Committee Blog: Everything You Wanted to Know About Cannabis Facilities But Were Afraid to Ask Field Guide – Part 3 – Extraction

by members of NCIA’s Facilities Design Committee
Jacques Santucci, Brian Anderson, David Vaillencourt, and David Dixon

Continuing our five-part series on the behind-the-scenes workings of the legal cannabis industry. This series focuses on all of the inner dealings and industry advice from established professionals to craft this unlimited How-to-Guide to assist you in setting up your own facility. These articles cover cultivation, extraction, infused products, and retail facilities as well as support activities. In general, remember to be compliant with all local rules and regulations and contact a licensed contractor and industry expert. 

Part Three, Food: 10 Things to Consider When Planning Your Manufacturing of Infused Products (MIPs) Operations

Food safety and handling practices are an issue for any industry working with or processing products for human consumption and often come with strict guidelines that need to be followed. In the cannabis industry, edibles and other processed or infused products Manufactured Infused Products (MIPs) are ready-to-eat foods, so many states are regulating them as foods under the cGMP requirements of 21CFR117. We feel this is likely the approach that will be appropriate when cannabis becomes federally legal. These 10 things should be considered as you begin to plan your facility.  Always remember to be compliant with all local rules and regulations. 

Sanitary Design and Operation

A production room is straightforward, conceptually: design the space so walls, floors, and ceilings can be washed and sanitized, then verified (ATP swabs) to confirm the cleaning process is effective. To facilitate cleaning, everything needs to be pulled away from the walls, the ceiling needs to be solid and the walls need to be sealed. Insulated metal panels (IMP) are a cavity-free construction that is seeing wide acceptance in the industry. To keep the space clean during operation, slope the floors to spot drains, install coves along with the floor/wall interface and avoid ledges and traps for water or dust.

Employee Hand Washing

A stringent internal process for sanitation and washing of hands is crucial. Make sure that lavatories are available throughout your facility for proper sanitation. Confer with the municipal board of health for locations and quantity. Generally locate any place where employees are handling consumable products or encounter the potential for microbiological. 

Boot Washing

Sanitation includes making sure all boots/shoes are free of contaminants. Employee captive corporate footwear programs prevent contamination potential from non-business-related employee activities.

Cart Washing

For carts that transport ingredients and materials, it is important to prevent floor debris getting transferred from one area to another. Two areas of concern; are wheels and cart shelves. Either wheel or shelf area can be addressed from multiple washing devices specific to each type of cart used.

Product Storage

Food safety temperature and humidity separation of products are an important factor. The purpose is to store food products at such a temperature and humidity level to prevent the growth of undesirable bacteria.

Allergen cross-contamination

Make sure to arrange products to avoid cross-contamination of open and unopened products. Keep the first pallet off the floor at a height of 6” AFF to avoid picking up contaminants. OHSA SHARP may apply how to organize products. 

You can design barriers to keep contamination from entering a room.

Limit contamination by having and always renewing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), since the adjacent hallways may transport raw biomass. Test all ingredients, including THC, to ensure that everything is microbiologically safe. Wipe down, or unpackage ingredients, materials, and supplies before bringing them into the ‘clean environment’ room. Wear specific scrub, clean boots, and wash off any carts entering the room.

Employees entering the food production space

Contaminants can enter via the employees.  It is essential to have all employees and agents clean up before entering the food production space. You must provide facilities to wash and sanitize hands as well as boots. Continuous training of employees and monitoring adherence to the procedures is important. Your procedure will include how sanitation is necessary, where are smocks hung, how are shoes cleaned, etc. Typical controls are in the FDA Food Code for jewelry, open sores, illness, etc.

Food Safety Inherent in the Recipes

Complete a Food Safety Hazard Analysis to know if you need to implement an upstream preventative control, such as for chocolate, or if you need to manage a thermal kill-step such as cooking the gummies mass. Low water activity, high acid, or a natural biocide additive, can all be considered. 

