standard folders found, and often unutilized, in every email account, such as RSS Feeds or Conversation History in Outlook. These steps can allow a threat actor to dwell within an account for weeks, or months, effectively redirecting payments undetected. Often, because of the lag in time between invoice and payment, it can take multiple months and missed payment dates before the redirection of funds is identified. The fall-out is often a finger-pointing affair of determining which side of a redirected payment is at fault. A cannabis industry vendor demands payment for services provided while the dispensary argues that they were only following the updated payment directions they received in an email from the vendor. The vendor argues no such emails exist – because the emails have been deleted by the threat actor, they still expect payment for their service. The dispensary initiates a forensic investigation and brings in breach counsel to determine with certainty that their email account was not subject to unauthorized access by a threat actor. And the situation escalates – in costs, in business disruption, in reputational harm, and in resources. State Compliance Requirements Built Into BEC
Besides the all-too-common battle that results between two parties victimized by a BEC depicted above, there are data breach compliance laws to address after the discovery of a BEC. As if the cannabis industry did not have enough laws to keep track of, it is imperative to consider that when an unauthorized actor is in a cannabis employee’s email account they may be considered under law as accessing or downloading information that qualifies as personal information under applicable data breach notification laws. Every state has a data breach notification law, under which specific responses are required of an impacted cannabis company, including potentially notifying affected individuals, notifying Attorneys General, and offering credit monitoring services to affected individuals. These laws, as well as many contracts, require a vendor to provide notice to their business clients in such a situation. The result is a double-edged sword — there is a cost to investigating and responding to a BEC and an even heavier cost to ignoring this legal responsibility only to have that decision result in litigation or a regulatory investigation. What Next?Every day in cannabis there are new, well-publicized developments. New hires made, new mergers finalized, new relationships forged, and new markets opened. As a result, it is an increasingly fertile ground for BEC attacks. There is a myriad of important steps sophisticated members of the industry can take – from preventative, like multi-factor authentication, to mitigating, such as implementing a strong record retention policy and payment-change protocol. Experienced technical and legal counsel should be retained to assist in the process of navigating the laws and security improvements applicable to businesses in evaluating regulatory requirements and technical safeguards, especially after detecting a business email compromise. ϖ Via https://cannatechtoday.com/the-cannabis-industrys-growing-threat-of-business-email-compromise/ Welcome to our 2021 CBD Awards! After dozens of brand and product reviews conducted this year, this is our chance to recognize those who truly outperformed the competition in the following categories:
As always, we promise to uphold real merit as the only currency here; no brand can buy their way onto this list with anything other than high-quality products and practices. Since the competition is thickening all the time as industry newbies swagger their way onto the scene while the titans wrestle for supremacy, we had to get a little technical in our ranking methodology to separate some razor-thin margins. CBD Awards of 2021: Table of ContentsOur Ranking CriteriaIn the case of individual brand reviews we conduct throughout the year, we use these criteria to provide each brand an overall score out of 100 points. Understandably, the more specific superlatives we’re doling out today require modified versions of these criteria, but the heart is very much the same. To provide a few examples of the factors we borrowed from our brand review criteria, the products listed below are being recognized for their balanced and potent cannabinoid profiles, sustainability and quality of sourcing (organic?), overall value, extract availability (full-spectrum and broad-spectrum?), and more. Alright, the host has babbled enough, the stage is set, and the nominees are fidgeting in their seats—let’s get to the awards! Best CBD Oil: Cornbread HempWhole Flower USDA Organic CBD OilConcentration375mg/.5oz (25mg/serving) 750mg/1oz (25mg/serving) 1500mg/1oz (50mg/serving) Price375mg/.5oz: $34.99 750mg/1oz: $64.99 1500mg/1oz: $109.99 Use code BOGOINSIDER for a BOGO deal through 11/29! IngredientsOrganic MCT Coconut Oil, Organic