North American Policies are Accelerating Cannabis Market Growth

NEW YORK, June 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a report by Ameri Research Inc., the global legal cannabis market was valued at USD 14.3 Billion in 2016 and is projected to grow to USD 63.5 Billion by 2024 while maintaining a CAGR of 21.1% during the forecast period. The cannabis market is experiencing a period of healthy growth due to increasing legalization and decriminalization of cannabis products across North America. The report also explains that legalization movements are affecting policies beyond the U.S. region. Data by Arcview Market Research clarifies that growth of the legal cannabis industry is expected to re-accelerate in 2018, as adult-use sales ramp up in Canada, California, and Massachusetts along with first time medical sales in Florida. Body and Mind Inc. (OTC: BMMJ), mCig, Inc. (OTC: MCIG), GB Sciences, Inc. (OTC: GBLX), Abattis Bioceuticals Corp. (OTC: ATTBF), MPX Bioceutical Corp. (OTC: MPXEF)

In a report by Benzinga, Viridian Capital President Scott Greiper points out that the cannabis market received USD 1.23 Billion in investments during the first five weeks of 2018, up from USD 178 Million a year earlier. Viridian Capital Advisors' Vice President Harrison Phillips explained: "Investments in cultivation and retail this year have been driven predominantly by the Canadian player. This has been happening pretty consistently from late 2016 through 2017. This reflects the necessity to scale cannabis businesses, to get some kind of advantage, and to explore strategic opportunities, both through acquisitions and international expansion."

Body and Mind Inc. (OTC: BMMJ) also listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the Ticker (CSE: BAMM). Yesterday the company announced breaking news that the "Company and its strategic in-state investment partners received notification that the State of Ohio awarded a medical cannabis dispensary license to NMG, Ohio LLC ("NMG Ohio", "Applicant"). The Company's subsidiary, Nevada Medical Group LLC ("NMG") currently has a 30% ownership interest in NMG Ohio and is currently pursuing an option to increase its ownership position. It is anticipated that NMG will sign a management agreement in the near term to become operator of the dispensary.

Ohio Medical License Highlights:

1. Obtained 1 of only 56 medical cannabis dispensary licenses awarded by State of Ohio, a state which has a population of approx. 11.5 Million.
2. Location of license is in the city of Elyria, Lorain County, Northeastern Ohio.
3. Only 3 medical dispensaries awarded in Lorain County, a county which has a population of approximately 300,000+.
4. State of Ohio received approximately 370+ medical cannabis dispensary license applications.
5. First-mover position in Ohio provides the Company with the ability to expediently expand its Body and Mind brand name to another state.

Robert Hasman, President of NMG, stated "We are very pleased with our group being awarded one of the dispensary licenses located in Ohio and confirms the commitment and skill of our team. We have worked hard to submit numerous low cost strategic license applications to grow the company and create shareholder value. We currently have the following additional license applications pending and/or in progress as follows:"

1. Ohio - NMG Ohio has 1 production license application submitted and in progress. NMG Ohio's cultivation license is currently going through an appeal process.
2. Arkansas - 2 dispensary applications submitted and in progress. One cultivation license initially denied, however an Arkansas judge barred the issuance of any cultivation licenses and the process is currently, or expected to be shortly, under review by the Arkansas Supreme Court. The Arkansas submissions are under Letter of Intent between NMG and an in-state investor group (the "Investor Group"), who have agreed to fund the application process.

In the event the application is successful, Body and Mind will manage the Arkansas operations with terms to be determined. Both parties have agreed to finance the construction and start-up costs on a 75% BAM and 25% Investor Group basis, with BAM's contribution convertible up to a 40% equity interest in the Investor Group.

1. Nevada - NMG has 2 dispensary applications nearing submission. It is anticipated that the Nevada Department of Taxation will be seeking applications from existing Medical Marijuana Certificate owner(s) to be awarded Medical Marijuana Dispensary Registration Certificates in the next 60 to 90 days. This application process is only open to existing Nevada license holders with Nevada having a limited number of dispensary, cultivation and production licenses. The Company has secured highly desirable real estate for both applications. The company has submitted a special use permit on one location and is finalizing submissions for the second location.  Both locations are in high traffic, underserved areas of Las Vegas.

