Moxie, California’s first licensed cannabis brand, has launched its premium medical cannabis products in Ohio. Moxie is one of the original, premium California-based brands known for pioneering extraction techniques, its award-winning concentrates, live resins, Liquid Moxie, and delectable gummy products, and for breeding world-renowned curated cannabis plant genetics.  Moxie is now part of High Times, the original and authentic media and cannabis operator, headquartered in California and known for its Cannabis Cup competition.

In Ohio, Moxie has partnered with Green Investment Partners, and its operator Rooted Management Services, run by Gabe Perlow, Matt Borders, Cody Boyer and Ray Boyer, who pioneered the introduction of the Moxie brand with PurePenn in Pennsylvania, Organic Remedies MO in Missouri, and with the affiliate of Moxie during its time in the Michigan medical market. 

Green Investment Partners (GIP) and Rooted Management Partners spent the past year transitioning the company’s operations to Rooted’s industry-leading procedures, including capital investments to improve GIP’s cultivation and processing operations, while introducing new genetics, including Moxie genetics into GIP’s operations. GIP has also expanded its processing operations to increase production of concentrates, vaporizer cartridges and gummies for the Moxie brand. Moxie’s premium indoor grown flower will be available in Ohio by the Fall of 2023.

Rooted will be introducing a new product to the Ohio medical market known as Caviar Dots under the Moxie brand. Caviar Dots will be available in Ohio in July. Caviar Dots are a potent blend of ground flower, delta-9 THC oil, and keef meant to enhance the patient experience regardless of the method of consumption to add potency and flavor to even the most bland of other products. 

Moxie, GIP and Rooted look to take their approach to scale craft cannabis offerings in Ohio to the next level by providing patients with high quality products at affordable prices.

“It has taken [Rooted] about a year to make the necessary capital improvements, implement its standard operating procedures, and add the necessary scale to the GIP facilities required to operate a world-class cannabis production facility. In parallel with those efforts, we have worked diligently to bring in new Moxie genetics, as well as those of GIP’s value brand, Eden’s Trees, which allows us to offer Ohio’s patients with the most well regarded and sought-after products in cannabis,” said Gabe Perlow, operator of GIP’s facilities and former CEO of PurePenn, which produced Moxie’s products in Pennsylvania.

Perlow also stated that “the key to our success is the emphasis we place on quality and consistency, at an affordable price. We make the kinds of products that we as patients and caregivers would want for ourselves and our family.”

Perlow and his team seemingly perfected the model for multi-state operations, after successful operations in Pennsylvania, and most recently, Missouri as part of Organic Remedies-Missouri.  

“We replicate the same model at each location, our facilities are designed or redesigned in Ohio’s case, with the same training, equipment, and culture.  The culture is the key to our success, with values of patient welfare, trust, respect, integrity, collaboration, innovation and commitment to excellence to name a few. We hire to these values and maintain these expectations to the entire team, bottoms up and top down. We recreate the same successful workflow using the same standard operating procedures and the same materials and equipment that have yielded excellent results in other markets.  We have taken the guesswork out of operations with replicated results in multiple states,” Perlow said.

GIP’s flower and processed products are led by managers trained at and brought in from other markets affiliated with Rooted Management Services, ensuring that the genetics are cultivated in a way that ensures the highest level of consistency and potency possible. By controlling the cultivation of the plant material used in our products, and replicating the same model by bringing in team members and leaders from existing facilities, Moxie and Eden’s Trees brands avoid many of the pitfalls that new or inexperienced manufacturers face. 

While the business model creates uniformity, the leadership team at Rooted Management Services ensures only the highest caliber of cannabis products are being produced for the Moxie brand.

Perlow stated that “It’s not about coming in and making a quick buck for us. We have the business experience and want to build successful brands and strong businesses, but we are also very passionate about this plant and the products that we produce. As medical patients and caregivers ourselves, we have seen first-hand the amazing benefits the plant has to offer. As enthusiasts of the products, we appreciate that cannabis-based medicine can offer an enjoyable experience while also experiencing relief from serious medical conditions. We bring a lot of passion to the business and products we make, and are proud to serve the patients of Ohio. Our management team and employees share the same enthusiasm, excitement, passion, pride and dedication to producing high quality, affordable products.”