Control for Allergens

MIPS often contain soy, flour, eggs, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, coconut, and perhaps others. Each has special considerations for allergen separations and allergen cleaning.

Ware Washing and Clean Parts Storage Room

Don’t Underestimate the Ware Washing and Clean Parts Storage Room. Adjacent to your MIPs production room, consider building a washroom with a commercial dishwasher for utensils, kettles, wetted parts, trays, molds, etc. You might install a three-compartment sink. And make sure to safely store clean items, so they dry and do not get recontaminated prior to use. This room is maintained at negative pressure to the MIPs production room.

Plan for the Pantry

Store ingredients, materials, and supplies in a pantry off the MIPs room can be considered. It is much easier to clean the MIPs room if such items are stored outside production. If you pre-weight, or decant in the pantry, cardboard and plastic are kept out of production. It is a great idea to provide a door also to the adjacent hallway to drop off ingredients, then your staff can enter from the MIPs room. Special care is taken when storing opened products.

Keeping Final Products Food-Safe

The best practice might be to put products such as chocolate bars into primary film envelopes or fin-seal gummies while still in the MIPs room. Often, subsequent packaging is done where there are other possible contaminants such as open bud, pre-rolls, chipboard or corrugated, etc. If the food products are already protected by primary packaging, you will greatly reduce the risk of recontamination. 

HVAC, Humidity Control, and Filtration

HVAC, Humidity Control, and Filtration are critical. The MIP production room should be air-conditioned and filtered to at least MERV 14. Cook kettles may be a source of humidity that could be placed under a commercial hood. Cooling and tempering of chocolates and cooling and drying of gummies/jellies have their own special considerations. And consider provide enough HVAC capacity to dry out the production room after a heavy cleaning. 

Airlocks and Room Pressurization

Airlocks and room pressurization should be planned properly based on your goals, budget and facility. The MIPs room pressure should be positive to all other adjacent rooms: washroom, pantry, extraction, corridors, lab. There are a wide variety of approaches to airlocks, from a pharma approach with air showers down, to just a door with sufficient air supply to the production room to ensure that it is always positive to the adjacent hallway.


Check Out These Related Articles for More Top Things to Consider When Planning:

Part 1 – Cannabis Cultivation Facilities
Part 2 – Cannabis Extraction Facilities
Part 3 – Cannabis Food Production Facilities
Part 4 –Cannabis Retail & Dispensary Facilities
Part 5 – Cannabis Facility Support Areas

Committee Blog: The Asset We Wish We Knew Before 2020 – HACCP

by Trevor Morones, Darwin Mallard, Liz Geisleman
NCIA’s Cannabis Manufacturing Committee

Read on for insight and guidance for the vitally important topic of preventing, eliminating, or reducing microbial growth in cannabis edibles and packaging. 

It all starts with the HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) Principles. Gather your team to share the five preliminary steps of HACCP and develop a plan (figure 1). This management system was launched by Pillsbury along with NASA and the U.S. Army for food safety in space exploration in the 1960’s. Quality, safety and efficacy is obtainable and sustainable with the HACCP discipline. 

The objective is to PREVENT packaging from being a failure point and inhibit microbial growth in edible products. We know moisture (water activity), temperature, pH, and oxygen levels are primary microbial growth drivers. 

HACCP is an asset, not an expense. Food is medicine for some, and cannabis products are medicine for many. Resin cannabis products (RCP) must be safe, consistent, and reliable products continuously. To generate those results, learn the HACCP mindset. Practice being an advocate with HACCP discipline displaying the actions written in the programs. It’s a system for cannabis safety that encourages operations to have Emergency and Business Continuity plans before disruptive events occur, e.g., natural disasters, pandemics, etc.

  • Resin cannabis product – Any product, whether finished or a work in progress, containing or comprised of cannabis flowers or resins or both and includes, but is not limited to, the cannabis flowers and resins themselves, extracts/concentrates/derivatives thereof, and preparations therefrom.
    • And can be further classified as Adult-Use or Medicinal-Use and subclassified as Topical-Use.

