Competition to Acquire State Cannabis Licenses Heating Up

FinancialNewsMedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Florida, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2018 Farm Bill officially signed into law... removed hemp from the federal controlled substance list and set off a frenzy at the state level to acquire production, growing, distribution and related licenses. Almost every state is besieged by persons and corporations to acquire these potentially lucrative licenses…as they also struggle to also create the regulations and procedures to be followed. Take North Carolina, for example: "According to a study done by NC State University, there are already over 500 hemp growers in North Carolina. All of these growers are licensed and follow strict regulations that could mean testing their plants for THC levels. If the levels rise above the 0.3 percent, the entire crop has to be destroyed by law. Any hemp plant containing 0.3 percent or less of THC, the product in marijuana that is considered to be the illegal part of the plant that gets users "high," can be grown legally in the United States."  And although there are regulations to follow, the Farm Bill also made it easier for the cannabis licensees to do the ordinary things that all other business take for granted.   Active companies in the cannabis industry includes:  CROP INFRASTRUCTURE CORP. (CSE:CROP) (OTC:CRXPF), Choom Holdings Inc. (CSE: CHOO) (OTC: CHOOF), Aphria Inc. (NYSE: APHA) (TSX: APHA), 1933 Industries Inc. (CSE: GIF) (OTC: TGIFF), Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. (TSX-V: XLY) (OTC: CBWTF).

An article in FORBES had some advice for them too, as an industry insider commented: "The cannabis world is tremendous and it's really grown," he said. "It's mind blowing how many people are opening up businesses.   Of course, some of these small companies are hoping to grow to a point where they hope they can make their millions when a larger company buys them and the founders can cash out…. His advice to people who want to enter the industry, "Go into distribution if you want to double revenue. In retail it's always distribution. And you're talking about making straight money, the best margins are in cultivation and manufacturing. Those are the highest margin businesses. Manufacturing is all about the creation of the oil. All your cogs go down with distribution, like any other retail business."

CROP INFRASTRUCTURE CORP.

(CSE:CROP) (OTCPK:CRXPF) (Frankfurt: 2FR)

BREAKING NEWS: 

CROP announced today that its its 49% owned subsidiary, Elite Ventures ("Elite") reported that Hempire, the company's Nevada tenant, has been issued with a 2019 hemp handler, hemp nursery and hemp grower licenses covering 1,350 irrigated acres on its 2,115 acres of owned or leased CBD focused lands.

A hemp handler is defined as a person who is registered by the licensing department to receive industrial hemp for processing into commodities, products or agricultural hemp seed.

The company chose to apply for its hemp grower licence, nursery and hemp handler licence in anticipation of its lab extracting and producing CBD isolate with a throughput capacity of one ton per day of raw biomass. Furthermore, the company increased the acreage size covered by its hemp licences from 240 acres of cultivation in 2018 to 1,350 acres of irrigated cultivation for 2019.

50,000 square feet of greenhouses are being erected to complement the plant starts coming out of the recently completed genetics laboratory.

CROP CEO, Michael Yorke, stated: "With the increased size and operating range of our tenant's licenses, CROP's Nevada CBD operations are emerging into a truly world class operation. Our land holdings, micropropagation team, strategies, drying and extraction capabilities and supply agreements will enable us to operate from seeds to isolate to sales in 2019."   Read this full announcement and more news for CROP Infrastructure at:   https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-crop/ 

Additional cannabis industry related developments from around the markets:

Choom Holdings Inc.

(CSE: CHOO) (OTCQB: CHOOF) this week announced that it has entered into a letter of intent agreement ("LOI") with one of the 25 Cannabis Retail lottery winners to open a location in Ontario. Choom, an emerging adult use cannabis retailer, is building out one of the largest retail cannabis networks in Canada. The LOI is with a winner of one of the 25 retail opportunities to apply for a license to operate a cannabis retail store granted as a result of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario's ("AGCO") Expression of Interest Application Lottery conducted on January 11, 2019.

"Being able to get an early start to establish Choom's presence in the private retail market in Ontario through an agreement with a lottery winner is a remarkable milestone for Choom. We are thrilled that the lottery winner chose Choom to help them successfully open and operate a retail cannabis store in Ontario," stated Chris Bogart, President and CEO of Choom.

Aphria Inc. (NYSE: APHA) (TSX: APHA) recently the company announced that it has completed its first transfer of plant cuttings from four of the Company's cannabis strains to Denmark -based Schroll Medical ("Schroll"), as part of the Company's previously announced Strategic Partnership (the "Partnership") with Schroll. The shipment was completed under permits issued by the relevant health authorities, including an export permit from Health Canada, an import permit from the Danish Medicines Agency and a phytosanitary certificate from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

1933 Industries Inc. (CSE: GIF.CN) (OTCQX: TGIFF) this week reported that its subsidiary, Infused MFG. ("Infused"), continues to expand its reach across the United States and has attained product distribution into 46 states.

Infused, a manufacturer of proprietary hemp-based, CBD infused health and wellness products continues its market penetration in the U.S., where it has established its own distribution to over 600 stores. Infused's recognized brands, including Canna Hemp™, Canna Hemp X™, and Canna Hemp Paws™ are available in over 250 retail stores in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado, with the remainder distributed across the U.S. In addition, the Company has an established e-commerce presence, sales agents, call-centre, and a dedicated sales and marketing team who work directly with each retailer, building and maintaining relationships, providing customer service and education.

Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. (TSX-V: XLY.V) (OTCQX: CBWTF)  recently announced the appointments of Brian Schmitt as Chief Financial Officer, Jason Sonshine as Vice President, Strategy, and Carla Nawrocki as Vice President, Investor Relations of the Company.

Brian Schmitt, CFO, is an accomplished finance and accounting executive with approximately 30 years of experience in both private and publicly-traded companies. Most recently, Mr. Schmitt acted as the CFO at EnerCare Inc., where during his tenure with the company he played a large part in growing the company through acquisition and helped carve out their strategy, systems integration and operating plan. He also served as Vice President Planning & Administration for Wells Fargo Financial and held senior finance and accounting roles with Citi Financial and Ernst & Young. Mr. Schmitt is a Certified Public Account (CPA), a Chartered Accountant (CA) and a Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. Jeff Tung, who previously held the role of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, will continue to serve as the Company's COO.

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