News

On November 1st, the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) sent notices to 394 businesses in California that their licenses will be suspended until they comply with certain traceability system requirements. This story was first reported by John Schroyer at Marijuana...

The German city of Bremen (perhaps you know it from the Brothers Grimm and the animal musicians) is determined to force the federal German government to play another tune when it comes to basic access within the city. For those without the special geographic knowledge...

No matter what type of packaging you select for your cannabis product, it needs to be dependable. Packaging is not only the first impression of your company to consumers; it must securely contain and protect the product inside. No one wants to purchase products inside...

You have read the press releases. You may have heard about such ideas at a recent cannabis conference in and around the EU of late. Or you may have encountered new distributors coming into the game with a German presence and a decidedly interesting ex-im plan that...

One of the surest ways to understand that you are entering not just another country, but what is called an “emerging market” is when you travel from Germany to Poland by train. There is only one “intercity” option from Berlin Hauptbahnhoff...

According to a press release published earlier this month, the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) announced the accreditation of both North Coast Analytical Laboratories and North Coast Testing Laboratories to ISO 17025:2017 for cannabis testing....

There is certainly, in retrospect, much to be proud about in Canada – home of one of the most disruptive international cannabis industries in the world. And certainly an early mover. That starts with having the national mojo to begin this journey in the first place,...

The beleaguered CannTrust has been given a way out of the perilous mess that executive management created for the company – but such a salvation comes at a high cost. That said, the company was already in deep water with regulators and clients. Health Canada, in...

The CannTrust story may have shocked the uninitiated, but it hit almost every bogeyman the legitimizing industry has both feared and suffered from, particularly of late. Here, generally, is the issue. Especially in Europe (even more especially in places like Germany,...

Consumers are largely unaware that most commercial cannabis grown today undergoes some form of decontamination to treat the industry’s growing problem of mold, yeast and other microbial pathogens. As more cannabis brands fail regulatory testing for contaminants,...

On August 29, 2019, Health Canada finally published a guidance document on the official interpretation of Part 5 of the Cannabis Regulations concerning “Good Production Practices” that comes into force just seven weeks later on October 17, 2019. For those watching...

Someone approached me the other day, wanting to know what was the real story about hemp and CBD. He said he had “a guy” who gave him a CBD salve as part of a study, supposedly “the good stuff,” to help his knee. He couldn’t understand why he was the only one out of 20...

According to a press release published earlier this week, the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission approved Cannabis Trainers as one of the state’s first vendor training providers. The training program, Sell-SMaRT is the world’s first state-approved cannabis...

You have to give it to this industry. Everyone wants in. And well, Prohibition is so over. The problem is, particularly here in Europe, for the most part, this is either the tedious process of educating doctors, creating medical grade product that insurers will pay...

The cannabis industry is on the road to legitimacy, no matter the bumps, globally. No matter what, and no matter what happens next, that is a good thing. Issues like supply chain transparency, privacy, consumer and patient safety, and of course energy and water use...

Since medical cannabis was legalized in Ohio in 2016, companies that cultivate and process medical cannabis, as well as the plants themselves, have been popping up around the state. Grow Ohio, a dual-licensed Level 1 cultivator and processor, was the first licensed...

Encore Labs is a full-service cannabis testing lab in Pasadena, California, providing all testing needs required by California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC). The BCC requires that cannabis products being sold in licensed dispensaries be tested for cannabinoid...