FIG FARMS DOUBLES UP AT SOCAL CANNABIS CUP

COLOMBIA STARTS UNIVERSAL CANNABIS HEALTH INSURANCE

Colombia’s state-funded health insurance now covers medical cannabis. 

Those already operating in the country are obviously hyped as they prepare to meet the uptick in demand. Clever Leaves is one of the best positioned to take advantage of that expected surge. Clever Leaves was founded in 2016 by Andres Fajardo, a longtime business partner, and The Former Drug Policy director of Colombia. Think more of someone that ran the Office of National Drug Control Policy that falls under the executive branch as opposed to the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 

“We saw an opportunity because the legislation was changing early on and we thought Colombia has what it takes to win in the global cannabis market, given its cost structure and agricultural conditions,” Fajardo told L.A. Weekly from Colombia.

Andres Fajardo

Fajardo and his partners were also excited to have a hands-on way to help further influence the regulations that would be coming down the pipeline and take part in an essential step for the nation’s cannabis history.

While things are happening fast, a lot of that history has long been attached to epic land-race genetics that made their way to the coastal Santa Marta region nearly 1,000 kilometers north of the capital Bogota. The most famous being the Colombian Gold that lived to its name because if the packs made it to the other side of the Caribbean, someone was getting rich. 

While the laws changing in the late 2010s was certainly a factor, the core of the policy that allowed for medical cannabis in Colombia was a law from 1986. 

“The law passed but the decree and the more granular pieces of legislation were not there. But they passed some, some of that in late 2015,” Fajardo explained. “The opportunity opened, we got a license, but then, during 2016 and 2017, there was a change in regulation.”

That change was the breathing room they needed to start the building blocks of a true industry in Colombia. By January of 2018, they had scored some extra capital from the U.S. and were in full swing. They’re now up to 1.8 million square feet of cultivation. 

When they first got the ball rolling, they were only allowed to do extracts. But all that has changed. 

Fajardo argues that most of the cannabis being grown in Colombia right now is being targeted for smokable flowers. Sure, they’re still growing the materials for extract, they’ve been exporting it for a few years already. Now it’s about prepping the next big export, smokable flower. Everything Clever Leaves needs to export flowers has already been enacted over the last two years; it expects to start exports in the first quarter of 2023.  

The biggest markets off the bat for Clever Leaves are expected to be Germany and Australia. 

Fajardo says a lot of the company’s growing pains were experienced in their Portuguese facility back in the day. That is where they learned the important lessons about growing smokable flowers compared to bulk extract biomass, and not the terp-heavy kind stuffed in freezers in California. 

Another thing playing into their favor is, they’ll be able to grow a lot of different cannabis across their cultivation portfolio cheaply in hopes of having something that speaks to everyone. 

“The cost of the Colombian capacity that we have allows us to launch more and more strains more easily than in other countries,” Fajardo said. “So we expect to be expanding our flower portfolio very significantly during 2023 and the years thereafter.”

Fajardo says Colombia’s natural light cycle and weather will play a big factor in that. The days are basically 12 hours of sunlight and darkness each, year-round, and then they just have to adapt for the drier and wetter seasons, which Colombian agriculture is long accustomed to doing. 

Fajardo went on to explain what Colombian patients have had to deal with over the last few years, prior to the federal insurance plan. He believes access has been very difficult for patients, particularly in a country like Colombia, with universal health coverage. The further normalization of the industry is now allowing the industry to build up to meet demand. 

But what makes being a medical cannabis company in a universal healthcare environment tricky? 

“Colombian people are not used to spending out of pocket at all because everything is paid. So when you ask them to pay $6, they are OK. But if you ask them to pay 20, 30, 40 bucks, people will just not do it,” Fajardo said. “Now the question is, is the medicine going to be available and affordable? Now with this change, the market expands abruptly because it’s 50 million people, all of us insured. So that poses a very attractive possibility. “

We should have an idea over the next few months of the level of demand they can expect in the Colombian medical market. 

