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Wednesday, April 5, 2023
California “Burner Licenses” Continue to Plague
California has no shortage of issues with its legalized cannabis marketplace. For a couple of years now, an open secret in California (and a cautionary tale for other states) is the concept of “burner licenses“. These are licenses issued to a company by the Department of Cannabis Control (“DCC”) that are used to conduct illegal, interstate trafficking of cannabis.
This burner license issue has gotten so bad that The Green Market Report recently detailed how a California cannabis entrepreneur found his own, branded cannabis products on the shelves of a New York dispensary. The dispensary let him know that it came from a “burner distro” in California. The Green Market Report also quoted New York cannabis regulator, Axel Bernabe, saying “[b]urner distros are the bane of our existence.”
This kind of situation begs the question: should states be charged with greater enforcement against this particular kind of illegal activity, or would interstate cannabis agreements (assuming they ever come to fruition) actually help? The answer is likely, yes, states need to ramp up enforcement for unlawful interstate commerce (otherwise, what is the point of even getting a state license). And, yes, interstate cannabis agreements could help mitigate these issues (but we won’t see them anytime soon for a number of reasons I detail here).
Enforcement (or lack thereof)
I hit on California a lot for enforcement issues because that’s the state where my cannabis clients suffer the most. And when I talk about enforcement, I’m not talking about throwing people in jail for violating the Medicinal and Adult Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act– that isn’t even really possible anymore under state law. What I am saying (and have said before) is that the state has done a terrible job of going after “bad actor” licensees for basic and fundamental regulatory violations.
By this time, everyone has heard of these burner licenses in California, and it’s an incredible disappointment that no enforcement campaign has been formulated by the state around that issue. Plus, you have all kinds of hidden ownership and financial interests, and the state just doesn’t seem interested in pursuing civil and/or administrative penalties with any consistency there.
What’s the incentive to get licensed and remain in compliance if there’s no stick when the carrot doesn’t work? Having a license should actually mean something for consistently law-abiding, tax-paying licensees when it comes to the state’s enforcement efforts. Limited enforcement against obviously illegal, unlicensed operators on random occasion isn’t enough. And to any state that allows its licensees to routinely accept illegal products without consequence– I’m also looking at you. It’s not a good way to commence your newly legal markets, because you’ll immediately lose the trust and faith of law-abiding licensees.
Local control isn’t really controlling any illegal activity
While I’m tough on the DCC, California cities and counties are also to blame. California is a heavy “local control” state when it comes to cannabis. Our cities and counties tend to go one of two ways on cannabis companies and local regulation: free-for-all, or highest barriers to entry you can imagine. California cannabis companies have to secure local approval before they can approach the DCC for a state license. Localities tend to build out their government codes with all of the standard anti-diversion and government oversight provisions you’d expect so that, ideally, a burner license doesn’t end up within their borders.
You can create the highest barriers to entry in the world, but if you don’t actually monitor and enforce, they’re totally meaningless. These strictures simply alienate a good portion of the cannabis economy as a result. And the “free-for-all” jurisdictions that just allow anyone to operate a cannabis business aren’t helpful either, because the barriers to entry are way too low and there’s no enforcement (and oftentimes corruption). Given the lack of widespread local enforcement, it’s also no wonder that burner licenses persist in the Golden State. So, states that have recently legalized or are contemplating legalization should take heed: local control doesn’t mean anything in curbing illegality without teeth or enforcement oversight.
How to find a burner license
In my opinion, here are the likely signs of a burner license:
- Locally approved, state licensed company that has no entries into METRC, or just a few sporadic entries here per financial quarter (meaning, it’s showing little to no official sales activities);
- Locally approved, state licensed company with no history of paying any kind of state or local taxes (or consistently underpaying those taxes to ward off suspicion);
- Management companies or third parties run the entire operation but aren’t disclosed to local or state regulators;
- Multi-layered, covert ownership that isn’t entirely disclosed to local or state regulators;
- Non-existent or inconsistent camera footage of the locally approved, state licensed facility, with no recording history or any recordkeeping saved on site; and
- No banking relationship, all cash basis of operations. (Don’t laugh– at this point, 755 financial institutions are providing banking services to licensed cannabis companies, so if you’re licensed and legit, you likely have a bank account if you want it.)
Of course, the above isn’t exhaustive or conclusive given the depressing economic state of the California market, but they are indicators of suspicious operations. I understand that it takes manpower and resources to mount investigations on the local and state level against these burner licensees; but the industry, itself, should not be afraid to self-police for survival at this point.
