High weed retailer fees in Vancouver should be taken down a notch or more

Members of Vancouver City Council have asked municipal staff to come up with ways to cut the fees being paid by cannabis retailers in the city. The annual fees charged to weed retailers dwarf those of other businesses, such...

3y

The Growth Op

California cannabis retailer claims he was kicked off texting platform simply for communicating with customers

A co-owner of Empire Health & Wellness in Modesto, Calif. claims the retailer was booted off a texting platform he uses to do business and communicate with clients about medicinal and recreational cannabis. According...

3y

The Growth Op

Pandemic shut down her industry so a Toronto woman found another way to pay her bills: cannabis retail

This story is a part of The GrowthOp’s weekly series, Ask A Budtender. “I was working as a professional choreographer and performer when the pandemic hit,” says Michele Shuster. “My entire industry was hit really...

3y

The Growth Op

Will Australia follow the U.S. lead and sell CBD?

Australians might be looking at a cleared path to cannabis medications as soon as next year. The Australian government made an interim decision on Sept. 9 to make low-dose CBD medication an over-the-counter (OTC) option. Right...

3y

The Growth Op

Ontario to double the pace of cannabis store authorizations, again

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has announced it will once again be doubling the pace of its cannabis Retail Store Authorizations (RSAs). In September, the agency vowed to double its approval pace and...

3y

The Growth Op

How this small Manitoba town swayed public opinion about cannabis

In January, a petition arrived on the desks of town officials in Altona, Man., a small community about 10 kilometres north of the U.S. border. A few months earlier, in October 2019, the town had held a public hearing to discuss...

3y

The Growth Op

Former Blackberry executive pivots to weed, set to open cannabis store in Kitchener, Ont.

Owen Allerton, a former director with Blackberry, says that while alcohol is commonplace in corporate environments despite its harms, cannabis still carries a stigma. “A startup with beer in the fridge is seen as ‘cool’,...

3y

The Growth Op

Is enduring justice for medicinal marijuana coming to the U.S. soon?

The cannabis industry has never been a favoured industry by U.S. Attorney General William Barr. His predecessor, former AG Jeff Sessions, also had issues with the industry, rescinding the Cole Memo in January, 2018, (“a...

3y

The Growth Op

Open for business? Ontario limits weed store openings to five per week

Premier Doug Ford’s Ontario is open for business – but is now capped at five new private cannabis stores per week. Seeds are coming to the Ontario Cannabis Store. Here's why that's a big deal Ontario Cannabis Store...

3y

The Growth Op

Toronto weed store offers what turns out to be a very pandemic-friendly way to retrieve stock

No one was expecting COVID-19 to hit businesses worldwide so hard, but the designers of a new cannabis shop that opened its doors in Toronto’s Beaches area this week may be feeling prescient. The family-owned and operated...

3y

The Growth Op

John Belushi may have suffered from CTE, brother Jim says in first episode of his new cannabis show

It was the death of his brother that helped spark Jim Belushi’s interest in medical marijuana and, ultimately, put the actor on a road toward ensuring others don’t suffer the same fate. John Belushi, the legendary star...

3y

The Growth Op

U.S. coin shortage has Michigan dispensary trading rolls of pennies for pot

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to many shortages in the U.S., such as a lack of personal protective gear (PPE), hospital beds, prescription medications, medical testing equipment and meat products. But now, the pandemic-embattled...

3y

The Growth Op

5 things U.S. dispensaries are doing to keep customers COVID-safe

Even though dispensaries in the U.S. are considered essential businesses, COVID-19 has still affected them. Like any other business, cannabis retailers in legal U.S. states are enforcing new safety measures during the pandemic....

3y

The Growth Op

Why the pandemic could be a boon for cannabis dducation

Cannabis education has slowly spread since marijuana began to earn legal status across U.S. states. Nowadays, with the coronavirus, universities are facing new challenges that force them to rework their curriculum and find...

3y

The Growth Op

Weed has been deemed essential and demand is recession-proof. So why do retailers still struggle?

Three weeks before the pandemic sent Canadians into a state of emergency, executives at cannabis retail hopeful Mihi were celebrating. After two years of planning, hiring and strategizing, the Ontario-based company was awarded...

3y

The Growth Op

Four weed YouTube channels worth watching

Cannabis is a growing industry and, as such, there’s a lot of content available on the internet. Weed enthusiasts have come up with websites, Instagram pages and Twitter accounts, all looking to find new and creative ways...

3y

The Growth Op

Mitch McConnell mocks Nancy Pelosi over cannabis claims as relief bill languishes in Senate

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell isn’t buying Nancy Pelosi’s recent cannabis comments as Democrats and Republicans remain at odds over a badly needed coronavirus relief package. The House speaker has made clear...

