When most people picture cannabis, they picture the counter, the plump flower already sitting on the shelf. The amount of industry it puts into it is visible, in cultivation and manufacturing and distribution, and in the filling work that consumes most of the day. Orlando Padilla got into the traditional side of the plant long before it was legal, and he made time for it, and now runs NovaGrow Labs, a social equity operator that takes cannabis from seed to sale and sells it vertically in Los Angeles. In a video recently released by the LA Department of Cannabis Regulation. “Now you have this opportunity to become an authorized operator, but you have to put in the work.”

Vertical integration
First came the factory, then the business. “I was in love with the plant at a very young age, and coming from the traditional side of things, it was exciting to be able to do things legally and correctly,” says Orlando. “So creating a real cannabis-based business was almost a dream come true for me.” Vertical integration is the way that dream holds its shape, each license in hand, the flower leads all the way. “We are able to cultivate, grow our own flower, package it under our own brand or package it for others, distribute it and ultimately sell it at our doorstep,” says Orlando. “The cultivation never stops. As an indoor crop, we’re basically growing 24/7. You have to have reliable people.”

It’s that hour-by-hour schedule that keeps Reg Escobar growing. “There are schedules to meet, there are many critical points,” says Reg. The room comes down to its inputs, the systems that maintain the temperature against the nutrient program, the watering cycles, the light cycles. Genetics carries the heaviest burden of proof. “We do a lot of fen hunting for different breeds,” says Reg. “Finding the right product that we believe is usable and will represent our brand.” None of them run on a person. “I couldn’t do it by myself, that’s why I need all these, we’ll call them lieutenants, running the business,” says Reg. “We rely on our employees because they have the final say. They are the ones in charge of the product, and communicating with them helps us ensure that what we get from distribution and cultivation is what we expect every time.”

© City of Los Angeles Department of Cannabis RegulationOrlando Padilla

That same trust carries over to the counter, where it becomes product knowledge. “Many of our employees are very knowledgeable about all the products in the store,” says Jewels, an employee of The Chronic. “So we make sure we pick the product that’s exactly what you need.”

Cultivation was NovaGrow’s first license, and every operator must clear the way to the filling machinery. “Metrc’s integration was very difficult to successfully cultivate and work through the industry on any type of license,” says Reg. “You have to understand our compliance systems, the tracking and tracing system, the SOPs that are issued by DCC, maybe DCR, any of our local regulators, with the proper training to overcome that.” SOPs have come together over time, written specifically for each license, the thing that moves the operation on its day. The day begins before the doors open. “The retail store opens at 6:00, so we have the staff coming in at 5:45,” says Orlando.

Part of the community
For people who work on the floor, shifts involve more than just your classic work schedule. “It’s a blessing to be a part of it, to see where we started and where we are and talk about our future,” says Moses, an attorney with The Chronic. The brand NovaGrow is launching comes with a name that carries its history. “If you know the history of running the brand, The Chronic, there’s a lot of responsibility with that brand name,” says Orlando. “I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to work with that name. So when I deliver the product I have to make sure it’s of the highest quality and people respect it. It’s a respectable name in this industry.”

The base of the whole thing is the block it sits on. “Our culture is about community. We’re part of the community and we’re happy to be part of the community,” says Moises. “I grew up in this neighborhood, so it’s very special to me. Everyone has their local coffee shop, their local donut shop. We’re the local cannabis shop.”

The weight of regulation is the part that Orlando says new operators misread. “This is the most regulated industry in the world, and there are so many levels, so many hurdles,” says Orlando. Fulfillment is the majority of the work, not part of it. “Cannabis fills almost 75%,” says Reg. “A lot of new operators and owners think it’s something they’ll be able to handle themselves, but a successful operation definitely needs a compliance manager, a familiar person who can provide training and guaranteed SOPs to make sure we’re staying within regulation, compliance and the 10 different tax levels that are going on.”

Los Angeles puts its own layer on top. “Now with the city of L.A., construction and safety and the fire department, it’s very difficult to operate here,” Orlando says. The scrutiny is heavier on someone who came from the illegal market. “I understand this came from an illegal underground place, but now that it’s legal, it’s a challenge because we’re constantly being watched,” Orlando says. “Getting a license is hard enough, and once we get these licenses, we need that extra support to be able to operate.” The tools exist, in his reading, and taking it is the gap. “I think the tools are there. DCR, you’re doing a good job of making the platform available, but I still think people need that push to get on there and actually use what you have available,” says Orlando.