Hemp Extract Just when we thought we had the hemp industry giants settled perfectly into their rankings, in saunters relative newcomer Cornbread Hemp, unabashedly slamming their flower-only, full-spectrum, USDA Organic CBD oil on the table as if to say “deal with it” to the rest of the industry. After reviewing the brand, sampling the products, meeting the founder, and thoroughly poking through the fine print, we have verified that all of their lofty claims are actually true. This is one of only two products we’ve ever reviewed to hit all of the “big three” quality indicators at once (flower only, organic, full-spectrum), and like many industry leaders pushing for stronger tinctures, this one provides 50mg/2mg of CBD/THC per serving. Better yet, the Kentucky hemp farms that Cornbread Hemp partners with are rain-fed, and they sit on a massive limestone deposit that improves soil and water quality. The post The 2021 CBD Awards appeared first on The CBD Insider. via The CBD Insider https://thecbdinsider.com/news/the-2021-cbd-awards/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-2021-cbd-awards News broke early this week that Uber Technologies Inc is teaming up with Canadian cannabis retailer Tokyo Smoke. The news was first reported by Reuters and initial reports misstated that Uber would allow cannabis to be ordered through the Uber app and delivered. However, that initial reporting was later updated to reflect that orders can be placed through the app, although, customers will still need to obtain their cannabis the old fashioned way. Still, even Uber’s limited entry into the cannabis space is a big deal given how large the company is and that it previously had no known ties to the cannabis industry. Part of a Larger TrendUber Technologies Inc is not the first large company to enter the cannabis space. It is part of the continued mainstreaming of the legal cannabis industry. As the emerging legal cannabis industry continues to evolve, and more notably continues to generate enormous revenue, there will be a steady flow of large companies entering the space. That could be bad news for operators in entire sectors of the cannabis industry that have benefitted from big technology companies shying away from cannabis due to stigma and continued prohibition in some areas. Cannabis delivery services are very popular in some areas because they fill a void. Once the Ubers of the world start performing that same service, it will obviously be much harder for smaller delivery companies to compete. The same will be true for many technological concepts that are currently operating in the cannabis space. Finding a NicheCannabis entrepreneurs that provide certain services still have time to establish themselves with consumers and patients before most of the big companies enter the space. Now is the time for those companies to build their brand recognition and prove to consumers that they can provide just as good (or better) of a service as big companies. People that think they have a good idea in the current industry climate need to focus on their long term plans in addition to their immediate plans. Otherwise, a really big fish could enter the fold and if the person/company didn’t plan for that happening, it could be the difference between them continuing on or getting pushed out of the industry entirely. Via https://cannatechtoday.com/a-very-big-company-just-jumped-into-canadas-cannabis-industry/ Cannabis reform is spreading across the European continent faster than ever before, which is great news for cannabis consumers, entrepreneurs, patients, and governments. Many European governments waste a ridiculous amount of money every year enforcing cannabis prohibition. Thankfully, the walls of cannabis prohibition are crumbling, and while no country in Europe has fully legalized cannabis for adult use, several are on a path to fully legalize sooner rather than later. Many are pursuing reform measures, and in the Netherlands, a regulated adult-use industry pilot program is ramping up. Italy’s Supreme Court recently ruled that cannabis prohibition is unconstitutional and tasked lawmakers to craft and approve a cannabis legalization measure. Unfortunately, legislators have dragged their feet thus far. However, full legalization is likely inevitable in Italy, with some legal protections for consumers already being in place via case law. In Switzerland, low-THC cannabis is already legal and gaining in popularity with every passing year. Cannabis flower that contains less than 1% has been legal in Switzerland since 2017. Some countries in Europe, such as Germany, now permit robust medical cannabis industries. For certain regions, cannabis is already legal in Europe, and that freedom will continue to spread to the rest of the population. Unfortunately, Europe’s cannabis laws and regulations have become a patchwork of sorts, much like in the United States at