Desperate times call for desperate measures?
There’s a lot of hearsay in the cannabis industry. However, the feedback in California is that even legitimate cannabis businesses occasionally turn to the illegal market to stay afloat in the face of low prices and high taxes in the regulated market. I cannot know to what extent the scuttlebutt is true, but I do know that many of these company owners have invested their life savings into this democratic experiment, only to see it nearly crater into increasingly distressed assets.
Interstate cannabis agreements
Interstate cannabis agreements might actually help with all of this illegal diversion. If the states (and better yet, the feds) opened up lawful channels of interstate partner trade, it would infuse struggling markets like California, and it would dampen the ability of illegal operators to continue at this volume.
The problem with the interstate cannabis agreements is the federal government. Obviously, with cannabis as a schedule I controlled substance, interstate movement of cannabis is a big no no (as reflected in the 2013 Cole Memo). Even if the states with legalization could pull off interstate cannabis agreements, we have to wonder what the Department of Justice would do to individual cannabis businesses when it comes to enforcement.
But I think we’re a long way off from seeing any kind of state-sanctioned interstate cannabis activity anyway.
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A Pseudo-Scientific Analysis of Why Rec Weed Sucks
I’m not here to talk about any specific brand or any specific strain, but in my capacity as a journalist, I have been tasked with truth-telling and to tell you the truth: I have been extremely disappointed with the lack of quality in the California rec cannabis market as of late.
We’ve all heard the news stories and the insufferable bitching from corporate cannabis CEOs about how the legal market just can’t compete with the traditional market, but past the press releases and the buck-passing, anyone in the cannabis space should be asking themselves: what exactly is standing in the way of truly good weed being widely available on legal shelves?
To find the answer to that question, I enlisted the help of some California and Emerald Triangle cannabis staples who have been around long enough to know what good weed is and/or have all managed to put fire onto dispensary shelves. Sourwaves is a long-time grower and meme maker who has lived in infamy for years for his unwillingness to take his foot off the industry’s neck when it comes to growing practices and quality.
John Casali of Huckleberry Hill Farms has been growing and living in the same valley of the Emerald Triangle for his entire life and has multiple awards under his belt including a 1st place Ego Clash win for the Riddlez rosin processed by Heritage Hash Co. Finally, Robert Gale of Humboldt Terp Council produces some of the finest concentrates I have ever had the pleasure of dabbing and is a vocal member of the Humboldt County community on the state of the industry and of cannabis in general.
After extensive conversations with the aforementioned, I have boiled down the most likely causes of mass boof to the following three explanations:
- Excessive Government red tape/taxes
- Corporate margin slimming/market manipulation
- General lack of growing experience
Uncle Boof-Smoking Sam
Almost every state has objectively bungled the way they set up their cannabis laws either to the tune of a “pay-to-play” market or a lack of foresight when it comes to issues of license caps or lack of maximums on canopy space or both.
“Basically overproduction and over-taxation have caused a race to the bottom and everybody is losing,” Gale said. “The other issues are, especially with flower, it has only a certain window where it’s good and it takes so long to get through processing, packaging and testing that unless you’re vertically integrated the weed’s already getting old by the time it hits a shelf.”
Testing is its own beast of burden. Every legal state requires some form of THC testing but with little to no guidance on exactly how that process needs to be performed, it has opened the door for manipulation and consumer confusion when they buy a 31% THC eighth that doesn’t get them high at all.
“There’s no set calibration for testing, one. Two, you can buy test results,” Sourwaves said, referring to the lack of regulations surrounding the methodology in which California labs perform tests. “You’re gonna pay more than the next lab but that’s what makes the lab popular. ‘Oh, my, THC is over 30%,’ that makes things fly off the shelf. There’s little tricks people do to make a test hot, like drying it super, super dry and stuff like that.”
In addition to overproduction and over-taxation, many cannabis industry business owners have lamented that excessive regulations on how cannabis businesses have to operate have caused industry gridlock and a slough of unnecessary money hang-ups.
“One of our biggest hurdles is having to go give [our cannabis] to a distributor who takes 17%, who doesn’t pay us up front. Then they give it to a retailer who doesn’t pay that distributor who doesn’t pay us. And then, if the customer doesn’t buy that product, or it takes them a year to pay the retailer, it takes a year to pay the distributor, who then in return takes a year to pay the farmer,” Casali said. “More [often] than not most of us farmers don’t get paid a lot of times.”
