by Michelle Rutter Friberg, NCIA’s Deputy Director of Government Relations
As NCIA continues into our tenth year advancing the interests of the cannabis industry, all but three U.S. states have some kind of cannabis law on the books, 10 have regulated the commercial production and sale of cannabis for adults, two-thirds of Americans support national legalization, and Congress is closer than ever to making that a reality.
I started with NCIA nearly six years ago, so I’ve witnessed much of the progress we’ve made firsthand — especially the strides forward we’ve made in policy and in the halls of Congress! Let’s take a look back to the early years of NCIA (2010-2013) to see just how far we’ve come in the last decade.
October 2009
The Ogden Memo is released by the Justice Department, directing prosecutors not to prioritize the use of federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana, laying the groundwork for a new national industry. Personally, I consider the Ogden Memo to be the mother of the now-rescinded Cole Memo.
November 2010
NCIA is formed as the cannabis industry’s only national trade association by long-time marijuana policy reform leaders Aaron Smith and Steve Fox.
March 2011
Six association members join Smith and Fox for NCIA’s 1st Annual Cannabis Industry Lobby Days in Washington, D.C. Now, Lobby Days brings hundreds of cannabis industry professionals to D.C. and includes VIP Day, receptions, and opportunities to mingle with over a dozen members of Congress and their staff.
May 2011
The Small Business Banking Improvement Act of 2011 (H.R. 1984), which would exempt state-legal cannabis businesses from Suspicious Activity Report requirements, is introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by then-Rep. Jared Polis. This bill was the precursor to the Marijuana Businesses Access to Banking Act, which was the precursor to the SAFE Banking Act.
May 2011
The Small Business Tax Equity Act of 2011 (H.R. 1985), which would correct the unfair tax burden of Section 280E, is introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA). That bill has been re-introduced in every congressional session since 2011. Today, the Small Business Tax Equity Act (H.R. 1118) has 11 cosponsors (compared to over 40 last session), but don’t think it’s because 280E isn’t important– advocates and congressional staff have simply been focused this session on passing SAFE Banking.
June 2011
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011 (H.R. 2306) with NCIA’s support. The bill would have ended prohibition and legalized cannabis at the federal level by amending the Controlled Substances Act. It would then transfer the authority to regulate cannabis from the Drug Enforcement Administration to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
November 2012
Colorado and Washington become the first two states to legalize marijuana for adult use and sales via voter initiative. NCIA, while an infant of an organization, proudly supported both of these initiatives even as some in the industry didn’t support full legalization at that time. In fact, our co-founder Steve Fox was one of the primary authors of Colorado’s Amendment 64 and our former Deputy Director, Betty Aldworth, was a campaign spokesperson just before joining NCIA.
April 2013
NCIA hosts conservative tax reform champion, Grover Norquist, at its third annual Cannabis Industry Lobby Days in Washington, D.C. While there, Norquist discussed Americans for Tax Reform’s (ATR) release of a white paper titled Legal Cannabis Dispensary Taxation: A Textbook Case of Punishing Law-Abiding Businesses Through the Tax Code. The paper discussed Section 280E of the tax code, which is still misapplied to legal cannabis businesses and creates an effective tax rate two to four times that of other small businesses. Norquist also announced ATR’s endorsement of the Small Business Tax Equity Act.
July 2013
Congressional cannabis champion Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) introduces the Marijuana Businesses Access to Banking Act of 2013 (H.R. 2652) in the House of Representatives. This bill was the precursor to the SAFE Banking Act which has been approved (twice) by the House of Representatives in the last year.
August 2013
James M. Cole, the Deputy Attorney General, issues new guidance regarding marijuana enforcement and banking, referred to as the “Cole Memo.” The memo indicated that prosecutors and law enforcement should focus only on the following priorities related to state-legal cannabis operations:
Preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors;
Preventing revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels;
Preventing the diversion of marijuana from states where it is legal under state law in some form to other states;
Preventing state-authorized marijuana activity from being used as a cover or pretext for the trafficking of other illegal drugs or other illegal activity;
Preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana;
Preventing drugged driving and the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use;
Preventing the growing of marijuana on public lands and the attendant public safety and environmental dangers posed by marijuana production on public lands; and
Preventing marijuana possession or use on federal property.
September 2013
Sen. Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee holds an oversight hearing on federal marijuana policy. Both Attorney General Eric Holder and Deputy Attorney General James Cole testified. The hearing, titled “Conflicts between State and Federal Marijuana Laws” came just months after two states, Washington and Colorado, legalized small amounts of cannabis for personal use by adults over 21. At the time, twenty states and the District of Columbia had legalized medicinal cannabis.
November 2013
NCIA hires a Director of Government Relations in Washington, D.C., the first-ever full-time lobbyist on behalf of cannabis businesses at the federal level. That was the man, the myth, the legend: Michael Correia, who is still here nearly seven years later! The Washington Posteven profiled the nation’s first full-time cannabis lobbyist.
Looking back, those early years of NCIA were without a doubt integral to where we are now in cannabis policy. Make sure you read next week’s edition to learn more about 2014-2016 and all the progress we made during those years!
When the COVID-19 pandemic started to ramp up in the U.S. last March and stay at home orders were being put in place, medical cannabis patients took notice.
I saw it firsthand with my wife who stocked up for three months, not knowing what she was in for and wanted to make sure she had her treatments, just in case dispensaries were closed down. She was not alone, it has been well documented that this stocking upsurge took place and sales increased dramatically over a few months.
But many of these businesses did not close during the shutdown and it was a big milestone that several state governments declared medical dispensaries essential. This was a big statement to make for an emerging new industry that has been saddled with controversy over the years.
Prior to COVID-19, the industry was already going through a reset in late 2019. The large players overextended themselves globally with huge capital investments in facilities and then oversupply hit the market, prices started to decline and the anticipated demand to pull CBD products did not materialize. Add COVID-19, and you have the perfect storm to amplify the reset button.
Consolidation is in the works — restructuring of management teams, companies closing doors because they were not strong enough to start with other factors too. This pushed these businesses over the edge.
As we have been slowly reopening the country, the cannabis industry has the potential to emerge stronger than ever. There might be fewer players, but the ones that have survived will be set for the next push of maturity of the marketplace.
States that do not currently have adult-use programs will most likely look at cannabis as a way to drive new tax revenue into the state to help offset the heavy losses during these several months of lockdown.
When these states do pull the trigger on adult-use, regulation and compliance will be a key issue. The current companies who have been using all the latest tracking platforms, ERP systems, and implementing cGMP standards will be in very good shape to meet the requirements and deliver authentic products that are high quality and safe to consume.
Consumers will want to know the origin of the materials being used to manufacture these products and demand transparency from the brands. New innovative technologies using unique molecular-based tags to apply to the flower, oils, isolates and edible products will help take the industry to a new level of scientific proof of authenticity offering forensic transparency across global supply chains.
Even in the face of a pandemic, cannabis is here to stay! Over 60% of the population is in favor of it for both medical and adult use. The science that has taken place over the last 20 years globally has articulated how the human body can take advantage of the cannabis plant in many ways. And for folks who want to use it as a recreational alternative, they should have the right to do so, of course with responsibility.
There is clear global demand, it still needs to be sorted out and that will happen over the course of the next couple of years as this emerging industry matures into a profitable market segment in the world’s economy.
It is an exciting time for cannabis and as we begin to focus on reopening business across the nation, we are eager to take advantage and to be a part of the opportunities that are ahead.
John Shearman, Vice President of Marketing and Cannabis Business Lead at Applied DNA Sciences, has over 30 years of deep enterprise and advertising agency experience across all marketing, sales and IT disciplines. John’s experience allows him to advise on structuring sound strategies that address business goals and objectives. His extensive technology background stems from working with several leading technology companies throughout his career. John spearheads Applied DNA Sciences Cannabis vertical leading the vision, strategy, and product development for this emerging market. John also oversees the marketing for the entire company driving the marketing strategy for its other core verticals.
Member Blog: 7 Dispensary-Killing Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
In the retail cannabis industry, there’s no conventional roadmap to success — at least not yet. Pioneering businesses must create their own strategies and systems through trial and error, all while coping with restrictive, ever-changing regulations and shifting market trends.
But as we enter the second decade of legalization, the landscape is changing. Cannabis entrepreneurs are learning from the last five years of industry growth and drawing on what worked for other retailers.
At Cova, we’ve partnered with more than 800 retailers to implement business operation systems through our cannabis POS software. We’ve seen retailers succeed, expanding into multiple markets with dozens of stores. And we’ve seen other retailers struggle and fold.
So, what makes the difference between success and the long, downward spiral into “retail fail?” What are the cannabis retail mistakes that kill market entrants? Through working with so many companies, we’ve discovered some of the secrets to cannabis retail success — and uncovered the nasty reasons for common failures. You’ll find them all in our new book, “Why Some Cannabis Retailers Fail… and the Secrets of Those Who Succeed.”
Here in this article, we document the biggest dispensary-killing mistakes that we’ve observed over the last five years. Don’t fall victim to these errors! Keep reading…
Dispensary Mistake #1: Financial Mismanagement
Most retailers — successful or otherwise — understand the importance of financial management, and they stay on point with their finances, or so it may seem. They keep orderly books and watchful eyes on their cash flow.
Yet what sustains a cannabis retail store financially is forecasting and preparation. A dispensary with an uber-tight budget might look like a booming business when it’s actually vulnerable to a variety of external risks — risks like global pandemics.
COVID-19 interrupted sales for many retailers while at the same time necessitating new technologies and infrastructure. Online ordering was suddenly a must-have POS integration, and delivery services — which were considered a questionable experiment just months before — were immediately necessary to stay competitive in many markets.
Likewise, the start-stop nature of legalization can create unexpected exposure, especially in new markets. When regulators hesitate to enact legislation and permit sales, retailers are left sitting on expensive real estate — sans revenue.
It’s best to set aside two years of operating capital if possible or maintain access to that amount of financing. Everything in cannabis takes longer than expected. Successful retailers recognize that fact and prepare accordingly.
Mistake #2: A Cloudy Vision for the Future
Successful retailers have a crystal-clear vision for the company they want to build and what they want to offer customers. When asked, these folks have quick answers to questions like “what are your companies goals” or “what are your companies values”?
Some retail operations fail to realize that they don’t have a clear vision. Individual stakeholders may have different values and assume others feel the same. If that’s the case, the business is pulled in different directions and has trouble making progress to any one goal. Internal conflicts slow decision making, which is critical for effective operations.
Be clear on your values and vision. Common values include profitability, serving medical patients, or simply living the cannabis lifestyle. Whatever your values, make sure they’re documented in a plan and shared with the rest of your team.
Mistake #3: Problems with Authority
In the days of prohibition, successful cannabis “retailers” made sure to avoid the law. Now, retailers embrace regulations and comply with every last rule — without cutting a single corner.
Successful retailers often designate a compliance supervisor. That person can manage seed-to-sale reporting, compliance logistics, and how your stores meet regulations on a day-to-day basis. They also nurture your relationship with regulators and ensure you’re seen as one of the “good guys.”
Many features of a cannabis-specialized POS support regulatory compliance. Technologies like ID-scanning and POS/security integrations keep your front of house compliant, while seed-to-sale reporting meets regulatory requirements on the back end. Moreover, they eliminate human error — one of the biggest causes of violations.
Mistake #4: A Poorly Designed Customer Experience
Sometimes, retailers struggle to step into their customers’ shoes. They can’t see their own brand from the customer perspective, and they don’t understand why they’re poorly received by the market.
Each point of contact with your customer is an opportunity to deliver a good experience. Taken together, they add up to the customer experience. These touchpoints include your advertising, social media, store aesthetics, parking, online ordering system, and the type of customer service you provide.
For your customers to have a coherent experience of your brand, every touchpoint of your operation must be consistent. Whether your store caters to wealthy Millennials or aging Baby Boomers, it’s important that the quality of their interactions with your company are consistent. An upscale dispensary won’t have a filthy exit area or a bad website; likewise, a store that focuses on value pricing won’t have fancy bathroom fixtures.
Mistake #5: Mismanaging HR and PR
Good retailers have great relationships. They treat their employees and communities well — and are treated well in return! Failing retailers, on the other hand, often let bad employees spoil their customer experience, or they find themselves at odds with their community and neighbors.
When it comes to HR, good retailers actively cultivate their staff — and that means weeding out the undesirables. They know that their brand critically depends on their budtenders so they train and treat them well. But, when it’s necessary, they also release those who steal, cause customer service complaints, or show up late (or intoxicated).
When it comes to PR, successful retailers are engaged in their communities through active outreach. In emerging cannabis markets, communities usually need some reassurance that cannabis medicines aren’t the evil they may have imagined them to be. So, if you’re struggling for acceptance in your location, you could consider reaching out to medical professionals, clergy, and law enforcement with an offer of cannabis education. Often, it just takes a meet-and-greet to humanize your dispensary and set fears at ease.
Mistake #6: Operational Chaos
The Wild West of cannabis can be chaotic even in the best-run businesses. That makes it even more important to limit internal disorder and run a tight ship.
Successful retailers often have team members who are experienced in other industries and have excellent business operations skills. They analyze their sales reports and constantly refine what works. Even when things are going well, they experiment with different inventory items and suppliers, and they look for ways to reduce costs.
Technology can help tame the chaos of cannabis by automating many tasks that cause human error. Moreover, tech can save a lot of time — and payroll hours. When your cannabis POS and inventory management system integrate with your regulatory reporting system and have automated features, you save a ton of time and money.
Mistake #7: Not Using Data
The future of cannabis retail is data-driven. Like in other industries, successful cannabis retailers — the ones who expand to dozens of locations across multiple markets — are mining data to improve their business operations and customer service.
A good example is a loyalty program. These programs keep customers coming back, usually by using a points-based rewards system that mines data. It’s easy to track who buys which products, in what quantities, and at what frequency. And because you have the customers’ contact info, you can directly market to them with personalized promotions. To go one step further, you can implement a clienteling program and display the customer’s purchase history to your budtenders on your POS tablets. That way, they can offer personalized recommendations for a better customer experience.
