Last Week In Weed Issue 13
Published March 8th 2021
In this issue of Last Week in Weed, we look at Canadian funnyman Seth Rogan launching his cannabis brand ‘Houseplant’ in California, the US hitting record cannabis sales in 2020, and Thailand allowing families to grow 6 plants at home under new rules governing cannabis in the south-east Asian nation.
Seth Rogan’s Houseplant launches in the US
The Canadian cannabis brand ‘Houseplant’ was created by the childhood friend duo behind the smash-hit comedies Pineapple Express, Super Bad, and This Is the End – Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg. The brand was first launched in Canada in 2019 after the North American nation ‘legalised’ cannabis following a vote in 2018.
“Evan and I also recognize that our lifelong dream of starting a cannabis lifestyle brand like Houseplant comes with a commitment to changing the unjust and racist cannabis laws that still exist in today’s society. We understand our responsibility to help right those wrongs and are dedicated to creating a more diverse, equitable cannabis industry.” – Seth Rogan
The flower that is used in their products is produced by Canadian powerhouse cultivator Canopy Growth, who retain a minority stake in the company. Canopy will continue to be Houseplant’s licensee in Canada, but they are not involved in the new U.S. launch of the brand next week.
Houseplant’s beautifully designed packaging.
You might remember us discussing Canopy in early issues of Last Week in Weed, where we looked at the launch of Martha Stewart’s new CBD products. The company also now produces Snoop Dogg’s CBD line called “Leafs by Snoop” which is marketed to reduce anxiety in dogs.
The brand will initially launch with three flower cultivars: two ‘Sativas’ and one ‘Indica’ to use the same rather antiquated terminology as the brand. They will also be releasing a Block Table Lighter, a Vinyl Box Set, and an Ashtray Set designed by Seth himself, which will be available to buy in all 50 states. With additional products being launched every few weeks according to the pair.
“Introducing Houseplant in the U.S. has been a long time coming and we’ve taken a disciplined approach to set ourselves up for long-term success, We have spent years obsessing about the underserved cannabis consumer, researching and ideating what the holistic Houseplant experience should look like. We are proud to share this beautiful collection of Housegoods and cannabis strains with the public.” – Michael Mohr, Co-founder and CEO of Houseplant
Houseplant will be available for home delivery from their website in California from March 11. They intend to have their rather unique and boldly designed products available in selected dispensaries across the land of milk and honey by the spring and hope to expand to other states as soon
US cannabis sales hit a record high in 2020
At the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, several US states announced that their cannabis industries would be classified as ‘essential business’ and be allowed to stay open during the statewide shutdown orders. This designation allowed for record sales of cannabis last year, $17.5billion was spent across the 14 adult consumption and 36 states that allow for the use of ‘medicinal cannabis’ – greatly helping the struggling US economy avoid further damage.
So while most industries were seeing record losses and unprecedented levels of unemployment the cannabis industry saw record growth and sales. Demonstrating, to me at least that the future is really is green, if you know what I mean.
The majority of the sales came from adult consumption in well-established markets like Colorado and Oregon – which saw their sales rise 26% to $2.2billion and 29% to $1.1billion respectively according to a report by the cannabis sales data platform, BDSA.
‘The land of Lincoln’ Illinois, which expanded its ‘medical cannabis’ market to include adult consumption saw the largest market gain of 2020 with sales growing by $ 784 million. The country’s largest market at $ 3.5 billion in California, also saw its sales rise by an additional $ 586 million.
Cannabis delivery companies saw a massive uptake in service as million of Americans stayed home to avoid violating Covid rules and regulations. The same BDSA report found that the number of Americans using cannabis delivery services had increased by 25% in 2020.
The majority of the US cannabis market is still unregulated and estimated to be a more than $100 billion a year criminalised industry. The ‘legal’ or regulated market is slowly catching up but is still only expected to be worth a mere $41billion by 2026.
Ultimately, with more American’s than ever before now having access to ‘legal’ cannabis it is inevitable that the US market will continue to grow year on year for many more to come. So expect this record to be beaten again this year as things hopefully start to get back to some sense of normality soon.
Families allowed to home grow in Thailand
Households in Thailand will now be allowed to grow up to six cannabis plants to help them supplement their income announced the country’s Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul last week. Under the new rules, families will be able to form grow communities and trade their crops to public hospitals, and state facilities, or produce food and cosmetic products to sell from the legal parts of the plants.
“Marijuana and hemp are both economic crops and it provides a new option for locals to generate revenue, We are trying to ease restrictions to allow the public easier access to the plant, but please cooperate and use it correctly.” – Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul
Thailand became the first country in the region to ‘legalise’ ‘medical cannabis’ back in 2018 but adult consumption remains illegal in the south-east Asian nation. This is similar to Sri Lanka which allows limited growth of the plant by state-licensed growers, but only for medical purposes.
Any flowers and seeds that are produced by the cultivation of these ‘not hemp’ cannabis plant community grow must be sent to registered state medical facilities as they remain illegal under the country’s drug legislation due to ‘the high levels of psychoactive compounds found in the plants.
The leaves, branches, and fibre of the ‘not hemp’ plants and all parts of ‘hemp’ cannabis are decriminalised and allowed to be produced into cosmetics and food since Anutin became Health Minister in 2019 following his party’s victory in the country’s election.
‘Hemp’ is classified in Thailand as cannabis cultivars that contains less than 1% of THC. This rather generously high limit should allow for a robust domestic cannabis industry to flourish within Thailand. Let us hope that this new approach will be adopted by other countries in the region where trafficking cannabis can still get you the death penalty.
Written By Simpa For The Simpa Life