GIP and Rooted Management Services aim to be what we call “competimates” (competitors working together to build a highly compliant industry while serving the Ohio patients) with other licensed operators and are working with dispensary partners to ensure that retail teams are as informed and educated as possible about what Moxie and Eden’s Trees offers and the benefits to the dispensary partners and the Ohio patients. Perlow says the company is proud of the products they produce, and they want retail partners to be equally excited about what they’re able to offer to Ohio patients. 

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As cannabis policy reform measures continue to take hold across the country, nearly half the states in the nation have now legalized recreational marijuana. With each new state comes new opportunities that have spawned thousands of cannabis operators from coast to coast. But with so many brands out there, consumers can find it difficult to choose new cannabis products with confidence.

Choosing products from a company with a strong history can be one way to navigate through all the brands found at a local dispensary. In four states with legal weed, consumers are finding that California-based Moxie fits the bill as a company with roots in the legacy market that pairs top-of-line genetics with innovative processes to create products that have won more than 100 coveted cannabis industry awards, including dozens of High Times Cannabis Cup trophies.

Since the company’s inception nearly a decade ago, Moxie has prided itself on producing potent, flavorful concentrates fit for the most discriminating cannabis connoisseurs. That reputation continues today with its extensive line of top-self cannabis flower and extractions. Utilizing pharmaceutical-grade technology and strict safety standards in their cultivation facilities, Moxie provides customers with high-quality recreational and medical marijuana products from its library of hundreds of cannabis varietals.

Moxie was founded in California in 2014, even before recreational marijuana was legalized in the state. Operating under Proposition 215, the groundbreaking ballot measure that legalized medical marijuana in 1996, Moxie’s founders set out to make industry-leading concentrates to provide medicinal cannabis patients with effective and enjoyable formulations. Only a year later, the company took advantage of the growing medical cannabis environment and became a multi-state cannabis operator (MSO) with an expansion into the Michigan and Nevada medical marijuana markets in 2016. 

The same year, California voters took the next step in ending the prohibition of cannabis with the passage of Proposition 64, the ballot initiative that legalized recreational marijuana in the Golden State. One year later, the company cemented its place in weed history as the first cannabis company to be licensed by California regulators. The milestones continued to come only one year later with the expansion into Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana market and the 2018 opening of one of the state’s first grower/processor facilities in the state. The same year, Moxie was recognized as the Brand of the Year at the California Cannabis Association Awards.

Recognizing the need for a cannabis industry that treads lightly on the environment, Moxie launched the company’s sustainability efforts in 2020, pledging to be the first carbon-negative cannabis operator. In pursuit of the company’s sustainability goals, Moxie has overhauled its packaging by reducing the use of plastic and using FSC-certified paper, grass paper labels and chlorine-free dyes. Additionally, Moxie’s indoor cannabis cultivation facilities have been outfitted with energy-efficient LED grow lights to maximize efficiency, and the company is working with waste management companies to convert production waste into energy. 

Moxie And High Times

The next big step in Moxie’s history came in 2022 when Hightimes Holding Corporation, the owner of High Times, announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Moxie’s California operations. The acquisition gives High Times new cannabis cultivation and production capabilities to complement its current portfolio of cannabis holdings in California, the largest legal marijuana market in the world, where it operates branded dispensaries and offers licensed cannabis products. The deal also makes High Times the most well-known brand in the Golden State with a vertically integrated cannabis operation. 

“One of Moxie’s most important goals since our founding has been to create cannabis products that are trusted equally by consumers and regulators, which is why we carefully monitor every stage of the cultivation, production, and distribution process,” Jordan Lams, CEO and founder of Moxie, said about the agreement at the time. “High Times shares this belief in the importance of taking care of the cannabis plant and we’re very confident that all Moxie products will continue to be of the highest quality and maintain the trust of local governments and consumers. Our goal now is to continue to bring the Moxie product to markets across the country and maintain these company-wide best practices, while also continuing to be aware of the unique qualities and preferences in each state.”

Currently, Moxie can be found in four states—California, Missouri, Utah and Pennsylvania. The company’s genetics are grown and packaged as cured cannabis flower, or processed into a variety of concentrates. Live resin badder and sauce offer dabs with superior potency and flavor, while vape carts and pods provide convenience. In addition to Moxie, the company’s family of brands includes MX, HighNow and MX Sport, all available at select licensed dispensaries.

The post Moxie: A California Legacy With a History of Quality appeared first on High Times.