Benchmark data is increasingly relevant to the cannabis industry too. With benchmark data, retailers can assess their performance against industry norms and address opportunity areas that may be holding them back. It illuminates industry trends and shifts in consumer preferences and, by providing an outlook, helps companies better plan for the future. As the industry evolves, companies will rely more and more on benchmark data firms to provide the intel for better decisions.
Successful Retailers Keep Learning
Across the board, the best retailers seek to improve. If you’re ready to step up your operation — or enter the market successfully — you might want to check out Cova’s ebook “Why Some Cannabis Retailers Fail… and the Secrets of Those Who Succeed.”
The book can be downloaded here, and contains the dispensary tips that we’ve learned from working hand-in-hand with more than 800 retailers. You’ll discover additional cannabis retail mistakes as well the tactics that work for the most prominent retailers. Happy reading!
Gary Cohen is the CEO of Cova Software, the fastest growing technology brand in the cannabis industry. Cohen’s focus has been driving the company’s overall strategy, including its vision, go-to-market plan, and strategic development. Since joining the cannabis industry in 2016 and launching Cova commercially in 4q17, Cohen has led Cova to dominate the enterprise sector for dispensary Point of Sale, while forging client relationships with hundreds of single-store retailers across North America.
In solutioning the POS platform, Cohen & the Cova team have met with over 1,900 operators and leveraged expert knowledge to provide retailers the support they need to get a license, pass inspection, launch a store, and improve operations. Cohen leads seminars on retail technology, compliance, business operations, and cannabis banking laws at the industry’s largest events, including the NCIA and MJBizCon. As Cova has become the predominate thought leader for cannabis retail tech, Cohen has established himself as a leading voice educating cannabis entrepreneurs as they build their own successful brands.
Meet The Team: Vince Chandler – NCIA’s Digital Strategist
My mother once quipped in a Facebook post, shortly after I first made my professional entreé into the cannabis space, something along the lines of “high school Vince has finally found a way to make a living.”
It was around the advent of the extra reaction options on Facebook, and I watched with a particular personal pleasure as the “haha” reactions multiplied. Some people were laughing because the adult-use cannabis industry was still brand new and a mom celebrating their son joining it publicly was certainly unexpected, quite possibly still avant-garde.
Others, though, were laughing for the same reason that I was. It was funny simply because it was true.
Raised by a career journalist and community organizer, I was enabled to find and empower my voice early. I had the privilege as a teenager to protest American imperialism while expressing my own personal identity. Always aware of impact, my parents concentrated on imbibing the need to amplify others’ voices with an intentional consciousness of my privilege.
Dubbed by my middle school teachers the “social butterfly,” I found solace in my ability to move seamlessly between the pseudo cliques my small public arts school could manufacture. In college, as I sought to put my love to educate and organize front and center in a career I found myself in journalism school, following my father.
The Free Press, I knew, could move the needle on public opinion, simply by ethically and diligently covering truths. Photojournalists, especially, have had an incredible impact on how Americans access and interpret historical and contemporary events across the globe.
As I was graduating, multimedia journalism was starting to see itself become more widespread. Legacy news organizations, newspapers like The Washington Post and LA Times, were investing in internet streaming television stations, in their newsrooms. These new media startups were inspired by successful YouTube “networks,” and when coupled with emerging, affordable mobile streaming gear they could compete with cable companies.
The Denver Post, the humble newspaper of record for the Rocky Mountain Empire, was similarly doubling down on digital and building dpTV. Colorado had seen exponential growth for the previous decade, with a tech-centered Front Range economy attracting younger professionals a digital-first approach for the newspaper made sense.
It also allowed me to be one of the tech-centered younger professionals fortunate enough to relocate to Denver.
In 2014, I left a position at Arkansas State University to join the migration to the Mile High to help found dpTV. It would include daily “news desk” updates, entertainment mini-shows, a daily two-hour live show starring Woody Paige, and – and this is what was pitched to me first – “The Dope Show.”
A year earlier the Denver Post had launched The Cannabist, a news vertical covering the legal cannabis industry intrinsically with classic journalistic ethics. An admitted first for the emerging industry. Part of the digital expansion of the newspaper would be an addition of a weekly show centered on the cannabis vertical, hosted by founding editor Ricardo Baca.
I was sold.
I had found cannabis early in life, replacing pharmaceutical ADHD medications with a self-prescribed regimen of marijuana. (It wasn’t until years later that I knew that this is what I was doing, of course). As an athlete, I recovered with cannabis, but I was certainly no activist for the plant. I was a typical regular consumer on the east coast, not normalized to regulated cannabis and curious.
Three years and 150 wonderful episodes later, I found myself indoctrinated through a front-row seat to the importance of a responsible end to federal prohibition. However, the Cannabist Show (as it had ultimately been named), was canceled and the vertical’s staff was soon to be completely eliminated in a vicious round of layoffs by vulture hedge fund owners.
These cuts illustrated to me that my intention for spending a decade in journalism had been blocked by a corrupt ownership’s call for superficial pivots to “lifestyle coverage.”
Disenfranchised, I turned to the long-ignored organizer side of my upbringing. As a journalist, I enthusiastically went above and beyond to cover movements for civil liberties, led by The People. I’d found a way to be a megaphone for the voiceless, but it had been cut off to drive a profit.
I got engaged in local politics, finding myself still drawn to listening and repeating. To amplifying.
In a former life, I’d had to shield my political ideology, never allowed to display a candidate’s pin as anything by “memorabilia.” Now, I could unabashedly represent a cause that I believed in.
I canvassed for an inspirational mayoral candidate. It was my first time knocking on doors as an adult, and by the tenth door, I couldn’t imagine myself not being allowed the pleasure of a polite conversation with a stranger about our city. The half of myself that I had denied too long finally saw sunlight and there was no covering it back up.
I took my first paid political job, running communications for a city council campaign, the candidate the country’s first Black cannabis licensee. I was fortunate enough to learn quickly, on the ground, mentored by people with statewide and federal experience. Between the hours of work, at any moment I could find, I’d pepper them with questions. I was entranced by their war stories.
The fast pace of a newsroom, but not having to react constantly. Getting to mold and shape, to drive the conversation.
The common denominator in my life since the year Colorado made the nation’s first regulated cannabis sale has been the plant. While my daily news coverage pivoted, I centered on my role at The Cannabist. Since then, I’ve advocated for and with cannabis activists and entrepreneurs. It made sense that I’d find myself knocking on the doors at the National Cannabis Industry Association.
It’d be more accurate to say I was knocking down the doors at NCIA. Long-recognized as the preeminent national advocacy organization for the cannabis industry, with a reach that was ready to be activated, on the precipice of the fall of federal prohibition, I had to join this team.
My months with this organization have only motivated me more, animated by the incredible work that NCIA does at levels I had never fully recognized. Oft-cited as a source, I’d also attended events in multiple cities (and the ancillary company I co-founded is an NCIA Member), and still, the explosive growth is astounding. Across our committees, policy council, membership, board, and the staff there is so much energy for the cause; absolutely infectious.
Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with more and more of our members directly. When the world moved to digital in the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, NCIA began offering digital outreach options and it enabled one-on-one conversations with members across the country. The individual responses and projects being introduced in such a trying time offered personal support for the work ahead.
I have to say, this was an unexpected benefit of being staff for a member-driven non-profit. In this all-of-a-sudden industry, a lot of people look back at the crazy journey that put them in a spot where they fit as intentional. I’m happy to be fortunate enough to count myself amongst them, especially at this moment, grateful to have found myself in the right fight for right now.
Let’s end federal prohibition, we’ve got a lot more work to do.
Video: NCIA Today – New Equity Scholarship Program, New NCIA Connect Member Benefit, And More!
Host Bethany Moore, NCIA’s Communications Manager and host of NCIA’s weekly Podcast ‘NCIA’s Cannabis Industry Voice‘ brings you an in-depth look at what is happening across the country in federal cannabis policy reform and with NCIA.
This episode is sponsored by NCIA Connect, the newest member benefit from NCIA.
From the top, Bethany discusses the #IndustryEssentials webinar series, highlighting the topics covered in the echelon of digital webinar content the NCIA team has been bringing you the last few months. Topics have included protecting your brand and retail success strategies to a Policy Council conversation titled “Just Say NO: Keep The DEA Out of Cannabis Research.” We’ve been joined by Representatives Lou Correa (D-CA) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Missed a live webinar? NCIA Members can access them exclusively on Connect now.
In June, our exclusive education and policy event series the cannabis caucus series to a cyber audience. The fun, online setting allowed our members across the country to come together over two weeks and check in on federal and local updates on policy and regulation updates that could affect them. NCIA launched the latest phase of our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion plan in June. This included making Tahir Johnson our Business Development and DEI Manager, and spearheading the DEI initiatives and committee. The first action taken has been creating the Social Equity Scholarship Program, which will award complimentary annual memberships to all social equity licensees and applicants.
NCIA Director of Marketing, Kaliko Castille, checks in with Bethany to discuss NCIA Connect, our newest membership benefit.
Finally, we end with a check-in with our CEO Aaron Smith.
The “Helpers” In The Cannabis Industry – Responding to COVID-19
As the entire world continues to navigate through the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, it can sometimes be difficult to see the silver lining. A beloved public television figure known as Mister Rogers famously told the story of how his mother urged him while watching “scary things in the news,” to “…look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
This sentiment rings true for the cannabis industry here in the United States, as cannabis has been declared an “essential business” even during these initial, and most severe, phases of the shutdown. And in recent days and weeks, we are seeing how the cannabis industry itself has stepped up to become “helpers” in various ways, ranging from fundraising efforts to manufacturing hand sanitizer for the community.
As we get through these difficult times together, one day at a time, let’s take a moment to celebrate the efforts of these NCIA members helping to make our world a better place.
Donations Of Supplies And Dollars
Seattle-area company Canna Brand Solutions, a custom packaging supplier and CCEL Vape hardware distributor, has donated 10,000 KN95 masks to local hospitals Providence Everett and Virginia Mason.
They’ve been fortunate to continue serving their adult-use and medical cannabis manufacturing partners who are deemed essential businesses. Through their strong relationships with manufacturers in China, they were able to procure the masks.
Canna Brand Solutions’ CEO Daniel Allen shared, “During this challenging time, we can think of no better way to serve our community than support the people working to keep us safe and healthy.”
Good Chemistry, a Colorado-based dispensary, donated $50,000 and masks. Read more in The Westword.
Kind Colorado is participating in the CDC (Cannabis Doing Good) Gives fundraising campaign.
Cannabis Doing Good (CDG) found nonprofit partners and fellow cannabis collaborators doing incredible work to support the hungry, the unhoused, medical providers caring for our sick, and our frontline workers at dispensaries and restaurants. Together – they created a platform for the cannabis community to contribute.
Many nonprofits are wary to accept cannabis dollars for a host of reasons. However, through relationship development, trust, and transparency, CDG has found 3 community treasures that are willing to work with them. Addressing hunger, Metro Caring, addressing the unhoused, Urban Peak and – one from our very own industry, Friends In Weed, supporting budtenders and the restaurant industry.
CDG Gives: Donations as small as $10 and as large as $5000 are accepted. If this is successful – CDG plans to launch a national campaign so that our sector can contribute on a larger scale. Any amount of participation is welcome.
Technology Perks
Leafbuyer, the cannabis technology company, is giving free texting and loyalty to help non-cannabis businesses get back on their feet!
Because marijuana dispensaries have been considered “essential businesses,” some cannabis businesses have not been hit as hard as other small businesses that have had to shut their doors or scale back. Leafbuyer Technologies, Inc., which serves hundreds of dispensaries, is offering up to $750,000 in free texting and loyalty to 500 small businesses in five cities hit hardest by the coronavirus. Learn more.
Switching Gears: Hand Sanitizer
The Galley is Producing Hand Sanitizer
In early April, The Galley of Santa Rosa, California, joined a wave of cannabis companies’ efforts to support the urgent need for supplies brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Channeling resources at their state-of-the-art manufacturing and production facility, a first run of “Stop & Sanitize” will include 25,000 units for distribution to hospitals, retail shops, grocery, and drug stores. The Galley has been built to FDA and CDPH standards and is capable of meeting high demands in multiple cannabis product categories. Using operational expertise and a cutting edge facility, the company will provide bottles of hand sanitizer to retailers in need.
Annie Holman, CMO of The Galley, shares, “It’s our civic duty to do what we can to save lives. Our “Stop & Sanitize” hand sanitizer is made with great care in a sterilized setting and we want to contribute in some way to help people & our community in this crisis.”
Director of Operations Cheriene Griffith comments on manufacturing practices stating, “We have followed the strict FDA temporary guidelines for this purpose and our plant to ensure the product is safe.”
CGA Packaging of Santa Rosa will provide donations of labels and packaging for the “Stop & Sanitize” product. Wherefour, a local Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technology company, will donate services to support expedited production.
Anresco Labs began manufacturing ethanol-based hand cleansing solutions.
The company’s intention is to donate as much of this material as possible to those most in need. For each bottle purchased, an equivalent bottle will be donated to a non-profit organization.
At a time when we need it most, it’s uplifting and encouraging in these dark times to see the cannabis industry stepping up and giving back to a community in need, and these values are part of what our industry represents: Community. Health. Well-being. Innovation. And generosity.
As we come together to solve new problems and face new challenges, we’re also grateful for the various educational blogs and other resources with advice and expertise regarding COVID-19 that NCIA members have contributed during this time.
If you are an NCIA member that has given back to the community in response to the COVID-19 crisis, we want to hear about it! Email me your story at Bethany@TheCannabisIndustry.Org.
Cultivation businesses should consider specializing in just one stage of the cannabis cultivation process. The industry has focused heavily on vertical integration, and some regulating bodies require licensees to control the entire cannabis value chain from cultivation and processing to retail. This requirement is not always in the best interest of the consumer or the business, and will likely change as the industry evolves.Not only will companies specialize in each step of the value chain, but we’ll see even further segmentation among growers that choose to focus on just one step of the cultivation process. Cannabis businesses that want to position themselves for future success should identify their strengths in the crop production process and consider specializing in one part of it.
Figure 1. Stages of the cultivation process that could be segmented into separate businesses.
