Regulators Strive to Limit Illicit Cannabis Trade as the Industry Continues its Expansion

NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Most regions around the world allow young adults at the age of 18 to enjoy or purchase their own alcohol and tobacco. However, the U.S. has strictly enforced that adults must be 21 years old or older in order to purchase alcohol. Meanwhile, some parts of the U.S. have also implemented a mandated age of 21 years or older to purchase tobacco. The U.S. government strongly believed that if the minimum age requirement was raised to 21 it would reduce the number of young adults drinking and smoking. However, Mike Males, a Senior Researcher for San Francisco's Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, highlighted that changing the age limit has little to no effect in the reduction of underage users. Additionally, teenagers are more likely to obtain their supply from an illegal source and consequently, teenagers are more likely to drink or smoke in excess. Similarly, as the legal cannabis market begins to take off, lawmakers are approaching the industry with caution. In U.S. states where cannabis is legal for adult-use, only adults 21 years old and over are allowed to purchase any cannabis-based products. On the other hand, Canada allows consumers 18 years old and older (19 years old in some provinces) to purchase cannabis-based products. The age difference between the two countries allows Canada to minimize the illicit trade market. Similarly, the United States setting the legal age at 18 years old would add a whole new demographic of young adults to the market, expanding the market penetration even further. And according to data compiled by Imarc Group, the North American legal cannabis market is expected to reach USD 35 Billion by 2023 from USD 8 Billion in 2017. Additionally, the market is expected to register a healthy CAGR of 28% throughout the forecast period. Global Payout, Inc. (OTC: GOHE), The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. (OTC: SPRWF) (TSX: FIRE), Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. (OTC: EMHTF) (TSX-V: EMH), 22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE: XXII), Organigram Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OGI) (TSX: OGI) 

Along with Canada, several other nations have based their cannabis legalization efforts on a foundation of expunging past criminal records. Notably, Mexico is moving towards legalizing cannabis as well, with a primary goal of ending the war on drugs and lowering criminal conviction rates. In particular, Mexico is a region that has been ravaged by the war on drugs, resulting in thousands upon thousands of deaths. Recently, Mexican Senator Julio Menchaca Salazar introduced a piece of legislation that would allow for legal possession, cultivation, and consumption of cannabis for personal use by adults. Similarly, Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, is also pushing for legalization to end the racial and ethnic disparities in the African American and Latino communities, in terms of cannabis related arrests. However, despite Cuomo's active stance, his efforts have so far been unsuccessful in the state of New York. The Governor did manage to decriminalize cannabis recently, making cannabis possession and use a violation, instead of a crime. Furthermore, the state of New York is also creating a process for individuals convicted of marijuana possession to have their records expunged. "Marijuana possession gives those convicted a criminal record that will follow them throughout their lives, potentially limiting their access to education, affecting their ability to obtain employment leading to a potential inability to provide for their families. The creation of a mechanism for expungement, both retroactively and forward-looking, is a step in the right direction in finally ending the heavy-handed war on drugs," said New York Senator Jamaal T. Bailey.

Global Payout, Inc. (OTC: GOHE) announced earlier this week that it has, "entered into a financing arrangement with a long-term private investor for ongoing financial support at a valuation of ten times the current share price. This investment group has already provided over $2,200,000 in investment capital to the company over the past two years and has committed to additional financing of more than $3,000,000 at a 10x valuation for a total investment of over $5,000,000. The Company anticipates using a large portion of these proceeds to retire a substantial percentage of the Company's outstanding convertible debt, which will have tremendous value to the stock and its shareholders.

"It gives me great pleasure to announce financing at such a high valuation," said Global Payout, CEO Vanessa Luna. "As I have said many times, I believe strongly that this company is on a path to becoming the go-to Fintech solution for the cannabis market, but it feels great to have that affirmed by such a strong investment. It reaffirms to me, as CEO, that the growth initiatives and overall trajectory of the business are moving in the right direction; and should signal to shareholders that we mean serious business. We are aware that there is still a long way to go to get this company in a truly competitive position, which will involve a hard look at all aspects of both the public and privately held Company, MTrac Tech Corp., but this arrangement certainly offers us the ability to continue to make progress on all fronts as we strive to optimize shareholder value for the long term."

About Global Payout, Inc. (OTC Pink:GOHE): Since the Company's inception in 2009, Global Payout, Inc. has been a leading provider of comprehensive and customized prepaid payment solutions. From 2014 to 2017 Global focused on identifying new state of the art technologies in a variety of industry sectors and successfully helped launch MoneyTrac Technology Inc. and other companies within the FinTech space. In 2018, Global completed a reverse triangular merger with MoneyTrac Technology Inc. resulting in Global retaining the wholly owned subsidiary, MTrac Tech Corporation. Global's current focus is continuing to identify new business opportunities while it reorganizes its future business endeavors."

