420 with CNW – Las Vegas City Council Votes to Allow Marijuana Lounges

On Wednesday (May 1), the Las Vegas City Council voted 4-1 in favor of a proposed ordinance that would see cannabis consumption lounges licensed to operate within the city. This means that the first consumption lounges could open by the end of this year.

Las Vegas becomes the first city in Nevada to pass regulations allowing cannabis consumption venues to open.

Carolyn Goodman, the mayor of Las Vegas, abstained from voting due to a possible conflict of interest. She had earlier revealed that one of her family members works in the cannabis industry.

According to the ordinance passed, cannabis retailers and dispensaries will be free to apply for a special use license which will allow them to open a cannabis lounge. Once the permit is granted, the licensed business can sell cannabis and allow the buyers to consume marijuana on the premises.

The consumption lounge permit will come with a number of conditions. First, such a lounge should not be located within 1,000 feet from a school or a casino. Additionally, each cannabis lounge must have a system to control smoke so that marijuana smoke doesn’t escape to the exterior of the consumption facility.

Another condition in the ordinance states that no one will be allowed to smoke cannabis outside the consumption lounge. Cannabis lounge operators are also barred from allowing alcohol within the consumption lounge.

The ordinance didn’t pass without some opposition. Casino operators were particularly concerned that licensing cannabis consumption lounges would increase the intoxication issues that casinos have to deal with since someone may use cannabis in a lounge and head to a casino where he or she can consume alcohol.

The restriction of the proximity of cannabis lounges to casinos may have been aimed at addressing the concerns raised by the casino owners, but only time will tell how effective that measure will be.

For now, only businesses with a license to dispense cannabis will be eligible to apply for a marijuana lounge permit. Other interested businesses will have to wait for at least 12 months before they can qualify for the permit.

Sproutly Canada Inc. (OTCQB: SRUTF) (CSE: SPR) (FRA: 38G) and SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING) applaud Las Vegas for taking the lead in allowing marijuana lounges in the state of Nevada. This step will solve a longstanding dilemma people have had because they could buy marijuana but didn’t have anywhere they could consume it outside their homes. The economy is therefore likely to benefit now that Las Vegas has decided to allow lounges to open.

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CNW420 spotlights the latest developments in the rapidly evolving cannabis industry through the release of two informative articles each business day. Our concise, informative content serves as a gateway for investors interested in the legalized cannabis sector and provides updates on how regulatory developments may impact financial markets. Articles are released each business day at 4:20 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. Eastern – our tribute to the time synonymous with cannabis culture. If marijuana and the burgeoning industry surrounding it are on your radar, CNW420 is for you! Check back daily to stay up-to-date on the latest milestones in the fast -changing world of cannabis.

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420 with CNW – Cannabis Legalization Not Linked to Increased Traffic Fatalities, Study Finds

According to a new study whose findings were released this month, there is no link between the legalization of marijuana and an increase in traffic deaths. This conclusion was arrived at by Andrew Young, a graduate student at Kansas State University after he analyzed traffic deaths data covering 23 years.

Young used two different statistical models to assess how the change in cannabis policy and laws in different states has impacted road safety.

The researcher concluded that the legalization of marijuana isn’t a significant predictor of fatalities on roads. This means that statistically, there is no proof that cannabis legalization leads to either an increase or decrease in the rate of traffic deaths. The data collected was analyzed based on every 100,000 miles traveled on the roads in the states studied.

For the states selected, the data of interest was taken from 5 years before cannabis was legalized either for medical or adult-use, and that data was compared to the data available on road fatalities in those same states after cannabis became legal. Controls (states where cannabis is illegal) were also included in the study. No trends emerged from the data analysis.

For example, the average number of traffic deaths in Arizona weren’t any different from the fatalities recorded in South Dakota and Wyoming where marijuana is illegal.

Similarly, traffic deaths started dropping in Washington just before medical marijuana was legalized, and they kept dropping long after legalization. Interestingly, traffic fatalities in Washington were lower than those in Virginia and Utah where cannabis remains prohibited.

Such concrete observations led the researcher to conclude that the recent rise in the rate of traffic deaths across the U.S. isn’t because marijuana has been legalized in more states in recent years.

The research findings also prove that policy makers who oppose cannabis legalization on the basis that traffic fatalities will increase have no justification to have such fears.

While this study hasn’t yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, some concerns have been raised about the small sample size of the states where cannabis is legal for recreational use. Can such a small number provide data that is representative of the whole country, they wonder.

Nonetheless, Young’s findings can be regarded as highly credible because they are no different from previous research that hasn’t found any link between marijuana legalization and spikes in road accident fatalities.

SinglePoint, Inc. (OTCQB: SING) and Sproutly Canada, Inc. (OTCQB: SRUTF) (CSE: SPR) (FRA: 38G) are glad that independent scientific data is coming to light to dispel the myth that legalizing marijuana triggers a rise in traffic deaths.

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420 with CNW – Another Connecticut Legislative Committee Approves Cannabis Legalization

The Judiciary Committee in Connecticut’s Assembly has also approved a bill that will pave the way for marijuana legalization. This is after the General Law Committee also approved a bill on cannabis legalization.