the state level. The discrepancies in policies and regulations are compounded by the fact that at the national level things are constantly evolving as well, which can be very chaotic and stressful for members of the cannabis industry. Clearly, there is a tremendous need for harmonized rules and regulations across the European continent. Not only does every country need to get on the right side of history and end cannabis prohibition, but they also need to be on the same page when it comes to packaging requirements, advertising requirements, product testing, cannabinoid limits, etc. Cannabis reform will not wait for countries to get on the same page — the reform movement will continue to march across Europe, and the industry will only thrive as much as policies and regulations allow at the continental level. If things remain a patchwork, it’s nearly impossible for companies to reach their full potential, for customers to get what they want, for patients to get the safe access that they need, and for government coffers to benefit from a thriving industry. Compliance is a two-way street. Cannabis industry rules need to be uniform and reasonable across Europe to help companies strike the right balance between public safety and consumer needs. That needs to happen sooner rather than later. ϖ Via https://cannatechtoday.com/a-plea-for-consistent-cannabis-regulations-in-europe/ The incoming governing coalition in Germany, often referred to as the “traffic light coalition” recently announced plans to introduce an adult-use cannabis legalization measure. The pending legislation will be introduced in the next session according to the coalition, which is composed of members from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP), and the Greens. Legalization in Germany was discussed at length at the last International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin where there was a historic panel dedicated to cannabis policy in Germany featuring panelists representing all major political parties. Germany will not be the first to legalize cannabis for adult use, however, legalization in Germany could ultimately prove to be more significant than the nations that have done so thus far. Technology HubGermany has long been home to a robust innovation community. The nation is well known for its inventors, engineers, scientists, and other leading international minds. The country is already home to arguably the best medical cannabis industry framework on earth, and innovative ideas, products, and services are already popping up frequently as a result. It is no secret that when there is a lot of money involved, which is clearly the case with the emerging legal cannabis industry, innovators scramble to bring the next revolutionary idea to the marketplace in order to reap the financial rewards. Adult-use legalization will only further contribute to that happening in Germany, especially if Germany beats all other European nations to implementing a regulated adult-use industry. The World Will BenefitTechnological advances within Germany’s emerging cannabis industry will directly benefit consumers, patients, entrepreneurs, investors, and industry service providers in Germany. However, the benefits will not remain inside of Germany’s borders. Since the legal cannabis industry is going global, what happens in Germany will not necessarily stay in Germany. Germany will no doubt serve as a cannabis technology think tank of sorts, and the truly innovative concepts that come from that will no doubt be exported to other parts of the world. It’s quite likely that legalization in Germany will result in the entire global cannabis industry experiencing a massive boost in innovation, and history will measure cannabis technology from before and after German legalization is implemented. Via https://cannatechtoday.com/is-a-german-cannabis-technology-boom-on-the-horizon/ “Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.” Peg Bracken, author. One aspect of cannabis consumption for which I am truly grateful is the quality of presence it offers. When under the influence, I often feel a state of zen and awareness. There is a mindfulness I can offer myself, my friends, and my loved ones that is amplified by cannabis. I’ve heard the sentiment shared by several industry peers and it is one of the plant’s most welcome effects. Particularly around the holiday season, it can be difficult to remain present with one’s family. There are so many things to cloud the mind, from shopping lists to menu planning. If you find yourself lost in thought rather than paying careful attention to your family’s traditions, perhaps it’s time to consider a different kind of Christmas gift. One you can enjoy yourself and pass along to another loved one who would enjoy some presence of mind. For your consideration, Cannabis & Tech Today put together a list of cannabis products designed to elevate