CO2Meter Inc., which provides gas detection, monitoring, and analytical devices, released its new RAD-0502 - dual sensor CO2 controller for grow rooms.

CO2Meter Inc., which provides gas detection, monitoring, and analytical devices, released its new RAD-0502 - dual sensor CO2 controller for grow rooms that can monitor and control carbon dioxide concentrations at two locations from 0 to 3,000ppm. The dual sensor CO2 grow controller will now provide both indoor growers and mushroom farmers the ability to control consistent CO2 levels throughout their grow space all from a central display panel.

“When we studied the market, we clearly saw a gap between our original RAD-0501 and the larger commercial controllers in the market. The RAD-0502 now provides indoor growers around the globe with a simple and affordable way to understand and adjust CO2 levels to optimize their growing processes,” noted Melyssia Santiago, CO2Meter’s VP of Sales. 

“Now our customers in two agricultural segments will get the added benefits of the CO2 control: growers can now control a single larger space or two different room simultaneously, and mushroom farmers now have a quality device to control ventilation,” added Santiago.

While monitoring up to two grow room locations is a significant benefit for indoor agriculture monitoring, it is not the only new feature that can be found in the RAD-0502. Customers will be able to control and monitor not only CO2 levels, but also control light, temperature, and humidity, for a full-scale optimized grow room approach.

Additionally, each sensor triggers individual relays, allowing the end-user to control each sensor's precise location in the facility. Whether you are looking to control grow room lighting, HVAC systems, exhaust fans, CO2 generators, or CO2 cylinders the RAD-0502 can control and monitor multiple locations at any given time. The RAD-0502 settings are user configurable, enabling the customer to apply their preferred settings for their application. And, for those looking to use the device globally, it also features a universal power supply allowing international customers ease of use without having to use adapters.

RAD-0502 CO2 Controller for Grow Rooms

NDIR CO2 sensor technology can measure accurately between 0-3,000 ppm. By allowing growers the ability to apply their custom ppm settings, they can optimize their indoor grow space. With an additional built-in temperature measurement and a photo sensor, users can also turn off relays during dark periods, which can save them money and provide more accurate growing control.

Further RAD-0502 features from manufacturer include:

Climate change has caused severe water droughts in California communities, and the state expects this to continue through this year and beyond.

The California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) encourages cannabis licensees, including cultivators, impacted by the water drought to request disaster relief.

Climate change has caused severe water droughts in California communities. Since California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued his third state of emergency July 8, 2021—following one in April and another in May—extremely high temperatures have sustained and “increased water loss from reservoirs and streams, increased demands by communities and agriculture, and further depleted California’s water supplies,” the state of emergency states.

According to a press release from the DCC, state and local agencies throughout California are working to find ways to support water conservation efforts, which includes launching programs in certain jurisdictions where cultivators can converse water by fallowing their crops.

“If relief from DCC licensing requirements would make it economically feasible to participate in local fallowing programs, or would otherwise support California’s water conservation efforts, DCC encourages licensees to request disaster relief,” the DCC wrote in the release.

Licensees who cannot comply with the DCC’s licensing requirements due to disasters, such as the water drought crisis, may be eligible for disaster relief. Licensees must identify which DCC regulations they are requesting relief for and explain why the relief is needed.

“Long-term weather forecasts for the winter rainy season, dire storage conditions of California’s largest reservoirs, low moisture content in native vegetation and parched soils, magnify the likelihood that drought impacts will continue in 2022 and beyond,” the state of emergency states.

Calvin Johnson and Rob Sims operate vertically integrated Primitiv in Michigan.

Calvin Johnson used the highest stage reserved only for athletes at the pinnacle of his sport to share his passion for cannabis.

At his induction ceremony into the NFL Hall of Fame last April, the former Detroit Lions wide receiver—widely regarded as one of the best players ever at his position—spoke of a “primitive” and “healing” plant that helped him survive nine years of grueling physical punishment from some of the world’s hardest-hitting cornerbacks and linebackers.

