Big Tobacco must be prevented from utilizing “its profit-driven product engineering of addictive and deadly products, predatory marketing practices and anti-regulatory expertise” to dominate the legal cannabis industry, according to Andy Tan and Shaleen Title.
Writing in Tobacco Control, the academics say the tobacco industry has a demonstrated history of resisting government regulation, co-opting scientific experts, engineering tobacco products to be more addictive and using substantial marketing budgets to maximize sales and profits of its products. “If tobacco companies are permitted to dominate the legal cannabis industry, this will risk exacerbating public health harms on groups that are disproportionately harmed by tobacco use,” they write.
Driven by declining sales of tobacco products and spreading legalization of cannabis, the tobacco industry has been diversifying into cannabis in recent years.
In January 2016, Philip Morris International invested $20 million in Syqe Medical, which developed a medical cannabis inhaler. In June 2018, Imperial Brands invested in Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies.
In December 2018, Altria Group invested $1.8 billion in Cronos, a Canada-based multinational cannabis company. Imperial Brands in July 2019 acquired a stake in Auxly Cannabis.
If tobacco companies are permitted to dominate the legal cannabis industry, this will risk exacerbating public health harms.
And just last month, BAT signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Organigram, a wholly owned subsidiary of publicly traded Organigram Holdings.
In their piece, Tan and Title urge authorities to restrict Big Tobacco’s participation in the cannabis industry, for example by placing limits on the seizes of cannabis businesses by enforcing regulations on how many stores or plants one individual can own.
Tan is associate professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.
Title is a distinguished cannabis policy practitioner in residence at the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center of the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
Organigram Holdings has acquired The Edibles & Infusions Corp. (EIC) in a CAD35 million ($27.88 million) stock deal, reports Reuters.
EIC specializes in pot edibles, like gummy bears, brownies and drinks, and have been the biggest beneficiaries of increased demand for cannabis products during coronavirus lockdowns.
Edible products remain an important product category to Organigram, and EIC represents an ideal partner with which to expand our market presence in this category as well as other derivative cannabis categories.
“Edible products remain an important product category to Organigram, and EIC represents an ideal partner with which to expand our market presence in this category as well as other derivative cannabis categories,” Organigram Chief Executive Greg Engel said.
PAX Labs has launched the Era Life cannabis vaporizer. Created for the on-the-go consumer. According to the company, Era Life delivers an effortless experience without compromising on full flavor, vapor or consistency. The device brings together a high performing battery with PAX’s most compact device yet. Era Life works with any PAX Era pod, featuring curated, high-purity cannabis, produced by one of PAX’s carefully selected partners across the country. Era Life is available in the colors Onyx, Grass, Blaze and Indigo.
“We designed the Era Life to provide a simple, fun way to enjoy cannabis while still carrying the PAX promise of iconic design and enduring quality that our customers have come to know and trust,” said Colt Stander, head of product at PAX Labs, in a statement.
We designed the Era Life to provide a simple, fun way to enjoy cannabis while still carrying the PAX promise of iconic design and enduring quality.
“Cannabis is one of today’s fastest growing industries and we’re seeing new consumers enter the space rapidly. We’ve taken the best PAX has to offer, perfected the core functionality, and packaged it up in our most portable design yet—perfect for those who want the easiest possible experience but still care about durability, aesthetics, and safety in the products they use.”
PAX’s temperature control checks the temperature 125 times per second, ensuring a consistent temperature that delivers a full, never-burnt flavor throughout the life of the pod. Whether using lower temperature for more flavor or higher temperature for more vapor, Era Life creates smooth airflow through laser cut sidings and achieves better hits every time.
Era Life provides more than 150 puffs per charge and an easy-to-read LED low battery indicator ensures it’s never without juice. The product is UL-certified, meeting the leading safety standards
Priced at $35, Era Life is available for purchase by those 21 and over beginning on pax.com and at licensed retailers in legal U.S. states where PAX products are sold.
The Tobacco Authority of Thailand (TOAT) plans to start planting hemp for commercial purposes by August, reports The Bangkok Post.
The Council of State is currently reinterpreting the Tobacco Authority of Thailand Act that states TOAT can only produce tobacco leaves and other plants. The council decides if TOAT is legally eligible to produce hemp for commercial purposes, said TOAT governor Panuphol Rattanakanjanapatra. The decision is expected next week.