The move to legalize recreational cannabis in Connecticut is still in its early stages, and the legislators have opted to draft different bills covering different aspects of legalization before merging all those bills into one once they are passed by the relevant committees.

The bill before the Judiciary Committee was hotly contested and it passed with a slim majority (21 votes in favor and 19 against).

If the bill becomes law, adults who are 21 or older would be allowed to possess a maximum of 1.5 ounces of cannabis and a maximum of 5 grams of cannabis concentrates. The bill outlaws the home cultivation of cannabis.

During the meeting of the Judiciary Committee, some members expressed concerns about the possible effects of cannabis legalization on impaired driving and youth consumption. However, many of these individuals acknowledged that voting against the bill would be a futile undertaking since cannabis legalization was inevitable.

The bill eventually passed, and it is now headed to the Finance Committee. Thereafter, the different bills will be combined into one prior to being tabled before the entire legislative assembly for consideration.

Cannabis advocates generally support the bill, although they suggest that it should be improved in several aspects.

One area of improvement suggested by the Marijuana Policy Project has to do with the expungement provisions. The advocates suggest that all prior cannabis convictions should be expunged. They also want the bill to include a provision that allows residents to grow their own recreational marijuana.

Other advocates also want the law to be clear about the way in which the different communities that suffered the brunt of the so-called war on drugs can benefit from the opportunities created in the legal cannabis industry.

As things stand, both sides on this debate may have to make concessions if the bill is to have a chance of becoming a law soon. Otherwise, a lack of consensus and compromise may create a situation similar to what has played out in New York State where adult-use cannabis could not be included in the state budget due to disagreements regarding the way in which the legalization policy would be implemented.

Redfund Capital Corp. (CSE: LOAN) (OTC: PNNRF) (Frankfurt: O3X4) and SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING) hope that the path to cannabis legalization gets smoother as the different bills leave the different House Committees in Connecticut.

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420 with CNW – Michigan Commission Advises the State to Avoid Setting THC Impairment Limit for Drivers

The Impaired Driving Safety Commission, a body that was set up by Michigan’s Governor, has recommended that the state should not set any threshold for the THC content in someone’s blood before that person is regarded as being impaired while driving.

This six-member panel was mandated to find a scientifically-backed limit for THC in blood and suggest what provisions should be put in the law to define when a driver is impaired by cannabis.

The members of the commission include a toxicologist, a law enforcement officer, a medical cannabis patient, doctors and cannabis use and traffic experts.

This panel wrote in its report that there was no scientific information upon which they could base a decision on how much THC in someone’s blood renders that person impaired while driving.

Additionally, the commission stated that there wasn’t any correlation between the amount of THC present in a driver’s blood and driving impairment.

The members also observed that according to the research they reviewed, the THC content in someone’s blood drops rapidly shortly after the person consumes cannabis. Conversely, impairment increases slowly and reaches its peak long after THC levels have dropped in that individual’s blood.

The issue of impairment is also affected by someone’s history of cannabis consumption. For example, a non-regular user of cannabis may become impaired after taking a small amount of marijuana.

However, a more regular user may require a larger dose of the substance in order to be impaired to the same degree as the individual who is an irregular user and consumed a little cannabis. Consequently, the commission recommended that the THC level in someone’s blood was a poor determinant of whether that person was driving while impaired.

The panel then suggested that roadside sobriety tests should be used as a more reliable way to determine if a given driver is impaired or not. This suggestion brings to mind the sobriety tests that are administered to drivers who are suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol.

How then can a police officer distinguish between impairment due to alcohol and impairment due to cannabis consumption? A blood test administered once a person fails the sobriety tests can help to distinguish between impairment caused by cannabis and that caused by alcohol.

The findings of this commission bring to question the decision of the states that set a THC threshold to determine when a driver is impaired by cannabis.

For example, Colorado, Montana and Washington State put the threshold at 5ng/ml. Nevada put the limit at 2ng/ml while Pennsylvania set its limit at 1ng/ml. How were these limits arrived at?

Redfund Capital Corp. (CSE: LOAN) (OTC: PNNRF) (Frankfurt: O3X4) and SinglePoint, Inc. (OTCQB: SING) applaud the commission for looking at the available scientific data and then making an objective decision without being influenced by what other states have done to define driving while impaired by cannabis.

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420 with CNW – Two New Jersey Committees Voted on Marijuana Legalization Today

Two committees in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly voted on a bill to legalize recreational marijuana today (March 18). If the bill passed in both committees, then the entire House could vote on the matter as soon as March 25.

Stephen Sweeney, the Senate President, revealed that the members had received copies of the bill on Thursday last week and that the Democrats in the House have started talking to Republicans in order to get some of them to vote for the bill.

The support of some Republicans was crucial, because a number of prominent Democrats in the House were likely to vote against the bill. In order to pass, at least 21 Senators needed to vote for the bill.

The current bill is a modified form of the original version. The tax system suggested in the original version was changed so that marijuana could be taxed by weight instead of imposing an excise tax on every sale made.

