Steven Mathews

Navigating Cannabis Licensing in New Jersey? 🌿 We break it down for you. 👉 Types of licenses available, plus essential steps to apply 👉 What to expect: application costs & required documentation 👉 Compliance requirements & key considerations In addition, GrowerIQ is fully validated with Metrc in New Jersey-- supporting producers with intuitive, seed-to-sale tracking and streamlined operations every step of the way. Catch more on our blog or reach out today for support!✨ https://heyor.ca/u1ssDc #CannabisLicensing #NewJerseyCannabis #CannabisCompliance #GrowerIQ

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Regulation Requires Competence, Not Just Authority New York cannabis operators support seed-to-sale tracking and regulatory oversight. That’s not the issue. Over the past two months, however, operators have been told certain METRC related requirements are “mandatory,” while the Office of Cannabis Management has simultaneously issued guidance allowing commerce to proceed without full implementation of those same requirements. Those positions cannot both be correct. When compliance is dictated by shifting guidance, vendor timelines, and emails - rather than by duly adopted rules - it creates uncertainty for good-faith operators and undermines confidence in the regulatory framework. Effective regulation depends on clear rules, lawful process, and leadership capable of executing complex rollouts without creating collateral harm. When those elements aren’t present, it’s appropriate to ask whether the structure...or the stewardship...needs to change. This is not resistance to regulation. It is a call for competent, lawful governance that the industry can rely on. Chris George Outcast Acres Farm LLC #NewYorkCannabis #RegulatoryClarity #GoodGovernance

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For operators in the New York Adult-Use Cannabis industry, the question often arises whether an operator can contract another entity to perform licensed activities. The regulations (N.Y.C.R.R. § 124.5(a)) explicitly prohibit contracting or subcontracting the performance of licensed activities other than “executive management services.” In the Leafly case in April 2024, Judge Bryant of the New York Supreme Court declared this (and other) provisions “null and void as arbitrary and capricious.” The Court found that Kagia’s post hoc justification—to promote the state’s interests in favoring small and (SEE) businesses, and to protect public health and safety—did not meet the requisite legal standard. This outcome is a significant benefit to small operators. It also highlights the tension between promoting small and SEE businesses and the underlying agricultural and manufacturing economics that drive economies of scale. This ruling will allow cultivators to operate more profitably by bringing in critical labor during planting and harvest seasons. Taking the conversation one step further—though not directly affected by this ruling—on the processing side, scale is even more important. This is why cooperatives and distributed ownership are critical for the success of the industry. Cooperatives and distributed ownership models allow for the best of both worlds: operators can share the expenses that are critical for success without having to bear the full costs individually. This is why cooperatives have always emerged in agriculture. Without such compromises, we are setting up operators for failure.

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One of the most common questions we get from formulators, vape brands, and extractors is: “How much terpene should I actually add?” The answer depends on your product type, batch size, and desired flavour intensity but getting the ratio wrong can ruin a blend or make a product harsh. Terpenes are extremely concentrated, so even a small change in percentage can dramatically alter aroma, taste, and performance. That’s exactly why we created our latest guide: 👉 Terpene Calculator & Terpene Ratios Explained Whether you're a brand developing new SKUs or a manufacturer scaling production, this tool helps remove the guesswork from terpene formulation. Read more on the subject here below 👇 https://lnkd.in/emkDNrjj #Terpenes #CannabisIndustry #VapeManufacturing #ProductDevelopment #Extraction #Formulation #CannabisScience #MrTerpeenes

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The Cannabis New Year Resolution:  Focus on Simplicity Many business challenges can be solved through- 💥 Strategic and operational simplicity, and its corollary, taking out costly, bloating complexity 💔 In a typical MSO or LP, decision making and operational execution can be tough, exhausting, and fraught with errors, especially when the company has a myriad of products, assets, inputs, and suppliers. 📌 Business success often comes down to management’s ability to 1) accurately forecast revenue, profit etc and 2) make the right strategic and tactical decisions as well as cope with their implications. Let’s break each down: 1️⃣ How likely are you going to forecast accurately? Not very. Coin toss math will illustrate the point: You have a 50% chance of success of predicting the outcome of the first toss. What isn’t intuitive about forecasting is that probabilities multiply, they don’t add. If you need to predict two tosses correctly in a row, you have a 50% × 50% = 25% chance of being correct. What about 10 tosses in a row? The math still maths: 0.5^10 = 0.0976% chance Or roughly 1 in 1,000 of being accurate 10 out of 10 times. When we make an estimate about the future, we are predicting a chain of conditional outcomes but with much more complexity and uncertainty (including Black Swan events). The math is unforgiving.  Even if your bets are 70% correct, by the time you string together 10 events: You still only have a 0.7^10, or a 2.8% chance of getting all 10 correct 2️⃣ Making the right (and finite number) of decisions Unlike coin tosses, real life outcomes aren’t binary.  You must account for numerous combinations and permutations of your strategies & tactics as well as the implications of those choices.  Each business activity requires different amounts of time, skills, and resources. There could be dozens of possible (expected & unexpected) outcomes at each stage of strategy development, planning, and operational execution.    Let us say you want to launch a new product with 5 potential strategic avenues. You can only fund and manage 3 of these paths. For simplicity, we will assume you can forecast with 100% accuracy. How many go to market variations of the 3 strategies will there be? I’ll spare you the complicated math: There are at least 35 different ways of planning and implementing the 3 strategies. 😞 The inevitable result is too much of everything: products, inputs, activities, and often people...aka complexity.  Complexity = higher costs, strategy & brand confusion, increased errors, employee ‘busy work’ and bloated operations.    The conclusion is clear:  picking even a few strategies can produce lots of complexity.  Imagine what pursuing 5 major strategies will do? 💡 In 2026, it’s time to simplify and rationalize. Call me. I can put you on the right strategy and operations diet to shed that value-destroying complexity. #management #cannabis #cannabisindustry #operations #strategy #MSOS  