THE 12 STRAINS OF CHRISTMAS 2023

The 12 Strains of Christmas returns for 2023!

As is tradition, with this list we present a holiday-size helping of the heat we’ve found in the past couple of months following the harvest and trips to scope out the marketplaces in Vegas, abroad in the Canary Islands and Thailand. 

The 12 Strains of Christmas also is our most extensive flower list of the year. It’s always a pleasure to highlight some killers so they have one more thing to share with their families during whatever holiday they might enjoy together. 

Here are the strains you should leave out for Santa in 2023. 

Red Pop S1 #37 (Riddles) – Royal Key Organics

As with many strains from breeders that offer as extensive a catalog as Exotic Genetix, it can take a couple of years to get the full wind in their sales. Red Pop has had a fantastic 2022. Its offspring, Red Runtz, is entering its own hype wave, but the Red Pop is still elite and 2022 was the first year many had the chance to try it. One of our favorite phenos of anything Red Pop belongs to Royal Key Organics in Humboldt County. In particular, their Red Pop S1 #37 they named Riddles. It smells like buttery popcorn with cherry Kool-Aid sprinkled on top. 

Zkittelz – Alien Labs

The Alien Labs rendition of Zkittlez is tied with IC Collective for the best Z terps we’ve ever seen grown outside of Mendocino County. We got our first peek at it during Las Vegas Heat Quest on MJ Biz Con Eve. As people approached us with their versions of Z throughout the week, nothing else came close. Back home here in California, few can produce Z terps at this level commercially. 

Flowers of Zion – Fidels

Courtesy of Fidels

On the heels of his self-made docuseries and summer win at the Transbay Challenge I threw in L.A. for his KMZ, Flowers of Zion is the next one to keep an eye on from Fidel. The Flowers of Zion brings together Garlic Cocktail with Symbiotic Genetics’s timeless classic Mimosa. With his cultivation site operational, expect to see even more of Fidels Flower throughout the state. 

Seed Junky Official Genetics

Seed Junky and Fidel Buds took top honors at Ego Clash a couple of weeks ago on the eve of The Emerald Cup’s Harvest Ball, thanks to some ultra-elite hash from Simply Adam that topped the uber-competitive contest where many of the world’s best hash makers score each other. The Banana God is a pairing of Wilson and Banana OG. The version that won Ego Clash was a Banana God F2 that was done by @ibean_poppin2much and then grown by Simpleeadam. 

Cap Junky – Capulator x Seed Junky 

Courtesy of Capulator

A collaboration between two Los Angeles heavyweights, Capulator and Seed Junkie’s CapJunky was certainly a favorite for us in 2022. It’s among the gassiest offerings from both breeders and is an absolute ripper. It has limited availability in town, but you can score some at Peace of Green at 1155 East Pico Blvd., in DTLA.

Stardawg x Gelato 41 – Doja Pak  

Ever since we first covered the original RS11 drop in LA a couple of years back, it feels like you’d need one of those NASA cameras that tracks the rockets after launch to keep pace with what they’ve been up to. While strains named after art supplies and animals are dope, we think the Stardawg x Gelato 41 was a pinch underrated during the hype storm this year and wanted to give it some extra love. 

Blackberry Gary – Serge Cannabis x Powerzzzup

Courtesy of Serge Cannabis

Arguably the biggest strain to drop in California this fall, Blackberry Gary has lived up to the hype. The rare collaboration from Powerzzzup is an absolute killer. Most of the Cereal Milk and Gary Crosses out there are from reversals, but Serge was able to work with the real gear and get the Powerzzzup team’s blessings on the final product. It carries on the flavor and impact tradition of the Gary Payton line. 

DEO – 580

Courtesy of DEO

580 is the most underrated strain from Deep East Oakland Farms. Everyone is tripping balls. I’m not saying it’s RS or Zoap, but saying it’s not special is batshit crazy to me. It tastes so much different from the rest of their pack. Now I love me some dessert weed, but the smell of nail polish is one of my favorite things. The freshest batches of 580 have it in abundance. It smashes into your sinuses when you open a bag. 