Revenge of the Chads in Rec Markets
The jury is out: big money is growing too much weed for their own good. Of all the people I’ve talked to in cannabis throughout the duration of my lifetime, scale is the number one cited culprit of boof production. However, extreme scale is also an extremely effective tool if you’re a really rich dude who wants to get into cannabis but would prefer if all the traditional market cultivators got conveniently arrested or set on fire.
This mentality has led to market manipulation and pushing out of legacy operators by massive grow companies, some of whom have been accused (if not informally) of shmoozing and lobbying politicians for economically unsound favors like removing a one-acre cap on cultivation licenses, for instance, or generally making it easier for people to buy their way into the industry and weed people out who have less capital.
“If a guy has a one-acre grow, it’s just basic economics of why the bigger guys cost less to produce a pound of weed,” Sourwaves said. “So, these goons over at Glass House got their costs probably between $30 and $60 a pound so if they need to go crash the market selling packs for $150-$250 It’s because and they know that these smaller farms cannot keep up with these low prices.”
For someone like Casali who grows only 5,000 sq ft of canopy, which he hand waters with his girlfriend/partner, it’s virtually impossible to compete with the margins set by some of the larger operators, so even if the product is vastly better in quality, it creates a situation in which the consumer is faced with a dirt cheap option decent enough to defend saving the $20-$40 extra per eighth they would have spent on something worth smoking.
“Growing in the Emerald triangle, it costs a lot more to produce a pound and in the country up in the hills, being environmentally friendly it costs us between $300 and $400 to produce a pound,” Casali said.
“You have people who are solely in this to make money and this is America I’m not against making money it’s not that. The problem is that the weed sucks, right? So how do we make that better?” Sourwaves said.
While no one I’ve ever talked to had a hard line for a plant or light count considered “too big to be dank” almost everyone could attest that once you pass a certain threshold, it’s basically impossible to produce quality bud and at the scale some of the California producers are producing at, it has created a perfect storm of dogshit.
“There’s a few people doing it, but they’re few and far between. I think a place like Fig Farms has managed to keep their quality up and slowly get bigger,” Gale said. “Man, it’s hard to scale quality. Most of the stuff that we view as quality doesn’t stand a chance to what the people are still producing on the traditional market.”
No Love for the Plant, No Knowledge About the Plant
I have never met a single grower worth their salt in my time as a weed nerd who didn’t love the plant and/or sacrifice an immense amount of time and hard work for the plant. Maybe that’s some hippie mumbo-jumbo I picked up whilst on acid in the Arcata plaza, but if every good grower on Earth says the same thing, there’s a pretty good chance they know what they’re talking about and they all stress that while it may be easier than ever to learn how to grow, you still gotta put in your 10,000 hours to be able to consistently produce the best representation of the plant.
One thing Sourwaves stressed to me in terms of growing techniques he believes lead to poor quality are high intensity, full synthetic nutrient cycles for big indoor grows which he thinks could be made incrementally better by the introduction of organic nutrients in addition to the synthetics.
“When you’re feeding super high EC several times a day, and you’re forcing that plant to uptake all these nutrients because you’re using sensors to measure your dry backs, and it’s telling you how and what you need to feed that crap. Access to that information is so dope, don’t get me wrong, but the way that is being manipulated to push the crop to a higher yield, It does not result in a pleasurable smoke to the end user,” Sourwaves said.
The lack of experience and lack of love for the plant seems to extend to every part of the industry beyond just the cultivators.
“Even in 2018-2019 if you worked at a dispensary it’s because you loved weed and because you wanted to be closer to it, Gale said. “And now that we’re like five years into legalization, and the truth is you’ve got a lot of staff at dispensaries that applied to 10 different places, and the dispensary happened to call them instead of Subway or the shoe store or Orange Julius.”
Could it be that Mother Nature simply has a fail-safe from allowing herself to be taken advantage of by people who do not show her the love she deserves or is this more mumbo and more jumbo? Many growers I’ve spoken to firmly believe that when you put in the work, it comes back.
“Most of us, our parents, were part of the back to the land movement. They taught us that it’s just as important to take care of the environment and take care of the land and the more time and the more energy and the more love that you put into any kind of plants, whether it’s fruit trees, whether it’s grapes, or vegetables, or cannabis plants, the more time, the more energy and the more love you give them, the better they turn out in the end,” Casali said.