The modified bill also has a provision to expunge the criminal record of individuals who were arrested or convicted for marijuana distribution. This didn’t exist in the previous version of the marijuana legalization bill.

It is this modified bill that the Senate Judiciary committee considered and voted on at 2:00 p.m. today, while the Appropriations Committee of the Assembly sat at noon today.

Marijuana proponents say they aren’t inventing marijuana. Rather, it is present in the different communities, and the social injustices committed during the so-called war on drugs also exist.

Passing the legalization bill would regulate the cannabis industry and get it out of the hands of criminal gangs. The state would earn taxes from the industry and thousands of jobs would be created. All this isn’t bad, the advocates say.

Another bill that was voted on today aims at increasing the quantity of medical cannabis that a patient can buy in the state. The bill also set in motion steps to end the imposition of excise tax on medical cannabis by 2024, in addition to legalizing marijuana edibles.

A third bill aims at making it easier for New Jersey to expunge marijuana charges from the criminal records of those who qualify under the law. For example, the mandatory time that must elapse before the charges are expunged will be reduced under this law.

This week may potentially be a turning point as far as marijuana is concerned in New Jersey. SinglePoint, Inc. (OTCQB: SING) and Sproutly Canada, Inc. (OTCQB: SRUTF) (CSE: SPR) (FRA: 38G) called for an objective assessment of the bills before voting took place. Such a sober approach will ensure that the best decisions are made on behalf of the people of New Jersey.

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Savvy Companies Seizing Opportunities in Growing Cannabis Market

CannabisNewsWire Editorial Coverage: As the cannabis industry expands, companies are eyeing strategic opportunities in the sector designed to help them establish a foothold in the promising space.

Cannabis and related products are legal in Canada and an increasing number of states.
Businesses have responded with a growing range of diverse products.
Companies making the smartest investments, including carefully selected mergers and acquisitions, are in the best position to profit.

SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING) (SING Profile) has invested in a number of other cannabis companies to grow its portfolio and leverage its position in the market. Supreme Cannabis Company Inc. (TSX: FIRE) (OTCQX: SPRWF) just signed of letter of intent with Malta Enterprises, the economic development agency of Malta. MedMen Enterprises Inc. (CSE: MMEN) (OTCQX: MMNFF) recently wrapped up its previously announced acquisition of Kannaboost Technology Inc. and CSI Solutions LLC, two vertically integrated Arizona-based operations. Charlotte’s Web Holdings Inc. (OTCQX: CWBHF) (CSE: CWEB) reported more than 10 times growth in harvested hemp compared to its 2017 grow season. And Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (OTCQX: CURLF) (CSE: CURA) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Eureka Investment Partners LLC.

To view an infographic of this editorial, click here.

A Big Year for Big Investment in Cannabis

In only a few short weeks, this year is shaping up to be an important year in the cannabis market. The legal groundwork for industry changes was laid last year, with milestone legislation being passed in Canada, the United States and elsewhere. With legal regulations in place, new opportunities for the market to grow and for companies to make strategic moves within the sector have become more frequent — and appear to be more profitable.

This upward movement is fueling the ongoing development of two important trends: The first one is product diversification, as cannabis companies and the businesses supporting them develop a wider range of products for an increasingly varied market. The second one is big investment, as both outside businesses and larger cannabis companies move to create a presence in the market. Money is flowing in, making the most of the opportunities that legal and product changes provide.

A Changing Global Context

This year’s promise is rooted in last year’s significant growth and impressive forecast. SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING), a young tech company that has moved into the cannabis sector, saw its revenue hit the $1 million mark. In addition, like many cannabis companies, the company ended the year with even better things on the horizon, including a prediction that revenue should dramatically increase over the next 12 months.

Making such claims in a relatively untried sector may seem bold, but closer scrutiny reveals why such predictions appear to be solid.

To begin with, the changing attitude of lawmakers to cannabis has been crucial to the industry’s forward momentum. The prohibitory model for managing the drug that has dominated for half a century is increasingly recognized as not just ineffective but harmful to public health. As a result, governments are legalizing cannabis for medical use and are even creating regulated markets for recreational cannabis. This is especially true in Canada, where the trade became legal countrywide last October.

For American companies such as SinglePoint, progress has come on a state-by-state basis. Though the majority of Americans favor legalization, the federal government has been slow to follow what appears to be a nationwide attitude. Instead, individual states have created legal markets, with Michigan becoming one of the most recent with cannabis legalization taking place there in December. Two-thirds of U.S. states now allow medical cannabis, and one in five have legalized its recreational use; more are expected to follow suit in the near future. This swing in attitude — and government support — has allowed SinglePoint to begin investing in cannabis without having to consider a national cannabis business.

The end of the year saw a significant step towards wider legalization. Following months of wrangling, the 2018 Farm Bill was passed making industrial hemp legal on the federal level. This nonpsychoactive from of cannabis has provided many companies, including SinglePoint, with an important entry point into the sector, as the chemical cannabidiol (CBD), which can be derived from hemp, can be more widely sold than other forms of cannabis. CBD’s impressive popularity has provided a further boost to the sector, especially to companies entering the industry with CBD offerings.