Elsewhere in commercial horticulture, specialization is the norm. It is unlikely that the begonias you bought at your local garden shop spent their entire life inside that greenhouse. More likely, the plant spent time hopping between specialists in the production chain before landing on the retail shelf. One grower typically handles stock plant production and serves as a rooting station for vegetative cuttings. From there, rooted cuttings are shipped to a grower that cares for the plants during the vegetative stage, and once they are an appropriate height for flowering, they are shipped to the last grower to flower out and sell to retailers.
Cannabis businesses should consider imitating this model as a way to ensure competitiveness in the future. In the U.S., federal law does not yet allow for the interstate transport of plants containing THC, but the process can be segmented within states where vertical integration is not a requirement. As we look ahead to full federal legalization in the US, we should anticipate companies abandoning the vertical integration model in favor of specialization. In countries where cannabis cultivation is federally legal, entrepreneurs should consider specialization from the moment they begin planning their business.
Figure 2. Rooting stations specialize in just one segment of the cultivation process: rooting vegetatively propagated cuttings. Photo: Jessica Firger
Cultivators that specialize in breeding and genetics could sell seeds, rooted cuttings, and tissue culture services to commercial growers. Royalties could provide a recurring source of income after the initial sale of seeds or young plants. Contracting propagation activities to a specialist can result in consistently clean rooted cuttings that arrive certified disease-free at roughly ¼ the cost of producing them in-house. This not only frees up space at the recipient’s greenhouse and saves them money, but it eliminates the risks inherent in traditional mother plant and cloning processes. If a mother plant becomes infected, all future generations will exhibit that disease, and the time, money, energy, labor, and space required to maintain healthy stock plants is substantial. Growers that focus on large scale cultivation would do well to outsource this critical step.
Figure 3. Pre-finished plant material is six to 18 inches tall. Photo: Ryan Douglas
Intermediary growers could specialize in growing out seeds and rooted cuttings into mature plants that are ready to flower. These growers would develop this starter material into healthy plants with a strong, vigorous root system. They would also treat the plants with beneficial insects and inoculate the crop with various biological agents to decrease the plant’s susceptibility to pest and disease infestations. Plants would stay with this grower until they are about six to 18 inches in height, the appropriate size to initiate flowering.
The final stage in the process would be the flower grower. Monetarily, it’s the most valuable stage in the cultivation process, but it’s also the most expensive. This facility would have the proper lighting, plant support infrastructure, and environmental controls to ensure that critical grow parameters can be tightly maintained throughout the flowering cycle. The grower would be an expert in managing late-stage insect and disease outbreaks, and they would be cautious not to apply anything to the flower that would later show up on a certificate of analysis (COA), rendering the crop unsaleable. This last stage would also handle all harvest and post-harvest activities, since shipping a finished crop to another location is inefficient and could potentially damage the plants.
As the cannabis cultivation industry normalizes, so too will the process by which it is produced. Entrepreneurs keen on carving out a future in the industry should focus on one stage of the cultivation process, and excel at it.
Ryan Douglas provides cannabis consulting services through his company, Ryan Douglas Cultivation, LLC. He has worked in commercial horticulture for 23 years and specializes in legal cannabis start-ups. Prior to entering the cannabis industry, Ryan spent 15 years as a commercial greenhouse grower of ornamental and edible crops, growing up to 600,000 plants annually. As Master Grower from 2013 to 2016, Ryan directed cultivation for Tweed Inc., Canada’s largest licensed producer of cannabis and the flagship subsidiary of Canopy Growth Corporation. Ryan helps new cannabis businesses come to market quickly and spend less money getting there.
Webinar Recording: NCIA Committee Insights – How Can You Get More Engaged With NCIA? Let’s Talk Committees!
Applications for NCIA committees are now open through August 1, 2020!
Committees are the heart of NCIA, and one of the best ways to take advantage of your membership and be an active participant.
As an active committee member you be able to:
Network with other professionals in your issue area
Influence policy
Create content promoted throughout our networks
Raise your visibility
But don’t just take our word for it — hear first hand from the chairs of some of our committees about their experience being on the committee and highlights from this last term.
Member Blog: How To Expand Or Renovate Your Cannabis Facility While Observing Social Distancing
Keeping employees safe is on everyone’s mind, as we continue to operate under social distancing protocols. Even as our communities open, we still need to be mindful of disease transmission when constructing any facility — especially cannabis industry real estate. Cannabis is an industry under endless scrutiny; the COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to show the world our true colors, as respectful and responsible business operators. The most visible way this responsibility shows up is in dispensaries, where across the U.S., cannabis companies have shown true innovation in shifting how they distribute product to customers — and continue to improve their facilities — while complying with social distancing requirements.
We can lead by example for other industries by continuing to build on the momentum we have, without sacrificing worker safety. Most cannabis companies are in ‘grow or die’ mode, understanding that opening new facilities and expanding operations is essential to survival in this rapidly evolving business.
Let me be clear: you don’t need to interrupt your forward progress, even if it may take slightly longer to deliver. From new licensees that have committed funds to build their first dispensary, to established cannabis companies with capital to expand operations, the good news is that construction activity is still going strong. We are currently renovating cannabis facilities in more than nine states, continuing to achieve operational milestones despite the necessary restrictions of social distancing measures.
Here are some ways cannabis companies can keep everyone working and shopping in your facility safe, while also making sure your building or renovation projects make progress:
1.Practice social distancing best practices on the job site.
Regardless of state-by-state differences in social distancing regulations, it simply makes sense to be ‘better safe than sorry’ right now. If you are renovating, construction workers will in most cases be working within your facility; this location means that they will have to comply with all the rules for your facility in general as well as with construction regulations and best practices. Your contractors should be clear about the social distancing practices they have put in place; you can cross-check to make sure that they are also in compliance with other guidelines and regulations you are required to follow within your facility.
2.Plan for scheduling that allows for less workers on-site at one time.
Generally speaking, placing workers six feet apart means you’ll need to have less workers per shift. When you can have fewer workers on-site at once, you’ll need to either extend your timeframe or make allowances for longer days. At our firm, we’ve implemented staggered shifts to keep the number of workers on a cannabis facility job site low; sometimes this means we arrive before the start of the day for the cannabis company employees then a second crew leaves long after the retail or cultivation workday is done.
3.Cleaning and disinfecting are essential; signage is key to ensuring success.
Special attention should be applied to more stringent disinfecting and cleaning processes needed during this pandemic. The cannabis company, the contractor, or both should ensure the availability and use of hand sanitizer. Additionally, signage will remind people to develop habits that keep everyone safe. Proper signage with construction site guidelines (e.g., signs urging trade partners employees cut employees to wash their hands, maintain six-feet distance, etc.). To ensure our teams are compliant, we’ve created a “safety bucket” that goes to all our job sites and is restocked regularly with updates to its safety guidelines binder; safety signs, first aid kit supplies, caution tape, blue tape, hand sanitizer, face masks and gloves. It also contains a fire extinguisher, so we are covering general safety as well as doing our best to contain the COVID-19 spread.
4.PPE is no longer optional.
Wearing protective face coverings (masks) and using gloves where they make sense is no longer a “nice to have.” Cities and states across the United States are enforcing social distancing rules and apparel requirements; job sites are at risk of being shut down if construction firms don’t comply. Additionally, since cannabis companies are so visible to many regulators, practicing over-compliance in this area will ensure that your overall compliance remains buttoned-up and inspection-ready.
5.Make as much progress working remotely as possible, before, and during onsite work.
It is clearly advisable to delineate between activities that can be done remotely versus on the job site. We’ve found that nearly the entire pre-construction process can take place via video conference calls. That includes conversations around budget, constructability, timeframe, and most design dialogues. Allowing the design and construction teams to collaborate together from the beginning encourages joint problem solving and streamlines communication throughout the project—an essential element because unusual circumstances like the pandemic nearly always require real-time troubleshooting.
Cannabis leaders’ and employees’ resourcefulness during the COVID-19 pandemic is a testament to the resiliency of this industry. While situations beyond the control of cannabis companies like a more conservative funding environment may damper capital outlay in the short-term, the continued strong demand for product even in times of great upheaval means the future is bright. Construction, like cannabis, is open for business and standing by to help support your long-term expansion goals.
Andy Poticha is principal at Cannabis Facility Construction. Since 2015, CFC has been involved in more than 30 cultivation facilities, processing centers, and dispensary projects in nine states, making them one of the longest-operating design-builders in the cannabis industry.
Meet The Team: Rob Kellogg – NCIA’s Chief Operations Officer
My journey into the cannabis industry did not follow the typical route and actually did not begin long ago. In February, just over five months ago, I was hired to be the COO at NCIA. Other than this whole COVID-19 thing, I’m really enjoying working with the talented and committed staff here at NCIA, meeting our members (mostly virtually), and generally learning about the intricacies of the cannabis industry.
After graduating from college in 1995 where I majored in philosophy and government (and spent a semester abroad in India during my junior year), I returned home to San Francisco to kickstart the marketing presence on the left coast for Nantucket Nectars, an all-natural juice company then ranked as the 13th fastest-growing private company in the U.S. It was a great experience for a recent college grad as I got to drive around in a large purple Winnebago with our logo (“We’re Juice Guys”) plastered down the side. For more than a year, I traveled up and down the coast doing product sampling and promotional events from San Diego to Seattle.
I work out of the Denver office. I moved to Colorado thirteen years ago, after spending eight years working in progressive politics and public policy in Washington D.C. While in D.C, I was a consultant to the AFL-CIO and managing director at the corporate governance firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. In 2007, I left to co-found a start-up providing ESG risk analysis of foreign public companies to institutional investors. We had a great business model and were about to take off, and then the 2008 financial crisis hit and that really impacted our clients’ pocketbook. I ended up exiting that venture in 2009.
My wife Kate and I have an adopted son from India, and in 2017 our family spent a year-long sabbatical in Kerala (southern India) so our son Milan could become more acquainted with his birth culture. We lived 20 minutes from the Arabian Sea and
spent several days a week surfing Kovalam Beach (and dodging jellyfish). Over Christmas and New Year’s that year, we were lucky enough to spend a few days on a small locally governed atoll in the Maldives, a magical place where we swam with dolphins and sea turtles with the Call to Mecca in the background.
Just prior to joining NCIA, I was the Executive Director of Social Venture Partners Denver, a partnership of engaged philanthropists bridging the for-profit and nonprofit sectors to elevate the impact of social mission organizations in Metro Denver. I have two graduate degrees in management and I’m mildly obsessed with organizational behavior and how to optimize performance in the modern workplace.
One of my professional passions involves social entrepreneurship. In 2016, I founded the Sathi Fund for Social Innovators, a volunteer nonprofit that provides seed grants and mentorship to aspiring grassroots social innovators in Africa and Asia. I’m also a preceptor at the Watson Institute in Boulder where I teach a class called “Transformative Entrepreneurship” in their 5-month residency incubator to 30 or so participants from around the world each semester. In the class, I take scholars through the process of developing their venture, including lean canvas methodology, prototyping, customer discovery, and fundraising. I’ve served as an investor, board member, or advisor to several ventures, including RecycleUpGhana!, Canned Goods, Flyer Connect, Nile Farms, and Achroma.
I enjoy swimming, hiking, basketball, and travel, having lived or traveled to more than thirty countries. I’ve been practicing meditation regularly for the past fifteen years, with a recent emphasis on Zen. I try to do at least one 3-day retreat at the Crestone Mountain Zen Center every year.
I’m excited to be working for NCIA representing business-members in one of the fastest-growing, most innovative, and resilient industries in America. I can’t wait to see where the industry goes from here and look forward to helping our members and staff thrive. I look forward to hopefully meeting you in the weeks and months ahead at one of our events.
Announcing NCIA’s Equity Scholarship Program
As I’m sure it has been for so many of you, the last month has been a time of deep reflection for all of us here at NCIA.
The national awakening to horrific police violence and the systemic racism that black and brown communities have endured for centuries is long overdue.
Marijuana prohibition is inextricably linked to a history of racism going back to the days before Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics who said, “reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”
This history, while vile and disgusting, proves that our industry is also inherently tied to the politics of race. This is something that we must come to terms with if we are to build an industry that is not only inclusive but also contributes to the effort to repair the damage prohibition has inflicted upon marginalized communities under prohibition.
It bears repeating that while people of different races consume cannabis at roughly the same levels, Black Americans are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession. These enforcement disparities continue to exist, even in states that have legalized cannabis for adult use.
Unfortunately, too many people from these same communities have found their access to the emerging legal cannabis industry restricted, from discriminatory laws that refused licenses to those with past nonviolent drug convictions, to inexcusably high licensing fees and a lack of access to capital.
To that end, we recognize that although NCIA mostly represents small and medium-sized businesses and has done some good as it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion over the years — historically, a lack of affordable access for equity operators has led to a structural inequity at NCIA that we are committed to change.
As a trade association, membership unlocks exclusive member benefits that help give business owners and employees a leg up on their competition. We offer these benefits to help our members and so that we can fund our national advocacy efforts to end the destructive policies of marijuana prohibition.
Some of these benefits include eligibility to serve on our member-led committees, speak at our trade shows and webinars, submit content to our Industry Insights blog, and serve on our board of directors, as well as participate in exclusive networking events and opportunities.
In order to do our part to help level the playing field for equity operators, and to foster greater diversity within the NCIA community, we’re pleased to announce the launch of our Equity Scholarship Program, available to all equity licensees and qualified applicants.
Discounts on all NCIA digital sponsorship products
Access to exclusive monthly mentor meetings
Equity applicants and license holders are encouraged to apply for this program online today.
NCIA will also be launching an Opportunity Fund that we will work to raise money for in order to help provide further opportunities to equity operators and expand the benefits of the program. Already, our Business Development team has been enrolling new equity members from California to Massachusetts. While NCIA’s larger Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion initiative is under development for launch by Fall 2020, new members are being matched with internal resources by our DEI Manager Tahir Johnson.
We recognize that offering only words is insufficient during this historic moment.
We hope that this program will lead to systemic change in our organization and industry by providing an opportunity and a platform for equity businesses to engage with the broader industry so that they can feel empowered to grow their business like every other American entrepreneur.