Pepper Lane North Update: In 2017, a real estate investment group, led by the NMG's president, initiated the purchase of an approximately 30,000 square foot building adjacent to the existing NMG facility. In May 2018, the real estate investment group completed the purchase of the Pepper Lane North building and now owns the facility. The Company recently made the decision to terminate its lease back agreement regarding the Pepper Lane North facility as it was unable to relocate a church that was leasing office space in a building which is in close proximity to the Pepper Lane North facility. The Pepper Lane North building may still be an opportunity for the Company to lease storage and administrative space and the Company will continue to evaluate this opportunity."

mCig, Inc. (OTC: MCIG) is a diversified company servicing the legal cannabis, hemp and CBD markets via its lifestyle brands. mCig, Inc. is committed to be the leading distributor of technology, products, and services to fit the needs of a rapidly expanding industry. mCig, Inc., a diversified company servicing the legal cannabis markets is pleased to have announced on May 31st, 2018 they have closed escrow on the purchase of a 2.5 acre parcel in California City, CA. MCIG's agriculture division, with its Hemp farms in New York will soon expand from sea-to-sea with cultivating, extracting, and distribution operations in both New York and California. MCIG has begun the planning of an indoor cultivation facility to produce high quality, "California-Style" cannabis products after receiving three of the seven recreational cannabis licenses granted by California City allowing cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution. MCIG CEO Paul Rosenberg stated: "We are very grateful to the City of California City for their professionalism and thorough vetting process during licensing. We want to be a flagship facility and model licensee among the other licensed producers in the city. It is our sincere objective to create jobs, give back to the community, and create healthy products that compliment our current product lines and brands."

GB Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: GBLX) is a diverse cannabis company, focused on standardized cultivation and production methods; as well as biopharmaceutical research and development. GB Sciences, as previously reported, plans to file an Exploratory IND and perform a Phase 0 Clinical Trial to gather valuable First-In-Human data, to support clinical development decisions on prioritizing among multiple, related Parkinson's Disease ("PD") formulations. GB Sciences has a patent application covering multiple, related PD-formulas that are based on complex mixtures of minor cannabinoids and terpenes from cannabis chemovars. "The challenge we have encountered in approaching the US FDA is that we may not be able to use cannabis-based materials that GB Sciences has developed in the US for our clinical trials," explains Dr. Andrea Small-Howard, Chief Science Officer of GB Sciences. "We are committed to complying with all federal requirements, even though we believe we can implement a system for growing and extracting here that exceeds the quality and consistency of the materials that we could obtain from the only federally-approved cannabis source for research in the US."

Abattis Bioceuticals Corp. (OTCQB: ATTBF) is a life sciences and biotechnology company which aggregates, integrates, and invests in cannabis technologies and biotechnology services for the legal cannabis industry developing in Canada. The company recently signed a letter of intent to integrate BLOCKStrain's proprietary technology into Abattis's product and services ecosystem. Through their collaboration, the parties hope to enable Abattis clients to instantly arrange for sales, shipping, testing and analysis of Abattis products and give clients comprehensive visibility over such products over their entire lifecycles. BLOCKStrain's platform, which stores all testing data in a blockchain-protected database, significantly reduces the workload and costs associated with product and genetic testing. "Our agreement with BLOCKStrain will help streamline and improve our offerings even further, and we are very excited to work on the development of our joint technologies," said Abattis President and CEO Rob Abenante.

MPX Bioceutical Corp. (OTCQB: MPXEF) an Ontario corporation, through its wholly owned subsidiaries in the U.S., provides substantial management, staffing, procurement, advisory, financial, real estate rental, logistics and administrative services to three medicinal cannabis enterprises in Arizona operating under the Health for Life and the award-winning Melting Point Extracts brands. The company recently announces the official opening of its newest "Health for Life" medical marijuana dispensary in the Metropolitan Phoenix area. This brings the number of dispensaries under MPX management in Arizona's Sun Valley to four. The Crismon dispensary will meet the needs of patients in this comparatively underserviced southeast quadrant of the region by making available the full spectrum of MPX concentrates, an extensive variety of cannabis flower, and a broad selection of 3rdparty, processed cannabis-infused edibles. The company also announced that it has relocated the processing and production of MPX concentrates to a new location in North Mesa. The new facility incorporates some of the most modern and innovative extraction and distillation technologies available, permitting MPX's expert processing team to produce a wide variety of products including oil cartridges, cured resin, shatter, resin sauce etc., all marketed under the MPX ("Melting Point Extracts") brand and advertised as the "Gold Standard" of cannabis concentrates.

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