Undoubtedly, the Farm Bill is set to allow cannabis businesses to grow significantly through hemp and provide a precedent as federal politicians reconsider the wider cannabis industry.

Product Diversification

Now that companies have identified CBD as a promising step into the market, they are doing what they do best — finding new ways to sell their products and services. This has led to a wave of innovation and an increasingly diverse range of cannabis-based products.

Two of the biggest areas for innovation are the creation of confectionaries and beauty products. The former offers a way to consume cannabis without inhaling it. The latter appears to be a natural fit given the suggested well-being benefits of CBD and THC, along with the willingness of customers to try new plant-based beauty products. But innovative companies aren’t stopping there, with options such as Phyto-Bites, a product SinglePoint distributes on its website SingleSeed.com, designed to improve the health and well-being of pets.

Human health and well-being remain a huge driver for innovation in cannabis. Aware of that, SinglePoint has also been adding health and wellness products to its sales lines. Its SingleSeed store recently unveiled a range of TorusMed Hemp CBD products to its offerings. The new products include treatments such as Sport Relief Topical Cream, an ointment designed to provide pain relief for professional and amateur athletes.

Smart Investing in the Cannabis Sector

The growth of the cannabis sector has not occurred without a few bumps along the way. Companies are operating in a space that didn’t even exist 20 years ago, and the sector is evolving quickly, with the last few years triggering a wave of consolidation. In a fast-changing market, challenges are expected, and the ability to meet such challenges successfully is essential to a company’s success.

The secret to smart investing in this new space is the same as for any sector: research, understand the businesses being invested in, identify a plan and execute it. Understanding the specifics of the cannabis market is critical, and the trend within the industry most recently has been mergers and acquisitions, as companies such as SinglePoint have expanded through investment in promising companies that provide products and services that will complement and support its strategy.

SinglePoint’s most recent investment has been in TorusMed, a company developing new ways to optimize CBD output from hemp and, consequently, increase the profitability of this piece of the cannabis sector. With the Farm Bill pointing to hemp creating a new boom in the industry, SinglePoint has used its understanding of the market to invest in a company that appears to offer great potential to make the most of this moment.

Moves such as this can put a company in a strong position heading into what may be the biggest year yet for cannabis. “[This year] will be a banner year for SinglePoint,” said SinglePoint CEO Greg Lambrecht. “We are equipped with the proper funding, partners and opportunities to be firing on all cylinders. We as a team expect to position SingleSeed and SinglePoint as market leads in the CBD market while continuing to enable the founders of the companies we have acquired to grow their businesses. We are well diversified and have large opportunities across many emerging markets that should enable us to be successful into 2019 and beyond.”

New Year, Fresh Growth

The move for Supreme Cannabis Company Inc. (TSX: FIRE) (OTCQX: SPRWF) to partner with Malta Enterprises is the company’s first step to obtain a Cannabis Production License in the country. The license would allow Supreme to produce and process cannabis for medical use within Malta, one of Europe’s principal commercial entry points, and to export cannabis for medical use to certain international markets.

MedMen Enterprises Inc.’s (CSE: MMEN) (OTCQX: MMNFF) acquisition of Kannaboost Technology and CSI Solutions LLC includes retail locations in Scottsdale and Tempe, as well as 25,000 square feet of cultivation and production capacity in Tempe and Phoenix. The acquisition also includes a 40-percent stake in top-selling brand K.I.N.D. Concentrates, which is currently distributed in more than 90 percent of Arizona dispensaries.

Charlotte’s Web Holdings Inc. (OTCQX: CWBHF) (CSE: CWEB) claims the No. 1 position in market share in the hemp CBD market, with its products sold in 3,680 retail locations as well as on its website. Charlotte’s Web had 300 acres of hemp planted in 2018 compared with only 70 acres in 2017, resulting in a harvest of 675,000 pounds of hemp last year. The legalization of hemp in the U.S. should open the doors for Charlotte’s Web to expand its retail opportunities with national chains.

Curaleaf Holdings Inc.’s (OTCQX: CURLF) (CSE: CURA) definitive agreement to acquire Eureka Investment Partners will provide access to California’s wholesale market through an existing 110,000-square-foot greenhouse facility in Salinas, California, with the potential to expand up to 270,000 square feet, which could generate more than 50,000 pounds of dry flower per year at full scale. Headquartered in Massachusetts, Curaleaf has a presence in 12 states, owns and operates 42 dispensaries, 12 cultivation sites and 10 processing sites with a focus on highly populated, limited-license states including Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.

Legal changes are encouraging an increasingly diverse cannabis market, in which companies that make smart investments are primed for profit.

