Marijuana Business Magazine May-June 2020

Marijuana Business Magazine | May-June 2020 68 Aloha Green Apothecary is using its cannabis manufacturing facility to produce free hand sanitizer for its 329 patients with medical marijuana cards. Tai Cheng, Aloha Green’s president, said in early spring that the company had manufactured more than 10,000 bottles of sanitizer in less than a week and distributed 1,000 bottles to customers and neighborhood fire stations. Such freebies come at a cost. Cheng is paying twice the pre- pandemic price for the alcohol used in the company’s hand- sanitizer formulation and said shipping costs to the island are high. “We have had to fly in ingredients and packaging. We do not have dedicated equipment to produce hand sanitizer, and we do not produce enough to gain any economies of scale enjoyed by producers such as Purell,” Cheng said. “We produce at a cost that is only marginally cheaper than the retail price of nationally available hand sanitizers. …This is mainly due to high packaging and labeling costs.” He added that Aloha Green also reduced the output of cannabis oil and manufacturing by about 20% in order to assign one lab technician to produce and oversee hand-sanitizer production. However, conversion needs have been relatively minimal, involving only a stainless-steel tabletop, a mixer and some filling equipment. And in terms of offsetting costs, Cheng said gratitude from patients and boosts to employee morale are reward enough. “We have enjoyed the process of planning, developing and executing production of a consumer packaged good in about 10 days,” he said. “We think it has really brought our team together.” ALOHA GREEN APOTHECARY Headquarters: Honolulu Business Type: Vertically integrated medical cannabis operator Canadian cannabis manufacturer Canopy Growth donated thousands of face masks and gloves to health-care workers and municipal-service employees to help protect them from COVID-19. The company donated personal protective equipment from recently shuttered British Columbia cultivation sites to frontline medical staff at a local health unit in Victoria, according to Jordan Sinclair, Canopy Growth’s vice president of communications. He added that the company has also “donated gloves and masks to the Smiths Falls police department.” CANOPY GROWTH Headquarters: Smiths Falls, Ontario Business Type: Vertically integrated cannabis operator Canopy Growth donated personal protective equipment to health care workers and first responders. Courtesy Photo Aloha Green manufactured more than 10,000 bottles of sanitizer in one week. Courtesy Photo Pandemic Pivot