Red Bullz x Fishscale – High Rhythm Farm

The Santa Cruz-hunted version of the Compound Genetics heater was certainly on the podium for us at The Emerald Cup Harvest Ball. Few things came close in the quality of the terpene or look. The impact was great, too, when we got the chance to try it. We highly recommend keeping an eye out for this one. 

Prism OZ – Cipher Genetics

Courtesy of Cipher Genetics

An offering from the newest company on The 12 Strains of Christmas, Cipher Genetics is the latest project from Compound Genetics founder Chris Lynch. Our favorite offering from the launch drop is looking to be the Prism OZ. While we haven’t seen the finished product yet, we’re very excited for the recipe of SFV OG x ( Zkittelz x (Zkittelz x Gelato 41)). We’re convinced it’ll be a heater, much like a lot of Lynch’s past classics. 

OZ Kush BX1 – 3rd Gen Family

Courtesy of 3rd Gen Family

Numerous companies in the cannabis space got their start with a pack of 3rd Gen Family’s Dying Breed Seeds, and one of the strains that launched the most or helped take things to a new level was OZ Kush. It brought together the Eddy OG and Zkittelz and the first packs sold five years ago. As I look at their current lineup, if I’m a cannabis company desperate for an epic house flavor to help me stay afloat in the darkest times ever for the marketplace, I’m buying as many packs of OZ Kush Bx1 seeds as I can and finding myself a little bit of hope. 

Double Dawg – Dr. Dope Bangkok

On our recent adventure to Thailand alongside High Times and High Rise TV, we went to a ton of spots and looked at a bunch of Thai weed. With the exception of the 100 Hands at Phandee in Japan Village in Bangkok, none of it could compare to what Dr. Dope was doing. I would say thanks to Dr. Dope’s Double Dawg, the best weed I’ve seen grown in Thailand is better than the best weed I saw grown in Las Vegas during MJ Bizcon last month. 

We hope you enjoyed The 12 Strains of Christmas.

DIRTY WEED WORDS: COMMERCIAL VIABILITY

Commercial viability may be the phrase that has changed in cannabis the most over the decades for the industry.

During my chat with First Smoke of The Day, which dropped last week, the subject of commercial viability came up. Basically, I said once you got past the lovely people that got screwed by circumstances of licensing or location, there are a lot of people who got eaten up by the times because they wouldn’t change their ways. This received the most positive feedback of anything I said during the hour-and-a-half talk. While I’ve attempted to articulate the idea of people not being able to keep up with the game, it was never with the ethos of how many of the world’s best growers hit me up or tagged me on Instagram over the last week. 

At its core, the attempt to define commercial viability in cannabis has proven a double-edged sword. On the one side, the meaning represents progress in the game. The bar for commercial viability has risen with the progress of the times across every market. This includes recreational and the still massive underground cannabis economy thought to dwarf California’s legal market at least 2 to 1, given the vast swaths of the state without legal access and people everywhere else wanting our weed. The pot has certainly increased in quality on both sides of the market. 

On the other side, not all ships have risen with the tide due to various circumstances. Be it their own stubbornness to not change their ways as advancements in the game had been made, or never actually knowing what the bar was for commercial viability in the first place whenever they jumped ship from whatever industry expecting to carve a piece of the cannabis industry for themselves.

Let us not forget a mere 20 years ago, brick weed stuffed in a tire was commercially viable for American distributors. So imagine you’re a person operating under the protection of 215 in that era. Ninety-nine percent of the domestic marijuana supply is absolute garbage. It’s fair to say you’re a hot cookie at that moment. 

But, as the years rolled on, the bar went up.

Commercial viability got to the point where it didn’t just mean you were talking about the quality or price of the product, but also accessibility and ease of transport. California has a firm grip on illicit domestic cannabis production as the feds’ annual plant eradication counts firmly show. But it’s not the same. In the past, the worst cannabis California has to offer used to get scooped up faster than Olive Garden breadsticks coming out of the oven. 