Creating such a plan is important because exposure to microbes may result in allergic symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, wheezing, nasal congestion, and watery or itchy eyes. Consumers using cannabis products as medicine, such as cancer patients on chemotherapy, are even more susceptible to harm caused by microbes. Thus, it is critical to ensure your products do not have microbial growth. 

This is not only a health concern, but the financial impacts can be detrimental. How much did the February 2021 Canadian infused gummy recall cost? More than 330,000 packages of THC infused gummies, worth approximately 8.2 million Canadian dollars, were lost. Overhead costs go above and beyond. The global cannabis industry must learn from industry events such as this.

Effective HACCP management system ensures control. Empower your team through education and training on discipline of HACCP. Take the infused gummy recall from February 2021 as an example where cross-contamination, improper employee hygiene, and package permeability were failure points that led to loss of control. Lack of control during transport of the initially sterile packaging also contributes to contamination. Personal clothing worn by team members or visitors are also known sources of pathogenic fungus. 

Best practice is to address preventive controls and reducing/mitigating risks. For example, consider installing two-way humidistatic control devices in packaging, such as desiccant packs, to maintain water activity (Aw) in acceptable ranges to mitigate microbial growth. Reducing moisture prevents powdery mildew caused by Golovinomyces Cichoracearum (figure 2)

A great resource to mitigate risks can be found in the ASTM D37; Standard Guide for Cleaning and Disinfection at a Cannabis Cultivation Center; Aw ASTM Standards for Cannabis Flower: D8196 – Standard Practice for Determining Water Activity in Cannabis Flower; and D8197 – Standard Specification for Maintaining Acceptable Water Activity Range for Dry Cannabis Flower.

 Sanitary environments are critical from seed to sale.

Figure 2, Right. Powdery mildew development on leaves, stems, and flower buds of Cannabis sativa, caused by Golovinomyces cichoracearum. 2

Use the principles of HACCP to guide and maintain the integrity of your work. Each principle builds on the next to create a solid foundation to build and operate a safe and consistent management system. Establish storage conditions in your control and transport; determine the temperature and humidity for each product type (gummies do not tolerate heat, and certain ingredients are sensitive to humidity which could change the potency). This includes evaluating the stability of each of the ingredients when in final product form (how long do they remain potent). 

Depending on the ingredients used, i.e., the formulation, gummies can take on or reject water. Most typically let out the water, then that water has nowhere to go (trapped in the packaging), and the product molds. This is why commercially produced gummies are coated in wax, literally to trap the water inside the product. Inadequate gummy formulations lead to water permeability; change in cannabinoid content is the least of the concerns.

General chapter 659 on Packaging and Storage requirements published by the USP (United States Pharmacopeia and the National Formulary, USP–NF) is a great resource. Though not all cannabis products may be for the medical market, using the standards of excellence from the USP is the best way to minimize product failure and help ensure consumer safety. Packaging 659 states that packaging materials must not interact physically or chemically with a packaged article in a manner that causes its safety, identity, strength, quality, or purity to fail to conform to established requirements.

Empower your cross-functional team to apply and implement HACCP through your organization. In doing so, you will have the discipline and tools to mitigate risks and prevent costly downtime. Your consumers benefit by having safer, consistent, and quality products. Finally, collect the data and share the story. We all need to drive improvement and produce safe consistent products for our consumers. HACCP systems are a tried-and-true tool to achieve this.

Please note that prerequisite programs such as current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) are an essential foundation for the development and implementation of successful HACCP plans. This article is intended to level up your current manufacturing processes and mitigate your exposure to potential recall or unsafe products in the marketplace.

For resources on how to establish an effective HACCP system and other quality management related tools, consider adopting the best practices defined in ASTM D8250 – Standard Practice for Applying a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) System for Cannabis Consumable Products and/or following the guidelines provided in ASTM D8222 – Standard Guide for Establishing a Quality Management System (QMS) for Consumer Use Cannabis/Hemp Products and ASTM D8229 Standard Guide for Corrective Action and Preventive Action (CAPA) for the Cannabis Industry.