So what do we do about all this, asked the obnoxious journalist who was taught never to ask rhetorical questions. In a nutshell:
- We get rid of the excise taxes and any/all red tape standing in between the grower and the consumer so small growers can make a living.
- We put a reasonable cap on license size and/or the number of active licenses so the Chads can still play but don’t ruin it for everyone else.
- People growing cannabis for a living need to learn how to f***ing grow.
- Show respect for the plant and the plant will respect you.
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Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Brighten up 420 with Tropicana Cookies—April’s Leafly HighLight strain
The Tangie and GSC family combine for a winner.
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Powerful Alliances: Twitter, Uber, Politicians, Investors, And Cannabis Companies Converge At The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference In Miami, April 11-12
The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, renowned as the world’s largest and most successful cannabis investing and finance event, is returning to the iconic Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami on April 11-12, 2023.
With over 3,000 industry operators, investors, policymakers, and advocates expected to attend, registrations have surged by 30% compared to last year, reflecting the industry’s rapid expansion. It is expected that 90% of the total cannabis market cap will be at this event, making it the perfect place to network with the top operators in the space.
Twitter and Uber Dive into the Budding Cannabis Industry
In a major development, Twitter and Uber are set to participate in the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, highlighting the increasing crossover between mainstream business and the cannabis sector.
Alexa Alianello of Twitter US Sales & Partnerships, Rohan Routroy of Twitter NEXT, as well as Jesse Young, Global Lead of New Ventures at Uber Technologies, are among the top executives scheduled to speak.
This marks the first time Twitter executives will meet with cannabis industry leaders to discuss the social media giant’s role in cannabis advertising, making it the first platform in the social media landscape to open its doors to the burgeoning industry.
Politicians Join the Conversation
The conference will also witness the participation of prominent politicians, including Rep. Dave Joyce, U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 14th Congressional District, and Rep. Troy Carter, U.S. Representative for Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District.
Their attendance underlines the importance of political support for the continued growth and mainstream acceptance of the cannabis industry.
A Hub for Networking and Learning Opportunities
The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference offers an unrivaled platform for networking, deal-making, and knowledge-sharing among the world’s leading cannabis investors and top-performing companies. Among the star-studded lineup of speakers are Gina Collins (CMO, Trulieve), Emily Paxhia (Managing Partner, Poseidon), Tim Seymour (CNBC News Anchor, and Founder and CIO of Seymour Asset Management), Matt Darin (CEO, Curaleaf), and many more.
The event provides attendees with an exceptional opportunity to learn about thriving in the cannabis business amid challenging market conditions, discovering the next generation of industry-leading businesses, and understanding what investors are seeking in today’s market. Attendees will also have the chance to connect with CEOs and decision-makers from top industry companies, gain insider access to celebrities, and drive public opinion and narratives via the largest financial media voice in the sector.
The 2023 Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is set to be an indispensable event for cannabis entrepreneurs and investors looking to forge new partnerships, generate meaningful ventures, and engage in vital conversations about the current state of the industry.
Check out the full lineup here and get your tickets here. Prices are surging fast!
Ten reasons to join the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference:
1. Learn how to thrive in your cannabis business amid a bear market.
2. Discover the next generation of industry-leading businesses.
3. Identify exclusive opportunities for retail investors.
4. Gain invaluable tactics from the most profitable businesses.
5. Learn what investors are looking for in a challenging market.
6. Network with CEOs and decision-makers from top companies in the industry. 7. Gain insider access to celebrities sharing their stories and brand-building secrets. 8. Ask industry leaders and celebrities your burning questions and receive real-time answers.
9. Drive public opinion and your own narrative via the largest financial media voice in the industry.
10. Connect with your next investor or co-founder and make lasting friendships.
BONUS: Don’t miss the tantalizing Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference afterparty, an irresistible evening set for April 12 at the illustrious LIV nightclub, nestled within the iconic Fontainebleau Hotel. Prepare to be mesmerized by scintillating performances from seductive artists like Lexy Panterra and a plethora of enticing surprises that await you.
The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is designed to help cannabis entrepreneurs and investors make the most of their time, offering an unparalleled opportunity for networking, deal-making, and learning from the world’s leading cannabis investors and top-performing companies.