Too many operators leave those resources on the table, as Reg sees it. “I feel like there are a lot of operators out there that aren’t making the most of their resources,” says Reg. “That’s what we’ve really tried to do here at Nova, especially starting in Orlando, being part of the social equity program.”

For Orlando, his stake is personal, and they cross everything that existed before the license. “I’m very passionate about this. I made time for this thing,” Orlando says. “For me, this is vindication and validation. Coming from the streets, let’s keep it real, seeing the evolution of cannabis and now being a business owner in the city of LA, speaking with Dr. B is a special day for me.” What Reg lets other operators do is stop trying to do it alone. “Get involved with your cannabis community, use whatever resources you have,” says Reg. “It’s the only way we can all stay together as a community and thrive and succeed.”

Source: Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation

Jorge Cervantes closed Innexo’s Acceleration Day with a review of genetics, a line of attendees waiting to sign copies of the Grower’s Bible, and a single sentence that puts everyone in the greenhouse within a bloodline. “We are descendants of this country, this room,” says Jorge. The forefathers he named were Nevil Schoenmakers and David Watson, the two breeders who took cannabis genetics beyond prohibition and built the foundation of every plant on the test bench. None of the seeds being scanned for spaceflight, none of the veggie-free trials, none of the triploids would exist without the work started by those two men, and the June 8 event is the clearest update of what got them off the ground.

© Innexo

© Innexo

The last Acceleration Day brought together more than 100 people and 60 companies in the greenhouse, coming from all over Europe and from Israel, Morocco, Turkey, Tasmania and Uruguay, the event started a few years ago with 20 people, in a free-for-all format.

Cannabis all day
Dominique van Gruisen, CEO and founder of Innexo, had breakfast and coffee before opening the program for the day. “We’re here to be that sandbox where LPs and tech developers can come together around the factory. That was my mission a couple of years ago,” says Dominique. “We started with 20 people at a free-for-all event, and now we’re at 100 people with an exclusive event. It’s a big leap.” The event spanned 12 hours for the first time, from morning to evening, which eased the pace rather than tightening it.

© Innexo

After the presentation, Xavier Gaya of Avitas Global took to the stage to explain why Avitas is working with Innexo and why it’s crucial that someone other than the host implements with LPs, then recited a poem to set the tone. They all dressed in white and went to the greenhouse to what Dominique calls the boutique network with the plant. “I don’t think there was a single person who didn’t talk to an LP or a tech developer,” says Dominique. “You see them coming together around common issues. Fluence joined Atami, Grodan wants to join Faven, you have these synergies in place that combine experience to move the industry forward.” Rehearsals on the tables became the connective tissue between people who would otherwise have stayed in their corners.

Xabier came in after the greenhouse session had already started. “I saw 60 to 70 people dressed in white from head to toe, looking at the different tests on the table. It seemed to me like a school project, and the person doing the experiment was next to explain,” says Xabier. “Everything was green, everything was dressed in white, it was a bit surreal to see.” His reading of the research is that of an operator, not a scientist. “I don’t like scientists who don’t push the envelope. If you have to do science, you have to push the envelope, and science has to be operationally useful,” says Xavier. What Avitas said taking the stage is that deployments need to live with LPs, not be locked within the walls of the host.

© Innexo

For the crops in the room, the trials were the reason they were there. Mendocino Mike, from Northern California, came online as much as to touch the plants. “As a grower, I was interested in the tests I saw, the no veg technique, the different lighting strategies, as well as networking the people in the rooms. It’s not just about shiny shoes,” Mendocino Mike says. “It was a group that looked after plants like that, that was the main takeaway.” He draws a hard line between the European standard and what he knows at home. “It’s so different from California. It’s just EU MMJ, the way we grow and cultivate it, and the bottom line we’re looking for. Here you have to pass very strict microbial tests. In California they’re lower because of the rec frame,” says Mike.