TOAT will focus on production of hemp in the preliminary stage, which can be used for medical and industrial purposes. TOAT aims to encourage 13,500 tobacco farmers to shift to hemp or cannabis farming to increase their income; the authority cut its tobacco leaf purchases to 13 million kg per year from 20 million kg per year.
The Tobacco Authority of Thailand (TOAT) is hoping that sales of cannabis and hemp extracts will help compensate for deteriorating income from tobacco production, reports the Bangkok Post.
The TOAT is drafting a ministerial regulation to give the organization the authority to grow and produce extracts from cannabis and hemp, which can be used in medicine and cosmetics, said TOAT governor Panuphol Rattanakanjanapatra.
Although the Tobacco Act stipulates TOAT can produce tobacco leaves and other plants, clarity is needed on TOAT conducting R&D on cannabis and hemp for commercial purposes.
The business value of cannabis and hemp could reach tens of billions of baht, according to Panuphol.
At present, a two-tier system is applied for excise duties levied on cigarettes. A 20 percent tax rate is applied to the retail price for packs costing up to THB60 ($1.95).
If the retail price exceeds THB60 per pack, a 40 percent tax rate is applied.
A flat tax rate of 40 percent was scheduled to be applied in October 2019, regardless of the retail price, but there has been opposition from the authority and tobacco farmers.
The BAT Group (BAT) has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Organigram, a wholly owned subsidiary of publicly traded Organigram Holdings, focused on research and product development activities of next-generation adult cannabis products with an initial focus on cannabidiol (CBD).
This agreement augments ongoing BAT activities to expand its portfolio “beyond nicotine” and follows the pilot launch of Vuse CBD Zone in Manchester, U.K., earlier this year.
Through the collaboration, BAT will gain access to cutting-edge R&D technologies, product innovation and cannabis expertise, complementing BAT’s extensive plant-based expertise and development capabilities.
Organigram has a proven track record of consumer-led innovation and developing high quality adult-use recreational and medical cannabis products, which are legally available in Canada.
We believe this collaboration has significant potential to enhance our activities.
“Today’s announcement underscores our commitment to accelerating our transformation and building ‘A Better Tomorrow,’” said David O’Reilly, director of scientific research at BAT, in a statement. “Our multi-category, consumer-centric approach, which is key to our transformation, aims to provide choice and meet the evolving needs of adult consumers. This choice provides reduced risk alternatives to combustible cigarettes as well as going beyond tobacco and nicotine into new and exciting areas of product innovation.
“We believe this collaboration has significant potential to enhance our activities, allowing us to combine our world-class expertise while enabling scientists from both BAT and Organigram to work closely together and share information real-time. We know that in R&D, this is how you make real breakthroughs and accelerate progress.
“We have been impressed by the strong management team and culture at Organigram. This collaboration aligns with our long-term strategy and will enable us to work with Organigram at an R&D level as well as contributing to their wider operations.”
We have been extremely selective about aligning with a strategic partner.
“This is a tremendous milestone in the evolution of Organigram,” said Greg Engel, CEO of Organigram, in a statement. “It is instrumental in advancing our commitment to offering consumers innovative cannabis products and to furthering our long-term international strategy. We have been extremely selective about aligning with a strategic partner and in BAT, we’ve found a leading consumer goods business with innovative product platforms, an impressive dedication to research and development, deep consumer insights, regulatory expertise and a commitment to responsible stewardship and consumer safety.”
Solari Hemp is a Colorado-based fully integrated farm-to-shelf supplier of THC-free CBD products.
By Timothy S. Donahue
Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the fastest-growing industries on the planet. It’s motivated by the ever-growing popularity of the supplements on the global market. However, according to a Consumer Brands Association (CBA) survey, nearly four in 10 Americans incorrectly assume CBD is just another name for marijuana. The survey also found that consumers said that the quality and safety of the product were extremely important when making a CBD purchasing decision.
Solari Hemp, founded in 2018 in Longmont, Colorado, USA, is a fully integrated farm-to-shelf hemp company with on-premises growing, extracting, shipping and sales/marketing capabilities. The company sells only 100 percent THC-free CBD products. Solari Hemp maintains full control over the production/development process of its products from start to finish, according to Colin Gallagher, co-founder and CEO of Solari Hemp.
“For us, it’s about being a company that has roots in the C-store industry and understands the needs and complexities of operating with products that are in a regulatory gray area,” he says. “We want our partners to trust the team behind Solari and the people behind it; trust the brand and the quality of the product you’re getting. We test all the way through seed to shelf. We offer transparency in the testing. We are doing things the right way. It’s about being good retail partners. Our success is their success.”