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Earlier this month, we announced the launch of the High Times Cannabis Cup People’s Edition in Michigan, but now we’re hyping up the West Coast for the return of its own People’s Choice Awards! Welcome to the High Times Cannabis Cup SoCal: People’s Choice Edition 2023, a recreational-only competition celebrating some of the best cannabis products in the region.

The SoCal Cannabis Cup was first introduced in 2015, where it thrived as an in-person event between 2015-2019. Back in 2015, strains like Flower Bomb Kush, True OG, and Amnesia Haze were the cream of the crop, and categories like “Best Booth” and “Best Glass” were still commonplace. The pandemic may have put a halt to in-person events, but the People’s Choice has taken the nation by storm, with a People’s Choice competition held for SoCal in both 2020 (with winners announced in 2021) and 2022. In 2021, huge favorites like Biscotti, Gelonade, and Lemon Sponge Cake took first place, among a varied selection of pre-rolls, edibles, and more. Our 2022 SoCal: People’s Choice Edition was one of the biggest cups so far, with winners such as Top Shelf Cultivation’s Whoa Si Whoa, Sense’s Pink Certz Flower, Wizard Trees’s Studio 54, and Team Elite Genetics’s Pearadise Flower—just a few of the amazing strains that won over our judges.

Fast forward to this year’s High Times Cannabis Cup SoCal: People’s Choice Edition 2023, and we’re expecting another exciting collection of products to experience. With that in mind, here’s the schedule for this year: Product submissions will be dropped off at the Moxie Lynwood facility between May 8-10. Then our official intake partner, Moxie, will build the judge kits and then we’ll transport the kits to all participating High Times and Have a Heart retailers. On May 20, judge kits will officially go on sale! Judges will have between May 21 to July 10 to test out their goodies, submitting their thoughts on product differentiators such as aesthetics, aroma/scent, taste/flavor, effects/effectiveness, and so much more.

According to High Times Director of Competitions Mark Kaz, 2021 was a record-breaking year in terms of participation. “Twenty-one Cups, 339 brands, 1,389 batches of entries, all judged by about 15,000 judges who helped crown 249 award-winners for best products in their state,” Kaz said. “Our industry is going through a tough recession, restrictive regulations, and plenty of other woes, but one thing that’s for certain is that people want to find out who has the best weed, and we’re here to help.”

For companies who want to submit products for this year’s competition, please refer to the following rules.

Entry Categories:

1. Indica Flower (2 entries max per company) 
2. Sativa Flower (2 entries max per company)  
3. Hybrid Flower (2 entries max per company) 
4. Pre-Rolls (2 entries max per company) 
5. Infused Pre-Rolls (1 entry max per company) 
6. Solvent Concentrates (2 entries max per company) 
7. Non-Solvent Concentrates (2 entries max per company) 
8. Vape Pens & Cartridges (2 entries max per company)
9. Edibles: Gummies & Fruit Chews (3 entries max per company)
10. Edibles: Chocolates & Non-Gummies (3 entries max per company)
11. Edibles: Beverages (2 entries max per company)
12. Sublinguals, Capsules, Tinctures + Topicals (3 entries max per company)

Entry Requirements:

• Flower: (228) 1-gram samples. We will not accept any 3.5-gram entries. 
• Pre-Rolls & Infused Pre-Rolls: (228) samples: Pre-Rolls will be capped at 2g flower-only each; Infused Pre-Rolls will be capped at 3g flower equivalency or 1g concentrate equivalency each.
• Concentrates & Vape Pens: (228) .5-gram samples. We will not accept any 1-gram entries. Batteries required for Carts.
• Edibles: (100) samples with 100mg THC max.
• Beverages: must be a max of 16 fluid ounces, non-glass containers preferred. 
• Sublinguals, Capsules, Tinctures + Topicals: (60) samples with 500mg THC max

In terms of submission pricing, competitors should note the entry fees depending on how many products they submit. While one entry is $250, and two entries is $100 per entry (both non-refundable), submissions of three or more entries is a $100 refundable deposit per entry held, which is refunded when all entries are successfully submitted. Finally, if you’d like to sponsor this year’s High Times Cannabis Cup SoCal: People’s Choice Edition 2023 then all entry fees are waived. We also offer multiple tiers of sponsorship, including General, Bronze, Silver, and Presenting Sponsorships.