For more information on SinglePoint, visit SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING)

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CannabisNewsWire (CNW) is an information service that provides (1) access to our news aggregation and syndication servers, (2) CannabisNewsBreaks that summarize corporate news and information, (3) enhanced press release services, (4) social media distribution and optimization services, and (5) a full array of corporate communication solutions. As a multifaceted financial news and content distribution company with an extensive team of contributing journalists and writers, CNW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies that desire to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. CNW has an ever-growing distribution network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets across the country. By cutting through the overload of information in today’s market, CNW brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. CNW is where news, content and information converge.

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Smart Investment Leads to Big Opportunities in Growing Cannabis Market

CannabisNewsWire Editorial Coverage: As the cannabis market grows, companies are seizing the opportunity to make strategic investments in the sector and establish a foothold in the promising space.

Cannabis and related products are legal in an ever-increasing number of jurisdictions.
Businesses have responded with an increasingly diverse range of products.
Companies making the smartest investments, such as carefully selected mergers and acquisitions, are in the best position to profit from this while minimizing risks.

SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING) (SING Profile) has invested in a number of other cannabis companies to grow its portfolio and leverage its position in the market. Marijuana Company of America Inc. (OTCQB: MCOA) (MCOA Profile), with its hemp-oriented business, is expecting a surge in profits following the crop’s federal legalization in the United States in December. Medical Marijuana Inc. (OTC: MJNA), the first publicly traded cannabis company in the United States, has seen record sales. PotNetwork Holdings Inc. (OTC: POTN) is reaching out to new customers with a CBD-infused slushy machine. And American Premium Water Corp. (OTC: HIPH) is also pushing CBD into the soft drinks market with its infused water.

To view an infographic of this editorial, click here.

A Big Year for Big Investment in Cannabis

This year looks to be an important year in the development of the cannabis market. The legal groundwork for those changes was laid last year, with significant legislation moving forward in Canada, the United States and elsewhere. With the legal aspects in place, fresh opportunities for the market to grow and for companies to make bold moves within the sector have become more frequent — and look to be more profitable.

This momentum is fueling the ongoing development of two important trends. One is product diversification, as cannabis companies and the businesses supporting them develop a wider range of products for an increasingly varied market. The other is big investment, as both the larger cannabis companies and outside businesses with big bank balances move to carve out chunks of the market. Money is flowing in, making the most of the opportunities that legal and product changes provide.

A Changing Global Context

Things have been looking rosy for cannabis for some time, and last year saw significant growth in the sector continue. SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING), a young tech company that has moved into the cannabis sector, saw its revenue hit the $1 million mark. In addition, like many cannabis companies, the company ended the year expecting even better things to come, with a prediction that revenue will dramatically increase over the next 12 months.

How can companies in a relatively untried sector make such bold claims?

The answer lies in the changing attitude of lawmakers to cannabis. The prohibitory model for managing the drug that has dominated for half a century is increasingly recognized as not just ineffective but harmful to public health. Consequently, governments are legalizing cannabis for medical use. And in the most forward-looking cases, they are creating regulated markets for recreational cannabis, most significantly in Canada, which made the trade legal nationally last October.

For American companies such as SinglePoint, change has come on a state-by-state basis. Though the majority of Americans favor legalization, the federal government has been too reliant on conservative voters to support nationwide change. Instead, individual states have created legal markets, with Michigan becoming one of the most recent when cannabis went legal there in December. Two-thirds of U.S. states now allow medical cannabis, and one in five have legalized its recreational use, with more expected to follow over the next few years. This has allowed SinglePoint to begin investing in cannabis without having to consider a national cannabis business.

December saw a significant step towards wider legalization. Following months of wrangling, the 2018 Farm Bill passed into law, making industrial hemp legal on the federal level. This nonpsychoactive from of cannabis has provided many companies, including SinglePoint, with an important entry point into the sector, as the chemical cannabidiol (CBD), which can be derived from hemp, can be more widely sold than other forms of cannabis. CBD’s meteoric rise has given a further boost to the sector, especially to companies entering via this route.

The Farm Bill will allow cannabis businesses to grow significantly through hemp and provide a precedent as federal politicians reconsider the wider cannabis industry.

Product Diversification

Now that they have more opportunities to produce cannabis, companies are doing what companies always do — finding new ways to sell their products and services. This has led to a wave of innovation and an increasingly diverse range of cannabis-based products.

Two of the biggest areas for innovation are the creation of confectionaries and beauty products. The former have obvious appeal as a way to consume cannabis without smoking it. The latter are a natural fit given the suggested well-being benefits of CBD and THC, along with the willingness of customers to try new plant-based beauty products. But even more innovative products are hitting the market, such as Phyto-Bites, a product SinglePoint distributes on its website SingleSeed.com, designed to improve the health and well-being of pets.

Smart Investing in the Cannabis Sector

The growth of the cannabis sector has inevitably led to some instability. Companies are operating in a space that didn’t even exist 20 years ago. The sector is evolving quickly, with the last few years triggering a wave of consolidation, and of course in a fast-changing market, there will be challenges and bumps along the way. Amid all this, working out how to investment smartly has become critical.

A lot of the secrets to smart investing in cannabis are the same as for any sector: do research, understand the businesses being invested in, have a plan and stick with it. Understanding the specific circumstances of the cannabis market is essential, and the big trend within the industry over the past year has been mergers and acquisitions, as companies such as SinglePoint have expanded through investment in promising companies that provide products and services that will complement and support its strategy.

