Cultivation
Shinnecock Nation Breaks Ground on Long Island Cannabis Facility
The Shinnecock Indian Nation of New York began construction this week on a new cannabis dispensary planned for tribal lands on Long Island, New York.
The Shinnecock Indian Nation of New York on Monday began construction of a cannabis dispensary on its tribal lands in eastern Long Island. The new venture, a collaboration between the Shinnecock Nation and international cannabis firm Tilt Holdings, Inc., will feature Little Beach Harvest, a 5,000-square-foot cannabis dispensary located on Shinnecock tribal territory in Southampton, New York.
“I am thrilled to start construction on such an important project for the Shinnecock Nation,” Shinnecock Nation Chairman Bryan Polite said in a statement from the joint venture. “Little Beach Harvest has been working hard with our partner, TILT Holdings, to ensure a first-class dispensary for the New York market. This construction kick-off is a step forward for the Shinnecock Nation and I am excited to be a part of such an amazing journey.”
Those attending Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony included the Shinnecock Nation’s Council of Trustees, Chairman Bryan Polite, the Shinnecock Cannabis Regulatory Division, and tribal members including Chenae Bullock, the managing director of Little Beach Harvest. TILT’s chief operating officer Dana Arvidson, chief financial officer Brad Hoch and state and local officials also attended the event.
Joint Venture on Tribal Lands
The wholly tribal-owned cannabis operation is a partnership between TILT and the Shinnecock Nation and is the culmination of six years of lobbying, outreach, development, and planning by the two entities. Through a joint venture with the Shinnecock Nation’s cannabis economic development firm Conor Green, TILT is financing, building, and providing management services to Little Beach Harvest.
The development of the vertically integrated operation begins this year with the construction of the dispensary and a cannabis cultivation facility. The dispensary is expected to be completed by early next year, while construction on the cannabis cultivation facility will begin by the end of 2022. Future projects planned for the site include a wellness and consumption lounge. The Shinnecock Cannabis Regulatory Division will regulate all operations for each component according to the Shinnecock Nation’s tribal cannabis laws.
“It’s incredible to think that we gathered here almost a year ago to announce our partnership. Now, we return to the Shinnecock Nation’s sovereign land to kick off construction, which is truly a substantial milestone in our journey to create social equity for the Shinnecock Nation,” said Arvidson. “Now, we move forward together in building out not only the physical structure of Little Beach Harvest, but our plan in bringing forward plant medicine as an economic engine for the Shinnecock.”
Dispensary Features Organic Design Aesthetic
Little Beach Harvest will feature a 5,000-square-foot dispensary space and offer drive-through service along the main Southampton roadway, “creating a unique engagement point between the First People and the Hamptons community” only minutes from Southampton’s business district, according to a statement from the Shinnecock Nation.
Current design plans for Little Beach Harvest by T-Arch Studios showcase an organic aesthetic reflective of the Shinnecock Nation’s connection to the area, with natural stone and light wood elements for both the interior and exterior of the dispensary. The Shinnecock Nation Environmental Department, Natural Resources Department and Cultural Enrichment Department worked closely with Little Beach Harvest to ensure that proper tribal protocols were followed before clearing the land developed for the facility.
Bullock, an enrolled member of the Shinnecock Nation, noted, “Anything we envision as a Shinnecock People has to always be for the next seven generations and beyond.”
“The Little Beach Harvest dispensary will be a place where we can share with the world our culture, honor this sacred plant, increase awareness and provide resources for the Shinnecock Nation,” said Bullock. “People who come to our traditional lands to shop in our dispensary will contribute to our economic sustainability. For thousands of years, the people of the Shinnecock Nation have contributed to environmental sustainability, and we are now in times that we can develop economic sustainability through the cannabis industry to continue our stewardship to the earth.”
Source: https://hightimes.com/news/shinnecock-nation-breaks-ground-on-long-island-cannabis-facility/
Business
New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Business
Marijuana companies suing US attorney general in federal prohibition challenge
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Business
Alabama to make another attempt Dec. 1 to award medical cannabis licenses
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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