 

Committee Blog: Working With Your Local Government as a Cannabis Processor

by NCIA’s State Regulations Committee

If you want to open and operate a regulated cannabis business, there’s no avoiding local government. Every state grants different amounts of power to towns and cities, with some allowing localities to ban cannabis businesses outright, and others simply giving them the same power over time, place, and manner of operations that they have for other businesses. But since cannabis can be a hot-button issue, a proposal to open a cannabis facility often attracts far more attention than opening any other type of business.

To help NCIA members and other cannabis entrepreneurs navigate local government, we at the State Regulations Committee have launched a series of blog posts, with each taking a close look at a different type of cannabis license. Last month, we published our first post, “Working With Your Local Government as a Cannabis Cultivator.” 

Today, we’re moving one step down the supply chain and talking about cannabis processors (sometimes also called manufacturers or infusers). Since state programs vary widely, with some licensing cannabis processors independently and others combining processing with cultivation (or even a single vertically integrated license), we will be focusing on the operations rather than the licenses themselves. If you’re seeking a combined license, be sure to read the blog for each activity your business will be allowed to engage in — while there is some overlap, there are also some major distinctions in how different operations can most effectively interact with municipal officials, and you will need to be well-versed in answering questions unique to each phase of your business.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Like the three rules of real estate being “location, location, location,” the three rules of economic development are “jobs, jobs, jobs.” When proposing a new business in a town or city, local officials are going to want to know how many jobs it will bring, as employment can put money directly into the hands of their constituents and have ripple effects throughout the local economy. 

In addition to the raw number of jobs your business will create, it’s also important to highlight the qualifications for those positions. Processing facilities often need to have highly qualified individuals with PhDs or other certifications to manage production processes, and officials will be happy to see the salaries that come along with such positions. Entry-level jobs, such as working production lines, are also worth talking about — even though they have lower salaries than someone with a doctorate, it’s usually much easier to hire local talent for these positions. Any commitment to hiring locally as much as possible is usually a big plus to politicians. Additionally, be sure to mention how much these new employees will add to the local economy, through all the typical living spending they will do.

Setting up and maintaining your facility will also have a major economic impact, especially in smaller communities. If you’re constructing a building to suit, get estimates from your contractors about the jobs your project is supporting, and let officials know how much you’re investing in the build-out. If you’re moving into an existing space, you’ll almost certainly be doing significant renovations to meet the state’s strict safety standards, which is also worth talking about. Towns and cities that are struggling economically will often be very happy to see unused commercial space become occupied, especially if those properties are being improved. If possible, also identify local contractors (like electricians) or suppliers (like lumberyards) you will use for construction.

Finally, there are direct payments to the local government. While officials love to see any sort of economic development, they still have services to provide and a budget to balance, and will want to know what the municipality will be receiving directly. Calculate your building’s expected property taxes, both on an annual basis and 5-10 years out — since cannabis licenses are usually very difficult to re-locate, emphasize that you are in it for the long haul. Be sure to understand your states’ tax structure, and know whether there are any local taxes that the town will receive, or if towns that host cannabis licensees receive any portion of state tax revenue. 

PUBLIC SAFETY

The top public safety issue in local officials’ minds when it comes to cannabis processing is almost surely to be butane fires and explosions. This is for good reason — while hydrocarbon extractions can be very safe and effective when done properly, when done improperly they can be incredibly dangerous. City councilors or fire chiefs may have read some of the many headlines about butane-related accidents over the past few years, and it’s up to you to address these concerns directly and honestly. Of course, before diving into these conversations, check to see if the municipality or county has already banned such extraction methods, as some state laws allow local control in this area.