© Innexo

© Innexo

Oussama Badad, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Growmics, Chief Scientific Officer of Trilogene Seeds and a Fulbright Fellow, has been following for two years now and uses the gap to measure the event against himself. “I came here last year, I came back this year, and I see the evolution. I have seen many new faces, and LPs which is very important for this event, to come to see these innovators on this platform, to support the cause,” says Oussama. “The quality of the talks this year, the technology, the sending of seeds into space, the testing of the Faven guys, you can see it with your own eyes.” What he values ​​is the curator. “Dominique was a great host. It’s a very well-organized event where you’re not running around meeting people, it just happens organically, so it’s effortless,” says Oussama. “You come where the research is done. We visited the lab this morning to see all the equipment.” His current reading is correct. “It’s time to strengthen, so it’s about getting the cool kids together and seeing what we can do with high standards,” Oussama says. “We’ve seen advances in other crops, so why not use that technology in cannabis?”

F1, triploids and space travel
The evening’s knowledge session went from borderline absurd to downright absurd, covering, as Dominique put it, spectral fingerprints, F1 hybrids, triploids and the project to send cannabis seeds into space. “It’s almost literally amazing that we can now send seeds into space, and mimic what the Chinese have successfully done with some crops,” says Dominique. “We have a global collective effort. Inexo does a spectral scan of the seeds before and after they are launched into space.” All participants went home with a 3D model of a cannabis plant attached to a QR code. “This technology alone will allow us to take cannabis from the 60s into the space age,” says Dominique.

© Innexo

© Innexo

© Innexo

Josh Goodman-Levy, who leads Dosatron’s hydroponic business outside of North America, attended his third Acceleration Day and weighed in on the conference circuit. “A lot of times you have consultants, sales professionals, it pays to play the whole thing, there’s more authenticity and culture at Innexo,” says Josh. “The improvement and quality of the event is evident every time I come. The speakers, the research, the networking, it’s really unique in the European market.”

California cannabis regulators are rolling out a new AI tool to help companies identify marijuana product packaging that may be appealing to children in violation of state regulations.

The Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) announced Monday that licensees can now use the Cannabis Product Image Analyzer (CPIA), which was developed to prevent the marketing of potentially problematic packaging that violates the state statute by attracting minors.

Marijuana business licensees “may take a photo using their smartphone or mobile device, a screenshot or any other supported file format and upload it to the CPIA tool,” the DCC said. “The image will be analyzed and a summary of its findings will be provided.”

DCC said it will not store images uploaded to the CPIA database, or summaries of findings it produces. Rather, the goal is to “assist licensees in determining whether packaging or labeling may be attractive to children.”

This includes packaging and labels stating:

• Images of minors or under 21s
• Cartoons
• Similar to images, characters or phrases commonly used to advertise to children
• Images that are any imitation of candy wrappers or labeling and
• Images containing the terms “Candy” or “Candy” or variations of the spelling such as “kandy” or “kandeez”

“CPIA uses artificial intelligence technology to review user-submitted images to identify issues that may indicate child appeal,” DCC. he said in a note “The CPIA has not identified all concerns that an image may raise, or that the Department may find appealing to children.”

Regulators stressed that licensees should not “rely on the output of the CPIA, which does not definitively establish whether advertising or marketing violates” state regulations. And if the tool finds that an uploaded image likely complies, that alone “does not prevent the Department or fact-finding in a disciplinary or administrative action from determining the uploaded image violates the regulations.”

“As artificial intelligence systems evolve, update or produce variable output, the CPIA assessment can change from day to day, even when the same image is reviewed. The quality, clarity, angle, light or integrity of an image uploaded by a user may affect the CPIA review and assessment. Users are solely responsible for ensuring that uploaded images accurately label products.”

Cannabis licensees are being encouraged to provide feedback on the AI ​​tool online survey.

California regulators have also approved emergency rule changes to the state’s marijuana licensing process. to make it easier for companies to receive benefits In line with the Trump administration’s latest move to federally regulate medical cannabis.

Additionally, a California Senate committee approved the Assembly-passed bill on Monday allow marijuana dealers to provide drive-thru windows to serve customers.

While Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) recently He took credit for helping lead the state’s push to legalize marijuana and discussed his limited experience with cannabis use.

In October, however, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have It allowed micro-marijuana companies to ship medicinal cannabis directly to patients Through common carriers like FedEx and UPS, he said the proposal would be “too burdensome and complex to manage.”

Newsom signed a bill earlier this month streamlining research into marijuana and psychedelics.

In September, the governor also signed a measure pause on the recent tax increase on marijuana products.

Separately, the state attorney general says Indian tribes cannot independently participate in the marijuana trade with licensed cannabis businesses without obtaining their own commercial license from state officials.

California officials have recently been rewarded nearly $30 million in grants for marijuana-focused academic research projects.