If you know someone who is a social equity applicant or license holder, please send this link to have them apply. If you aren’t a social equity operator but interested in helping to support this program, please fill out this form and our team will reach out with more information about how you can help.
Myself, our staff, and board of directors couldn’t be more excited about this program and our organization’s renewed commitment to a future where our industry reflects the diversity of our nation and has helped lift up communities that have beared the brunt of decades of the oppressive regime of marijuana prohibition.
For justice, Aaron Smith Co-founder & CEO National Cannabis Industry Association
Our world in 2020 looks vastly different from years past, and we have been ripped open and exposed as a human population, with the birth of COVID-19, the protests and riots resulting from brutality, and the belief that our systems are flawed and need to change at the root level. We are on the precipice of a social revolution and it is time to recognize and change the social paradigms that have shaped and dictated our lives on a personal level. We must also begin the hard work of re-shaping and shifting the practices and policies we have put in place in our work environments, that have disproportionately impacted underrepresented populations. Recent legislation has created the structure for us to begin to edit our current practices and to better support these populations; to aid change in our businesses and create a more equitable place for all employees to work. But it is not always easy as a business owner to understand what that means in our daily lives or to adopt the new practices that will support this evolution.
To begin to understand this, we must first look at where the first missed step begins. We need to break down the different employment practices and approaches we’ve built and begin to analyze the data to understand what prevents us from being who and where we want to be as an organization and we must find the insight that will help us correct it.
When we think about diversity and inclusion in the workplace, we may automatically be drawn to our hiring philosophies and our marketing strategies. Diversity has long been rooted in our recruitment and hiring processes, but we often miss the mark when that’s as far as we dare to look. It’s not just about hiring a certain percentage of a particular demographic or providing recruitment materials that represent the diversity we seek. We must also understand the unconscious bias that lives within all of us and its potential impact on the hiring and employment choices we make. It’s important for businesses to understand not only the laws that help govern equal opportunity but also to implement practices that support the growth of diversity and inclusion within the workplace.
What does your company do to ensure hiring practices are fair?
Have you looked at the unconscious biases that may live within your organization and impact the candidates you seek and ultimately hire?
Do you know the recent legislative changes that impact your ability to ask questions about criminal convictions and salary history, at the time of application or during the interview process?
Do you understand the impacts of background checks and the responsibility of the business to prove the correlation between a conviction and the type of damage it may impose on the business?
These questions tip the iceberg and only begin to open the pathways to investigate what other areas of your workplace may unknowingly rebuke the diversity initiatives you are chasing. Hiring is step one; from there you must identify and foster inclusion and equity in the workplace. In order for a person to feel included, and to experience equality, they must first believe they have the same opportunity to succeed; they must know they are paid fairly and that they have the power to speak up and voice their opinions safely. They must know they have the ability to develop within the organization, to access training and mentorship, allowing them to earn promotions and recognition. When every person in our workplace can recognize and acknowledge equal opportunity in all employment practices, we can begin to say we are winning the battle. Only then have we managed to create an environment of equitability.
It’s important as business owners and as leaders that we take a deep dive into the employment practices we have established and identified the areas where we fall short, where we fail to see diversity thriving.
As NCIA and the cannabis industry work hard to promote social equity for all and to be a leader for change, it’s important that cannabis businesses also look internally at employment practices and how they can impart change, building equality in practice and in policy.
As the founding partner of Eolàs HR, I’ve watched and worked alongside brilliant people who wanted to make a difference but didn’t know how, and who wanted to do the right thing but didn’t know where to start. It has long been a passion of mine to ensure employees of all races, ages, genders, religious beliefs, nationalities, etc. feel they have a workplace where they can thrive, and that businesses and business owners understand how to put practices in place that support and honor that basic human need. It’s important that businesses have the resources, tools, and support needed to build smart employment practices that not only support the employee but reduce the legal risk for the business. In working together, we become part of the solution and we stand as one population united.
Erin Lemmons is passionate about helping small businesses avoid the risk of legal challenges that many companies face as they navigate the growth gap from 1 to 150 employees. She is the Founding Partner of Eolàs HR, a Denver based HR consulting firm and has worked with multiple start-up organizations, within the technology, hospitality and retail industries. Erin’s specialty is supporting employee management strategy and process. She provides the tools, resources and support businesses need to build strong employment practices and reduce legal risk.
She thrives when working with companies who are philanthropic, value innovation, and are dedicated to both environmentally sound and strategically profitable business practices.
Having graduated in 1997 from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science degree, Erin is also certified as a Professional in Human Resource (PHR) and is an active member of the prominent HR organization, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Now that COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders have eased restrictions for businesses to re-open across the country, employees and employers alike will have questions about returning to workplaces. Each city, county, and state will have its own specific requirements as to when and how you can re-open your business so you should be sure to check your own regional and municipal requirements. Whether you are getting ready to re-open or have been operating, we provide some FAQ’s to help facilitate a safe and compliant operation for your cannabis business in this new COVID-19 era.
Do my employees have to come in?
The short answer is yes, with caveats. You have the right to request that your employees return to work where the local rules allow for it. Please keep in mind that your re-opening must comply with local guidelines in order for you to require your employees to return to work. However, simply notifying them to return to work is only the start of the process. If they qualify for certain leaves, they can take that. Remember that the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) will be effective until December 31, 2020. If they require accommodations, these need to be considered. Otherwise, if an employee has no special consideration and you need them in order to operate, you can take action if they refuse to return.
The practical reality is that many people are hesitant and afraid to return to work, especially without knowing how they will be protected. Most employers are being flexible about when and how they are bringing employees back to the workplace, especially if employees have been successful with working from home, have childcare issues, or are in a vulnerable population. If you are creating a workplace protection plan (see FAQ #2), consider sharing that plan in advance with your employees to ease their minds and make sure everyone knows what to do when they return to work.
Always remember, there is a difference between someone saying that they don’t want to return to work because they are generally afraid and someone saying specifically “I’m afraid to come back because I am immunocompromised.” And remember that an employee does not need to specifically ask for an accommodation. Simply advising that they are immunocompromised triggers your requirement to engage in the interactive process, which could result in modified hours, a special mask, moving a workspace, continued telecommuting, different job duties, or a leave of absence.
How can you keep employees safe?
With a pathogen as contagious and lethal as the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, employees will rightly want to know how they will be protected. To reassure employees, create a workplace protection plan that addresses the identification and isolation of sick employees, social distancing, workplace hygiene, and workplace cleaning. Share all safety steps that are being taken to maintain a safe work environment with your employees. Of course, each workplace is unique and will require different policies tailored to their specific sites.
General policies you should consider adopting include enforced safe distancing policies, temperature and/or daily question screenings, continued education on the importance of frequent hand-washing, cleaning and sanitizing of workspaces, minimal face touching, staying home when sick and self-monitoring of symptoms. Some examples to help maintain a safe worksite include having ample hand sanitizers available throughout the worksite, keeping office doors closed, wearing appropriate face coverings, marking off the 6-foot spacing with tape or other indicators, designating hallways and stairways as one-way, propping open doors to eliminate the need to touch handles, adding Plexiglas barriers at workspaces. Employers may also consider closing common areas or limiting the number of people who may use such spaces at a time.
Does the company have the right to ask about employee health history and take temperatures?
Yes. Employers are allowed to ask about coronavirus-related symptoms and take the temperatures of employees under guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and some states now require it. The EEOC also permits employers to mandate that employees be tested for the virus before entering the workplace under certain circumstances, such as known exposure to someone already infected by the virus.
Testing should be administered in the least invasive way possible, like utilizing temperature guns or forehead temperatures. Testing should take place at the earliest possible opportunity at the workplace, to protect employees who have made it through already. Consider staggering start times, so that lines do not form. If a medical professional or person with medical training is available, have them administer the temperatures. If somebody with medical training is not available or onsite, the company should consider whether managers or HR employees may be trained to administer and read the test results.
If temperature taking at the workplace is mandated, the time spent being tested and waiting for a test should be considered part of the workday, and the process should be well thought out to eliminate crowding. If an employer requires the temperature be taken at home before coming in to work, the employer should consider allotting a few minutes on employees’ time cards for doing so. Consideration must also be given to providing notice to employees of the temperature screening process, data being collected and kept (if any) and the consequences for failing a screening. Please note that any data collected must be kept securely and separate from employees’ personnel files.
If an employee is sent home after screening, can employers require temperature testing or a doctor’s note to confirm they are no longer infected?
Yes. If someone has been sent home due to symptoms, administering a temperature test before allowing the employee to return to work is appropriate as the CDC recommends individuals be fever-free for at least 24 hours to ensure they have recovered. The CDC also recommends that anyone who recently had close contact with a person with COVID-19 should stay home for 14 days. The CDC, therefore, recommends that potentially exposed employees who do not have symptoms should remain home for 14 days. In such situations, please refer back to the FFCRA for requirements regarding paid leave.
Additionally, the EEOC has clarified that the ADA permits employers to require employees returning to work to provide a doctor’s note stating they are fit for duty because the inquiry would not be disability-related and/or because confirming that an employee is no longer contagious is a legitimate business necessity. The EEOC notes, however, that “doctors and other health care professionals may be too busy during and immediately after a pandemic outbreak to provide fitness-for-duty documentation. Therefore, new approaches may be necessary, such as reliance on local clinics to provide a form, a stamp, or an e-mail to certify that an individual does not have the pandemic virus.”
Can employers require employees to wear masks or other personal protective equipment?
Yes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the use of “cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.” Many employers are making face coverings part of the work uniform, especially for jobs that require physical proximity. Some states and localities have required face coverings in order for businesses to re-open. Be sure to check your specific region for your own requirements. However, keep in mind that employers may be required to either provide employees with masks or other personal protective equipment or reimburse them for the expense if required to do their jobs.
Also consider whether or not to require your customers to wear masks. There may or may not be a local requirement to do so, but customers are an additional COVID-19 vector that should be considered when preparing for your employees to return. Just like employers may deny service to customers without a shirt or shoes, they can deny service to customers without a facemask.
What happens if an employee gets sick with COVID-19? What happens if someone in an employee’s family gets sick with COVID-19 and the employee is the caregiver?
Employers need to understand state laws and federal programs which have been enacted to deal with this pandemic. The FFCRA provides paid sick leave for people affected by COVID-19, as well as paid emergency family leave under certain circumstances including when the employee’s child care is unavailable for reasons relating to COVID-19 or when the employee must care for someone subject to a quarantine order or advised by a healthcare provider to self-quarantine. The United States Department of Labor has issued a helpful summary of FFCRA.
What if a co-worker gets sick?
Privacy rights must be maintained, but employers must also maintain a safe workplace and the law allows for them to do so. If temperature screening reveals a fever, that employee should be immediately sent home with return-to-work instructions. The employer should follow up with the employee regarding who they worked with, all the locations they worked and any other information to be able to notify all individuals who the employee came into contact with and comply with the most current local, state, and federal public health recommendations. If an employee calls in sick specifically with COVID-19, the employer should do the same. Actions may include closing the worksite, doing a deep cleaning, and/or requiring employees to work from home for a period of time. If deep cleaning is called for, the CDC recommends hiring professionals.
Under no circumstances should sick employees be identified by name. Notification to affected employees must not reveal any personal health-related information of an employee.
Meet The Team: Kaliko Castille – NCIA’s Director of Marketing
Aloha! My name is Kaliko Castille and I am the Director of Marketing here at NCIA.
My name Kaliko is Hawaiian and means “the bud that blossoms.” It was the name given to my Dad when he was still living in Hawai’i and dancing hula under a well-known kumu hula (hula teacher) named John Keolamaka’ainana Lake. As I tell people when I tell them about my name, it was written in the stars that I would end up in this industry.
Despite the convenient name, I actually didn’t always think I’d end up in cannabis. I actually wanted to go into politics. My dream job is to run presidential campaigns or serve as a top-advisor in the White House, but ever since reading The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer, I haven’t been able to keep my mouth shut about the idiocy of marijuana prohibition.
Kaliko with Keith Stroup, founder of NORML
I was that guy in college. The one that every political science department professor knew was going to find a way to do a paper or project on legalization. The one that would stand outside the Werner University Center (at Western Oregon University) collecting signatures for legalization initiatives. The one who would organize debates on campus about legalization. The one wearing cannabis-related t-shirts. You know, that guy.
In the spring of 2010, I attended my first Global Cannabis March in Portland, OR along with some buddies of mine. It was there that I had a chance to meet Russ Belville, who I had been listening to on my local progressive talk station for a couple of years and who was serving as NORML’s Outreach Coordinator. In a lot of ways, that day changed my life. That was the day that I went from being a cannabis enthusiast who was upset by the sinister history of marijuana prohibition to someone who was going to devote my life to helping end it.
Less than a year later, I was invited into the studio where Russ recorded NORML Show Live, which was NORML’s daily live radio show and podcast. Having listened for a while, it was such a cool experience to see behind the scenes of such an impactful show. Before leaving the studio that day, I asked whether Russ could help me get an internship with NORML in D.C. but he instead tossed out the idea that I could intern for him in Portland, which sold me instantly. For the next year, I would help produce two hours of daily live radio content devoted to cannabis news and culture (as well as hosting my own weekly reggae show). I was lucky enough to interact with and book elected officials, celebrities, musicians, Olympic athletes, and presidential candidates.
That internship also opened my eyes to the world of professional cannabis consumers. A couple of months into my internship, I got the opportunity to attend my first NORML Conference which was held on 4/20 weekend in Denver. This was a mindblowing experience because I suddenly found myself hanging out with lawyers, doctors, and other professionals, smoking joints, and doing dabs (this was when it was just starting to become a thing). It was the first time that I had first-hand, verifiable proof that people of all socioeconomic backgrounds consumed cannabis. Not only would consuming cannabis not relegate you to a life of destitution, but you could actually be a responsible consumer and thrive.
