A Weekly Roundup of Stories We Found Interesting – From The Profound To The Profane

Biggest Weed Deal as Growers Agree to $2.3 Billion Takeover
Aurora Cannabis Inc. agreed to buy rival MedReleaf Corp. for about C$2.9 billion ($2.3 billion) in stock, the companies said Monday in a statement. The deal will create a producer with the capacity to grow 570,000 kilos (1.26 million pounds) a year of cannabis at nine facilities in Canada and two in Denmark. The merged company will also have distribution networks at home as well as in Europe, South America and Australia.

Marijuana Growers Diversify with Hemp Amid CBD Boom
A glut of legal marijuana has driven Oregon pot prices to rock-bottom levels, prompting some nervous growers to start pivoting to grow hemp, marijuana’s non-intoxicating cousin.

Legal Marijuana Sales Yielded Just $60.9 Million in Taxes for California for First Quarter of 2018
Marijuana generated nearly $61 million in tax revenue for the state of California during the first three months of legal recreational weed sales, falling shy of preliminary projections of $175 million worth of tax revenue within six months.

How the Feds Will Use DNA To Track Legal Weed
Using technology previously employed to track premium American cotton from gin to shirt, growers spray their legal plants with DNA that acts like a molecule-size encrypted bar code. By bonding to the plant—but not changing its DNA—the tag withstands processing and even shows up in refined products such as oils and edibles. Dispensaries and local law enforcement can then feed a tiny bit of a product into a reader, the SigNify, that confirms the farm, strain, and permit number.

Lawsuit Could Bring Ohio’s Medical Marijuana to a Standstill, or Worse
Ohio medical marijuana programs could be in big trouble. A lawsuit filed in March is seeking an injunction to ban Ohio’s commerce department from issuing certificates of operation to 12 businesses that have already received provisional licenses to grow weed in Ohio.

Make Money from Pot? Then Forget About a Federally Subsidized Loan
A new Small Business Administration (SBA) policy could force some entrepreneurs to choose between serving cannabis clients and getting a federally subsidized loan. In an April policy notice, the federal agency said it will no longer back loans to firms that derive any portion of their revenue from the cannabis industry, such as hydroponics makers that market to cannabis clients.

Weed-Growing, Gun-Toting Nuns Featured in New Documentary
In Breaking Habits, a new documentary premiering at Canne Film Festival this week features the story of the nuns at Sisters of the Valley who grow and sell medical marijuana on Etsy. Not only do these ladies grow some high-quality herb, but they’ve faced steep—and dangerous—opposition from a persistent sheriff and a drug cartel.