and enhance your holiday experience. Nationwide Delivery From Charlotte’s WebNationally renowned CBD brand Charlotte’s Web is offering some great deals on CBD products site wide. Check out its Black Friday sale, offering 30% off site wide, or 40% off when you buy 4+ items. Better still, for Cyber Monday the company is offering 40% off everything they make. Rejoice Around the Indiglow Peak ProPuffco is well known for its unique tech and innovative designs. To celebrate the holiday season, the company is launching a limited edition Peak Pro called the Indiglow. One look at its unicorn-like aesthetic and you’ll understand the name. The smooth, purple and blue gradient fades into a translucent silicone base and culminates in a sacred geometry-inspired blow molded inner dome and outer cone glass. When the device is turned on, the interior and exterior lights refract on the glass and create stunning kaleidoscopic fractals. Visit Puffco.com for this holiday special offer. Ease Into the Ebb and FlowHave you tried cannabis powder? It’s this author’s favorite form of cannabis ingestion. Just pour the powder into your favorite drink and wait for the relief to kick in. Colorado-based ebb is offering a new flavor variety to its powder product line: wildberry. Check out its website for holiday savings. Give the Gift of PAXIf you’re seeking convenient discretion in a stylish package, PAX has several offerings to pique your interest. The Era Life is a compact vaporizer compatible with any PAX Era pod. It comes in four colors: Onyx, Grass, Blaze, and Indigo. The PAX 3 is a dry herb vaporizer with variable temperature settings. Its quality is guaranteed with a 10-year limited warranty. The company is also offering some stylish apparel to support the Last Prisoner Project. Cyber Week Deals offering 20% off site wide start November 24 and end at 11:59 PST on Cyber Monday. If you miss the sale, consider buying on Giving Tuesday when 10% of the company’s sales will go to charitable cause. At-Home Elegance From HouseplantIf you’re looking for something with a bit more style for the cannabis connoisseur in your life, check out these new offerings from Houseplant. While Seth Rogen’s laugh made him an icon, his stylish cannabis home goods are a new fan favorite. The Block Table Lighter adds a powerful presence to any coffee table. Plus, you’ll never have to search around for a lighter. If the Table Lighter is too imposing, check out the Oil Lamp. Its graceful lines and charming aesthetic add interest to any table setting. Your hemp wick will always have a light with this functional piece of art. If you’re still seeking the perfect cannabis gift, subscribe to the Concentrated CannaTech newsletter for our next holiday gift guide. Via https://cannatechtoday.com/a-cannabis-gift-guide-for-cyber-monday-and-more/ Cannabis consumerism has taken off in the past year. In fact, a Leafly analysis revealed that sales of medical and adult-use recreational marijuana grew by 71% over 2019, to a total of $18.3 billion. Online ordering, curbside pickup, and delivery represented growing trends in 2020, particularly as consumers were home-bound and needed safe ways to get their cannabis products. Yet, not all cannabis retailers are equipped to introduce delivery options to their list of customer services. Those that do often deal with challenges such as fragmented software and scattered data, resulting in inefficiencies and missing insights. Founded in 2020, Drop Delivery is on a mission to help cannabis retailers around the country optimize their day-to-day operations and deliveries. The all-in-one software platform — founded by a team of serial entrepreneurs and old high school classmates — offers inventory management, driver dispatch, SMS marketing tools, digital loyalty programs, and a customized eCommerce mobile app. Drop is also focused on providing best-in-class digital experiences for consumers and retailers alike. To make this kind of offering possible, Drop uses a software as a service (SaaS) model, which allows companies to take advantage of cutting-edge tech for a monthly subscription fee. One of the most important pieces for cannabis retailer clients is data consolidation. “Knowing your customers’ preferences and using that to market more efficiently is extremely powerful,” CEO Vanessa Gabriel says. From order data to driver data to inventory insights, such as knowing when to push certain products or offer deals, Drop gives cannabis retailers more visibility into their operations. “We’re making our clients’ data work for them,” says Drop Delivery CTO Marc Lopez, referring to the back-end hub that manages all inventory and reporting, revealing important data insights. Drop is also placing more of an emphasis on e-commerce, explains Drop Delivery CPO Jade Gabriel. “Most clients in the cannabis industry are used to basic, static menu types. Our consumer-facing interface is