3y

The Growth Op

Method Man is putting his money where his mouth is to help Black owners in the cannabis industry

Method Man is looking to help level the playing field in the cannabis industry by encouraging more Black ownership and partnering with four Black-owned dispensaries as early as this weekend. Known for his work with Wu-Tang...

3y

The Growth Op

How to safely buy weed in the time of the coronavirus

Although there are plenty of tips available for safe cannabis consumption in the time of the coronavirus, questions abound about the best way to go about bolstering one’s stash amid the global pandemic. Does social distancing...

3y

The Growth Op

This new website allows stoners to talk weed, ideas and business all at a safe social distance

Is the pandemic’s energy-sapping, soul-sucking isolation getting you down? Are you craving interaction with like-minded, cannabis-loving types to discuss everything from getting high to possible business ventures? Then,...

3y

The Growth Op

Former heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis invests in Canadian weed company

Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson, two former heavyweight champions, could be meeting once again. Instead of the squared circle, however, Lewis will be joining Tyson as an investor in the cannabis industry, which his former rival...

3y

The Growth Op

Are Amazon, Uber, etc. the future for delivering post-pandemic cannabis?

It’s hard to say where we are in the COVID-19 pandemic right now, as infections and deaths continue to rise. But there have been movements in the cannabis industry that are changing the way the industry operates amid the...

3y

The Growth Op

Legalizing weed causes major tourism spike: study

Virtually no one is traveling around the United States at the moment, but that might change as all 50 states announce some re-opening measures after shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. When travel does resume, a...

4y

The Growth Op

This rapper-turned-cannabis entrepreneur is more concerned with justice than his damaged storefronts

Some things are more important than money, and California-based rapper turned cannabis entrepreneur Berner would count justice as among those things. “We can rebuild our store, but you cannot bring someone back to life,”...

4y

The Growth Op

More Halifax-area pot shop raids as two face charges in Dartmouth dispensary bust

Two people from Dartmouth, N.S., are facing charges after local police carried out a raid on what was alleged to be an illegal cannabis store. Windsor, Ont. police make arrests at cannabis cafe one week after previous raid Police...

4y

The Growth Op

Worth the wait. West Kelowna, B.C. finally gets its own legal pot shop

More than a year after federal cannabis legalization came into force, West Kelowna finally has a legal dispensary to call its own. Kelowna cannabis producer ready to lay a big THC Kiss on customers West Kelowna to reconsider...

4y

The Growth Op

Former NFLers Calvin Johnson, Rob Sims tackle cannabis and CTE

Calvin Johnson learned a thing or two about cannabis at his previous job. The former Detroit Lions receiver stunned the NFL when he retired in 2016 at the peak of his powers, walking away from multi-million-dollar deals to...

4y

The Growth Op

Worm farm sets sights on adding weed waste to worm food menu

Waste not, want not. An Oklahoma business has come up with what it sees as a creative and ecologically friendly way to dispose of unsaleable medical cannabis: let the worms have at it. Fishing for the future: Canadian professor...

4y

The Growth Op

Magic Dragon company name leaves state Cannabis Control Commission huffing and puffing

Many cannabis consumers enjoy their weed with a dash of whimsy. But in Worcestor, Mass, one cannabis business licence applicant has been warned its fantastical name may be running afoul of state regulations. It’s Just...

4y

The Growth Op

One in custody after unlicensed Peterborough, Ont. dispensary raid

The unlicensed dispensary was operating from a storefront bearing a sign that read “Psychic Studio”, but its occupants weren’t psychic enough to foresee what was about to happen. City of Kamloops is powerless to stop...

4y

The Growth Op

#StonerStrong: Halifax cannabis customers take down a knife-wielding, would-be thief

Customers at a cannabis store in Halifax’s north end have been credited with helping thwart a robbery Sunday evening. Halifax Regional Police was called to the scene of a Farm Assists cannabis shop at about 8:30 pm to find...

4y

The Growth Op

Los Angeles residents stocking up on bud, booze and guns amid coronavirus fears

Toilet paper, hand sanitizer and Lysol wipes may be flying off the shelves in most regions of the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Los Angeles residents are stocking up on some very different supplies. Comedian...

4y

The Growth Op

Lack of protective gear at cannabis labs could threaten weed supply

Despite layoffs and downsizing in the cannabis industry over recent months, U.S. cannabis testing labs are still doing a brisk business, even in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. New Brunswick liquor and cannabis stores...

4y

The Growth Op