Colin Gallagher / Credit: Solari Hemp
Solari means “land exposed to the sun” in Italian. As a child’s name, it can be translated to “beauty greater than the sun.” Gallagher says he and his team wanted to create a packaging design that didn’t have the in-your-face marijuana branding often associated with such products or that could be misconstrued as a pharmaceutical product. The sun became the logo. It even has a little hidden “S” in the middle.
Gallagher says he was working at Smoker Friendly International, and the CBD market was just starting to grow. The company decided it wanted to start carrying a CBD brand in its stores. Gallagher soon discovered that there was little transparency throughout the CBD supply chain, and many manufacturers could not guarantee consistent quality in their products. No product could meet the quality standards and quantities he needed. Gallagher wanted to do it better. He soon started talking with two industry colleagues and discovered they had similar ideas about what a CBD brand needs to be successful.
“We decided that we could all work together and create a new company … use our experience, our trust and established relationships within the C-store industry to create a brand and a product that had a full chain of custody from seed to shelf,” he says. “We decided to just get out there and do it ourselves.”
There is a lot of talent on the Solari team. Myorr Janha, co-founder and chief marketing officer, was previously responsible for global marketing, corporate communications and business development initiatives for Rush Communications and Simmons Design Group. With over 25 years of marketing experience managing a variety of brands spanning diverse sectors in entertainment, lifestyle and philanthropy, Janhaeads Solari’s marketing, advertising and PR strategy.
Jake Salazar, co-founder and Solari’s chief development officer, is a fifth-generation Colorado native. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the cannabis industry by High Times magazine in 2018 and 2019 for his accomplishments over the past 12 years in cannabis genetics and the hemp business. Salazar heads genetics R&D and business development for Solari. He also helped craft the original legislation to legalize marijuana in Colorado.
Gallagher oversees the daily operations of the company. He grew up around consumer product goods and convenience retail operations and previously served as the director of operations and business development for Smoker Friendly.
Back to the farm
While many things stand out about Solari, its farming operation is the foundation of the company. In 2017 and 2018, the CBD market was experiencing shortages of wholesale CBD. Gallagher didn’t want to go through the process of creating a product and launching a product only to have a supply shortage and not be able to support sales. That’s when the company started looking for its own farms.
“We found some farmers who had farmed hemp from early 2014 and then got out of it. They’re traditional, fourth-generation Colorado farmers. We brought them in as equity partners. We really wanted to learn about the product and be leaders in the industry,” explained Gallagher. “There’s still a lot of education that needs to happen in terms of just understanding hemp [compared to marijuana]. We are trying to be a leader in the market and do things the right way, our way, and have full transparency.”
The Solari team began its first farm on just three acres to test its product. In 2018, Solari farmed 150 acres (about 6,000 plants) and continues to have the ability to expand. Like many hemp farmers, Solari did not farm in 2020 because there was an excess of hemp biomass in the market due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The company needed to step back. It was about survival.
“The pandemic put a damper on sales. We know a lot of farmers and extractors who went out of business. There are high capital costs in the extraction process, and you have to have high-yielding crops. The higher your CBD potency, the better your yields. It’s all about efficiencies and that effectively impacts your cost of goods sold,” says Gallagher, adding that farming is also expensive. “Farming is challenging. The harvesting technology, drying technology—especially when you have a large crop. You need to get it out of the ground and get it dried and ready for extraction so it doesn’t go bad.”
Hemp is like a vacuum cleaner, absorbing all that a soil has to offer, both good and bad. Gallagher says that heavy metals and pesticides on the plant or in the soil may be present in the resulting oil after the hemp is refined. The only way to avoid exposure to these contaminants is to know exactly where the hemp is grown. Solari’s seed-to-shelf process ensures its hemp adheres to the company’s high-quality standards. “Our crops are grown on our farms in Colorado without the use of any pesticides and our soil is consistently tested for heavy metals,” says Gallagher. “A reputable brand should always disclose the location [in which] the hemp was grown so a consumer has full disclosure prior to purchasing the product.”
To isolate the CBD-rich oil from the hemp plant, a multistep extraction process is used to remove fats, lipids, cannabinoids and terpenes. Different extraction methods can provide a variety of advantages; however, testing after extraction for pesticides, heavy metals and residual solvents that can be present during the extraction process is vital. “Extraction is just dialing in the equipment to get the highest yields from the crude. We consistently test all of our final products to ensure there are no harmful chemicals or contaminants present within its extracts before it is sent to a third party to be tested again,” says Gallagher. “We control the entire process. Our retail partners, and consumers too, like having that transparency. It gives us an advantage in the market because it’s a product you can trust and there’s traceability. We do third-party testing to ensure consistency and quality. We also use a CBD isolate that guarantees we have absolutely no THC in our products.”
