Hallo, ik ben Renz Verspaget, ik ben een betrouwbare administratief medewerker in de gezondheidszorg met 4,5 jaar ervaring met patiëntendossiers, medische facturering, werkschema's van ziekenhuizen en gezondheidszorgbeleid. Ziekenhuiskosten met 13% verlaagd door nieuwe factureringsmethoden te implementeren.
A jury verdict found HBI International, creator of RAW Organic Hemp rolling papers, engaged in unfair business practices which violated the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The RAW brand, known for its artisanal products and charitable contributions, apparently lied about the existence of its charity, the RAW Foundation, and the manufacturing and distribution location of its RAW Organic Hemp rolling papers.
RAW Founder Joshua Kesselman told Cannabis & Tech Today in a 2022 interview that RAW papers are crafted in Alcoy, Spain in the “last remaining authentic rolling paper factory in Alcoy.” The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois permanently enjoined HBI International from implying its RAW Organic Hemp products are created in or distributed from Alcoy.
Further, HBI International is forbidden from stating HBI and/or RAW contributes funds or proceeds to the RAW Foundation charitable entity. The court determined the foundation does not actually exist.
The January 31, 2023 court ruling forbids HBI International from marketing or stating any of the following:
That HBI and/or RAW® contributes its funds or proceeds to a charitable entity/foundation dubbed the “RAW Foundation”
That RAW® Organic Hemp rolling papers are “unrefined”
That RAW® Organic Hemp rolling paper adhesives are made from natural hemp gum
That RAW® Organic Hemp rolling papers are the world’s first or only organic (or organic hemp) rolling papers
That RAW® Organic Hemp rolling papers are made in Alcoy, Spain
That HBI International shall not include a packaging “stamp” using the word Alcoy or referring to Alcoy
That RAW® Organic Hemp rolling papers utilize wind power
That RAW® Organic Hemp rolling papers are made from the center of hemp stalks
That HBI or its founder Joshua Kesselmen invented rolling paper pre-rolled cones
That OCB® Organic Hemp papers are knock-offs, “RAWnabees,” copies, or fake versions of RAW® rolling papers
After May 31, 2023, HBI must cease promoting, selling, or distributing products under any of its other brands in packaging with an Alcoy stamp. These brands include Elements, Juicy Jays, and others.
RAW’s websites RAWgiving.com and RAWthentic.com, are currently down, stating “We’re updating our website and packaging to give you the most rawesome rolling experience ever.” This may be in response to the injunction requiring certain claims on RAW’s packaging be changed.
To listen to Kesselman’s 2022 interview describing the brand, its origins, and its charitable contributions, check out the podcast with Cannabis & Tech Today Editor-in-Chief Charles Warner.
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You may not know my neighbor Kyle, but if you have been enjoying cannabis for a while, then you know people like Kyle. They don’t drink anymore and instead enjoy cannabis as their “elixir” of choice.
“Good on ya’, Kyle,” has been the general reaction when I have run across various Kyle’s in my cannabis life span. No judgment, no explanation needed, just a person who has made a choice on how to enjoy themselves.
But, now, in a world where every-freaking-thing needs a label, the act of choosing cannabis over alcohol is apparently called California Sober, because nobody would ever believe Colorado Sober?
Google it. It’s a “thing.” Demi Lovato has a song called, you guessed it, California Sober that’s centered around her struggle with addiction…
I’m California sober It doesn’t have to mean the growin’ part is over No, it ain’t black or white, it’s all of the colors That I only just discovered, now I’m California sober California sober
Hey, sugar,
Take a walk on the wild side.
Sorry. I am not California Sober and will do my best to get back to the point.
In a nutshell California Sober means cutting alcohol out of your life and replacing it with cannabis. Kind of, sometimes, because nobody wants to get labeled or boxed in, but we will get to that part later.
Psychiatrist and addiction specialist Akhil Anand, MD, explains there’s no official definition for this approach to substance use. “The term is ambiguous and kind of a misnomer,” Dr. Anand says. “After all, you’re not sober if you’re still using mind-altering substances.”
Cali Sober, as the cool kids call it, promotes cutting out certain addictive substances and replacing them with alternatives that, in theory, are less harmful.