If you’re not planning to perform hydrocarbon extractions at your facility, be sure to tell that to your local officials. They may not realize that there are many other types of cannabis extracts that do not present such safety risks, such as CO2 extracts (carbon dioxide is not flammable, and similar processes are used for decaffeinating coffee) or bubble hash (which uses only cold water). If you have zero interest in ever using hydrocarbons in your facility, putting this agreement into writing may make local officials even more comfortable.

If you do plan to perform hydrocarbon extractions, educating officials on the risks and safety measures is paramount. Most states have extensive regulations on how extraction labs must be set up, which you can email or print out for meetings to demonstrate what you’ll need to comply with. Since the vast majority of butane-related accidents have come from illegal labs with makeshift equipment, show officials the equipment you’ll be using, emphasizing the price and professional quality. The manufacturers may even have fact sheets or other information you can share to demonstrate the safety of their equipment. As you educate officials on your methods and equipment, be sure to keep open lines of communication with the fire chief and building inspector, who will have the most expertise and authority on this aspect of public safety.

Beyond the processing-specific concerns about fires and explosions, all cannabis businesses will have to deal with officials’ concerns about theft. These may be particularly acute for processors since your end products have a much higher value-to-weight ratio than raw cannabis plants. To address these concerns, explain the security requirements in state laws and regulations, and any areas where you are going above and beyond what is mandated. Things like external security cameras and floodlights can both protect your own business and your neighboring community, making a cannabis business a net gain to public safety.

COMMUNITY IMPACT

Once economic development and public safety have been considered, local officials will wonder about the broader community impact of your cannabis business in areas like odor or traffic. This is an easy topic for processors, as they arguably have the smallest impact of any type of cannabis operation.

Processors are generally much smaller than cultivation facilities, and since they’re not full of growing cannabis plants, they also have much less odor to address. Unlike a dispensary or retailer, processors are not open to the public, so town planners won’t need to worry about an influx of traffic. Once you explain how you’ll be operating, local officials should be able to rest easy knowing that to an outside observer, your business will be virtually indistinguishable from a commercial kitchen or light manufacturing facility. If there are still concerns about odor, inform them that modern odor mitigation technology can completely eliminate any odor from leaving your facility.

GOING FURTHER

Once you’ve explained what you’d like to do and how you think your facility would fit into the local community, the conversation isn’t over — it’s just beginning! If the local government needs more time to consider your proposal, then it’s good to keep in close touch and address any additional concerns they have as they arise. If the local officials are already comfortable with your business and are welcoming it into their community (or if your state law doesn’t give local officials the power to stop you from opening up), it’s still great to build that relationship and keep an open dialogue.

Elected officials usually need to know a little bit about everything, but don’t have the bandwidth or in-house expertise to go very deep on most subjects. That’s where you, someone working full-time in the cannabis industry, come in — you almost certainly know more about state laws and regulations than they do, which is a great opportunity for you to serve as a resource. If you hear about changes in the law or proposed bills that could impact their town or city, send over news articles or bill text to help keep them informed.

Once you’re open, it’s always great to offer tours of your facility. This will help officials gain first-hand knowledge of what you actually do, and in municipalities where legal cannabis is new, it can help dispel negative stereotypes and demonstrate how professional you and the rest of the regulated cannabis industry are.

Be sure to stay tuned for future installments in this series, where we will be addressing other cannabis license types. Our next blog will focus on retail.

Member Blog: 6 Key Questions To Ask When Evaluating Water-Soluble Technology For Cannabis Products

by Andrew Wong, Axiomm Technologies

Consumers and manufacturers of products that have been infused with THC or CBD are probably very familiar with two key issues that plague the product class: slow onset time and uneven dosing of the active ingredient. In a bid to provide a solution, many groups are marketing “water-soluble technology,” or “nanotechnology.” The vast majority of the groups claiming water-soluble (more properly referred to as “water-compatible”) technology are offering up a nanoemulsion. 