Empire of the sun
Today, the Solari line of products is sold in 2,000 stores to 3,000 stores, including Smoker Friendly, Rutter’s Farms, Town Pump, Food Lion and numerous independent C-stores. The company offers 23 SKUs, including gummies, tinctures, soft gels and topicals (balms, roll-ons and creams).
Credit: Solari Hemp
Gallagher says that launching a brand at the end of 2019 going into 2020 was greatly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the C-store channel, it’s about face-to-face meetings, building trust in each other and building trust in the product, according to Gallagher. He says that not being able to fully develop those relationships and not being able to go to trade shows and sample the products was a nightmare.
“It was a challenge, for sure. But we adapted. For us, it is more about just being able to be fully transparent and able to deliver a high-quality but affordable product. That’s another one of our big things: affordability. In the C-stores, we don’t [expect people] to come in and pay $50, $60 for a tincture,” explains Gallagher. “It’s something that’s kind of a grab-and-go item, so our lowest-priced item is $6.99. Then it’s supporting the brand, supporting the retailer and understanding their business, and working with them to make the product successful. I think this dedication to the retailer separates us from the pack. It’s about those relationships and doing things the right way and not creating more work for our partners.”
Moving forward, Gallagher says Solari must remain innovative, whether it’s a function of product or delivery. He says the company is currently working on some new products that are expected to come on the market this year. There is so much competition in the CBD industry that Gallagher says you have to think outside the box to survive. He says that CBD beverages, for example, are a fast-growing CBD segment, and that could potentially be part of Solari’s portfolio.
“We see a huge future for the beverage industry, and that’s on our radar. If you’re going to release a new product, it’s got to be something that grabs people’s attention. I mean, at the end of the day, your product has to work, right?” Gallagher asks. “People have to believe in the product itself and then it needs to be different. If you take something that’s like a pull on the cap of a beverage and you push it down and shake it up, that’s different, right? We are trying to be innovative and thinking about things that aren’t currently on the market.”
Regulations are also coming soon for the CBD market in the U.S. The FDA has already announced proposals for the industry. Today, most CBD products are manufactured by smaller companies, and, absent consistent regulation, it is up to the individual businesses to invest in the research that protects consumers. Gallagher says he wants to see responsible regulation, and the industry needs to help decide what those regulations may entail.
“I don’t think it’ll be like the PMTAs [premarket tobacco product applications] the FDA uses with tobacco and vapor. We need input from the industry to get things done the right way. Part of that is keeping the bad actors out,” says Gallagher. “I think this administration will certainly be more friendly to cannabis in general [than it was toward tobacco and e-cigarettes]. I think there will be more regulation on the smokable side, meaning it’s something that you inhale. Anything that is like a tobacco product and used in a similar fashion and is not currently taxed … will be regulated.”
For Solari, the company remains focused on continuing to being an innovator in the industry, focused on becoming a household name. “We want to be a recognizable label,” says Gallagher. “We want Solari to be the brand that people associate with quality and trust. That’s something that will never change.”
22nd Century Group has secured an exclusive agreement with CannaMetrix for the use of that company’s proprietary human cell-based testing CannaMetrix EC50Array technology. The technology will enable 22nd Century to accelerate the commercialization of new disruptive hemp/cannabis plant lines and intellectual property.
Since reporting third quarter earnings, 22nd Century has refocused its hemp/cannabis strategy to target the upstream segments of the cannabinoid value chain. In particular, the company seeks to accelerate the delivery of valuable commercial-scale plant lines and intellectual property for the life science, consumer product and pharmaceutical end-use markets.
With the addition of CannaMetrix, 22nd Century has now secured four out of the five key partnerships needed to maximize each component in the upstream segment of the cannabinoid value chain: plant profiling (CannaMetrix), plant biotechnology (KeyGene), plant cultivation (Panacea-Needle Rock Farm) and ingredient extraction/purification (Panacea). The company is also in final discussions with top-tier plant breeders that will be announced soon.