SinglePoint’s most recent investment has been in TorusMed, a company developing new ways to optimize CBD output from hemp and therefore increase the profitability of this part of the cannabis sector. With hemp on the verge of a new boom thanks to the Farm Bill, SinglePoint has used its understanding of the market to invest in a company that appears to offer great potential to make the most of this moment.

Moves like this can put a company in a strong position heading into what looks to be a big year for cannabis. “[This year] will be a banner year for SinglePoint,” said SinglePoint CEO Greg Lambrecht. “We are equipped with the proper funding, partners and opportunities to be firing on all cylinders. We as a team expect to position SingleSeed and SinglePoint as market leads in the CBD market while continuing to enable the founders of the companies we have acquired to grow their businesses. We are well diversified and have large opportunities across many emerging markets that should enable us to be successful into 2019 and beyond.”

New Year, Fresh Growth

Marijuana Company of America Inc. (OTCQB: MCOA) is also making the most of the opportunity provided by the Farm Bill and is expecting significant growth off the back of this legal change. The company has a vertically integrated range of cannabis interests, including a hemp farm in Oregon and its hempSMART range of products. The legal changes should allow the company to more easily produce CBD-rich plants and sell the products derived from them without worrying about legal complications for crossing state lines. MCOA will also face lower federal income tax, thanks to the change in hemp’s status, allowing it to keep more profits.

Federal legislation against cannabis production and distribution has hampered the ability of companies to raise funds through public investment in the past, but some have found ways. Medical Marijuana Inc. (OTC: MJNA) was the first cannabis company in the United States to be publicly traded, a move that put it in a strong position both financially and for its public profile. It has recently experienced record sales, buoyed up by the growth of the cannabis market in the U.S. and beyond.

PotNetwork Holdings Inc. (OTC: POTN) has worked hard to develop a wide range of products, answering the increasing demand for product diversity in the cannabis market. The latest of these is the Brain Chill Slushy Machine, provided through its subsidiary Diamond CBD Inc. Initially launching in South Florida, these machines serve slushies in a variety of flavors, all infused with CBD. With millions of gallons of slushies consumed every year, these new machines are designed to provide an appealing introduction to CBD.

Also working on drinkable CBD is American Premium Water Corp. (OTC: HIPH), a diversified luxury consumer products company that bases its range of health and beauty products on biotech research. Its Lalpina CBD water is infused with CBD and features in several recently announced distribution deals, as the company extends its reach in the U.S. and beyond.

Legal changes are encouraging an increasingly diverse cannabis market, in which companies that make smart investments are primed for profit.

For more information on SinglePoint, visit SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING)

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420 with CNW – Facebook May Shift its Position on Marijuana

Cannabis businesses and those affiliated to the industry have grown used to waking up and finding that their Facebook pages have been deleted or suspended due to being flagged for carrying unacceptable content (read marijuana). However, this may soon change if the internal discussions going on within the platform bear the desired fruit.

The social media platform is reportedly thinking about amending its rules so that Facebook users can promote the cannabis products that they sell. The existing policies don’t permit the sale of marijuana and other controlled substances on the platform.

If the changes are made, the sale of medical and recreational marijuana products in jurisdictions that have legalized cannabis will be permitted by the social media giant.

One of the big issues that Facebook has to work out is how the platform can decide whether a Facebook page belongs to an entity that is legal within the jurisdiction where it is based or operates.

Another dilemma for the platform is how it can stop access to minors if legal businesses or entities are allowed to sell cannabis or its products on the platform. This issue is compounded by the fact that different jurisdictions define their own minimum age at which someone can use weed legally.

Facebook also has to think about how a policy shift regarding marijuana will be perceived by the users of the platform in the different regions of the world. For example, some regions are strongly opposed to cannabis, and these areas may pushback against the platform for allowing companies to promote or sell marijuana on Facebook.

The task of thinking through all these issues has been assigned to an internal working group. This group will propose new rules for the platform and assess how practical it will be to implement those new rules.

If the policy shift is approved and implemented by the social media giant, it will mark a paradigm shift for the platform that had for long punished marijuana-related pages with blocked searches or outright bans.

Last year, Facebook lifted its “moratorium” on cannabis the day Canada legalized recreational weed. Cannabis is widely sold online within Canada, so Facebook may have had no choice if it didn’t want to risk losing a significant portion of its users in that country.

Previously, the social media platform didn’t stop companies and organizations from opening cannabis-related pages. However, the platform enforced its restrictions on marijuana so rigorously that government cannabis regulatory agencies and policy advocates often found themselves locked out.

It remains to be seen what form the changed policy will take given that the company insists that it will not allow paid ads and other methods of promoting cannabis content on the platform. SinglePoint, Inc. (OTCQB: SING) and Sproutly Canada, Inc. (OTCQB: SRUTF) (CSE: SPR) (FRA: 38G) hope that Facebook wakes up to the changes in the world regarding cannabis and it stops putting unnecessary roadblocks to the industry.