Fast forward to the summer of 2012 and cannabis legalization is on the ballot in Washington, Oregon, and Colorado. Despite the fact that the I-502 and Amendment 64 campaigns managed to raise millions of dollars apiece, the legalization initiative in Oregon (Measure 80) had struggled to attract national funders due to what some saw as a “pie-in-the-sky” initiative. While at Hempfest that August, a buddy and I came up with a plan to start a political action committee to raise money independently of the campaign. In a short amount of time, we managed to raise over $10,000 in small-dollar donations from individuals across the state which allowed us to purchase banners, rally signs, and several prominent billboards in the Portland area. When we started our campaign the initiative was polling around 37%, but by the time election day rolled around, it finished with nearly 47% of the vote. Although Oregon didn’t legalize in 2012, we helped lay the foundation for a successful campaign in 2014.
After that campaign in 2012, I thought I was going to become a cannabis lobbyist but as fate would have it, I ended up opening up a dispensary in Portland, Oregon, shortly after the passage of HB3460 which legalized medical dispensaries in Oregon.
That experience was unlike anything I had been through before but it was a necessary step in my professional evolution and my journey to NCIA. In fact, our company Brightside was a member of NCIA! That experience taught me about all of the hurdles regular small businesses have to navigate, but more specifically, the special hurdles that are in place specifically for cannabis businesses. It was my first introduction into the need for banking access and 280E reform, which are the core priorities of the organization I now work for. I also found out the heartbreak that comes from having to close down due to overzealous regulations that don’t apply to any other sort of business. This has given me a unique perspective into the day to day lives of NCIA members and how despite all the “green rush” headlines we may see, this industry is anything but a get-rich-quick scheme.
Working at NCIA has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. It has allowed me to marry my experiences in cannabis activism with my experiences running a business and building brands. This year we are celebrating the #10YearsofNCIA and looking back at all of the progress our movement has made over the last decade and it is truly remarkable to see how far we’ve come.
10 years ago, I was still in college, working the drive-thru at Taco Bell in Milwaukie, OR. These days, I get up every morning with an opportunity to help shape the course of history with an incredibly dedicated and passionate group of people. If there is anything my journey can teach others, it’s that the world is run by those who show up and that if you can dream it, you can do it.
Member Blog: While You Are At Home (Part 2) – Time To Prepare For Achieving GMP Certification
In our last article, we discussed the benefits of Good Manufacturing Practices as a means to increase productivity, efficiency, and to drive accountability within an organization. With cannabis and hemp businesses negatively impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, tight budgets are even tighter and existing room for errors are tighter than ever. As we begin to carefully rise out of the pandemic, failing to address recurring errors and inefficiencies will be catastrophic. In this follow up article, we dive into a few key systems that make up a GMP facility that you can get started on regardless of whether you are at home or on-site.
Internal (Self) Auditing
Even the most thorough and diligent people make mistakes or forget something from time to time. When you have a business that requires multiple people to make it run, the chances of a mistake increase exponentially. Left unchecked, this can result in catastrophic issues such as inventory reconciliation issues, customer dissatisfaction, product nonconformities, recalls, and even lawsuits. An internal audit program utilizes checklists to periodically conduct independent reviews of all operational areas at predefined intervals. Non-conformances are identified, and corrective action plans are implemented. This best practice is not only a GMP requirement but drives continuous improvement within your organization, ensuring:
List out all functional areas
Generate a matrix to establish the frequency of auditing for each functional area (we recommend every functional area be audited at least once per year – you can spread the auditing workload out over a calendar year rather than doing a full business audit once a year).
Conduct reviews of relevant procedures, documents, and records within those areas
Document the findings (including non-conformities)
Develop corrective action plans with the functional area manager to reconcile these non-conformities
Establish a timeline for closeout
Verify the effectiveness of the corrective action by conducting a spot audit 30-days later
Supplier Management
Did you encounter new challenges with the ability of your existing suppliers to provide you with the quality and timeliness of your raw materials, parts, or ingredients for your operation? Supplier management is a key component of a GMP program and ensures that you are able to deliver on your promises to the final client, be it the customer/patient, or another business in the supply chain. Items to include in a supplier management program include:
A Vendor Qualification Form
Quality Agreements
Right to Audit
Terms and conditions regarding product quality (specifications), and % of on-time performance
Documentation – upon delivery and retained over time
Review your existing contracts and supplier program. Don’t have a formal program in place? Get one started now based on existing relationships and their frameworks, and enjoy the benefits of this program as the economy slowly reopens.
Document Control
Do you have a list of all procedures, forms, and record books? Are they all stored in one binder in the Compliance office or do personnel have access via an electronic Document Management System. How do you ensure when a revision to a document is made that the old one is removed from circulation and not accidentally used by an employee? Document control is a pesky activity that many see as an administrative burden. However, discovering that a new formulation recipe was not being followed by a few employees because they were still using an outdated copy of the procedure for the last 3 months will justify any administrative burden and then some. Fortunately, being the year 2020, affordable electronic systems exist to streamline the process of effectively documenting and communicating all changes to relevant personnel, keeping your business compliant and operating efficiently.
Cleaning and Sanitation Validation
It is likely you increased your cleaning and sanitation regiment in light of COVID-19. How will you know when it is appropriate to scale back to pre-COVID regimens? Do you have any evidence that your prior cleaning and sanitation procedure was effective? Many companies are surprised to hear that their procedures are grossly ineffective. In one example, a company required personnel to wear Crocs in the ‘clean’ production areas. They also wore copious amounts of PPE (fresh lab gown and pants, hair nets, face shields) any time they went into a cultivation room. However, they suffered from significant pest outbreaks that seemed to spread from room-to-room with ease. They even had sticky mats outside of every room. The problem? The Crocs! A simple ATP test revealed bioburden levels that would make a college football port-o-potty seem clean. They were able to reduce their PPE levels by reorganizing workflows and periodically disinfecting the crocs, and their pest outbreaks disappeared within 4 weeks!
The cost – a few hundred dollars in testing for pathogens every week as part of their cleaning and sanitation program. By validating their results (running multiple tests and coming up with the same non-detect result) they were confident that their processes were effective (or as we call it in the GMP world – Validated).
Risk Management and Business Continuity
This final one is not an explicit GMP requirement, but, when built into your overall Quality System can provide you with quantifiable benefits. One of the other business disruptions that became evident in the COVID-19 era was how many companies did not have an effective Workplace Crisis Management Plan in place. Along with the GMP audit process it is recommended to review and update business continuity plans. What was learned during COVID-19? Where are gaps in the chain of communication, processes, and policies? How can we improve our training programs? Taking time to improve and adapt operating procedures will continue to build trust and effectiveness in your business.
Merril Gilbert, Co-Founder and CEO of Trace Trustand A True Dose™ and hGMP™ the first universal independent certification programs for dose accuracy in legal Cannabis and Hemp derived ingestible products. Always at the forefront of emerging trends on the future of food, technology, health and wellness, she leverages 25 years of experience of creative development, operations and investment for everything food and beverage. Current Chair of the NCIA Education Committee.
David Vaillencourt, CEO of The GMP Collective. David and his team at The GMP Collective bring decades of pharmaceutical and food industry best practices to cannabis and hemp. He holds a Master’s Degree, is a Certified Food Systems Auditor and brings a decade of experience in various governmental scientific work. David supports the industry in many ways, including serving as an Officer on ASTM International’s D37 Cannabis Standards Development Committee, participation in NCIA’s Facility Design Committee, and has also developed cannabis training content for college courses.
Member Blog: Cannabis Technology – Six Predictions for the Future of Cannabis Tech
by Barry Saik, Chief Executive Officer of Greenbits
Big changes are coming to the cannabis industry.
At least, that is the outlook shared by cannabis experts and lawmakers across the political spectrum. Even people who oppose federal-level legalization have to admit that the current status quo is unlikely to hold, and that popular opinion continues to sway towards the creation of a legitimate nationwide cannabis industry. Technology is playing a crucial role in connecting people inside and outside the confines of that industry.
How Cannabis Tech Will Evolve in 2020 and Beyond
There is considerable movement towards legalization in an increasing number of states. Surging demand has been keeping the cannabis industry afloat even in the worst-hit areas of the global Coronavirus pandemic. While federal-level legalization may be a long shot for the calendar year, there is good reason to believe that several new cannabis markets will open.
Many of today’s most exciting cannabis tech trends have already started gaining inertia. These movements are likely to continue picking up steam well into 2020 and beyond, even if federal-level initiatives prove unfruitful by the end of the year:
Expanded Payment Options
So far, cannabis has been a cash-only industry. Debit card transactions are gradually making their way into cannabis markets, thanks to cashless ATM solutions and a variety of online payment processors. The trend towards cashless payments is likely to continue, whether federally-backed banks support it or not.
If the federal government approves a bill that allows banks to fund and support compliant cannabis businesses, consumers will see a remarkable surge in industry development. Online ordering will likely become the new norm, powered by increasingly sophisticated e-commerce systems.
Without the support of federally backed banks, the market is likely to rely on unicorn FinTech innovators who can find ways to sidestep federal stonewalling. Compliance and cash availability will be issues, but solutions similar to those already in place will nonetheless flourish thanks to steady demand.
Better, More Accurate Strain Profiles
Right now, cannabis experts rely on a broad range of ambiguous, anecdotal data to differentiate strain profiles and the experiences they offer. There is not enough hard data to offer a quantitative comparison between any two strains.
Terpene research is going to change this. These aromatic oils are responsible for the telltale smell unique to each strain, and they have been shown to contribute to each strain’s medicinal and psychoactive effects.
The availability of hard data will transform the way consumers categorize cannabis. The goal is to go beyond the “sativa vs. indica” distinction and tell consumers exactly what to expect from each strain on an individual basis. In time, this may lead to an entirely new system of categorization for cannabis products.
A New Spotlight On Consumer Convenience
Colorado has implemented cannabis hospitality licenses as of 2020, and cannabis legislators around the country are taking a close look at the effects of the new rule. California already has a few consumption-friendly public locations, but this is very much a brand-new field where cannabis legislation – and cannabis technology – have yet to fully intersect.
On a similar note, Colorado is following California, Nevada, Oregon, and Massachusetts in allowing for cannabis delivery. These simple regulatory changes will have effects that transform consumer expectations in the industry, and the trend is towards convenience.
Expect a new brand of cannabis entrepreneur fusing technology and cannabis culture in ways never before thought possible. People are going to develop solutions that help solidify cannabis culture’s place in the local environment, capitalizing on convenience to do so.
Operational Experts Will Become Highly Sought After Cannabis Executives
There are several high-profile companies making movements towards consolidating their multi-state presence. At the moment, this is made difficult by the fact that every state has a unique set of rules for its cannabis businesses to abide by. This makes economies of scale difficult to achieve.
Operational talent is the specific kind that these large-scale organizations are going to be looking for. Until now, many multi-state operators have been run primarily by finance-oriented executives. This provides a good basis for setting up and closing acquisitions, but it will fall on newly built operational teams to build compliant solutions for multi-state organizations.
Hemp Will Open the Door to Cannabis Agriculture
The 2018 Farm Bill has led to official, federal-level recognition of hemp products. While this has not resulted in a nationwide hemp craze, the participating states are expected to bring non-psychoactive marijuana cultivation to the forefront.
So far, the USDA has approved 2020 hemp applications in Washington, Wyoming, Georgia, Iowa, and Pennsylvania. There are also fifteen tribal plans under review. Increased attention to hemp will lead to an increased dedication of tech resources to the needs of hemp farmers – which are necessarily distinct from those of psychoactive cannabis cultivators.
Market Intelligence Will Take Center Stage
A handful of ancillary industries – from cultivation-friendly real estate specialists to cannabis law firms – are expected to grow around the burgeoning industry, but market intelligence is the one most experts are excited about.
Industry leaders in every state are looking for data on cannabis users. Sales data can help inform industry players on better, more efficient ways to use limited cultivation resources. Merchandising data can help dispensaries build lasting partnerships with non-cannabis brands. A wide array of new businesses will enter the cannabis market without necessarily being growers, processors, or dispensaries.
The ability to securely turn dispensary transaction data into readymade analytic insight will prove to be one of the most valuable assets a cannabis company can have. The fact that state regulation already requires dispensaries to gather and report transaction information means that, in many cases, half of the work is already done.
2020: The Year for Cannabis Tech
Technology has historically played a crucial role in achieving civic and social progress, which then informs newer technological initiatives. Cannabis technology is already helping regulators meet the demands stipulated by voters who want safe, legal access to marijuana products, and this trend is going to continue.
Barry Saik serves as Chief Executive Officer of Greenbits, a leading cannabis retail platform that empowers more than 1,200 cannabis retail locations across 13 states with a safer and smarter way to manage day-to-day operations and maximize store performance.
Barry leads all functions of the company, which processed $3.3 billion in legal cannabis transactions in 2019. Through its platform, Greenbits offers the full suite of services that cannabis retailers need – automated state-by-state compliance, point of sale, inventory control, and personalized insights – to enable owners, managers, and budtenders to run, protect, and grow businesses with ease.
A veteran of Silicon Valley start-ups and global tech companies, Barry brings a wealth of experience in scaling and leading integrated teams building software solutions that help small businesses grow.
Barry joined Greenbits as CEO in late 2019 after founding and running the SmartLine business at GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY), a global company that helps entrepreneurs and businesses to be successful online. Centered around providing a second phone line that connects with a smartphone, the unit grew to $8 million in revenue in the first year under Barry’s leadership.
Before GoDaddy, Barry spent 15 years working in a variety of senior roles at Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) and its marquis tax product, TurboTax, the leading software solution for business and personal tax filings. Early in his tenure, Barry led the founding team of TurboTax Online, which 40 million people used in 2019 to pay their U.S. taxes.
As a senior leader in TurboTax’s marketing department, Barry oversaw the creation of the company’s first television ad campaign, which resulted in a 12 percent spike in sales. He also led TurboTax’s engineering team, which is charged with programming the ever-evolving federal and state tax codes into the software, a centerpiece capability of the product.
Barry graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an A.B. in communications. He received an M.B.A. in marketing from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Greenbits Company Description
As the pioneering leader of regulated retail, Greenbits is the complete cannabis retail management platform. Founded in 2014, we empower 22,000 users in 1,200 retail locations across 13 states. As the market share leader, Greenbits rings $3.7 billion in sales annually, comprising one-third of all cannabis sales in adult-use states. With the largest and fastest-growing network of cannabis retailers, we serve the most locations, reach the most customers, process the most transactions, and ring the most sales in the industry, making Greenbits the best-selling and most trusted cannabis retail platform nationwide.
