Sustainable business practices go far beyond recycling cans and turning the lights off at night. Efficient water use, biodegradable packaging and knowing your partners’ ethics are all important steps to cutting your environmental footprint, according to Ben Gelt, chairperson of the Cannabis Certification Council.
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As the winter holidays approach, retail companies routinely find themselves needing extra seasonal help for the extra business. But rather than working inside an Amazon warehouse, you could trim weed instead.
Colorado’s tourism industry has had a complicated relationship with cannabis since the state legalized the plant in late 2012. National hospitality businesses remain scared to touch a federally prohibited substance, while a state law banning public pot consumption has kept the majority of out-of-state dispensary shoppers without somewhere to legally light up.
But that tide may finally be turning.
Today’s cannabis business conferences look a lot different than they did six years ago. No longer a medical-only option with fringe investment opportunities in a few markets, legal cannabis is now a cash engine pushed by hedge funds and corporate financiers eager for new action.
The United States House of Representatives just approved a bill that would allow banks and financial institutions to serve marijuana businesses in states where it is legal without risking federal prosecution, marking a landmark step towards marijuana reform.
After over a year of free-falling, marijuana prices are on the rise in Colorado, according to the state Department of Revenue. But several marijuana producers say those prices could be even higher than the state estimates.
As Colorado’s cannabis industry opens up to more investment opportunities and public funding through a new law that takes effect November 1, expect powerful players to enter the fray. A private company is already beating some of those public corporations to the punch, however, purchasing five well-known dispensaries in the metro area this year alone.
New marijuana business licenses reserved for low-income demographics are set to launch in Colorado in 2020, but questions remain about who should receive these licenses and how they should be regulated.
Vaping is marketed to both tobacco and marijuana smokers as the safer alternative to smoking. But as hundreds of cases of vaping-related illnesses pop up across the country, state and federal health officials are gaining traction in their messaging about the unknown dangers of vape products.
“Vaping products contain more than just harmless water vapor. They are marketed as a ‘safe’ alternative to smoking, but the long-term health effects of vaping are still unknown,” the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment notes on its website.
Starbuds, one of Colorado’s largest dispensary chains, has agreed to sell a handful of stores to a name that’s becoming increasingly common in cannabis-industry acquisition news: Medicine Man Technologies.
But the news doesn’t end there. Today, September 4, Medicine Man Technologies announced it has agreed to buy Colorado Harvest Company, a chain of three dispensaries in Denver and Aurora, for $12.5 million in cash and stock.