“22nd Century is extremely excited to add CannaMetrix into our secured network of value chain partners to increase the speed at which we develop and offer disruptive plant lines and intellectual property for the hemp/cannabis industry. For example, a plant line that would typically take 10 years or longer to develop can now be achieved in two years,” said James A. Mish, CEO of 22nd Century Group, in a statement.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with 22nd Century Group,” stated Harold Smith, founder and CEO of CannaMetrix. “They are the ideal partner, bringing decades-long experience in plant biotechnology with unmatched ability in developing valuable commercial plant lines. We believe that through this exclusive partnership, the development of new hemp/cannabis lines for large-scale cultivation and production will advance at a rapid pace and transform the hemp/cannabis industry.”
The cannabis vaping industry may be making some of the same mistakes as the nicotine vaping industry. A study led by University of Queensland researchers finds that YouTube videos glorifying cannabis vaping as fun and joyful are widely available and easily accessible by youth. The videos studied showed elements of risk-taking behavior including vaping a whole cartridge of THC—the main psychoactive compound in cannabis—in a single setting, and 52 percent of videos had no age access restrictions.
photo: Jeremynathan | Dreamstime
Lead author Ph.D. student Carmen Lim from UQ’s National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research said the volume and accessibility of YouTube videos promoting cannabis vaping was concerning. It was also an issue faced by nicotine vaping companies and is often labeled as a cause for the rise in youth vaping.
“There’s been an increase in the potency of cannabis over the last two decades, and more recently, there has been a significant rise in the number of young people who are vaping cannabis,” Miss Lim said. “Unrestricted access to the large volume of YouTube videos portraying cannabis vaping as fun and joyful could increase uptake among adolescents.”
The UQ research team searched for cannabis vaping videos on YouTube between 2016 and 2020 and categorized these into prominent themes—advertisement, product review, celebratory, reflective, how-to, and warning.
Metrics around the number of views, likes, dislikes, and comments for each video were recorded, according to an article in MedicalXpress. Co-lead author Dr. Gary Chan from UQ’s National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research said many of the YouTube videos on vaping cannabis had no age restrictions, meaning children and adolescents could easily access them.
“Only around 25 percent of cannabis vaping-related videos communicate the potential harms of cannabis vaping,” Chan said. “The videos with a ‘how-to’ theme were viewed more than five million times and videos with a ‘celebratory’ theme, expressing the fun and joy of cannabis vaping, were viewed more than seven million times. As YouTube has become a popular source of accessing cannabis-related information, we need to reduce the accessibility of cannabis-related content to adolescents.”
This is the first study to examine the availability of cannabis vaping videos on YouTube since cannabis became legal in many jurisdictions in North America. The researchers hope the study results are used to inform a future regulatory framework on YouTube and other social media platforms around mandating age restrictions on videos promoting cannabis use.
22nd Century Group has developed and launched a technology platform that will enable the company and its strategic partners to quickly identify and incorporate commercially valuable traits of hemp/cannabis plants to create new, stable hemp/cannabis lines. The platform incorporates a suite of proprietary molecular tools and a large library of genomic markers and gene-trait correlations. The platform was developed in collaboration with researchers at KeyGene, a global leader in plant research involving high-value genetic traits and increased crop yields.
“This is a major breakthrough. Quickly and easily identifying the genes responsible for specific traits in a plant is a powerful tool for 22nd Century Group and the hemp/cannabis industry as a whole,” said James A. Mish, chief executive officer of 22nd Century Group, in a statement.
“That is why we are even now beginning discussions to license this platform to strategic partners to help them improve their plant breeding techniques and to optimize their hemp/cannabis cultivars. We continue to make great advancements through our partnership with KeyGene, and this newly developed molecular breeding platform has the potential to result in exponential growth for the company’s revenues and create new value opportunities for our stakeholders, including shareholders.”
“Using traditional breeding techniques, it typically takes at least eight to 10 years to develop new varieties of hemp/cannabis plants that consistently express important traits,” said Juan Sanchez Tamburrino, vice president of research and development at 22nd Century Group.
“Our new molecular breeding platform can dramatically reduce our development time for new high-value varieties of hemp/cannabis and allows 22nd Century scientists to identify plant lines that carry high levels of major therapeutic cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol, cannabichromene, and other minor therapeutic cannabinoids, like cannabidivarin and tetrahydrocannabivarin.”
Demonstrating how this technology can be used, 22nd Century and KeyGene scientists can now accelerate the selection of specific traits yielding novel cannabinoid profiles. For example, the team was able to select specific markers that predict the gender of hemp/cannabis plants with 99.6 percent accuracy.