My wife gave up French fries for a year to see if she could do it. She didn’t stop eating tater tots, onion rings, or tater skins and did have French fries on her birthday, but in her mind she was French Fry Free. Since she never actually reads these articles, this is my safe space to use this insane hypocrisy as an example.
Some people call themselves California Sober because they use cannabis in place of alcohol and other addictive substances. Others define it as using alcohol and marijuana in moderation while avoiding other drugs.
Which by definition is not in fact sober. We won’t do the cut and paste definition thing here, but you get the idea.
Dr. Anand adds, “If you have an uncomfortable or unhealthy relationship with alcohol or drugs, the California Sober approach might sound tempting. But there are reasons to be cautious if you’re thinking of trading one vice for another. “You’re replacing one addictive substance with another,” Dr. Anand notes. “It’s a slippery slope.”
Not being preachy (well … not much), but again if you are reading this then you know we here at Cannabis & Tech Today enjoy cannabis, the culture, lifestyle, people, thought leaders, business owners, and the brands who send the writers samples, all that being said, California Sober is as oxymoronic a statement as “well-paid writers,” “funny republicans,” and “smart Tweets by Elon Musk.”
It’s even too much for us and we are the magazine who brought you Wilfred the Furry Dog as a feature story! We are as open minded a group as it gets, but even this has our Bull Shit Meter about to burst.
Some people can enjoy a cocktail or the occasional dog walker in moderation, for others (and we all know that person), it’s all too easy to go overboard. “Some people aren’t able to drink moderately. For them, the consequences of drinking can be dire,” Dr. Anand says.
If you’re interested in trying a Cali Sober approach that includes some alcohol, Dr. Anand says it’s important to set clear goals and be honest with yourself. “If you want to drink less, be specific about how much daily alcohol use is acceptable,” he says. “If you can’t stick to those goals, you might need to seek out addiction support.”
We know, (insert Robert Downey Jr. meme rolling his eyes) We know!! You can’t get addicted to cannabis, but you can be over the top annoying, kind of like the friend who must announce to the waitress that they are gluten free at every firkin’ restaurant.
If you get pulled over by the police you are either sober or not, pilots are not allowed to fly planes if they are not sober, it says right on the packaging, “do not operate heavy machinery, drive, or text your ex.” Because if you are using cannabis, you are not in fact sober. It’s killing me to not put the definition right here___.
“Okay boomer we get it, it’s a dumb name! Can we get past that?”
One potential pitfall of California sober is that the definition of “moderation” is defined differently depending on the person. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines heavy drinking as consuming three to four drinks or more in a day. There are those who would think that’s a lot, and others who would define that as a warm up.
Just like anything cannabis related, a lot of this comes down to dosage. I have many friends who micro-dose. They have studied it and manage it with nutrition, the size of the dose, and several other factors to keep things level and in control.
Control. That’s the key phrase. For many people with a dependence on alcohol or drugs, California sober doesn’t go far enough.
“Substance use is complicated, and treatment should be tailored to the individual,” Dr. Anand says. “If you’re concerned about your use of alcohol or drugs, the best thing to do is seek support from your family, your doctor, a counselor or an addiction specialist.”
For Demi Lovato and others who are struggling with addiction and recovery, cannabis is a great way to help calm the anxiety and pain of a possible rebound. We still aren’t tapping the full potential of the plant and dozens of studies have proven the power of cannabis can be helpful for everything from seizures and anxiety to PTSD and writer’s block.
The idea of swapping one “vice” for another isn’t new. Labeling it, well that’s on you. The overarching message to this rant is if you need help with an addiction of any kind you don’t have to go it alone, there is all kinds of help out there no label required.
Demi, take it from here …
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Cannabis opponents do their best to try to lump cannabis smoke and tobacco smoke into the same category, and to be fair, it’s something that many people accept unless they have looked at the body of research on the topic.
Anyone that has researched cannabis smoke versus tobacco smoke knows that they are not the same, and that tobacco smoke is demonstrably worse for consumers compared to cannabis smoke for various reasons.