Nanoemulsion technology is a very promising and accessible solution. It has the ability to allow for both (1) rapid onset and (2) uniform distribution of the active ingredient in infused products such as beverages, gummies, and water-based topicals. Unfortunately for most businesses and consumers, there are many factors that can destabilize a nanoemulsion and eliminate the benefits of the technology. Making things even more difficult is the fact that consumers and businesses are usually not equipped to properly evaluate their options, due to the technology being so new in its commercial use. 

In order to evaluate your options, whether you’re a consumer or a business looking to enhance your products, you need to have a high-level understanding of nanoemulsions and how they are made. Put very simply, you create a nanoemulsion when oil is combined with functional ingredients and then blasted with energy or combined with a catalyst which, in both cases, causes the oil particles to split into smaller pieces. When made small enough, the particles disperse uniformly in water and won’t separate out into larger globs of oil. Other added benefits of the small size are a dramatic drop in the onset time for THC – from around 45 minutes to under 10 minutes – and increased absorption of the active ingredient.  

Knowing this, there are a number of questions that you should always ask of your technology provider. Each of these questions helps you dig into how well-designed a formulation is and ultimately whether the technology you use will truly enhance your products. Every provider of nanoemulsion technology should be able to speak to:

  1. Particle Size of the Nanoemulsion – You should be looking for an average size under 100 nanometers, preferably under 50 nanometers (as measured by the “dynamic light scattering test”).
  2. Particle Size Test Method – The “by volume” test is far more optimistic, and less useful, than the “dynamic light scattering test.” Look for a solution that is less than 50 nanometers, measured using the dynamic light scattering test.
  3. Temperature Stability – Nanoemulsions tend to destabilize (lose their nanoemulsion properties) over time when exposed to heat. This can be a major issue if the product is shipped or stored in warm/hot environments or if consumers use the product on a hot day.
  4. pH Stability – Low pH environments, such as citric beverages, can cause instability and can also contribute to rapid degradation of the active ingredient (e.g. THC or CBD). Poor formulations can cause as much as 50% of the active ingredient to degrade over a period of one month – not ideal if the product is stored or sits on the store shelf for a while prior to being consumed.
  5. Stability with Artificial Sweeteners – Many end products that are being infused use artificial sweeteners, which can cause the nanoemulsion to become cloudy and lose its rapid onset and enhanced absorption properties.
  6. Active Ingredient Degradation – pH is just one of a number of factors that can contribute to rapid degradation of the active ingredient. 

Creating a nanoemulsion that addresses these challenges is not an easy task, but each one of the parameters is important if it’s going to provide the performance benefits claimed by the technology provider. Regardless of whether you choose to engage in your own R&D or use a third-party solution, these questions will help you understand how well a particular water-soluble technology will work for you. Consumers will gravitate toward products that maintain the benefits of this water-soluble technology, and manufacturers will consequently need to do the same.


Andrew Wong – President of Axiomm Technologies

Having spent nearly five years at the nationally-recognized corporate law firm of Stikeman Elliott LLP, Andrew is experienced in securities, M&A and private equity matters. He has acted for both public and private companies, as well as private equity and investment funds with assets under management of $500 million to $1 billion. Andrew moved from Stikeman Elliott to Shea Nerland LLP in 2016, where he founded the cannabis practice group and provided clients with regulatory, structuring, finance and corporate governance counsel. 

Andrew co-founded Axiomm Technologies in late 2017. Axiomm is a technology company whose team of technical experts combines academic and industrial expertise in the development and commercialization of novel manufacturing and consumption methods. All technologies and products are designed with the health and wellness consumer in mind, and each increases the efficiency and speed with which the body absorbs vitamins, nutraceuticals and cannabinoids.

VIDEO: Member Spotlight – Silver State Wellness

Get to know NCIA members Silver State Wellness in this month’s video spotlight. We speak with co-founder Ed Bernstein and general manager Emmett Reistroffer to learn more about their state-of-the art infused product manufacturing facility based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Their facility produces both medical and adult-use brands ranging from edible products, topicals, and infused beverages including beer, coffee, and tea. Silver State Wellness has also formed a joint venture agreement with Dixie Elixirs & Edibles, a Dixie Brands, Inc. company. Hear about how IRS Tax Code 280E and lack of access to banking impacts their business.


