Business

High Times, the venerable marijuana-focused magazine that’s undergone major diversification the past two years, is taking a big step beyond its media roots with plans to open stores in Los Angeles and Las Vegas that actually sell the stuff.

The company also named cannabis retail veteran Paul Henderson as president and interim CFO, charged with heading the dispensary initiative. Stormy Simon, a former president of Overstock.com, was recently named High Times CEO, and will focus on digital initiatives.

A Capitol Hill hearing on cannabis legislation Wednesday underscored the regulatory straitjacket that restricts research and scheduling of cannabis in the United States.

Cannabis stocks were beaten down badly last year with most of them losing more than half of their value. A slew of disappointing earnings, and a U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning that cannabidiol can cause liver injury and other damage took the sheen away from the industry.

The green rush in the global cannabis market continued in 2019, with sales doubling in seven U.S. states as well as Canada, and you can expect that trend to continue this year, a report out on Thursday shows.

The report from Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics shows global cannabis sales rose 48% to $15 billion in 2019.

The figures, which are still preliminary and may get revised as more data comes in, were bolstered by states where cannabis has recently become legal for adult or medicinal use.

In December 2019, the Trump administration legalized hemp at the federal level. Hemp is a type of cannabis that contains more CBD (cannabidiol) and less of psychoactive THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). THC can be dangerous when consumed in large quantities. Meanwhile, CBD is used to treat various health issues. It’s also used as a raw material in food and other products. Despite hemp legalization, the FDA hasn’t approved any CBD products except Epidiolex, which treats seizures. As a result, selling and distributing CBD products isn’t legal.

by Business Wire

Global cannabis sales rose 48% to $15 billion in 2019, driven by growth in sales in Canada and seven U.S. states that saw sales more than double.

Organigram Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OGI) (TSX: OGI), the parent company of Organigram Inc. (the "Company" or "Organigram"), a leading licensed producer of cannabis, is pleased to announce it has secured a supply agreement with Medical Cannabis by Shoppers, the online medical cannabis platform by Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. ("Shoppers").

This agreement reflects the companies’ shared commitment to offering Canadian consumers access to high quality medical cannabis products.

What happened

Shares of several cannabis stocks soared yesterday on news that Democrat and Republican representatives introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would allow hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products to be marketed as dietary supplements. Charlotte's Web Holdings (OTC:CWBH.F) was the biggest winner, with shares jumping 16.2% as of 2:57 p.m. EST on Wednesday.

Because so many growers joined in, businesses and farmers are now seeing demand for that hemp shrinking.

An initial rush to plant caused a boom in the Tennessee hemp industry, but because so many growers joined in, businesses and local farmers are now seeing demand for that product shrinking. 

Hemp processor and retailer Bluhen Botanicals announced Wednesday it will be facing layoffs and cutbacks due to challenges across the industry. It opened a store in downtown Knoxville last year.

The laws around cannabis use have relaxed, and there’s a huge industry out there waiting to be marketed. Industry specialists talk about the way forward.

It is tough and expensive to have an ad flighted during the Super Bowl. This year, for the first time, an advertisement featuring cannabis came close, but was ultimately discarded because it was not consistent with TV network CBS’s advertising policy.