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420 with CNW – North Dakota Cannabis Activists Consider 2020 Ballot Measure

While attempts to legalize cannabis by a ballot measure last year and by legislative means this month were met with defeat, marijuana advocates in the state aren’t giving up, and they are already planning to have another shot at a ballot measure in 2020.

Dave Owen, a leading cannabis advocate in the state who played a major role in the ballot measure that was voted upon during the recent midterms says that his organization (Legalize ND) will look to national advocacy groups for funding and support this time round. He revealed that the huge amounts of money poured into the state to oppose the ballot measure in the midterms led to the defeat of that effort.

Dave Owen also revealed that come 2020, the ballot measure will be a watered down version of the one of 2018. For example, rather than insist that people should be allowed to grow as much marijuana as they want for their own use, the new ballot measure will propose some restrictions to home grows.

The new ballot measure will also include provisions for licensing as well as excise taxes on marijuana sales. These provisions were lacking in the measure that was rejected by voters during the midterms last year.

The last ballot measure had a provision to expunge marijuana convictions from the criminal records of North Dakota residents. Dave Owen isn’t sure whether the next ballot measure he plans to draft will still have this provision. It should be noted that most of the states that have legalized recreational marijuana have also taken steps to expunge some marijuana convictions from the criminal records of those who qualify for this expungement. It is therefore unclear whether Dave Owen feels that watering down the ballot measure in this regard will win it more supporters.

Polling is an important step during such a campaign for marijuana legalization, and the cannabis advocate admits that they have been finding it hard to get the funds needed to conduct several polls. This lack of funding has compelled the organization to base on assumptions when planning and executing a campaign strategy. Legalize ND intends to change this so that they can work with concrete numbers as they prepare for the polls in 2020.

Dave Owen is confident that the grassroots networks that exist in the state can propel the ballot measure to success if only external help (especially funding) can be sent in by the national marijuana advocacy groups.

All that Redfund Capital Corp. (CSE: LOAN) (OTC: PNNRF) (Frankfurt: O3X4) and SinglePoint, Inc. (OTCQB: SING) can do is wish both sides good luck as they put their case before North Dakotans for a final decision at the ballot.

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More Mergers Expected as Cannabis Sector Heads into New Year of Growth

CannabisNewsWire Editorial Coverage: Several years of impressive growth are expected to continue in the cannabis sector in 2019, and companies are making the most of it through mergers and acquisitions.

The cannabis industry has seen growth in acquisitions over the past two years.
A large part of this comes from the emergence of the hemp/CBD market.
Industry commentators expect these trends to continue.

SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING) (SING Profile) is tapping into this exciting potential through a strategy of well-financed acquisitions and investment in other cannabis companies. PotNetwork Holdings Inc. (OTC: POTN) has built up a series of subsidiaries and is now reaching out to mainstream markets with its products. KushCo Holdings Inc. (OTCQB: KSHB) has recently established new supply arrangements that will increase its already growing profits. Following the legalization of hemp farming, CV Sciences Inc. (OTCQB: CVSI) has become one of the United States’ first certified hemp producers. And The Green Organic Dutchman (OTCQX: TGODF) (TSX: TGOD) (TGOD Profile) is building improved cultivation facilities to meet the demand of cannabis’s growing customer base.

To view an infographic of this editorial, click here.

The Cannabis Merger Boom

Over the past year, the cannabis industry has seen a significant new trend emerge. So far, the industry has mostly been made up of small businesses, but a series of mergers and acquisitions have started to change the layout of the land. The larger, more confident cannabis businesses have started to absorb their smaller competitors, creating businesses with greater efficiency, vertical integration and increased market shares.

This boom in cannabis mergers and acquisitions extends beyond committed cannabis companies. Top-tier businesses have started paying attention to the sector, buying substantial holdings in cannabis companies. Cannabis companies themselves have encouraged this interest, seeking outside help to fuel their growth.

The Merger Market

For companies building a strategy around cannabis acquisitions, such as SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING), current trends are legitimizing what they already held to be true — that there’s great potential in building larger, more diverse cannabis companies through mergers and acquisitions.

The numbers are clear. Eighty-six cannabis companies in the United States were targeted for mergers and acquisitions in 2017, and that number rose to 140 in 2018. That’s a significant increase two years in a row for an industry that’s previously been driven by small start-ups, and commentators expect the trend to continue. In Canada, recreational legalization has triggered an intensive period of ambitious growth. In the United States, the illegality of transporting cannabis across state lines has discouraged expansion beyond the state level, but companies are starting to overcome that barrier, finding ways to run nationwide businesses in a state-by-state market.

For SinglePoint, this means making moves such as the company’s recent significant investment in TorusMed, an organization working on finding new ways to grow industrial hemp. Hemp is an important subset of the cannabis industry — and one that looks set to expand, thanks to federal legalization of the crop under the 2018 Farm Bill.