Now we’ve reached the point where people don’t have to buy California’s worst product anymore. California cultivators aren’t competing with Mexican brick weed anymore. They’re competing with the Oklahomas and the Maines — hell, there are probably even some decent beaster packs from Canada still making it over the border.

A lot of the lost souls in California on the illicit side are those who couldn’t keep up with people growing decent weed in those places where people could drive to pick it up. The best weed in the world is still grown in NorCal, especially on the illicit side of the market. Not being able to grow commercially viable pot in the rec market is one thing, but if you are having trouble on the other side, maybe it’s time to do some soul-searching on your craft. Do those little things you see your neighbors doing that you didn’t want to because you convinced yourself you knew what you were doing. 

The most important thing you can do to survive in this market is to grow the best cannabis possible. People that worry about pinching pennies first are destined to fail. At that point, the quality of the marijuana is the second most important thing to you, and you’ve already lost.

THE HUMBOLDT PREHARVEST DEP REPORT 2023

For many cannabis enthusiasts, the first real wave of the year’s harvest starts with the light-deprivation-style grown cannabis that comes down each June. 

The resulting cannabis is often shortened to deps by industry folks. They’re produced by farmers using various means to control the light cycle to force plants to flower. They started to become prevalent in the mid-2000s. For many years a lot of people just used the early dep harvests to pay their trimmers in the fall when their full-term harvest came down. But the quality of the product saw the prevalence of the cultivation style continues to grow to this day, where many expect solid deps to be a big part of the forthcoming national marketplace. 

When it comes to deps, Humboldt County is one of the best places in the world to find the best representations of various strains grown that way. In the years The Emerald Triangle’s farms weren’t decimated by fire and smoke, it basically seemed impossible to grow better deps than the cream of the crop coming out of Humboldt’s hills annually. 

But as opposed to smoke, this year’s early season saw farmers dealing with a lot of overcast skies as the heavens opened up to pour water on California. The Vesuvio Gardens team told us there was basically no spring this year and that led to many people getting a later start than usual. Vesuvio was a couple of weeks into flower when we chatted with them.

“We’re only about 10 days behind in Honeydew, and in Whitehorn, we’re pretty much on schedule,” Vesuvio’s founder Joe Jacovini told L.A. Weekly. He went on to note the early runs don’t do so well in Humboldt’s valleys, as opposed to the hilltops where they can get a lot of light. 

One of Humboldt’s most prominent dep cultivators is Jason Gellman of Ridgeline Farms. Ridgeline returned to the top of The Emerald Cup podium this year after previously winning back-to-back editions of one of the most coveted prizes in cannabis. With the exception of a few full-sun plants he does for personal use, Gellman is exclusively growing sungrown deps. He does partner at another light-assisted facility in the winter. 

We asked Gellman how the scene up north was looking, as he preps for the 2023 harvest to begin. 

“We know we hear the prices are going up, I hear that a lot, but nobody has herb,” Gellman told L.A. Weekly. “Does that mean it’s going to really go up? Because usually when you get the herb, then where are all the buyers, but I feel like right now, this should be a good year. I know there’s a pretty big drought of good-quality weed right now.”

We asked Gellman if the trophy shelf makes it easier for him to get top dollar against the rest of the harvest. 

“I always hear that a lot of the time and everyone thinks because I got a name and a brand, they think I can get more than X guy and it’s really not the case,” Gellman replied. “I mean you spend so much money packaging and prerolls and everything like that, it’s really hard. The people who wholesale their weed probably make more money than I do at the end of day.” 

Despite the perils of packaging as he listens to the numbers start to fly around the bulk product, he’s excited for the weeks ahead. 

“I think it’s going to be decent. It really depends on the weather. We’ve had unstable weather so far. For this first round. We didn’t have sun for three days straight. And so if we don’t get heat, we got small bud and that’s going to really affect the quality of the whole dep harvest around here on round one. So we’re playing with the weather, and we’re hoping that it’s shifting, it’s a little more scalable, and I think it’s gonna be a good year.”