That sums up the details of our event this year but check out our High Times Cannabis Cup website to view all of the details.

A special thank you to:

Moxie – Official Intake Partner

Have a Heart – Official Retailer Partner

High Times Dispensaries – Official Retailer Partner

The post Announcing the High Times Cannabis Cup SoCal: People’s Choice Edition 2023 appeared first on High Times.

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High Times Holding Corporation has entered into an agreement to acquire the California operations of Moxie, the state’s first licensed cannabis company and a leading multistate cannabis operator. The acquisition gives High Times new cannabis cultivation and production capabilities to complement our current portfolio of cannabis holdings in California, the largest legal marijuana market in the world, where we operate branded dispensaries and offer licensed cannabis products. The deal also makes High Times the most well-known brand in the Golden State with a vertically integrated cannabis operation.

“With our current platform of stores, we believe this acquisition will be synergistic in nature for the Moxie brands and provide a good home for their branded products in California,” High Times CEO Paul Henderson said about the deal. “Additionally, it will provide High Times with a cultivation and production team that has won dozens of previous Cannabis Cups, and other awards across the country. We look forward to bringing High Times classics as well as some new favorites we’ve been working on to the masses with top quality production, both in our own stores, and to other retailers in the near future. This move opens the door to a whole new world of brands from the High Times organization.”

Moxie was the first cannabis company to be licensed in California and has since expanded its cultivation and production to legal weed states including Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Utah. Utilizing pharmaceutical grade technology and strict safety standards in their cultivation facilities, Moxie provides customers with high-quality recreational and medical cannabis products from its library of hundreds of varietals.

Deal Includes Nearly 50,000 Square Feet Of Cultivation

Under the deal, High Times will take over Moxie’s California operations, which include an 11,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and 46,000 square feet of flowering canopy cultivation. The acquisition gives the company the capacity to produce up to 3,500 pounds of dried cannabis flower and more than 25,000 pounds of fresh frozen cannabis annually for High Times and our associated branded products. The deal also includes an exclusive 99-year license to use the Moxie, MX, and HighNow brands in California. In return, the Moxie organization will be granted 1,363,654 shares of Hightimes voting common stock. 

“Moxie has been a leading brand in recreational and medical cannabis since our founding, which made it non-negotiable that any acquisition agreement was done with an organization that shares our commitment to creating the highest-quality cannabis products that are trusted by consumers and regulators,” said Jordan Lams, CEO and founder of Moxie. “We believe these values are essential, especially in our current economic climate, for maintaining a strong and prosperous industry. High Times is one of the most recognizable brands in cannabis and we have the utmost confidence in their ability to continue Moxie’s upward trajectory in California. This combination creates a vertically integrated business model that allows for more control and provides High Times with the freedom to make product-driven decisions that we know will help the industry and provide recreational and medical cannabis users with the highest quality cannabis products.”

Moxie Is A Leading Cannabis Brand

Moxie, a recognized leader in the industry with over 100 industry awards including 62 Cannabis Cups, will retain its cannabis cultivation and production operations in Pennsylvania, Utah, and Missouri. And while the continuing federal prohibition on cannabis means that each state has its own regulated market, Lams said that he is confident that the Moxie brand will be able to maintain its standards of quality across the markets the company operates in.

“One of Moxie’s most important goals since our founding has been to create cannabis products that are trusted equally by consumers and regulators, which is why we carefully monitor every stage of the cultivation, production, and distribution process,” Lams said. “High Times shares this belief in the importance of taking care of the cannabis plant and we’re very confident that all Moxie products will continue to be of the highest quality and maintain the trust of local governments and consumers. Our goal now is to continue to bring the Moxie product to markets across the country and maintain these company-wide best practices, while also continuing to be aware of the unique qualities and preferences in each state.”

High Times was founded in 1974 as an underground magazine with our fingers on the pulse of marijuana culture worldwide. In recent years, the company has expanded into all things cannabis with new ventures in print, video, and multimedia, and has set the bar for industry events around the globe with our series of Cannabis Cup competitions. Over the past three years, High Times has also entered the legal cannabis industry with eight dispensaries owned and operated in California, plus licensing agreements for retailers in Michigan and Florida. High Times branded cannabis products are available is six markets.

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Utah’s medical cannabis program has evolved rapidly and is about to make another huge step on March 1.

The post The buzz on Utah’s fledgling medical cannabis program appeared first on Leafly.

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