The bill allows cultivators to grow hemp for cannabidiol (CBD), an increasingly popular component, without the restrictions placed on other forms of cannabis. SinglePoint’s work with TorusMed is aimed at producing more consistent crops of high-CBD hemp with lower costs because of TorusMed’s greater efficiency. The investment appears to provide an effective way for SinglePoint to gain an advantage in the cannabis sector across the United States and beyond.

SinglePoint’s investment in TorusMed isn’t an isolated example. SinglePoint has built a solid strategy around acquisitions and investment. SinglePoint President Wil Ralston appeared on MoneyTV to discuss the company’s financing options for acquisitions, and in November, SinglePoint announced that it had raised $5 million in fresh funding from its own investors for the explicit purpose of fueling this approach. Thanks to the confidence of the market in the future of cannabis, SinglePoint has had no trouble raising funds or gaining attention for its work.

A Growing Industry

One of the reasons SinglePoint has seen such success in finding funding is the wider growth of the cannabis sector.

In the United States, where SinglePoint is based, cannabis legalization has steadily been spreading on a state level. Thirty-three states have now made the drug legal for medical purposes, while 10 have made recreational cannabis legal. North of the border, Canada has become the first G8 country to legalize cannabis nationally, not only setting an international precedent but also generating interest from American companies. The spread of public health solutions to cannabis use over prohibitory ones has become an international trend, creating a global cannabis market.

Over the past five years, this trend has led in a surprising direction: hemp and CBD. Hemp is a form of cannabis that doesn’t contain THC, the chemical that produces a high in users. Related to that trend, researchers have found growing evidence that CBD, a nonpsychoactive ingredient found in all strains of cannabis, may be beneficial for health and well-being.

This promising research has led to a surge in hemp cultivation and even the legalization of hemp farming in the United States, a move that is expected to provide a lifeline for many struggling farmers. Hemp cultivation is an increasingly large portion of the cannabis market, and one that the deal with TorusMed will help SinglePoint access.

Based on both this shift for hemp and wider trends, commentators are predicting even greater growth in 2019 and beyond; one report has calculated that the industry will be worth $146.4 billion by 2025. Even half that growth would provide a huge opportunity for companies such as SinglePoint, and if the industry actually reaches that figure, current players could be big winners.

Positioning for Advantage

It is in this context that SinglePoint, a company whose other work lies in the tech sector, has made the move to expand its position in cannabis. Through its SingleSeed subsidiary, SinglePoint has become a distributor of hemp-derived CBD products at a critical moment.

“It seems like two years ago I started to hear a little bit about CBD and what it was doing for people,” said SinglePoint CEO Greg Lambrecht. “Momentum has really been building for CBD. People are using it for a variety of things. As CBD becomes legal, you’re going to see this product sold in more traditional stores like Walgreens and 7-Eleven. We’re really excited about our online presence, but we’re also very focused on putting this product into retail too.”

The cannabis market has already been seeing steady growth. The legalization of hemp is likely to continue this promising trend. Companies such as SinglePoint that have raised funding and established a foothold in the hemp sector appear to be well positioned to take advantage of that change.

Lining Up for Growth

Of course, It’s not just a matter of making mergers and acquisitions, it’s making the right ones. Several other companies join SinglePoint in making those sound decisions. Among the companies making significant mergers and acquisitions in cannabis are holding companies such as PotNetwork Holdings Inc. (OTC: POTN). PotNetwork’s subsidiaries cover various parts of the cannabis industry, including production, sales and support; its subsidiaries include Diamond CBD Inc., which produces a line of CBD-based oils, creams and edibles.

Like SinglePoint, KushCo Holdings Inc. (OTCQB: KSHB) has entered the cannabis sector from elsewhere through an interest in providing other services to cannabis companies. In KushCo’s case, this was packaging solutions, the sort of unglamorous but important service that any industry needs. KushCo has since expanded its work in the sector, creating a one-stop shop for cannabis products. This approach paved the way for KushCo to secure new long-term supply arrangements with three large companies, agreements expected to be worth $75 million. Having already seen its quarterly revenues rise 186 percent on the same period last year, 2019 is off to a strong start for KushCo.

CV Sciences Inc. (OTCQB: CVSI) has a business rooted in the fundamentals of the cannabis market, with two distinct business segments: research and development, and consumer products. Following the recent founding of the U.S. Hemp Authority certification program, CV Sciences has become one of the country’s first certified hemp manufacturers. This certification provides CV Science customers assurance about the quality and safety of the company’s products, including verifying that its products are made entirely from hemp and not from other cannabis strains.

The Green Organic Dutchman (OTCQX: TGODF) (TSX: TGOD) produces organic, sustainably grown cannabis, catering to the substantial part of the cannabis market concerned with the environment and ethical farming. The company is building two new growing facilities and has been looking for ways to improve its designs as it builds. Recent improvements will increase production capacity from 156,000kg of cannabis to 202,500kg.

While improvements in technology, techniques and certification are helping companies tap into the growing cannabis sector, mergers and acquisitions are also allowing companies to access all of these while increasing their market share. Those who make the right moves now could benefit from dramatic growth over the next few years.

For more information on SinglePoint, visit SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING)

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