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Rhode Island Officials Support Ban On Serving Hemp THC Drinks In Bars And Restaurants With Liquor Licenses （1） “All retailers selling intoxicating hemp products should be held to similar high safety standards as cannabis retailers.” By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Currant For a year, Rhode Island bars and restaurants had the opportunity to secure a license from the state’s former Office of Cannabis Regulation to sell intoxicating THC-infused beverages despite state regulations that prohibit them from being combined with alcohol, tobacco or nicotine. Over 100 licensed retailers obtained a license between August 2024 and July 2025 when the Cannabis Control Commission put the brakes on issuing any new licenses to establishments that allow onsite consumption of alcohol in “furtherance of public health and safety.” Now as regulators race to codify rules to catch up with the marketplace, the association representing the state’s hospitality industry is voicing strong opposition to the commission’s recommendation that lawmakers codify a ban on the sale of THC drinks at venues with a liquor license. “They’re assuming we’re not going to follow the law,” Farouk Rajab, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, said in an interview Monday. Rajab said he was disappointed to see the commission recommend a ban in its final report submitted to the General Assembly on March 1. But he was not shocked that it still made the cut. “I think decisions are already made even before the listening sessions,” he said. “This is targeting an industry, that’s all.” The 11-page report details Rhode Island’s existing rules governing hemp-derived beverages, along with recommendations over labeling, testing and taxing the products. Carla Aveledo, chief of policy for the commission, said no one single industry was being targeted. “All retailers selling intoxicating hemp products should be held to similar high safety standards as cannabis retailers,” she said. Hemp became legal at the federal level after the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, with drinks hitting the market in Rhode Island as regulators were crafting rules for awarding licenses for retail cannabis establishments. Regulations allowing the drinks sale were approved by the former Office of Cannabis Regulation in 2024, rules that have since been adopted by the state’s Cannabis Office. But the proliferation of hemp-derived THC drinks led to a debate on whether they should even be legal at all in Rhode Island. Members of the state’s recreational cannabis industry have been largely opposed to allowing THC products to be sold outside the few existing licensed pot shops. Which is why the General Assembly last year tasked the Cannabis Control Commission to come up with suggestions on how to deal with hemp-derived drinks, most of which are produced out-of-state.

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Congress has once again redefined “legal hemp,” tightening limits and targeting intoxicating hemp products with a compliance deadline of November 2026. A new federal analysis suggests enforcement is unclear and agencies may lack resources. This regulatory limbo is something that operators need to prepare for now. Full breakdown on Medium.  https://lnkd.in/gipiTMTN

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New York Seizes Over 220 Pounds of Cannabis Flower from Illegal Shop More than $2 million in illicit cannabis products were seized. By CEN Staff The New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced it has seized more than $2 million in illicit cannabis products following multiple enforcement efforts across the state. On January 30, 2026, OCM’s Enforcement and Investigations Division executed a court-issued Access Order in Kings County Brooklyn following a complaint from neighborhood residents alleging illegal cannabis sales. The investigation confirmed illicit activity, and more than 220 pounds of cannabis flower in vacuum-sealed bags, along with edibles, concentrates, and pre-rolls were recovered from the scene, with a street value totaling over $1.4 million. Officials said the illegal store was operating next to a child care center. In a separate action, OCM investigators inspected an illicit cannabis operation in Rhinebeck, New York on February 10, 2026. The illegal shop was used to grow, process, store and sell illicit products. Investigators recovered 105 pounds of cannabis flower along with 73 pounds of illicit edibles, and five pounds of cannabis concentrate valuing over $900,000. These enforcement actions send a clear message that illegal cannabis operations anywhere in New York will be investigated and dealt with,” said Daniel Haughney, Director of Enforcement and Investigations at OCM, in a statement. “Whether in major cities like New York, or in rural communities like Rhinebeck, our investigators work every day to shut the illegal operators down. Actions like these help restore confidence in our regulated market and keep these communities safe, which is our top priority.” In total OCM recovered more than $2 million in illicit products. In 2026, OCM has closed 22 illegal cannabis shops, adding to the 557 illicit storefronts shut down across New York State.