A recent study conducted in Australia found that cannabis smoke exposure is not associated with impaired lung function among consumers. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:
South Brisbane, Australia: The long-term inhalation of cannabis smoke does not impact lung function in the same manner as inhaling tobacco, according to longitudinal data published in the journal Respiratory Medicine.
A team of Australian researchers evaluated the impact of tobacco smoking and cannabis smoking on lung function in a cohort of 30-year-old subjects. Study participants began smoking cannabis, tobacco, or both as young adults. Pulmonary performance was evaluated at age 21 and at age 30 via a spirometry assessment.
Researchers reported that cigarette-only smokers “already showed evidence of impaired lung function” at age 30. By contrast, “those who have [only] used cannabis ever since the adolescent period do not appear to have evidence of impairment of lung function.” Specifically, investigators identified airflow obstructions in the lungs of cigarette-only smokers, but they observed no such obstructions in cannabis-only subjects.
Researchers reported that cigarette-only smokers “already showed evidence of impaired lung function” at age 30. By contrast, “those who have [only] used cannabis ever since the adolescent period do not appear to have evidence of impairment of lung function.”
Authors further acknowledged, “Co-use of tobacco and cannabis does not appear to predict lung function beyond the effects of tobacco use alone.”
They concluded, “Cannabis use does not appear to be related to lung function even after years of use.”
The findings are consistent with those of numerous other studies reporting that cannabis smoke exposure, even long-term, is not predictive of the sort of significant adverse pulmonary effects that are consistently associated with tobacco.
Consumers who wish to mitigate or eliminate their exposure to combustive smoke may do so via an herbal vaporizer, which heats cannabinoids to the point of vaporization but below the point of combustion. In clinical trials, herbal vaporizers have been found to be a “safe and effective” cannabinoid delivery device.
Full text of the study, “Do tobacco and cannabis use and co-use predict lung function: A longitudinal study,” appears in Respiratory Medicine. Additional information is available from NORML’s Fact Sheet, ‘Cannabis Exposure and Lung Health.’
This article first appeared onInternationalcbc.comand is syndicated here with special permission.
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The Internet of Things rules the world. And while integrated ecosystems are indeed convenient, a failure can create chaos. That is especially true for cannabis retailers.
Point-of-sale systems are often the backbone of dispensaries and act as the command center for the suite of tech throughout the business. They do not just process transactions; the software may also provide accounting, inventory management, marketing, and track-and-trace reporting — all crucial components of a business’s success.
Issues with this technology could spell disaster for a licensed operator, especially when it comes to compliance. Internet outages, system crashes, and back-end failures can be catastrophic for many retailers if they do not have strong tech solutions in place.
Gary Cohen, CEO of Cova Software, understands this better than most. As one of the largest cannabis retail technology platforms in the country, his company is tasked with setting the industry up for success. When it comes to the myriad complications operators deal with, Cohen has battled them all.
Cohen spoke with Cannabis & Tech Today about the technology issues facing dispensary owners, the risks they pose, and how to prevent them before they happen.
Cannabis & Tech Today: What are some of the main tech problems cannabis retailers deal with?
Gary Cohen: There are so many technologies that interact with the operation of a dispensary. E-commerce, point-of-sale or payments, loyalty programs, menu boards, and kiosks — to name a few. In running and operating a dispensary, some of these are so critical. If your menu boards go down, it’s not going to stop your store from running.
But if the POS reporting goes down, or the inventory that’s displayed online is inaccurate? Well, that will cause big problems for your business in terms of customer cost and compliance.
C&T Today: Why do so many cannabis point-of-sale systems fail?
GC: The industry is growing faster and faster. And typically, POS companies aren’t designed for future growth. If you’re building a POS platform and have no customers, you may build it to accommodate your first couple hundred customers. Ultimately, when you get over that 200 mark, you need to re-engineer both the application for the platform, as well as the infrastructure that can carry all the cloud traffic. The tech gets past the tipping point, where stores are trying to handle too many transactions across too many geographies. And that’s where everything slows down and crashes.
C&T Today: How do these issues affect the customer?
GC: How easily and quickly a transaction is handled determines the customer experience. In an industry where you want to build loyalty you want, the visit should be seamless, it should all be transparent. If I visit a dispensary and it’s slow or clunky, I may never go back.