For our latest "Buzz on the Street" Show featuring Global Payout, Inc. recent corporate news, please head over to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eJWAEvWSc4

The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. (OTCQX: SPRWF) (TSX: FIRE), is a global diversified portfolio of distinct cannabis companies, products and brands. The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. recently announced the launch of Supreme Heights, an investment platform based in London, U.K. focused on opportunities in the U.K. and Europe's CBD health and wellness space. Supreme Heights intends to make strategic investments in and provide support services to differentiated high-growth health and wellness businesses with focused brands and premium CBD offerings. Supreme Cannabis has launched Supreme Heights as a separate entity that will solely address opportunities in the U.K. and Europe's CBD health and wellness market. Supreme Heights will benefit from Supreme Cannabis' regulatory, product commercialization, supply chain, marketing and capital markets expertise and corporate support services. Supreme Cannabis' management team has immense experience supporting health and wellness companies operating in Canada and international markets. Supreme Heights will draw on the Company's experience launching premium brands. "The rapidly evolving CBD markets in the UK and Europe present compelling investment opportunities given the promising environments for new health and wellness companies to establish differentiated brands and capture meaningful market share. Supreme Heights is positioned to quickly act on attractive opportunities and establish an early mover advantage in the space," said Navdeep Dhaliwal, Chief Executive Officer of Supreme Cannabis. "Supreme Heights will benefit from our experience launching some of the most premium cannabis brands in Canada and from the strong leadership and the deep industry connections of our UK partners. We look forward to driving value for Supreme Cannabis shareholders through this investment platform." 

Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. (OTCQX: EMHTF) (TSX-V: EMH) is a Canadian licensed producer of cannabis products, with strategic initiatives focused on differentiated, value-added product development for medical and adult-use customers supported by novel intellectual property, large-scale cultivation, extraction, and softgel encapsulation, as well as unique marketing and distribution channels. Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. recently shipped 9,960 40-ml units of its SYNC 25 CBD oil to Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Emerald-branded Indica-dominant CBD oil offers consumers a smoke-free product alternative. "CBD oil has become an increasingly popular product on the market today, and our cannabis-derived SYNC 25 is an example of the high-quality products that consumers can expect from Emerald," said Dr. Avtar Dhillon, President and Executive Chairman of Emerald. "With our range of expertise in the research and development of science-driven products, we will continue to expand our product portfolio and meet consumer demand."

22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE: XXII) is a plant biotechnology company focused on technology which allows the increase or decrease in the level of nicotine in tobacco plants and the level of cannabinoids in hemp/cannabis plants through genetic engineering and plant breeding. 22nd Century Group, Inc. recently announced that the 2018 Farm Bill will greatly enhance the Company's research activities around low-THC Cannabis sativa L. Recently, President Trump signed into law the 2018 Farm Bill, including an important provision to legalize hemp, defined as Cannabis sativa L. containing not more than 0.3% THC (the compound in cannabis responsible for psychotropic effects). Cannabis plants with higher levels of THC (i.e. marijuana) remain illegal under federal law. As a Research Partner of the State of New York Department of Agriculture and Markets, and with extensive experience in plant biotechnology and genetics, 22nd Century scientists are uniquely capable of exploiting cannabis DNA. The new law will allow 22nd Century to expand the Company's research activities, to add to the Company's cannabis intellectual property portfolio, and to increase the Company's cannabis germplasm library through the legal interstate commerce of proprietary low-THC Cannabis sativa L. plants. "In ending the legal uncertainty that low-THC cannabis research has entailed, and by opening the door for legal sales of hemp across state lines, the 2018 Farm Bill will result in a vibrant and growing marketplace for 22nd Century's unique varieties," explained Dr. Paul Rushton, Vice President of Biotechnology at 22nd Century Group. "With a sizeable head-start in low-THC Cannabis sativa research in collaboration with the Company's fully licensed and accredited partners, 22nd Century is poised to take advantage of hemp's new legal status and to develop and commercialize new hemp/cannabis varieties for the medical and agricultural fields."

Organigram Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OGI) (TSX: OGI) is a NASDAQ Global Select and TSX listed company whose wholly owned subsidiary, Organigram Inc., is a licensed producer of cannabis and cannabis-derived products in Canada. Organigram Holdings Inc. recently announced that effective September 6th, 2019, it had received Health Canada's approval for the licensing of 17 additional cultivation rooms under the Cannabis Regulations. The new cultivation rooms represent approximately 15,000 kg/yr1 of increased target production capacity. These are the first 17 rooms licensed within the Company's Phase 4B expansion and now brings the Company's Moncton facility to an annualized licensed capacity to a target of 76,000 kg. "Once again, we are pleased to receive licensing approval consistent with our expectations and the streamlined process we have experienced to date. Our Phase 4 facility expansion remains on schedule to meet growing demand and further contribute to efficiencies of scale," explains Greg Engel, Chief Executive Officer, Organigram.

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