He was talking, openly, about cannabis.

It was a stunning moment for the NFL community. The world’s most lucrative and popular sports league has long held a hardline anti-cannabis stance. Even now, testing positive for THC during the season lands players an automatic suspension.

“I’m a firm believer that the Lord put everything on this earth that we need to heal our body,” Johnson said in an interview with Cannabis Business Times. “I apply that to my food, my supplements and now my medicine.”

Inspired by his passion for the plant and personal need for physical healing, Johnson and former Detroit Lions teammate Rob Sims opened a cultivation facility in the nearby town of Webberville, Mich., back in 2019. After COVID-19 stalled the duo’s plans for a retail store, Primitiv dispensary finally launched earlier this year in the small city of Niles, 150 miles southwest of Webberville on Michigan’s border with Indiana.

The project born from their friendship on the gridiron is just getting started. But Johnson, 36, and Sims, 38, have grand plans for both their company and their activism.

Recreational marijuana has been legal in Michigan since voters greenlit the industry via the 2018 ballot. Johnson and Sims had retired from the NFL just a couple years earlier, and were working together on real estate projects at the time. In cannabis, they saw a new opportunity that aligned with their values.

The pair of former Lions stars admit they self-medicated under the table with cannabis while still playing in the NFL. None of the pharmaceutical drugs administered by team doctors worked as well for their pain.

“Plant medicine is one of the world’s earliest and most effective healers,” Johnson said. “Generations before us never needed Tylenol or anything synthetic.”

Since retiring, Johnson and Sims have incorporated cannabis as part of their daily wellness routines. Instead of treating pain, though, they now consume the plant’s chemical constituents for their calming effects— A sense of calm was important for them; the road to getting Primitiv up and running as an operational business was hardly a cakewalk.

“We were one of the original groups back in 2018 pushing to acquire these licenses,” Sims explained, “but we originally got denied. There are a ton of challenges as a startup in an evolving industry like cannabis, but we also dealt with a pandemic and people not wanting to go back to work.”

The dispensary finally opened in January 2022, and now serves about 300 paying customers each day. On the side, Primitiv donates to cannabis research at Harvard University and is an advising member of the Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit that advocates for cannabis criminal justice reform.

Customers walking into Primitiv during its first couple weeks in business might have run into Johnson or Sims. Yes, the former NFL stars were on the floor sharing their thoughts on  which strains had worked best for them for treating insomnia and anxiety. They also filled orders behind the counter and walked outside to deliver product, greeting customers who ordered curbside pickup.

That’s not the case as much now that operations are up and running; the two owners make the three-hour drive across the state only a few times a month. Instead, Niles native and lifelong Lions fan Ryan Horn serves as Primitiv’s general manager, overseeing the dispensary’s 20 staffers.

A modern, open-ceiling style lobby dubbed “the Locker Room” offers patients a smorgasbord of cannabis education materials while they wait to shop. Posters about the human endocannabinoid system complement a small library of books about the plant’s health benefits and how individual flower strains work differently. A signed Calvin Johnson jersey in Primitiv’s black and gold colors, with a “P” logo above the name plate, is framed in a display case.

Primitiv calls its 1,200-sq.-ft. shopping floor “the Playing Field,” where three big-screen TVs cycle through videos featuring Johnson and Sims, interspersed with the company’s mission and some sponsored cannabis brand messages throughout the day. A half-dozen glass showcases exhibit the latest Michigan market products, and a table of microscopes lets customers take closer looks at the trichomes of various flower strains for sale.

“Part of the goal is trying to engage as many customer senses as we can and spark inquisitive conversations when they speak with our [budtenders],” Horn said.

In Detroit sports, little is guaranteed on the field. The city’s four major teams have collectively reached record levels of futility in recent years after a relatively successful run in the 2000s and early 2010s.