Greenbits provides smart management solutions that help cannabis retailers maximize performance and make better business decisions. Our robust retail platform – with automated state-by-state compliance, inventory control, and personalized insights – enables owners, managers, and budtenders to run, protect, and grow their businesses with ease. www.greenbits.com
Cannabis is thought to have originally been domesticated in the mountainous regions of Central Asia. As humans started exploring the world, they brought the plant with them, and the plant needed to adapt to the different climates in order to thrive. This gave rise to many of the cultivars (or “strains”) we deem as “landrace,” allowing some subspecies of the cannabis plant to naturally start propagating. Since plant breeding didn’t become en vogue for thousands of years until Gregor Mendel’s work with pea plants, these natural cultivars were able to gain great genetic fitness, as well as become genetically diverse from other landrace strains as they adapted to their specific, often isolated, environments analogously to the finches of the Galapagos Islands.
We are all familiar with indica and sativa. With growing popularity of plant breeding and creating crosses of indica-dominant and sativa-dominant strains, we have largely lost true landrace cultivars that are 100% one way or the other. Almost every strain sold in the modern market is a hybrid, featuring a mixture of indica-derived and sativa-derived genes. Did you know that indica and sativa designations focus more on the phenotype, or the observable characteristics (e.g. height, leaf shape/color, and branch formation), rather than genotype, the unique DNA sequence of an organism?
In cool and dry climates, the cannabis plant leaves are broader and there is less space between branches. This creates a shorter, more compact plant that is better able to retain heat and moisture. The broad leaves help maximize photosynthesis on the otherwise short-statured indica-dominant plants. If you instead look at a warmer climate, you will see the plants grow much taller and thinner. They grow up and out more so that they can easily dissipate the heat and moisture in these warmer regions. The branches of the sativa-dominant plants are also longer and the leaves have more nodes, though they are thinner than that of an indica plant. All of these characteristics may also help prevent mold growth on a sativa-dominant plant due to better air flow within the plant.
Since indica and sativa classifications are more likely to indicate landrace phenotypes and the climate in which the cannabis plant grew in, new methods of classification are being explored to better express to consumers and patients the effects of the cannabis or cannabis-infused product they are using. For example, Leafly launched a new way for their website to categorize cannabis strains that considers terpene profiles, rather than labeling them as indica, sativa, or hybrid. Since terpenes are produced in plants other than cannabis, a description based on terpene profiles is the most compelling option, as research can be done on the effects of terpenes produced by other sources. While the entourage effect in cannabis is likely important to its variable uses in medicine, more research is warranted to fully understand the effect.
Terpenes and Terpenoids
Terpenes are plant constituents that impart olfactory, gustatory, and medicinal properties to plants. These Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are “Generally Recognized as Safe” by the FDA and are composed of repeating isoprene units arranged head-to-tail to create the over 200 terpenes known to be produced in the cannabis plant. These terpenes are found in other plants as well. Terpenes generally come in three varieties depending on how many isoprene units are used to construct them: monoterpenes are composed of two isoprene units, sesquiterpenes of three units, and diterpenes of four units.
The term “terpenoid” is often used interchangeably with the term “terpene.” The difference is terpenoids are modified terpenes that contain oxygen, while terpenes are hydrocarbons containing only hydrogen and carbon. This modification usually occurs through either the movement or loss of a methyl (-CH3) group or, more commonly in cannabis, through its interaction with oxygen during the drying/curing process. As such, “terpenoids” are more correctly used to describe smokable flower, whereas “terpene” is more accurate when describing the compounds when they are being produced by the living plant.
Terpenes have three main purposes: environmental adaptation, the repulsion and destruction of predators, and the attraction of pollinators. Monoterpenes, such as limonene and α-pinene, tend to predominate in the flower portion of plants and have been shown to repel herbivorous insects in Arabidopsis thaliana, often used as a model organism of the cannabis plant, due to their volatile aromatic properties. Sesquiterpenes, on the other hand, have a bitter taste and deter larger plant-eating organisms, due to their predominance in the leaves of a plant. The sticky nature of terpenes also helps to trap bugs as they move around on the plant. From the perspective of cannabis, humans have shown to be excellent pollinators as illustrated by the diverse cannabis strains available at your local dispensary.
Terpenes are strongly inherited from parent plants and are not often affected by environmental factors over the short term. Terpene profiles, therefore, can be used to help distinguish between indica-dominant and sativa-dominant classifications due to the ratio of individual terpenes’ stimulating or sedating properties. Below are descriptions of some of the most common and best-researched terpenes. The summation of sedating and stimulating terpenes produced by the plant will determine whether the net effect of consumption will have more “indica” properties or more “sativa” properties.
α-pinene is one of the most common terpenes found in nature occurring in pine trees as well as many common spices such as rosemary, basil, and dill. Along with its role as an insect repellant, it has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties. It has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and inhibits the breakdown of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter which can stimulate cognitive functions. This will cause α-pinene to have more of a stimulating effect.
Limonene is another common terpene found in citrus fruits. It has been shown to help with anxiety and depression by increasing dopamine and serotonin levels in the brains of mammals. Limonene has also been shown to increase alertness as well as help with weight loss and relief of gastric distress.
β-myrcene is one of the most common terpenes found in cannabis, though it is also found in hops and mangos. It gives off an earthy aroma of cloves and has been shown to have pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory properties in mice. Due to its sedating effects, it was thought to be a reliable indicator of indica strains; however, recent studies have shown that this terpene is equally present in both indica and sativa strains. The sedating properties are responsible for the ”couch-lock” effect some people experience when consuming certain cannabis strains.
β-caryophyllene has a dual use in protecting plants from grazing species since it both attracts insect predators as well as repels grazing insects. It is commonly found in spices such as black pepper and oregano and has a spicy flavor. It can act as a gastro-protective agent and is helpful in fighting stomach ulcers. It has also been shown to help combat symptoms of opioid addiction, through a process called opioid sparing. β-caryophyllene selectively activates CB2 receptors, the cannabinoid receptor primarily found in muscle tissue as opposed to brain tissue which is generally high in CB1 receptors. Due to this, it has more physically sedating properties making it a common terpene found in more indica-leaning strains.
Linalool is a terpenoid alcohol commonly found in lavender. It is a highly sedating phytochemical that is coveted for its anti-anxiety properties. It also helps as an antidepressant since it assists in serotonin-receptor transmission. As an anti-epileptic, it helps to modulate motor movements, presumably due to its sedating properties. When applied topically, it has been shown to help heal skin burns as well as treat acne.
Through a combination of these terpenes and the other 200+ terpenes found in the cannabis plant, we get a balancing act between sedating and stimulating properties. And since everything is technically a hybrid now, the cannabis industry should strongly consider other ways to categorize different cultivars, rather than just indica or sativa, to better educate the consumer on its effects.
The Scientific Advisory Committee is comprised of practicing chemists and other scientific field professionals to advise other NCIA committees as they work to develop standards and guidelines for the various sectors of our industry, ensuring that any formal recommendations produced by other NCIA committees are scientifically sound, sustainable, and legitimate.
From The Hill: Lawsuit to Challenge Industry Exclusion from SBA COVID-19 Relief Revving Up
For many businesses struggling during the COVID-19 induced shutdown, assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is the difference between lifeline and economic ruin. But for thousands of professionals serving state-legal cannabis businesses, including non-profits like NCIA and innumerable small businesses alike, access to PPP money remains elusive. A group of lawyers is in the process of developing a legal challenge to this unjust treatment.
The SBA Policy Notice on April 3, 2018, precludes any company that has received anyrevenue from a marijuana business from receiving SBA assistance, including service providers like lawyers, accountants, or consultants which provide counsel to thousands of legitimate cannabis businesses around the country. This SBA guidance has prevented many firms from applying for PPP loans and casts doubt as to whether firms that received loans but have done work for cannabis clients will have their loans revoked.
A coalition of law firms led by Yetter Coleman LLP is seeking to raise $150,000 for a legal defense fund to strike down the guidance. The lead plaintiff will likely be a law firm whose PPP application was denied because of this rule. If successful, the challenge would benefit the industry going forward by removing the “Indirect Marijuana Business” guidance from SBA’s eligibility determinations. But time is of the essence with the PPP program winding down and the forgiveness rules are already likely being drafted.
In a recent letter to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza, the American Bar Association (ABA) requested the SBA to clarify eligibility under the business loan program to allow access to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES Act) funds through the PPP for lawyers and law firms that provide services to cannabis businesses operating legally under applicable state laws. According to the ABA, of the 1.3 million attorneys practicing in the U.S. in 2019, approximately 78% are in jurisdictions where marijuana sales are permissible under state law. Under the current guidance, the ABA is concerned that many of these lawyers and their firms could be unfairly disqualified from receiving PPP assistance.
“The ABA supports amending federal law to ensure that lawyers do not face the threat of criminal charges when they represent clients in states that have legalized marijuana,” the June 5 letter states. “Even before those changes are made to federal law, lawyers should also not be penalized for providing legal services to cannabis-related businesses that comply with state laws.”
In a March 22, 2020, Twitter post in response to a Washington-based cannabis business owner, the SBA publicly confirmed that cannabis businesses are not able to access the SBA funded programs even though cannabis businesses are as equally harmed by the coronavirus pandemic as other law-abiding, tax-paying small business operators. To date, the SBA has not formally addressed the eligibility of cannabis businesses for the broader Paycheck Protection Program.
Back in March, several industry and advocacy groups, including NCIA, issued a letter to congressional leaders seeking to limit restrictions and allow cannabis businesses to obtain the same relief available to other legitimate industries. Among other things, the letter cites the unfairness of ineligibility for SBA relief for cannabis businesses given their obligations to follow federal employer requirements and the disproportionate impact ineligibility has on small businesses.
The legal U.S. cannabis industry is projected to top $20 billion in annual sales in 2020 and now employs nearly 250,000 workers. One would think access to SBA loans that support businesses in keeping this significant workforce employed during the coronavirus crisis would be an economic priority for policymakers in Washington DC. Time will tell if this goal becomes a reality.
If you are an ancillary business interested in either donating to the legal fund or willing to offer your professional support, please email Shane Pennington of Yetter Coleman LLP at spennington@yettercoleman.com.
Meet The Team: Jon Dinh – NCIA’s Membership Manager
Hello! My name is Jon Dinh and I work as the Membership Manager here at NCIA! I started my cannabis journey three years ago when I first tried cannabis legally in my home state of Colorado and completely changed my life for the better!
I grew up in Thornton, Colorado which is a suburban area north of Denver and didn’t have any interest in cannabis growing up. None of my friends participated in the cannabis culture so I didn’t have any influence growing up. Coming from an Asian culture, it was heavily looked down upon. When the laws changed in my state, I decided to try it and visited my first dispensary. I was amazed at the professionalism and knowledge the budtender provided. I ended up with an edible cookie as my first experience and took a bit much for a first time user. It’s crazy to think that moment changed my life and career path.
I was now curious about the war on drugs and drug policy reform and around this time stumbled upon NCIA. I was lucky enough to get hired as the Membership Coordinator and have learned a great deal about cannabis reform and how it affects people’s lives. I’m fortunate enough to try cannabis safely and legally and have no doubts that others will follow the same path for their first time experience. My scenario is much more common now with states legalizing and people having open access to cannabis. I just hope they’re more careful with their first dose than I was!
I’m now part of the mission here at NCIA to get cannabis businesses treated fairly like any other business in America and it has truly opened my mind to the struggles that face cannabis businesses now and what’s to come in the future. I hope to contribute towards the needed change of these laws and for better treatment of cannabis businesses. Cannabis businesses, even though legal, still exist in a world where the laws are not up to date and have caused issues like loss of profits and having to pay higher taxes.
I got to attend my first Lobby Days event with NCIA to talk about current cannabis issues and it was one of the most powerful experiences channeling my inner citizen lobbyist. I got to see firsthand how Capitol Hill works and what Hill meetings are all about. It’s an important part of how the government works, and it was great to see members of NCIA becoming citizen lobbyists too. This was my first time in D.C. and was blown away by the inner workings of it all. Thanks to NCIA for allowing me to be part of Lobby Days and hope other members of NCIA can join us in the future!
In the meantime, as part of my job duties, I hope to open the doors for others to experience cannabis in their home state and federal legalization in the future. I hope to change the world’s perception of cannabis and to open access to the plant.
Member Blog: Common Sense and Not – Tips to Maintain Safe Extraction Processes
After years of trial and error, the modern extraction equipment and standard operating procedures have removed a significant amount of risk from volatile solvent extraction processes. As more and more states are looking to adopt marijuana policies involving volatile solvent extractions, I wanted to share some insights about safety I have learned in my 5 years of working in and with various extraction labs. Some of this may seem intuitive and obvious, some of it may not.
Employee Safety
Employee safety is the most important facet of safety in an extraction operation. Your employees are your greatest variable, but also the things you want to protect the most. Loss of life or limb is no joke and can often contribute to significant fines, license suspension, or even a total shut down – not to mention the emotional strain an injury-inducing incident can put on everyone.
I like to simplify employee safety into two areas: preparedness and equipment. Although your employees are a large variable in your operation, proper training, protective equipment, and process expertise will keep them safe from all but the direst of situations. Proper training should cover equipment usage, company SOPs, and hazard responses. Hazard responses will include emergency exit strategies, process shutdown, flushing station use, and will generally cover what an employee should do if hazardous conditions become present. Consistent training for your entire team will ensure that employee groups can regulate each other – one employee may catch another employee doing something that violates a company code and can prevent further incidents from occurring.
Equipment, in this case, means the personal protective equipment, or PPE. All extraction processes involve pressure, chemicals, or moving machinery and can cause bodily harm to your employees. At a minimum, employees should habitually wear goggles, gloves, and closed-toed shoes. Given that there are chances for chemical spills and irritation from fine plant matter particles, long sleeves and pants are also recommended – most labs are providing lab coats for their employees to fulfill this need. It is generally advised that you, the employer, should make protective equipment accessible to your employees and not require them to provide their own equipment. If your extraction processes involve hydrocarbons, make sure employees are aware of static build-up from their clothes. It is important to note that PPE generally doubles to prevent foreign materials from contaminating your product – hair and beard nets will provide added protection.