designed to increase conversion and average order size. We offer features such as seamless repurchasing, built-in loyalty, complex deal redemption, quick-add, automatic promotions, and user engagement tools.” One of Drop’s offerings is a progressive web application, or PWA, which feels like a native app but is actually a website. Customers can save the PWA to their home screen for a native app experience or order within the web browser. The pandemic threw a wrench in the gears of many industries. Vanessa says it was amazing to see dispensaries and delivery companies granted permission to stay open as essential services throughout the past year. “We always knew delivery was the future of cannabis purchasing,” she says. It’s been validating for her team and she hopes it signals a catalyst for change in terms of wider legalization. Until then, the Drop Delivery team will continue their mission of enabling cannabis retailers to raise the bar on service. “We’re empowering our clients to offer delivery in a way that is safe, convenient, and a premium customer experience,” Vanessa says, “and this helps give them a leg up on the competition.” ϖ Via https://cannatechtoday.com/software-solutions-for-the-cannabis-delivery-market/ Once again, the Investor Pitch Contest was a high point of Emerge. Four businesses attended the Spring 2021 Emerge Virtual Cannabis Conference hoping to take the win, but this year ended with a twist. For the first time, there was a tie for first place between Hala Hemp and Dama Distributing. Leafwire and Regennabis hosted the Investor Pitch Contest. Each of four businesses gave its best pitch in hopes of gaining access to a $5 million funding pool managed by Regennabis. Hala Hemp is a sustainable CBD lifestyle brand. While the company currently focuses on CBD products, there are plans to expand into clothing and other lifestyle options. Mahala Herron, the founder of Hala Hemp, has also expressed that the company is devoted to incorporating fair trade practices in its business model. “I feel like something we’re missing in the world is simply brands who care about who they’re endorsing, as much as consumers care about the brands that they themselves are purchasing from,” Herron said. “So, it’s one thing for a consumer to purchase from a brand, but who is that brand purchasing from? Who is that brand supporting?” Hala also launched an initiative called Hala Sustainable. It’s a pilot program aiming to set a sustainable standard in cannabis. “All of the practices that I’m urging other brands to implement, we’ve implemented ourselves,” Herron said. “And we’ve put guidelines on the site of certain things you can do. But, we encourage brands to contact us and come to us, so we can inform them on how to be more sustainable and implement these sustainable practices, such as fair trade, water conservation, and so on.” Tied for first was Dama Distributing. Dama Distributing is a locally owned and operated company based in Colorado. The company is developing sustainable, home compostable, and compliant packaging for the cannabis/hemp industry and a variety of other industries. “Everything we do is eco-friendly,” said Cole Gibbs, founder and CEO of Dama Distributing. “We don’t use any petroleum plastics. We work with hemp plastic and hemp paper, hemp fabric. We’re trying to be that one-stop shop for anybody in the industry, really looking for truly sustainable packaging solutions.” Dama is seeking between $20-30 million to construct a new facility to produce their products at commercial levels. “We just need a little bit of help to make this a reality and so we can actually start eliminating more and more single-use plastic,” Gibbs said. “Right now, we eliminate about three and a half tons of material a month. We’d like to jump that to 100 tons a month or even 1,000.” Gibbs said Dama’s sustainable plastic is only .10-.25 cents more expensive than traditional plastic, where other options in the past have been dollars more per item. “And what we’ve found is consumers are willing to pay for it if the business is not willing to absorb that price difference,” he said. “NYU’s Stern Center for Sustainable Business did a study to find out if it is worth it to make the switch to sustainable packaging and offer sustainable options to the consumer. And they found, between 2013 and 2018, those businesses that marketed sustainable options saw a 29% increase in their sales.” Coming in third at the investor pitch conference was BizBoxes. BizBoxes is essentially a software service that is developing a hands-off solution to selling marijuana at dispensaries. Think of it like the software to run a cannabis ATM or a Redbox for weed. BizBoxes can retrofit their solution to existing vending machines, lockboxes, and more. “We help cannabis retailers by enabling a more efficient and less capital intensive way to distribute or dispense cannabis to customers,” said