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Massachusetts has launched the Marijuana Venture Interchange, a new platform connecting cannabis retailers and vendors in Worcester. This event represents more than a trade fair — it’s the emergence of a structured B2B ecosystem for the legal cannabis industry. Retailers, cultivators, and technology providers now meet under one roof to negotiate, innovate, and build long-term supply networks. It’s a model worth replicating internationally. In markets like Morocco, similar initiatives could connect licensed cooperatives, seed producers, and pharmaceutical buyers, transforming regional production into a global supply chain. The future of the cannabis industry is B2B, traceable, and globally synchronized. Those who build the bridges now will define the market tomorrow.

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Cannabis Operators – Quick Question If I reviewed your extraction or post-processing workflow, could I find 5 ways to increase output, reduce solvent loss, or tighten SOP efficiency in 48 hours? After 10 years in concentrates (hydrocarbon, distillate, edibles scaling), I’m offering a 48-hour Extraction Efficiency Review. You send: • Equipment list • Current workflow/SOP • Throughput numbers I send back: • 5 efficiency improvements • 3 cost-reduction opportunities • 1 margin expansion strategy Flat rate: $250 Email only. No calls required. If you're running hydrocarbon, ethanol, or scaling edibles and want tighter margins, comment “REVIEW” or DM me.

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What does tripling your harvest yield look like in practice? For Root & Bloom, a commercial cannabis cultivator in Salisbury, MA, it started with a mystery — persistent root rot, elevated clone losses, and yields stuck at ~100 lbs per harvest cycle. Off-site testing was costing $4,000/week and taking a full week to return results. By the time they acted, another crop cycle was already gone. They brought testing in-house with PathoSEEK® qPCR assays from Medicinal Genomics. Within days, they had answers that the off-site lab had missed entirely: → A Fusarium species not covered by their previous 6-species assay panel → Contamination traced directly to their incoming water supply → Irrigation lines identified as the primary vector Armed with same-day results, the team moved fast — eliminating infected mother plants, redesigning their irrigation infrastructure, and implementing a beneficial microbe treatment protocol. The results speak for themselves: ✅ 104 lbs → 325 lbs room-level yield (3x increase) ✅ Clone losses cut from ~70 to ~20 per cycle ✅ $4,000/week in off-site testing costs replaced at a fraction of the cost ✅ Up to 70 samples tested same-day, in-house "If we were to start a new facility from scratch, we would implement in-house qPCR testing on day one." — William Windham, VP of Cultivation The full case study is linked below. If you're dealing with unexplained yield suppression or clone losses, this one's worth a read. #Cannabis #Cultivation #PlantHealth #qPCR #CEA #MedicinalGenomics #PathogenTesting CannMed Events

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🧪 Lab Integrity Isn’t Optional — It’s Foundational to a Safe Cannabis Market 🧪 Recent developments in the Massachusetts cannabis industry have brought long-overdue attention to a critical issue: the integrity of lab testing. In June, the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) rolled out several key reforms aimed at improving transparency, accuracy, and consumer safety. These updates include: ✅ Mandatory uploads of Certificates of Analysis (COAs) to METRC, with clear descriptions of testing methods ✅ A requirement that samples be sent to a single Independent Testing Lab (ITL) to reduce cherry-picking ✅ The introduction of “reference labs” to independently verify analytical accuracy across the state Why is this important? Because inconsistent or inflated lab results don’t just distort the market—they put public health at risk and undermine trust in the legal cannabis supply chain. At Smithers - Cannabis Testing Services, we believe trust begins with transparent science. Our mission is to provide data that’s reliable, defensible, and accurate…because our partners deserve nothing less. Whether it’s potency, contaminants, or shelf stability, we stand by results that protect consumers and elevate brands built to last. If your business is built to last, your testing should be too. When evaluating a lab, ask: 🔬 Are their testing methods clearly documented and transparent? 📊 Do their results remain consistent over time and across product types? 🧾 Do they welcome questions and provide detailed, reliable COAs? 🚫 Do they resist pressure to inflate THC levels or “pass” questionable samples? The CCC’s recent steps are a big move in the right direction, but they’re only part of the solution. It’s up to cultivators, processors, retailers, and consumers to demand better and support labs that play it straight. Let’s build this industry the right way…grounded in science, integrity, and trust. If you’re ready for a lab partner who puts data and ethics first, let’s talk.

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