Don’t miss out on this year’s exceptional speaker lineup, including:
● Alexa Alianiello, Twitter US Sales & Partnerships
● Rohan Routroy, Twitter NEXT
● Rep. Dave Joyce, U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 14th Congressional District
● Rep. Troy Carter, U.S. Representative for Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District
● Jessie Young, Global Lead, New Verticals, Uber Technologies
● Gina Collins, CMO, Trulieve
● Emily Paxhia, Managing Partner, Poseidon
● Tim Seymour, CNBC News Anchor and Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Seymour Asset Management (SAM)
● Matt Darin, CEO, Curaleaf
● Weldon Angelos, Founder and President, The Weldon Project
● Darren Weiss, COO, Verano Holdings
● David Goubert, President and CEO, Ayr Wellness
● Matt Hawkins, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Entourage Effect Capital
● Kristi Palmer, Co-Founder, Kiva Confections
● Kelly Flores, COO, Wana Brands
● Jason Wild, CIO and President at JW Asset Management
● Wendy Berger, Board Member, Green Thumb Industries
● Paul Weaver, Director and Head of Cannabis at Boston Beer
● Gia Morón, President of Women Grow
“Cannabis businesses have closed deals in aggregate north of $1.5-$2 billion at our prior events. And get ready: the 2023 conference will be even larger, with a record level of investment capital and top-notch operators,” says Chief Zinger Jason Raznick.
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Practice Makes Perfect
Musician, singer, actor, comedian, and beatbox extraordinaire, Reggie Watts has layers like an onion. If onions ate edibles, that is.
Born in Germany and raised in Montana, Watts’s love affair with cannabis started with the finest schwag a teenager’s money could buy. Thankfully, that crispy weed didn’t hinder him as he stayed on a path that led him to learning all of the benefits the cannabis plant has to offer.
Somehow he always gives the audience exactly what they want—not even Watts knows what he’s planning, from a TED Talk and comedy specials to his tones and beats on Comedy Bang! Bang!. His gift comes naturally and what a gift it is.
Edibles have also been a gift to him, not just to reduce stress and anxiety, but as a muse as well. He even takes his love for cannabis steps further, advocating far and wide in loopy improvised musical odes to 4/20 on The Late Late Show with James Corden where he serves as the leader of the show’s band, called Melissa.
We talked to Watts about practicing proper dosage, vibes over terps, and an “edible game” he plays when alone with himself. (Get your minds out of the gutter.)
High Times: What was the weed like growing up in Montana?
Reggie Watts: Oh man, I mean, it was very schwaggy. It was very brown with seeds in it, but we would get really fucked up! I don’t remember its efficiency, I didn’t know anything about that then, but we were high. I guess it came from Mexico? That’s what everyone always said, “It came from Mexico.” Who even knows if it was true.
Do you remember where you got it back then?
I like that question because it’s like you’re trying to score some.
Yeah so, where’d you get that dirt weed from? Can I get that number like, pssst… Reggie sent me?
So yeah, is there an email I get? A number I can hit up? I need some schwag! You know, I don’t know where we got it from back then. It was always my friend that procured it, and I had no idea where he got it. Ok actually, there was one time when I knew where we got it. I had broken into a small pickup truck and behind the seat, there was a huge brown paper bag full of weed. We ended up selling that in the summer, but we kept a bunch too. So that’s where we got some of our weed, but the rest of it my friend Beav got that was probably just from some guy. Maybe he got it from Mexico.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve MacGyvered to smoke pot out of?
Wow, what would that have been? Oh, you know what? This one was a pretty good one. I had this wood coffee table that I got from a thrift store when I was furnishing my first place in Seattle. My friend was a woodworker so, we decided to make one of the corners of the table into a pipe. So, we carved out a bowl and then drilled a hole in the corner so you had to just like, get down on your knees, put some weed on top of the table in the bowl, and draw from the corner of the table. You know what? It worked!
That’s the most random thing I’ve ever heard. Now that you’re a vet in the game, do you have a favorite strain?
My favorite stuff comes from my friend Dave. He’s in a band and grows the most amazing weed. It’s incredible because it’s grown biodynamically and it just has this really chill, fun, and awesome feeling to it. That’s my favorite. I’m not really a connoisseur when it comes to strains and things like that because for me it’s like, is it weed? Ok, lemme get high off of it. I’m not really like, well the terpenes are like… yeah, I have no idea.
“What gets me high? What’s a good vibe? For me it’s about the vibe. When someone is like, this is great for being creative… yeah good, let’s get high. That is all I need and I’m happy.”
– Reggie Watts
That’s so funny because every weed store is like, this is great because of the percent of terps and I’m like, “Let me stop you. I’ll take a sativa. Preferably something fruity.”