Another big technical problem that the dispensaries have is that the online menu says something is in stock, but when the person comes into the store, it’s gone. That leads to disappointment for the customer and headaches for the retail staff.
C&T Today: One of the biggest risks retailers face with POS failures is compliance-based. Why is that?
GC: Everything about the technology, whether it meets the state’s compliance requirements for selling as well as reporting, affects the store’s efficiency and profitability.
POS systems can fail for a variety of reasons: connection issues, power outages, or system overloads to name a few. When it doesn’t work, there’s a risk of misreporting or no reporting. And as a dispensary owner, that’ll create an error. The error creates a notice. And the state says, you know, we’ve got a problem, we’re either not getting your information, or we got the wrong information, or we can’t read the information. If you can’t fix it, it’s a violation that can jeopardize the license.
Point-of-sale systems are often the backbone of dispensaries and act as the command center for the suite of tech throughout the business. They do not just process transactions; the software may also provide accounting, inventory management, marketing, and track-and-trace reporting — all crucial components of a business’s success.
C&T Today: What other crucial data may be missing from these tech solutions?
GC: As time goes on, and markets mature, you need to offer the things that your customers want. Without accurate product and sell-through data, you’re not going to know how fast something sells, how frequently that sells, and you might not know how to price it. The data that comes out of the POS is gold.
If you don’t have systems that can give you the reporting to help you understand what’s going on with your business, you’re going to miss out on profits through informed marketing strategies.
C&T Today: How do retailers choose a POS system? How can they vet them properly?
GC: You can’t do anything about your state system. But you can see how your potential vendor does with the state system. This is so crucial. Doing some research, you’ll see the problems. “This company goes down all the time and has outages, this company can’t work if the power goes out.”
Consider the future. How is the company prepared for the growth of the cannabis industry? How long have they been in business? Asking those kinds of questions is probably the best way to gain confidence that you’re going to have fewer technical problems.
C&T Today: What are some questions retailers may not think to ask?
GC: What’s sad is most dispensary operators are not technical people, so they’re not inherently prepared to ask really technical questions. I think the most important thing is to look for companies that are going to help you — companies that are built to help you understand how the software works, and how it connects to the systems that you need to support your retail.
How do you feel they will help you address all of the technical questions you may have? Do they have training and education and how do they deliver that so that you can understand? How do they help set you up to minimize potential problems or issues? You need to have some confidence and comfort that the company you’re going to work with is going to be a technical adviser to help you succeed.
This issue first appeared in Volume 4 Issue 3 of Cannabis & Tech Today.
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Argentina’s emerging cannabis industry has evolved at a rapid pace compared to other markets in recent months. As we previously reported, back in April 2022 Argentina’s Ministry of Health issued new rules pertaining to medical cannabis, allowing non-profits to eventually obtain licenses.
Roughly a month later Argentina passed a measure that created a framework for a more robust medical cannabis industry in the South American nation, including provisions for boosting exports around the world.
Argentina appears to have a keen eye on cannabis exports, with several comments surfacing in recent months from various leaders expressing a strong desire to make Argentina a top international supplier of medical cannabis products.
That same month Argentina’s government launched a public company to provide seeds, testing, and training to the emerging cannabis industry, and now Argentina’s government has created an agency to oversee the emerging industry and hopefully help it reach its full potential. Per InfoBae (translated to English):
In the context of the law sanctioned last May through which the regulatory framework is created to start an industrial process with the cannabis plant in Argentina, finally this Monday the national government created the Regulatory Agency for the Hemp Industry and the Medicinal Cannabis (ARICCAME), the state body whose main task will be to convert the letter of the law into management.
For now, the regulatory decree signed by Juan Manzur, Chief of Staff, and Sergio Tomás Massa, Minister of Economy, only announces the creation of ARICCAME and the appointment of its authorities. The first president in the history of the Agency will be the current mayor of the Buenos Aires city of Castelli, Francisco Echarren . The vice-president will be the doctor Marcelo Morante , historical activist of the cannabis cause, and in charge of the operation of the registry of medicinal users of the national Ministry of Health.