Elsbeth Hurry, founder and CEO of BizBoxes. “We also provide more convenient locations and a unique and fast experience in terms of delivery for the end customer as well.” Hurry said they noticed the increasing demand and overall cost of opening a dispensary, and they decided there might be a better way. The original vision was for a cannabis ATM, and they say it’s still a possibility. “If you look at the numbers between now and seven years from now, the anticipated growth, it just seemed like an opportunity,” Hurry said. “Because there just isn’t going to be enough people, entrepreneurs that can really get in, or enough retailers from a profit perspective that they can grow as fast as they’d like.” The company is currently working to raise $1.8 million to get the product through testing and its pilot program. ϖ Via https://cannatechtoday.com/cannabis-startups-pitch-for-the-prize/ Here’s the latest CBD news:
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Study Shows Effectiveness of CBN Sleep Product from CBDistilleryAs part of their ongoing partnership with MoreBetter Ltd., makers of the Releaf App, CBDistillery has recently published the successful results of a sleep study testing their Sleep Synergy CBN + CBD Oil Tincture. The Releaf App enables CBD users to document their experiences with CBD, track dosage, and more, which allowed for an efficient communication platform across which the study designers were able to collect subjective data for the study using a series of questions. According to CBDistillery’s announcement of the study’s completion, here are the most prominent trends in the data relating to the sleep-improving effectiveness of the Sleep Synergy tincture:
To learn more about CBDistillery and their broad product offering, we invite you to check out our comprehensive brand review or the CBDistillery Black Friday deal. National Industrial Hemp Council (NIHC) Launches Program to Standardize Hemp Product Testing StandardsOn Tuesday (Nov 16th), the National Industrial Hemp Council announced their intentions to launch a program that will standardize testing practices for third-party labs. To signal their compliance with this new set of standards, hemp product brands under the program will be provided a seal to display on products, not unlike US Hemp Authority certification and others common to the industry. The move was described by NIHC president Patrick Atagi as a stop-gap for the federal regulation vacuum—an enhanced layer of industry self-regulation that will improve consumer safety within the hemp industry while everyone waits for the FDA to step in. Included in the program will be a selection of third-party accreditors who will keep laboratories on protocol, as well as a codified set of standards for the proper testing of cannabinoid potency, pesticides, heavy metals, residual solvents, and other commonly tested items. For consumers, this means adding the NIHC seal (once it officially begins circulating) to your hemp product vetting process as a sign of above-average testing and safety standards. Enveric Biosciences CBD Product Shown to Reduce Radiodermatitis SymptomsYesterday (Nov 18th), Florida-based biotech company Enveric Biosciences announced the success of their CBD-based product as a radiodermatitis symptom reducer in “a preclinical rodent model.” In other words, though the product (EV102) has not yet been officially tested in human clinical trials, it has shown potential as a therapeutic for radiodermatitis in conditions designed to mimic the human scenario as closely as possible. Specifically, the announcement reports “reduction in dermatitis severity, skin redness, and duration” as key benefits of the product when applied to rodents with the skin condition. The term “radiodermatitis” refers to dermatitis resulting from radiation therapy, which is a highly common occurrence for those undergoing the therapy. In the pre-clinical experiment, EV102 elicited a nearly 50% reduction in redness, skin peeling, and ulceration, all of which were objectively measured using various observational methods and tools. Given the success of the pre-clinical phase, human testing is now planned to take place sometime in 2022. The post CBD News Roundup: Study Shows Effectiveness of CBDistillery Sleep Product appeared first on The CBD Insider. via The CBD Insider https://thecbdinsider.com/news/study-effectiveness-sleep-product-cbdistillery/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=study-effectiveness-sleep-product-cbdistillery |
ABOUT MEHallo, ik ben Renz Verspaget, ik ben een betrouwbare administratief medewerker in de gezondheidszorg met 4,5 jaar ervaring met patiëntendossiers, medische facturering, werkschema's van ziekenhuizen en gezondheidszorgbeleid. Ziekenhuiskosten met 13% verlaagd door nieuwe factureringsmethoden te implementeren. Archives
April 2023
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