Equipment Safety
I like to consider equipment safety as an extension of employee safety because equipment failure or incident can typically be directly attributed to misuse by employees. Proper training is going to have the greatest impact on equipment safety, but installation, maintenance, and inspections will also dictate the longevity of your product and safe usage by employees. After selecting the proper unit for your operation, you should make sure that the unit is installed by a certified source. Most equipment manufacturers (EM) will offer training for you to have one of your employees be certified, or the EM will have a traveling resource that can visit your facility to ensure that install is done up to their standards. Once your unit has been installed, you need to have a 3rd party inspection done on your equipment and its operating area. One option is Pressure Safety Inspectors (PSI) – most local authorities will be happy to see a PSI stamp of approval and it will likely speed up your inspection process.
After initial equipment set up and approval, equipment safety largely boils down to maintenance and employee inspections. Most extraction units use components that will degrade over time: seals, gaskets, nuts and bolts, solvent lines and filters to name a few. You should implement a consistent replacement schedule, regardless of the appearance of these components, to ensure that they don’t become liabilities.
Beyond components, employees should also be performing regular integrity inspections of all unit vessels – if any damage is apparent, it is paramount that you contact the manufacturer to replace that component. Do not perform repairs on your own.
Facility Safety
Finally, we have facility safety. Luckily, modern technology has largely made facility safety autonomous – smart sensors detect solvents to ramp up airflow, fire suppression systems are automatically deployed, and control spaces can react efficiently to hazardous situations. However, because employees are still present, I do want to point out some areas that may be overlooked when it comes to facility safety.
First, signage. Signage can be anything from exit signs to hazardous material signs to reminders that PPE must be worn inside operating areas. Humans can be lulled into a sense of false security or forget important steps to operating safely and visual reminders go a long way to ensure that your employees are approaching their day to day tasks with the appropriate level of preparedness. Signs will also help employees efficiently vacate a space if there is a hazardous situation present – make sure your doors have panic bars and open outwards!
Another seemingly obvious, but often overlooked area of facility safety is the removal of ignitions sources from areas that contain hazardous materials. You must ensure that all equipment and components in a control area meet the electrical rating specified for that space. For example, a heat gun should never be used to expedite off-gassing of volatile solvents… it still happens more often than you would expect. Static build-up can occur because of certain textiles used in clothes along with plastic trash bags in plastic trash receptacles. Even tools should be spark-proof if they are going to be used in a control area.
Hopefully, some of the above information helps you ensure that your extraction processes are operating as safely as possible. As a parting thought, please listen to your employee’s feedback. If they feel unsafe or are questioning a process, do not write them off. They are on the front lines working in hazardous environments and will often see an issue before it becomes a catastrophe. As always, this is meant to be a guide, and you should always consult local authorities and follow regulations.
Xavier Jaillet has been a part of the cannabis industry since 2013 and worked in both businesses that are plant-touching and those that provide ancillary services to plant-touching operations. A brief stint in the mining, construction and transportation safety sector gave him a unique appreciation for safe operating practices and led him to HAL Extraction. HAL Extraction focuses on improving safety for manufacturing operations by designing smart, efficient, and effective extraction booths.
Committee Blog: Practical Tips for Cannabis Businesses Impacted by Theft and Property Damage
As the country continues to grapple with the murder of George Floyd and its aftermath, we have seen reports that numerous cannabis dispensaries in California, Illinois, Oregon, and elsewhere have been the victims of theft and property damage. A number of shops have been hit multiple times in successive days, with many reports indicating that businesses are being targeted by organized groups not involved in protests.
The owners of these dispensaries, like many of the other business owners around them, are likely asking themselves: Is my insurance going to cover this? The good news is that, for many of them, it is likely that they will have coverage for at least some of the losses that they have suffered. What losses are ultimately reimbursed can depend on a number of factors, including what an impacted business owner does in the immediate aftermath of an incident. Thus, we provide below an outline of the steps that businesses should follow in the unfortunate event that your shop has been damaged:
File a police report.
Immediately report the loss to the relevant cannabis regulatory authority (check both state and local regulations to ensure full compliance).
Get in contact with your insurance provider and file a claim immediately. Once filed, you will receive a claim number and an assigned claims adjuster who you will work with from the very beginning to the end of the claim.
Ensure your place of business is well protected (even after the loss). Do your very best to continue to protect what you can after a loss.
Document everything. Take photos, save and review your video surveillance. Your insurance company will ask for this when you file a claim
Begin taking inventory of everything that has been damaged, destroyed, and stolen. Your insurance company will need this as well.
Review your insurance policy again and speak with your insurance professional.
Does your insurance policy cover civil unrest, theft, or vandalism coverage? Is it excluded? Is it not listed at all? Many cannabis businesses operate under property insurance policies that will cover losses for property damage and theft that occurs during a public disturbance.
Some insurance policies, however, contain “protective safeguard” endorsements creating certain requirements that the cannabis business owner must follow or a claim can be denied. Many of the requirements include a central burglar alarm, cameras, an approved vault or safe room, and other similar risk mitigation measures. Pay special attention to these protective safeguard requirements, and ensure that all are met. This can be particularly important for businesses that have already been the victims of crime. If the safety systems in question have been damaged or are otherwise inoperable as a result, make sure to put your insurer on notice of this fact and, ideally, get them to approve a temporary accommodation relieving your business of the relevant protective safeguard.
Policies may also be “sublimited” for certain types of property coverage, meaning that limits for particular types of loss are lower than the overall policy limits. Impacted businesses should look for a page entitled “Property Optional Extension Endorsement.” The types of coverage that might be sublimited include:
Employee Dishonesty;
Money and Securities;
Outdoor Property (Fences, Radio/TV Antennas/Satellite Dishes and Signs Outdoor Property (Trees, Shrubs or Plants);
Personal Effects and Property of Others (relevant if a dispensary has not taken title to product): and
Valuable Papers and Records (Other Than Electronic Data).
In addition to taking these actions, dispensary owners in cities where civil unrest is ongoing should give consideration to reducing their store hours or even closing entirely until conditions change in order to keep their staff safe. For those concerned about leaving product in their stores and having it stolen, some states, including California, allow for licensed cannabis dispensaries to remove product from a licensed facility in the face of a public disturbance or emergency. Nonetheless, businesses should always consult their state and local regulations and/or consult with an attorney before removing cannabis products from their facilities in any way that would normally be impermissible under applicable laws.
In sum, while cannabis dispensaries unfortunately appear to be attractive targets for opportunistic criminals, there are a number of steps these businesses can and should take right now to help them begin to pick up the pieces.
Driving High? Information From The CO Department of Transportation
Since Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana in 2014, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has used its unique position to remain on the forefront of traffic safety campaigns for marijuana-impaired driving. CDOT recently launched its new Drugged Driving Colorado website, DriveHighDUI.com, which features telling insights, current data, and a lengthy list of resources to help inform not only Coloradans but marijuana consumers and industry professionals nationwide. As communication shifts to a heavy online focus amid COVID-19, providing accurate and detailed information from a distance is more necessary than ever.
Consumer Education
Consumer health and safety are important to all cannabis businesses, yet information on driving impaired can be hard to come by. CDOT’s website has educational resources that answer commonly asked questions and provide data and downloadable social media graphics, videos, and more. CDOT encourages the free use of its resources and information for in-store screens, website education pages, email blasts, blog/newsletter posts, or at conferences and trade shows.
Frontline Employee Knowledge
Budtenders, manufacturing representatives, and trade publications are the voices most trusted by cannabis consumers. Educating all staff can help dispel false perceptions of cannabis-impaired driving and help change behaviors around driving high. Learn the basics and keep up with the latest news on the Featured News section of DriveHighDUI.com. If you have industry news or an article idea, please reach out to CDOT Traffic Safety Manager Sam Cole at sam.cole@state.co.us.
Community Relations — Be A Valued Resource
Building relationships with the communities in which they operate is crucial to the health and wellbeing of the cannabis industry. CDOT has partnered with health care organizations, nonprofits, universities, and neighborhood groups to communicate the dangers of driving high. Affecting change takes cooperation — and cannabis companies can use these resources to open a dialogue with local, state, or national organizations to help spread the word.
Impaired driving from alcohol and/or other drugs is one of the leading causes of traffic deaths on Colorado’s roads, accounting for approximately one-quarter of all fatalities. This is an issue that affects all of us. CDOT hopes its ongoing efforts to educate cannabis consumers extend beyond Colorado’s borders and we encourage NCIA members and industry organizations across the nation to take advantage of the available resources so we can lead by example and keep our communities safe.
Meet The Team: Jeremy DePasquale – Salesforce Administrator & Business Process Analyst
Hi, I’m Jeremy and this is my story. I grew up in a middle-class immigrant household in Schenectady, NY, in the same house my grandparents bought when they moved their kids from Sicily to America. My brother, my sister, and I loved torturing my grandfather and were no strangers to getting chased down the driveway by him and his broom. Life was as you might expect in an Italian house, the talking was loud, the food was good, and the family bond was strong.
Fast forward… I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I had a lot of fits and starts with college until settling into the one thing I knew I truly loved, politics. I struggled hard in college (and in high school for that matter) only doing well in my PolySci classes. Somehow I managed to get a B.S. in Political Science and Government from S.U.N.Y. Brockport, graduating late 2009, just as the economy was headed into the Great Recession. Not so perfect timing.
I did what any naive kid just out of college and in love with politics would do: I moved to Washington, D.C. so I could get a job on the Hill and start my awesome career! Wrong! I couldn’t even sniff an interview on the hill. I spent the next two years doing temp work around the Beltway, ending with a stint at the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
In April 2012, I decided it was time to move on and I started to set my sights on Denver, CO. The Colorado chapter of the AIA was looking for someone to help plan their national convention that was coming to town, so I packed up my stuff and dog and headed into the unknown. All good things come to an end…my 18-month contract expired with AIA and I found myself unemployed and back on the job market.
Four months later, I applied for a position with the National Cannabis Industry Association, I went through the interview process but ended up not getting hired and figured I would never hear of the organization again, but life works out funny sometimes. Out of the blue, three months later I got an email from Aaron Smith asking if I was still interested, as they were growing so fast they had already promoted the person they chose for the position initially. We had a few conversations and drinks at a Deadhead bar, Quixotes True Blue for all you Denver folks, and on May 1, 2014, I started working for NCIA.
I’m not going to lie, I had no idea what I was doing here or how I fit in, after all I was the first NCIA hire with a more structured association background as opposed to grassroots activism. Other than consuming cannabis occasionally I had no connection to the plant like the other staff did. They were long time activists and all had a personal story for their passion and what cannabis advocacy meant to them. I just needed a job.
At that time NCIA’s Denver office was housed in a carriage house behind a historic mansion used as the headquarters of the cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg. It was commonly referred to as the “Cannabis Cottage.”
It was kind of surreal, I worked in the living room, while others worked in adjoining bedrooms and living spaces. It also wasn’t uncommon for me to see Aaron walking by with his laundry to utilize the washer and dryer in the cottage. In short, that NCIA was much different than the juggernaut we have since become.
Little did I know, what started as just a job would completely change my life. I was able to learn first-hand all about the plant, the people, and the industry. This isn’t just a bunch of stoners who wanted cannabis legal so they could get high. This was about quality of life, social justice, medicine, and community. It has been the privilege of my career to work with people who are so committed and passionate about the history we are making and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of it. If you told me 10 years ago that I would be working in the cannabis industry, I would have laughed in your face, but now I couldn’t imagine working for something I’m not passionate about.
I’m particularly proud of the part I played in (re)launching our member committees and implementing an organization-wide database to help us better engage with our members. I also have been leading a few exciting new benefits, like NCIAConnect: our exclusive online community, and a completely mobile NCIA experience with our new app. Both are coming super soon!
After serving as the Membership Coordinator, Manager and ultimately leading the department as Director, I recently shifted into a whole new role as the SalesForce Administrator and Business Process Analyst. This role is allowing me to combine my technical abilities and my institutional knowledge of NCIA to help move us forward in a coordinated and strategic way. I have also relocated back to the East coast for some loud talking, family connections, and pasta Sundays.
NCIA has changed dramatically since I started 6 years ago, we launched national conferences, grew our staff five times over, doubled down on our advocacy and commitment to our members, and we finally got out of the old “Cannabis Cottage.” I’m not certain what my future holds but I would like to think that NCIA and I have played a role in each other’s successes and are primed for bright futures.
NCIA Committees: Now Accepting Applications For 2020-2021 Term!
NCIA is excited to announce that we are accepting applications for the 2020-21 Committee term! We need your skills, passion, and wide-ranging perspectives to build upon our energetic, inclusive, and innovative committees. NCIA committees are an opportunity for our members to get engaged in specific industry issues and sectors of their professional expertise and interest.
All NCIA annual members in good standing are invited to apply for an NCIA committee seat for the 2020-2021 committee term, to commence on August 1, 2020.
NCIA committees enable NCIA members’ to engage their vast and varied areas of expertise and passion to:
effect change and influence public opinion and policy,
enhance your leadership skills,
expand your professional and personal network, and
develop best practices and guidelines to shape the future of our industry.
Requirements:
All NCIA annual members whose memberships are current may apply;
Appointees (or their employing company) must maintain a current membership throughout the term of their appointment;
Appointees may serve on no more than one committee at a time;
All committee applicants must complete the online form fully and in good faith by the August 1, 2020 deadline; and
Appointees must commit to dedicating at least a few hours monthly to their committee projects and scheduled meetings/calls. Committees may hold scheduled teleconferences, but the majority of committees’ work will be done online.
Review the list of current committees and see if one is a good match for you. If so, apply today to become tomorrow’s NCIA committee leader!
Together, we can accomplish incredible things and help steer the cannabis industry in the United States towards its bright future. Apply today for the committee that interests you the most, or reach out to Committees@TheCannabisIndustry.Org with questions or ideas.
Webinar Recording: Managing Novel Risks During The COVID-19 Crisis (Part 2)
Watch this webinar recording to learn more about managing novel risks during the COVID-19 Crisis.