Now, Argentina appears to have a keen eye on cannabis exports, with several comments surfacing in recent months from various leaders expressing a strong desire to make Argentina a top international supplier of medical cannabis products.
Only time will tell if that actually happens, with Argentina being somewhat late to the cannabis export party. The country deserves credit for proceeding in rapid fashion in recent months.
However, several other countries are already exporting medical cannabis products around the world. As such, Argentina has some catching up to do.
This article first appeared onInternationalcbc.comand is syndicated here with special permission.
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Legal cannabis has always had an outsized and unjust share of obstacles — but it now faces a perfect storm of calamity. From inflation and oversupply to punitive tax systems and illicit market competition, small cannabis retailers and brands are struggling to survive.
With so many factors beyond their control, the best way for cannabis businesses to compete in this brutal environment is by leveraging customer relationship management (CRM). By adopting CRM strategies and tools, cannabis brands and retailers can tap into their existing customer bases, increase revenues, and lay the infrastructure to compete once cannabis is federally legal. Retailers and brands often bemoan the notoriously fickle cannabis clientele, but loyalty is earned, not given. CRM is what allows successful brands to earn devoted followings, and cannabis businesses need to get in the ring.
Inflation, Efficiency, and Oversupply Have Cannabis Businesses Hemmed In
Inflation has driven most businesses to raise their prices — but not cannabis. Our balkanized, dysfunctional legalization framework has caused an intrastate product glut, and the per-pound price of cannabis has declined steeply. There’s so much flower that, even as their costs spike, cannabis retailers can’t raise prices for fear of losing customers to the competition.
As for cutting costs by increasing efficiency? By and large, cannabis operators have figured out efficient production so well that, from seed to sale, it’s highly improbable that we’ll be able to reduce those costs anytime soon. Cannabis has already endured several rounds of layoffs. There is simply a limit to how much further you can trim the costs of staffing, testing, facilities, or other overhead costs.
Between oversupply, maxed out-efficiencies, and a thriving illegal market, cannabis retailers are stuck in a race to the bottom, undercutting one another and losing money to compete for customer share. But the days of undercutting the competition to win market share are over. Many of the old options for belt-tightening are gone.
Why CRM is the Path to Surviving and Eventually Thriving
In my experience with cannabis retailers and brands in Arizona and California, the next best place for these businesses to invest their time and energy is customer relationship management. It’s the arena in which you can compete and win. You can’t package or test or deliver five times better than the competition. You can’t cut costs or raise prices, and you can’t undercut illegal operators — but you can give your customers an experience that’s 100 times better.
All small businesses should be leveraging CRMs, including cannabis small businesses. This shift doesn’t require inventing a new methodology or learning fancy tricks. Instead, we need to tap into what we already know from others that are slaying the CRM game.
A 2017 Epsilon survey found that eight out of 10 respondents were more likely to frequent a business that personalized their experience.
The target market for dispensaries is already using Netflix, Spotify, Instagram, and Amazon daily and is well-accustomed to tailored purchasing experiences. The same customer buying toothpaste on the Target website is also browsing your dispensary website, but the journey of these purchases couldn’t be more different.
Let’s say this customer searches your site for edibles, then purchases several bars of infused dark chocolate. Does she get an email thanking her for her purchase or a follow-up asking what she thought of her edibles? Does she receive an invitation to join the loyalty program or a text alerting her to an upcoming edibles sale? Is she offered a discount on delivery services? No one’s asking cannabis customers these questions. In any other type of e-commerce, some kind of follow-up is standard — but that kind of customer cultivation hasn’t taken hold in cannabis retail.
A 2017 Epsilon survey found that eight out of 10 respondents were more likely to frequent a business that personalized their experience. Yet, all too often there is zero customized post-sale outreach in cannabis. Segmentation is rare. Occasionally, you’ll get a big blast, spray-and-pray “deal of the day” offer in your inbox, but micro-targeting is almost non-existent.
Why send our aforementioned customer a generic message about a weekend sale on flower, when she has asthma and doesn’t smoke? On the contrary: Because the emails she receives aren’t targeted and don’t address her needs, she stops opening them or blocks them altogether. Any opportunity for cross-selling, suggestion selling, or developing a loyal relationship with a repeat customer is lost.
