Author: News Room

Investing into the cannabis industry may have just become a bit easier, thanks to an unlikely player: ScottsMiracle-Gro (NYSE: SMG) announced in a press release today the launch of its newly formed subsidiary, The Hawthorne Collective, which will focus on strategic minority investments in areas of the cannabis industry that are not currently pursued by The Hawthorne Gardening Company—its hydroponic, lighting and nutrient supply arm focused on cannabis.  Further, The Hawthorne Collective will provide a $150 million convertible loan to Toronto, Ontario-based RIV Capital in Canada (TSX: RIV) (OTC: CNPOF), a cannabis investment and acquisition firm currently listed on the…

Tattooed people are some of the toughest individuals around. The heavily tattooed aren’t prone to lifting heavier weights or be more likely to capture an MMA championship. But they sure can take a shit-ton of pain. Be they a glutton for punishment, a lover of art, or something else entirely, the tattooed sit through the oft-suffering experience of several needles at speeds between 50 and 3,000 times per minute. And we keep coming back for more. While the machinery and process have improved over the years, getting tattooed is still painful for the artist and customer alike. Penetrating through five…

Walking into a dispensary for the first time is both a wonderful and surreal experience. Customers find themselves immersed in a whole new world of strains, extracts, edibles, topicals, and a myriad of evolving, innovative products. In most cases, they need some professional guidance to make sense of all these choices. That professional is the budtender. Budtenders work as a crucial link between the industry and the public, but not all budtenders are created equal. Ideally, helpful budtenders ask a lot of questions to individualize the products they recommend to customers. An adept budtender knows the qualities and effects of…

The Emerald Triangle community brought us (yes, you) the first craft cannabis—now they’re fighting to keep their legacy and their future alive. In the Emerald Triangle of Humboldt County, California, craft cannabis cultivation goes back generations. This community of farmers and their families endured the War on Drugs, creating some of the finest bud available even during prohibition. They got their hands dirty each growing season and built lasting bonds with the plants that let them carefully coax out the best in their crops, whether they were taking their chances with a new strain or revisiting an old favorite. The…

With quality, no-frills disposable vapes & tinctures, Canna River is delivering affordable relief. There’s a lot of noise in the hemp space these days. Ever since the 2018 Farm Bill sounded the starting gun for hemp-based cannabinoid products, the field has gotten progressively more crowded, with dozens of brands promising hemp products with all the bells and whistles you can imagine. With all these options, it can be difficult for consumers to parse what brands consistently provide transparent, high-quality products. Canna River, a new brand in the hemp arena, agrees that things have gotten a bit complicated lately, and wants…

We got used to winning all the time. But 2022 showed us that legalization isn’t inevitable, and statewide measures can lose. The Haymaker is Leafly Senior Editor Bruce Barcott’s opinion column on cannabis politics and culture.Elections humble us all. Sooner or later the incumbent gets fired, the pollster makes a wrong call, the powerful tumble.The cannabis legalization movement emerged from Tuesday’s election with two significant victories. Maryland and Missouri will become America’s 20th and 21st legal states.At the same time, this feels like a humbling election. Just three weeks ago I confidently predicted a five-for-five sweep for legalization on Nov.…

Halloween is a time of hyperbole, for leaning into the ghoulish and ghastly. As temperatures drop and days shorten, maybe we become a bit more receptive to scary headlines and assuming the worst. And despite decades of activism, with over 25 years of legal access, cannabis still gets painted as the boogeyman.  Earlier this month, a story out of St. Charles, Missouri, warned of delta-8 candy found in a child’s Halloween candy bag from a local event hosted at a restaurant. A similar account has recently come from police in northern Nevada, posted to the most fear-mongering social media platform,…

Hemp farming and production licenses will be inexpensive and widely available in Costa Rica, according to regulations that have been approved by the government. Cultivation and commercial licenses, renewable every six years, will be granted to farmers and other supply chain operators under the new rules, which were approved by President Rodrigo Chaves Robles and agriculture and health officials last week, according to a release from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG). Costa Rica’s rules set the limit for THC in hemp at a full 1.0%, meaning CBD production in the country will be more efficient because CBD rises…

A national animal food group is urging Idaho officials to delay enforcement of a ban on sales of animal foods that contain hemp or hemp derivatives. The ban, set to go into effect next Tuesday (Nov. 1), was announced by the state’s Department of Agriculture in July. Affected are CBD and other hemp-derived products intended for pets and farm animals. NASC warning “Removing CBD pet products from the marketplace paves the way for a black-market industry of unscrupulous suppliers selling questionable products that could end up harming animals,” the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) said in a petition it has…

Colorado voters on Tuesday approved a ballot initiative to legalize psychedelic plants and fungi for adults by a 52.3% to 47.7% margin, according to Associated Press data. The measure will allow people 21 and older to grow and share psychedelic mushrooms and create state-regulated “healing centers” where people could make appointments to consume psilocybin but does not permit retail sales.   In a statement to the Colorado Sun, co-proponents, Kevin Matthews and Veronica Lightening Horse Perez, said voters “saw the benefit of regulated access to natural medicines, including psilocybin, so people with PTSD, terminal illness, depression, anxiety, and other mental…