Yeah! What gets me high? What’s a good vibe? For me it’s about the vibe. When someone is like, this is great for being creative… yeah good, let’s get high. That is all I need and I’m happy. I also try to stick to edibles because smoking does kind of fuck with my throat.
Ahhh yes. I recall a space cake story you told on A Little Late with Lilly Singh. Have you given space cakes another go or was that it for you?
Of course! I’m not one of those people who give up or have a crazy experience like, “oh I’m never going to do that on stage again.” Of course I’m going to do that on stage again. The one thing I dislike is that every single person I run into when I offer them an edible is like, “I don’t know mannnn, I just can’t, it makes me all urghhhh.” I just feel like, you have to keep trying. You have to practice, know your amounts, and pick a brand that is consistent. People just give up so easily and weed has so many benefits. Don’t pass on it!
I hate to be part of the problem, but I once ate 25 mg, couldn’t move for 12 hours, and I had shit to do.
I don’t think anyone is a pussy for not taking them. And if you took too much, you took too much. I can’t just be like, “SUCK IT UP!” There are tricks you can do to calm yourself down and get through it, but it’s not really about that. It’s about how that was too much, so next time, you’ll do 4 mg or 2.5 mg. People get afraid of edibles and they’re so scienced out now and have all different kinds of doses from low to high. And their levels are insanely accurate, which makes them awesome products. I think edibles have a big advantage and I think they’re very helpful.
OK you win! I’ll give them another go. What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re all high and such?
All stizzy? That wasn’t sponsored. I enjoy the classics like video games and watching a really amazing show of any kind, mainly science fiction. Those things I really love. Something else I really love is, I just recently got ahold of some Level pills that are 100 mg each. I’ll take a high dose, like 100 mg, and then just try to complete technical tasks. Firmware updates or organizing a drawer or something like that. I love stuff like that because it’s basically me trying to batten down the hatches on a ship that’s in the middle of a hurricane, you know?
It’s a mental exercise or a creative challenge. Can I maintain my composure? A lot of people don’t know I’m high on an edible, or on anything. I have some weird ability to tap into normalcy and I can get into a pragmatic mindset. I just kind of do it as a practice because you know, when shit goes down, I don’t wanna be freaking out! I want to go into problem solving rather than being all, “AHHHHH!!!!”
I think you need to sell portions of your brain to other people. We all need a little Watts brain, please.
Yeah, I should do that. I need to create a method. The Watts method!
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New York Cannabis: Energy and Environmental Plans
Since the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) was passed back in April of 2021, New York has made clear that mitigating environmental impact, including energy usage, would be a key component of New York’s adult-use cannabis industry. To wit, the legislators expressly included applicants’ “ability to mitigate adverse environmental impacts, including but not limited to water usage, energy usage and carbon emissions” as part of the Cannabis Control Board’s (CCB) selection criteria. Well, the CCB followed through with that mandate by requiring licensees to provide an Energy and Environmental Plan as part of applications.
The composition of an Energy and Environmental Plan
So what goes into an “Energy and Environmental Plan”? A LOT of things. The CCB included 12 separate and distinct requirements for each plan, “in a form and manner as required by [the Office of Cannabis Management.]” Here are the categories of required information:
- actions to reduce usage of single-use plastics
- actions to minimize the use and disposal of chemicals that are considered hazardous waste
- actions that will be taken to use compost or other recycles organics as a component of growing media
- areas to reduce the applicant’s carbon footprint
- the submission of an annual energy report that includes energy benchmarking as required by the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM)
- all planned lighting and the energy impact of the planned lighting to meet all standards set by the OCM
- environmental control and odor mitigation plans that meet all standards set by the OCM
- a plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on fossil fuels
- ecological regeneration practices
- water conservation and use
- waste management, recycling and disposal
- the applicant’s strategy to measure, track and record performance and execution of the provided energy and environmental plan
We note that these are only the categories; the current version of the rules and regulations provides several baselines standards, including (but not limited to) standards for lighting, reducing carbon footprint, and water conservation and use.
Energy and Environmental Plans are not just for production licensees
One interesting thing to note is that the energy and environmental plan requirement is not limited to the production side licenses, although some of the requirements are limited to specific cultivation tiers. With that said, for anyone interested in applying for a production side license, we expect the energy and environmental plan to be an important consideration as part of evaluating applicants and, accordingly, it makes sense to read through the requirements closely.
We also would not be surprised if the potentially forthcoming revisions to the adult-use rules and regulations tweak the energy and environmental plan requirements. Stay tuned!
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