The Best Acquisition Strategy is a Retention Strategy
Customer retention, not acquisition, is key to growth. Referrals will always be the linchpin of success. Repeat and retained customers spend more and will advocate for you to their friends and family. They’re an asset that rarely gets sufficient investment or outreach.
Today’s CRMs organize a treasure trove of data that empowers you to talk to different customer cohorts based on their location, gender, age, and purchasing history.
Custom follow-up gives you hundreds of touch points to explore, from abandoned carts, holidays, and educational offerings to addressing particular customer groups such as seniors and veterans. A whopping 80% of Netflix viewer activity is driven by personalized recommendations. Why shouldn’t cannabis businesses strive to adopt that same model?
Relationship Building Isn’t Easy But It’s Your Brand’s Best Bet
CRM may be simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy (in my experience, anyone selling an easy solution doesn’t have one). Like all relationships, customer relationships require time and energy, and a CRM that’s just a glorified management spreadsheet won’t do the job. Cultivating clientele relationships and building community is similar to healthy living in that there’s no magic bullet. It’s about small, consistent daily choices, where success comes from doing the basics meticulously over time.
But I’d argue your investment will pay off. Though federal legalization may seem a long way away, it’s coming. Once interstate commerce and banking services arrive and we can ship anywhere in the nation or globe? Customer experience and brand loyalty
will win.
For most consumers, cannabis is a personal and important purchase — many want a retailer and brand they can be loyal to and trust. So get a CRM system, assemble your data and start nurturing people. Look to the customers you have, think about how to retain them, and start building those relationships now. There’s a bright future for cannabis retailers who are getting creative post-sale, and taking the post-sale journey as seriously as the sale itself.
This article first appeared in Volume 4 Issue 3 of Cannabis & Tech Today.
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As the dust settled on the 2021 federal election in Germany, excitement among cannabis enthusiasts erupted — with good reason.
Before the election late last year, members of what would become the governing coalition expressed a desire to legalize cannabis in Germany. Many of them spoke at the International Business Conference in Berlin just weeks before the election.
Since that time, lawmakers have worked to craft a legalization measure. How long the political process will take is currently unknown. But, legalization is inevitable in Germany.
Once legal adult-use sales launch in Europe’s largest cannabis market, cannabis retail logistics will undergo a massive revolution.
Part of the revolution will occur due to German ingenuity. It’s no secret that Germany is an international leader when it comes to innovation, which will spread to the cannabis industry.
Another reason cannabis retail logistics will undergo a revolution is out of necessity. Once Germany’s adult-use industry is launched, it will instantly become the largest national adult-use market on Earth.
At the time of this writing, the only two countries where adult-use sales are legal at a national level are Uruguay and Canada. In Uruguay, sales are limited to residents only.
That means the only comparator will be Canada, and it doesn’t take much digging to realize Germany is much larger than Canada in terms of cannabis industry potential.
Once Germany’s adult-use industry is launched, it will instantly become the largest national adult-use market on Earth.
Germany is set to sell literally tons of cannabis, and there is no ceiling to the industry’s potential. Unlike Canada, bordered by states in the U.S. that already sell cannabis, Germany will be an adult-use oasis for the entire continent, at least at first.
It’s a safe bet that Germany will sell more products than any other market. Demand will require licensed outlets to be as efficient as possible when storing and retrieving inventory.
We have already seen an example of the cannabis retail revolution brewing in Germany in the form of the Cannastore, which debuted at the International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin in July.
It is the first automated dispensing system designed for cannabis products. The Cannastore can dispense products within six to 12 seconds and hold up to 40,000 units before restocking.
As the world transitions from failed cannabis prohibition policies to sensible cannabis legislation, more markets will launch.
The old-fashioned dispensing methods of retrieving units from the backroom, manually weighing products, and packing them one at a time will soon prove too inefficient.
That, in turn, creates opportunities for innovation. Germany will likely serve as a cannabis industry innovation hub, just as it is for other large global industries.
This article was first published in Volume 4 Issue 3 of Cannabis & Tech Today. Read the full issue here.
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