A conversation with industry legal and financial experts discussing how cannabis operators can mitigate the financial risks presented by coronavirus.
Get actionable advice and insights regarding how to manage your financial risk and avoid pitfalls.
Topics addressed include:
Managing finances in a business deemed “essential”.
Navigating the legal, financial nuances of assistance programs.
Federal and State Financial assistance programs.
What aspects of these programs can cannabis businesses utilize?
Legal ramifications and implications of applying for assistance.
CARES Act, upcoming changes to SAFE Banking, and what they mean to you.
Frequently misinterpreted language in 280E.
What coronavirus teaches us about the import of proactive financial risk management.
The panel:
Summer Jenkins, CLCS, Senior Product Manager of Cannasure Insurance Services, LLC (Moderator)
Christopher Davis, Executive Director of the International Cannabis Bar Association (INCBA)
Michelle Rutter Friberg, Deputy Director of Government Relations at NCIA
Kevin Haller, CPA, Principal of Akene Consulting LLC
Webinar Recording: NCIA Committee Insights – Managing Novel Risks During the COVID-19 Crisis
In case you missed it, watch the recording of this webinar from April 27, 2020. NCIA’s Risk Management and Insurance Committee presents a conversation regarding how cannabis operators can mitigate the risks that the coronavirus presents to their customers, their employees, and their businesses. Get actionable advice and expert insights regarding how to manage your risk and avoid potential liability while keeping your essential business open.
Topics addressed include:
Identifying all novel risks presented by COVID-19
Addressing the availability for insurance coverage for COVID-related losses
Creating SOPs around employee and customer safety
Increased delivery exposure and SOPs around fleet management, driver safety/protection
Managing increased cyber security risks through insurance and strong SOPs
What coronavirus teaches us about the import of proactive risk management
Speakers include:
Jason Horst, Principal
Horst Legal Counsel
Stephanie Bozzuto, Co-Founder & President
Marketing Cannabis Connect Insurance Services
Summer Jenkins, CLCS, Senior Product Development Manager
Cannasure Insurance Services
Eric Rahn, Managing Partner
S2S Insurance Specialists
Wes Gilbreath, CFO
Continental Heritage Insurance Company
Eduardo Provencio, General Council
Mary’s Medicinals
NCIA Today: May 2020 Episode – HEROES Act, #CannabisIsEssential, and New Fireside Chats for NCIA Members
Host Bethany Moore, NCIA’s Communications Manager and host of NCIA’s weekly Podcast ‘NCIA’s Cannabis Industry Voice‘ brings you an in-depth look at what is happening across the country in federal cannabis policy reform and with NCIA.
From the top, Bethany discusses the NCIA #CannabisIsEssential movement, coordinating efforts between our communications, public policy, and government relations teams. We have been hard at work, exploring avenues for the legal cannabis industry to access federal COVID relief benefits, like including SAFE Banking language in the recent HEROES Act.
We check in with NCIA Deputy Director of Public Policy, Rachel Kurtz, to hear some of the recent highlights from our Allied Associations Program. Fortunately, most states have deemed cannabis as essential, and our state associations are working in their areas to make relief options, or commerce opportunities, easier to reach.
Kim Kovacs, President of the Arcview Group, checks in with Bethany to discuss the relaunch of their Women’s Investors Network. The cannabis industry leads on women in C-suite and leadership roles, but that doesn’t mean we can be complacent. ArcView has been offering regular webinars, and other digital programming options, for women energetic about entering the space. The next will be looking at the science behind the plant, join the conversation!
We’ll see you next month for NCIA Today!
Webinar Recording: All Gave Some, Some Gave All – A Policy Discussion on the Veterans Cannabis Conundrum
In case you missed this webinar on Memorial Day, watch this recording.
Especially around Memorial Day, it’s important to remember the reason for the holiday: our veterans. Unfortunately, though all gave some and some gave all, the vast majority of our veterans are still unable to access safe, regulated cannabis. Many individuals in the veteran community struggle under unique health burdens stemming from their honorable service, and have experienced little success in managing their conditions with available pharmaceuticals. Through cannabis, veterans of all generations and with various conditions have experienced improvements in their quality of life by using cannabis.
In Congress, two bills aimed at tackling this issue have already passed out of the House Veterans Affairs Committee — H.R. 712: the VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act of 2019, sponsored by Congressman Lou Correa (D-CA) and H.R. 1647: the Veterans Equal Access Act, sponsored by Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). In March, the Congressional Budget Office scored H.R. 1647 and found that passing the bill into law would cost the federal government exactly $0.
Enjoy this webinar focused on cannabis, health, and our armed services members. NCIA’s Government Relations team is joined by none other than the lead sponsors of the VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act of 2019 and H.R. 1647: the Veterans Equal Access Act, Congressmen Lou Correa and Earl Blumenauer, respectively. Our panel also includes the cofounders of the Veterans Cannabis Coalition, Eric Goepel and Bill Ferguson. This unique opportunity will allow you to hear from the lead sponsors of legislation designed to give our veterans the best quality of life possible, interact with member(s) of Congress, and learn more about the prospects of these bills passing into law.
Committee Blog: Employee Privacy Guidelines In A Time Of COVID-19
By NCIA’s Human Resources Committee
Privacy Guidelines
As employers across the country bring back their employees, coronavirus risks remain top of mind. These concerns are important to ensure both the safety of their employees and the ability of their businesses to remain open. No one wants their employees to experience a spike in infections, or to subsequently close down as a result. However, protecting employees and businesses from COVID-19 is not as simple as asking an employee if they are sick. Federal and state laws restrict the type of medical information an employer can require an employee to share, even during the pandemic.
Under the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), medical inquiries are generally not allowed unless they are job-related and consistent with business necessity. Under this standard, medical inquiries are allowed if the employee poses a “direct threat” to him/herself or others because of a medical condition. FEHA regulations provide that factors to be considered when determining the merits of the direct threat defense include, but are not limited to:
the duration of the risk;
the nature and severity of the potential harm;
the likelihood that potential harm will occur; and
the imminence of the potential harm.
FEHA regulations say that the analysis of these factors should be “based on a reasonable medical judgment that relies on the most current medical knowledge and/or on the best available objective evidence.”
Unfortunately, this leaves the answer to whether employers may make medical inquiries or take temperatures “it depends.” Ultimately it becomes a business/risk tolerance decision. Asking employees questions about their medical condition and taking their temperatures may be more defensible if there has been documented exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace or a high rate of contagion in the community.
The answer will also depend on what the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) determines. If the CDC makes a determination that COVID-19 is significantly more severe than the seasonal flu, it could pose a “direct threat.” Under the ADA, a direct threat is “a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the individual or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation.” When the CDC advises testing, employers will have better standing to require it. CDC guidance is available here.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has also issued specific COVID-19 guidance. The EEOC has advised employers that they may ask all employees who physically enter the workplace if they: (i) have COVID-19; (ii) have been tested for COVID-19; or (iii) are experiencing symptoms associated with COVID-19. Employers may also check the temperatures of employees entering the workplace. If an employee refuses to answer or refuses to submit to a temperature check, the employer may refuse to permit him or her to enter the workplace. However, employers should reassure refusing employees that the questions are simply designed to ensure workplace safety.
Employers may then single out individual employees for temperature checks or questioning only if the employer has a reasonable belief, based on objective evidence, that the employee has COVID-19 or symptoms associated with COVID-19. Employers may also ask employees if they have had contact with anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 or who has symptoms of COVID-19.
If a manager learns that an employee has COVID-19 or symptoms associated with COVID-19, the manager may disclose this information to which employees are necessary to take action consistent with CDC guidance. As a general rule, employers should try to limit the number of necessary employees” who know the employee’s identity. Everyone informed of the employee’s identity should be told to keep the information confidential. This includes telling others that an employee may be absent or working from home, but not explaining why.
If employers do decide to take temps, there are multiple additional issues to consider: who will do the testing? What training? Will nonexempt employees be paid for their time undergoing testing? What will the employer do if the employee refuses? What information is recorded? All of these questions should be addressed in advance, and the answers should err on the side of caution. Tests should be simple, as non-invasive as possible, and as little data should be recorded as possible. Data for each employee should be recorded separately; an employer should not compile a single list of employees and their temperatures. An employer could, however, maintain a record of a single employees’ temperature of time. In other words, a single piece of paper could track an individual employee’s temperature history, but not the entire workforce’s temperature history.
In summary, employers must be careful to ensure their employees’ privacy rights remain respected and protected as they return to work. Employers may take reasonable precautions to ensure infected and at-risk individuals do not work, but must be careful in the questions they ask and the manner in which they record and keep the information. If a diagnosis is confirmed, employers must also be careful about who that information is shared with. Everyone wants a safe workplace; employers must simply keep in mind that a safe workplace is one that ensures an employee’s physical safety as well as their privacy.
NCIA’s Human Resources Committee is comprised of human resource practitioners devoted to bringing best practices to the cannabis industry. Their focus is educating and bringing awareness to misclassification of employees, promoting guidelines for employee safety, clarification on wage and hour issues in the industry and creating checklists to being a legitimate employer.
Allied Association Blog: Cannabis Policy Beyond Our Borders
NCIA’s Allied Associations Program (“AAP”) facilitates cooperation between NCIA and Allied Associations and the sharing of resources for the mutual benefit of our respective memberships and the cannabis industry more broadly. The AAP provides the means for the leaders and staff of NCIA and Allied Associations to learn from, work with, and support each other.
SUPREME COURT APPROVES SECOND EXTENSION TO REGULATE CANNABIS IN MEXICO
Due to the work suspensions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Mexican Senate requested the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation for an extension of the deadline to legislate in favor of cannabis regulation. This extension is the second that has been granted; the first was petitioned after the deadline expired in October 2019 and was extended to April 30 of this year. The Supreme Court had granted this extension as a unique and exceptional situation in October 2019, appealing to the complexity of the issue.
USERS DEMAND REOPENING CANNABIS CLUBS IN SPAIN
Associations such as the Patients’ Union for Cannabis Regulation (UPRC) demand that the Spanish government allows reopening these clubs, and that cannabis be considered as an essential good for the life of these patients, as countries like the United States have done. For comparison, other businesses such as tobacco and alcohol sales have been considered essential in this country. The state of alarm has generated measures that cut off the somewhat regulated routes that exist in Spain to acquire cannabis, as is the case with cannabis clubs. These organizations allowed access to medical cannabis to about 200,000 – 500,000 people in total.
CANNABIS INDUSTRY AMID THE PANDEMIC.
The health crisis derived from the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all economic sectors on a global scale. The cannabis industry is not an exception and has had to adapt to new circumstances. You can find a list of policies in countries where cannabis is legal currently. According to the market research conducted by Prohibition Partners, most consumers in Europe and North America will tend to maintain or increase their cannabis purchases in the coming months (March to June).
Erick Ponce is President of the GPIC. He has worked for 16 uninterrupted years in the healthcare sector, both private and public (specializing in government sales), where he has dedicated to promoting the individualization of drugs and medications and, with this, the reevaluation of the roles played by physicians, pharmacists, and chemists.
In 2017, with Artcan as an investor, he created ICAN, with the goal of opening cannabis operations in LATAM, as well as creating a network of technical, operational and commercial infrastructure while promoting education, information, collaboration and certification of cannabis and it’s derivatives for applications in therapeutics and wellness. In 2019 he was chosen as the spokesperson for the “Grupo Promotor de la Industria del Cannabis.”
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My mother once quipped in a Facebook post, shortly after I first made my professional entreé into the cannabis space, something along the lines of “high school Vince has finally found a way to make a living.”
Three years and 150 wonderful episodes later, I found myself indoctrinated through a front-row seat to the importance of a responsible end to federal prohibition. However, the Cannabist Show (as it had ultimately been named), was canceled and the vertical’s staff was soon to be completely eliminated in a vicious round of layoffs by vulture hedge fund owners.
My months with this organization have only motivated me more, animated by the incredible work that NCIA does at levels I had never fully recognized. Oft-cited as a source, I’d also attended events in multiple cities (and the ancillary company I co-founded is an NCIA Member), and still, the explosive growth is astounding. Across our committees, policy council, membership, board, and the staff there is so much energy for the cause; absolutely infectious.
As the entire world continues to navigate through the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, it can sometimes be difficult to see the silver lining. A beloved public television figure known as Mister Rogers famously told the story of how his mother urged him while watching “scary things in the news,” to “…look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” 
Ryan Douglas provides cannabis consulting services through his company, 
Andy Poticha is principal at 
My journey into the cannabis industry did not follow the typical route and actually did not begin long ago. In February, just over five months ago, I was hired to be the COO at NCIA. Other than this whole COVID-19 thing, I’m really enjoying working with the talented and committed staff here at NCIA, meeting our members (mostly virtually), and generally learning about the intricacies of the cannabis industry.
I enjoy swimming, hiking, basketball, and travel, having lived or traveled to more than thirty countries. I’ve been practicing meditation regularly for the past fifteen years, with a recent emphasis on Zen. I try to do at least one 3-day retreat at the Crestone Mountain Zen Center every year.
Erin Lemmons is passionate about helping small businesses avoid the risk of legal challenges that many companies face as they navigate the growth gap from 1 to 150 employees. She is the Founding Partner of 
Working at NCIA has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. It has allowed me to marry my experiences in cannabis activism with my experiences running a business and building brands. This year we are celebrating the #10YearsofNCIA and looking back at all of the progress our movement has made over the last decade and it is truly remarkable to see how far we’ve come. 
Merril Gilbert, Co-Founder and CEO of 
David Vaillencourt, CEO of 
Hello! My name is Jon Dinh and I work as the Membership Manager here at NCIA! I started my cannabis journey three years ago when I first tried cannabis legally in my home state of Colorado and completely changed my life for the better! 
Hi, 
I’m not going to lie, I had no idea what I was doing here or how I fit in, after all I was the first NCIA hire with a more structured association background as opposed to grassroots activism. Other than consuming cannabis occasionally I had no connection to the plant like the other staff did. They were long time activists and all had a personal story for their passion and what cannabis advocacy meant to them. I just needed a job.
NCIA’s 