After going through the struggles of the past few years, 2023 is looking daily upbeat for Ridgeline. 

“I think for the people that have hung in there are gonna get rewarded, be able to make a living and I mean that’s what it’s all about right now. Just trying to stay alive, make a living and keep our jobs,” Gellman said. 

IS AI IMPAIRMENT TESTING NEXT FOR CANNABIS? 

Predictmedix Inc. may have the answer to squash concerns about stoned driving.

The lack of a validated mechanism to test someone’s level of impairment from cannabis use on the spot has complicated the national rollout. Regulators and elected officials vent their fears about stoned driving all the time. You can test someone’s saliva, urine, blood or hair, but these detection methodologies are too dated for the modern era. Mostly because they aren’t focused on the moment but whether you’ve used drugs over a more extended time frame that goes long after the impairment has stopped. If you were to base impairment on those tests, you would have a ton of false positives since more of the workforce are enjoying off-the-clock use and have those spent THC metabolites in their system. 

The same people who don’t want to change drug testing laws to protect off-the-clock use are ironically well-versed in the reality of current testing not truly benefiting public safety in real time. But what if you could use artificial intelligence to determine someone’s level of impairment in 20 seconds?

Predictmedix calls itself an emerging provider of rapid health screening, medical devices, and remote patient care solutions globally. Over the last three years, the now publicly traded company has raised $3 million. 

“And all that money has gone into developing the technology. And now we’re commercially deployed,” Toronto venture capitalist Steve Singh told L.A. Weekly. He went on to break down the difference between their tech and the breathalyzer tech that’s been in development for years. “With the breathalyzer and you get a result in 20 minutes that’s biased, with Rahul’s technology, it’s 20 seconds and unbiased.”

The Rahul that Singh mentioned is Dr. Rahul Kushwah who founded Predictmedix after leaving academia to pursue AI-based impairment testing. To date, 50,000 people have now been screened by his Safe Entry Stations at places like The Super Bowl and F1 races. 

The stations are powered by a proprietary AI. It uses multispectral cameras to analyze physiological data patterns with its screening technology to detect many conditions. They include cannabis or alcohol impairment, infectious diseases, mental illness, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, respiratory illnesses, COVID 19, and signs of fatigue. The stations are about 90% accurate. Kushwah told LA Weekly that the tech still had trouble with people under the age of 18 and over 75. If you were to remove those groups from the data pool, he estimates the accuracy would be well over 95%. 

“It’s almost like we have developed this new language. With this language, you can write impairment, you can write fatigue. You can write health care parameters, screening for diseases, whatever you want. So effectively, we have a platform that can be used to screen an unlimited number of things,” Kushwah said. 

We asked Kushwah how helpful it is to have the road out in front of them with no real sign of another mechanism to test a person for their current level of cannabis impairment in the near future.

“So let’s say we talk about cannabis impairment. First of all, this whole concept of using breathalyzers for cannabis just cannot work from a scientific perspective because the only time you can make a freaking correlation is if you can measure the level of THC in the brain,” Kushwah replied. “The THC has to cross the blood-brain barrier to impair you in the first place. So that’s why we’re not even going after measuring THC. What we’re identifying are signs of impairment.”

Kushwah went on to explain, Predictmedix can actually create thresholds in terms of what you want to define as impairment within your organization. If it’s zero tolerance, they can make it that way in the Safe Entry Stations. The red light is going to come on, even if somebody is showing just the slightest signs of impairment. 

Since launching the Safe Entry Station, Predictmedix has worked to scale down the machines to something a bit more manageable. They’ve not reached the point where they’ll release a phone app that pairs with a small multispectral camera you plug into your phone. 

“You put the camera in front of you, you look at the camera, you say a few sentences that are popping up on your phone and that’s it, and that can be used to identify impairment in 10 to 15 seconds,” Kushwah said. 

Kushwah explained the reason for using multispectral imaging is because they don’t really care about how you look on top of your skin. He argues there is no such thing as looking stoned. 

