Tag: CannaBeat

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CannaBeat: CBD Sales Surge Sevenfold

CREDIT: Jani Moore Photography courtesy of Ounce of Hope

Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association

CBD flower from The Bold Team, Arkansas’ supplier.

Sales of CBD grew 700 percent over the last 12 months, according to a new report from the Brightfield Group.

The group is a market and consumer intelligence firm for the legal CBD and cannabis industries. It says sales have been pushed largely by national retailers like Walgreens, CVS, and Kroger, and the market is set to skyrocket.

Jani Moore Photography courtesy of Ounce of Hope

Brightfield’s report says the CBD market is on pace to grow to $23.7 billion through 2023.

“The CBD market has been growing rapidly, but we will see unprecedented growth in 2019,” Brightfield managing director Bethany Gomez said in a statement.

Those national retail chains only got into the CBD market this year. CBD products can now be found in Tennessee-area Walgreens, CVS, and Kroger, though they are (for now) largely offering topical products like creams and lotions. However, the Brightfield report said those chains will dominate the CBD market over the next year, owning as much as 57 percent of it.

Here are some other key highlights from the Brightfield CBD report:

• Although tinctures still dominate the market, driving 25% of sales, they are losing their lead as more mainstream consumer-friendly products surge

• Topicals (17% of market) and skincare and beauty products (8%) have gained tremendous traction as mass retailers have signed on to carry these products first, since they are considered the safest bet under the current regulatory regime.

• Natural food and smoke shop CBD revenues continue to grow and thrive — with increased uptake across the country and some level of saturation now that vendors feel more secure and confident carrying product.

Notably, though the CBD market is no longer dominated by cannabis users, dispensaries and recreational shops have also seen an uptick in CBD-oriented traffic.

• 1% of CBD companies were in the top tier (with sales of $40+ million or being sold in greater than 1000 stores) while 92.9% of companies were in the low tier (with sales of <$1 million or being sold in 0-100 stores)

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CannaBeat: Group Files Proposals for Recreational Cannabis in Arkansas

This week, a group submitted plans for two ballot initiatives in Arkansas to allow recreational use of cannabis and to expunge the records of those with cannabis-related convictions.

The Drug Policy Education Group’s (DPEG) Arkansas Adult Use Cannabis Amendment would allow possession of the drug by those 21 and older for personal use (with the understanding that cannabis is still illegal under federal law).

If approved, the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Division would issue licenses to companies to cultivate, process, and sell cannabis and would make the rules governing the system and would have 120 days to do it all. If approved, recreational cannabis could be available in Arkansas by December 4th, 2020.

CannaBeat: Group Files Proposals for Recreational Cannabis in Arkansas

Licenses would be given to at least one dispensary in each Arkansas county and at  least 30 in every Congressional district. Cannabis farming licenses would be given to one company per 250,000 state residents. Dispensaries and farms would have to be at least 1,000 feet from a pre-existing school or church.

State sales taxes could be as high as 10 percent on retail sales of cannabis flower, cannabis concentrate, and edible products containing cannabis.

Taxes would go first to fund the state’s recreational cannabis regulatory system. The rest would be divvied up like so: 60 percent to fund and operate public pre-kindergarten and after school programs and 40 percent to fund the operations of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association

CBD flower from The Bold Team, Arkansas’ supplier.

Cities and counties could prohibit commercial cannabis sales by a majority vote of their governing bodies.

Under the proposal, adult Arkansans could possess up to four ounces of cannabis flower, two ounces of cannabis concentrate, and edible products containing cannabis with a tetrahydrocannabiol (THC) content of 200 mg or less. They could also grow up to six cannabis seedlings and six cannabis flowering plants for personal use on residential property owned by the adult or with the written permission of the property owner.

The group’s second proposal is called the Arkansas Marijuana Expungement Amendment. It would petition courts to release or reduce sentences and expunge the records of those convicted of cannabis offenses in the state.

Those convictions include cannabis possession, cultivation, manufacture, distribution, or sale of less than 16 ounces of cannabis or six or fewer mature cannabis plants or cannabis paraphernalia.

Read the proposals in full here.

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CannaBeat: Cohen Pushes Record Expungement in Cannabis Hearing

CREDIT: NORML/Facebook

NORML/Facebook

In honor of Tuesdays’ House hearing on cannabis, NORML board member Rick Steves will match donations to the organization this week.

A federal House panel considered national cannabis policy in a hearing Tuesday, one that was indicative of a growing support of legalization in Congress, according to one group.

The hearing, before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, was called “Marijuana Laws in America: Racial Justice and the Need for Reform.”

Two main pieces of cannabis legislation sit before Congress. One would relax federal drug laws on cannabis in states that have legalized it some way. Another would go further, seeking to give help to those communities disproportionately affected by current drug enforcement laws.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) touted his Fresh Start Act, which, he said, he’s been pushing since his first year in Congress. 

”It would say that if you have a non-violent offense and you had gone seven years without an offense in the federal system, you could get your record expunged,” Cohen said Tuesday. “Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to get that done.”

Marilyn Mosby, State’s Attorney for Baltimore City, Maryland responded, “People are suffering from collateral consequences…as a result of a marijuana conviction… The collateral consequences extend to federal loans, it extends to housing, it extends to adoption, it extends to access to health care. These collateral consequences extend to employment, professional licenses – I mean, every sort of the basic necessities of life.”

See Cohen’s full statements during the panel here:

CannaBeat: Cohen Pushes Record Expungement in Cannabis Hearing

While House members did not come to any firm conclusions on the matter Tuesday, it was a step forward, according to NORML political director Justin Strekal.

“For the first time in a generation there will be a candid conversation in the House Judiciary Committee that acknowledges the failures of marijuana prohibition in the United States, how this policy has adversely impacted tens of millions of Americans, and how it must be reformed at the federal level,” said Strekal in a statement. “The ongoing classification under federal law of cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance — a categorization that treats it in the same manner as heroin — is intellectually dishonest and has been scientifically debunked.

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“It is high time that Congress address this Flat-Earth policy and move forward with a plan that appropriately reflects marijuana’s rapidly changing cultural status in America.”

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Seeing CBD

CREDIT: CBD Awareness Project

Kroger announced it will soon sell CBD products, according to Supermarket News. But don’t expect to find pre-rolls next to the pretzels. The company will begin with items like CBD-infused creams, balms, and oils. Expect to see CBD products in CVS stores and The Vitamin Shoppe as well.

CBD Awareness Project

Memphis Needs CBD

Memphis ranked eighth among America’s top 25 cities that need cannabidiol, according to the CBD Awareness Project, an industry awareness group.

Why? The city ranked high for its number of adults with poor mental health, those who get less then seven hours of sleep per night, and those with arthritis or diabetes.

Arkannabis

Greenlight Dispensary was given the green light to open in Helena-West Helena last week and opened on Friday, becoming Arkansas’ fourth medical cannabis dispensary.

Native Green Wellness Center in Hensley was inspected last week and could quickly open if approved. Fiddler’s Green in Mountain View was to be inspected this week.

As of last week, 258 pounds of medical cannabis had been sold in Arkansas for sales of $1.7 million.