If you’re not yet a member of the National Cannabis Industry Association, log on today and join the movement.

 

ARE SINGLE-SERVING EDIBLES THE HOTTEST TREND IN THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY?

Cross-posted from NCIA’s Cannabis Business Summit website.

The Growing Kitchen's Rookie Cookie

The big news coming out of the cannabis industry this week is the rise of single-serving edibles and infused products aimed at new marijuana users, many of whom choose edibles over more traditional methods like smoking.

national Associated Press story highlighted the “Rookie Cookie” from The Growing Kitchen as well as the new Dixie One Watermelon Cream soda from Dixie Elixirs. Each of these products boasts a modest 10mg and 5mg dose respectively and are marketed at new customers who are interested in trying edibles but who may lack the experience to properly dose the product themselves.

According to Taylor West, Deputy Director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, this is just good business given the shifting market.

This is a great example of how a legal, regulated market can help address some of the concerns we’ve seen in terms of edibles. From new cannabis customers to medical patients, consumers exist all along the spectrum. It’s simply smart business to create products that serve a diverse market.”

Indeed, new statistics seem to back up that claim. For the second month in a row, adult-use sales figures have exceeded medical in Colorado and the trend only seems to be growing. Tourism is also playing a role. A recent market study released by the State of Colorado estimated that 40% of consumers in Denver are tourists. In ski towns, that figure jumps to 90%.

Followers of this blog have likely known about the trend towards single-serving edibles since last month when Julie Dooley of Julie’s Baked Goods observed that most edible manufacturers are creating single, 10 mg servings for the non-medical consumer.

When things change as fast as they do in the cannabis industry, it pays to stay ahead of the curve. Sign up today for the Infused Products and Extraction Symposium on October 27-29 in Denver to gain insight and network with leading industry experts and businesspeople.

Join the Marijuana-Infused Product & Extraction Revolution!

IPES - Banner (Wide)

The field of cannabis extraction and marijuana-infused products has quickly emerged as one of the fastest-growing and most consistently innovative sectors of the cannabis industry. It’s also become one of the most scrutinized and highly regulated. NCIA wants to help you capitalize on the infused product revolution while staying committed to the best, most responsible practices and highest quality products.

That’s why we’re hosting our first-ever Infused Product & Extraction Symposium at the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center in Denver, CO, from October 27 to October 29. There will be no better opportunity for industry professionals, entrepreneurs, and newcomers alike to learn about best practices and cutting-edge technologies in this booming field.

IPES Infographic - Full Size

Haven’t gotten your tickets yet? Lucky for you, we’ve compiled this short summary of who should attend and why to help make your decision a little easier!

Who Should Attend?

  • Infused product manufacturers
  • Extraction scientists and business pros
  • Investors & entrepreneurs
  • Experienced dispensary owners & operators
  • Attorneys & legal experts
  • Industry consultants
  • Policymakers and regulators

Why Should You Attend?

  • Take a guided tour of two of Colorado’s premier infused product & extraction manufacturing facilities.
    • We are offering tours of both Dixie Elixirs and Auntie Dolores state-of-the-art production facilities located in Denver on Wednesday, October 29 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:15 to 4:15 p.m.
    • The morning tour is already sold-out so register now to reserve your spot!

You don’t need anymore convincing, do you? Well, just in case, we are happy to tell you that all NCIA members get a $150 discount on registration! Not a member of NCIA yet? Don’t worry! You can join today starting at the low cost of $100 a month or $1000 a year. Don’t miss this opportunity to join the first national event dedicated to infused products, while supporting the growth of a legitimate cannabis industry on the national level.

Register today for this great opportunity to connect with fellow industry leaders while learning about best practices for operating a responsible and successful infused product or cannabis extraction business.

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