“It’s more about, how are the changes in the underlying blood flow patterns that we are able to identify. And that’s part of the reason that our technology, I mean, is a bit Star Trek in a way. I mean, just think about it. Not only the technology can tell you if you’re impaired if you’re fatigued, but it can also tell you your heart rate, breathing rate, temperature and a lot of your vitals, without even touching you,” Kushwah said. “ And we have completed a few clinical studies in different parts of the world where we have had medical institutions basically signing off on our technology and saying how this is the future and the future is now.”

The app could certainly be a game changer. Imagine police officers being able to give people impairment tests without even getting out of their cars. If they fail, they can do a full sobriety test that would confirm the test or catch a false positive

We’ll continue to keep an eye on how this plays out.  

CANARY CHAMPIONS CUP DELIVERS THE HEAT

The Canary Islands continue to make their mark on the cannabis industry with the volcanic island chain now home to hundreds of dispensaries.

One of the fastest-growing cannabis contests on the planet also calls the islands home. 

Tenerife, where we spent our adventure, popped a lot more than our last visit. It seemed like the social clubs were starting to permeate more into the tourist-heavy parts of the area. Weed Island was the best view we’ve ever seen somewhere you can buy weed. As you sit down to rollup on the balcony at the shop, you are greeted by a stunning seascape.

Canary Champions Cup Flower Entries

Canary Social Club Culture

All the clubs come in various formats. They range from nightclub-style venues that can hold hundreds of people to more traditional Dutch-style coffee shops. These facilities continue to get nicer and nicer. This is because of how safe people feel spending cash to make their shop look nice. One club owner told me they spent six figures over the last few months ahead of its Grand Opening on 4/20.

California shops are currently facing some of their darkest days ever, Tenerife is another story. One club owner told us he’d never heard of a social club closing down because sales were bad. You’d think Tenerife might be hitting capacity for how many clubs the ecosystem can support, but each one we walked into was packed. Part of the reason for everyone’s success is the fact these tourists need somewhere to burn.    

A rosin pressing demo at one of the after parties.

Why do they need somewhere to smoke? Because the rules on the island are so strict about cannabis possession and consumption. It’s technically against the law to bring it with you outside of the club and the police are hardcore. I was out raging with some locals last week and walking behind a bar on the boardwalk on one of the island’s popular beaches last week when five cops rolled on me. It was the most intense search I’ve experienced since I came back from Canada in ‘08 and declared my bong at the Vermont border. They went through my pockets and backpack, asking me questions. As they talked to me, they opened every bag I had in my backpack and asked me why I had a bunch of empties. I told them souvenirs. Eventually, they pulled out one of the TrapLoc bags I had with Grove Bags; once they saw my picture on the bag, there was a shocking attitude change from the cops. They thanked me for smoking all my cannabis inside clubs and not taking it outside.

And boy, did I. I smoked a ton of cannabis as I celebrated my first 4/20 there. The whole thing is an extra joke since the date starts with days in Europe and reads 20/4/2023. But everyone was certainly willing to pretend that 4/20 was a thing there. 

Judging Flower at The Canary Champions Cup

One of my main responsibilities for the week was judging flowers at the sophomore installment of The Canary Islands Champions Cup. There ended up being over 50 samples of flower across the indoor and outdoor categories. The top flower in the contest mostly stood well above the competition. Big Bang Creations took third prize in indoor with Monkey Berries. RTZ was the first runner-up with Zowah. Fresh Farm’s topped the podium with their White Gold.

The Hash is Awesome

Finally, it’s really important to note how advanced the hash culture on the island,. There is a solid argument to be made that the quality of the concentrates there are better than what you’ll see in most U.S.  states for sure. Hash culture has always been a thing there given it’s proximity to Morrocco, but the latest tech has made its way to the island with avengance. Hanami Gardens, who won the cup, could hold his own against any hash makers in the world without a doubt. His rosin was explosive terps when you open the jar and he even chopped up some piatella, U.S. headie boys favorite new solventless trend!

We’ll have more coverage from my travels in the weeks ahead.