Something that is usually guaranteed? Athletes playing for the local teams taking the first plane out of Michigan when they retire or finish their contracts, never to return. The allure of California, the sunshine in Florida, the opportunity in New York or the charm and recognition in their hometowns almost always draw even the most beloved Detroit athletes away from the down-on-its-luck Mitten State.

But just like their decision to foray into legal cannabis in the first place, Johnson and Sims broke the mold by settling in Michigan.

“As the years went on, I started to put my business hat on,” Johnson said. “There were a lot of opportunities that presented themselves in the state because I’ve been here for my whole adult life.”

Sims, whose father and father-in-law also played in the NFL, says he learned by example. He didn’t plan on staying in the area when Seattle traded him to Detroit back in 2010. But once the Lions offered him a four-year contract extension, he knew he’d found a permanent home.

“We believe you should stay where you retire because that’s where your juice and your influence are,” he said.

But why Niles, a tiny town of just 12,000 people on the rural west side of the state, for Primitiv’s dispensary?

For one, it’s less than five miles from neighboring Indiana, where adults still can’t buy marijuana legally. Second and perhaps most importantly, local governments in some of Michigan’s more populated cities—Detroit, Warren and Sterling Heights to name a few—still don’t allow recreational cannabis sales.

If and when those cities open for adult-use, Johnson and Sims say they’ll be ready to expand.

“This location gets our products in the most people’s hands,” Sims said. “Now that the train is on the tracks, our focus is what’s next and where’s next.”

Aurora further strengthens its balance sheet with accretive debt reduction.

EDMONTON, AB, June 3, 2022 /CNW/ --PRESS RELEASE-- Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB), the Canadian company cannabinoids worldwide, today announced that it has repurchased an aggregate of approximately $25.3 million (US$20 million) principal amount of its convertible senior notes at a total cost, including accrued interest, of $24.3 million (US$19.2 million) in cash.

The purpose of the transaction, which represents a repurchase of a portion of the Notes at a 5.25% discount to par value, was to reduce the company's debt and annual cash interest costs. Annual cash interest savings from the repurchases of Notes made from Q3 2022 onwards now total $9.5 million (US$7.5 million).

Aurora's balance sheet is among the strongest in the industry with approximately $455 million in cash inclusive of the transaction announced today, and the company reiterates its expectation of achieving a positive Adjusted EBITDA run rate by the first half of fiscal 2023.

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offering would be unlawful.

Secretary of State Steve Barnett validated South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws’ measure May 25.

South Dakota voters will once again decide on adult-use cannabis legalization this year after state officials approved a legalization measure for the state’s 2022 ballot.

Secretary of State Steve Barnett validated South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws’ (SDBML) measure May 25, according to a local Dakota News Now report.

The measure will be titled Initiated Measure 27 and appear on South Dakota’s General Election ballot on Nov. 8, the news outlet reported.

RELATED: Voters in These 9 States Could Decide Cannabis Fate in 2022

SDBML had to gather roughly 17,000 valid signatures to get its measure before voters, and the group submitted those signatures to the Secretary of State’s office May 3.

If approved this fall, the measure would legalize the personal use, possession and cultivation of cannabis for adults 21 and older.

SDBML put forth a similar proposal in 2020 through a constitutional amendment, which voters approved alongside a separate measure to legalize medical cannabis.

The adult-use measure was then challenged in court, where a judge struck it down on the grounds that it violated the single-subject rule in the South Dakota Constitution.

The case then headed to the state’s Supreme Court, which ruled in November 2021 that it would not reinstate the voter-approved initiative.

South Dakota lawmakers then attempted to legalize adult-use cannabis legislatively during this year’s legislative session, but the bill ultimately failed.

“We did it! We qualified our cannabis legalization initiative for the 2022 ballot,” SDBML Director Matthew Schweich said in a tweet May 25. “Thank you to everyone who made this possible. We are Initiated Measure 27! Yes on 27!"

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