RE:up to 7 grams per day
Seattle Grandmother Makes History With Legal Marijuana 2014-07-24 10:34 ET - News Release VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 24, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The first recreation marijuana sold in Seattle is being donated to the city's Museum of History and Industry, by Deb Greene, a 65-year old grandmother who lined up all night outside Cannabis City to purchase it. Recreation marijuana is currently legal in Washington State. Medical marijuana is now legal in 23 states and Washington D.C. According to ArcView Group, a San Francisco marijuana research company, the size of legal marijuana industry will grow from $1.5 billion in 2013 to $2.6 billion in 2014. Recent marijuana successes include producers Tweed, which has a market cap of $111 million, Abattis Bioceuticals, whose stock has increased 4300% in the last 12 months and Affinor, which has experienced 800% share price increase in the last four months after diversifying from strawberries into medical marijuana. Entrepreneurs in Canada and the USA are lining up to profit in this new frontier. Prescient Mining (PMC-CSE) (21P –FSE) (PSNTF –OTC) has jumped the queue by announcing that it has signed an exclusive agreement to acquire an unnamed target company in the final stages of securing a license to produce marijuana for medical purposes under the new MMPR regulations. "One of our key differentiators for PMC is that the target company has the largest, brand-new, state-of-the-art facility in Canada," stated Prescient CEO Marc E. Levy in an exclusive interview with Financial Press, "the new high end agricultural production equipment is provided by companies such as Zwart Systems and Argus Controls." The 'brand new purpose built' factor is critical to PMC's future efficiency and profitability. Retrofitted facilities have been experiencing bacteria and other negative issues. When you retrofit an existing facility typically there are organisms growing in the walls, floors, ceilings and ventilation systems. PMC's 54,000 square foot facility is custom built from the ground up. Prescient's target company has pre-license approval granted by Health Canada and anticipates obtaining the Licensed Producer designation from Health Canada. "There's something called 'ready to build' which means you've put a plan forward to the government, then they approved it," stated Mr. Levy, "Then you go and build, which takes a minimum of four months. Then Health Canada inspects the facility and says 'Yes, you've executed the plan perfectly' or 'You need adjustments in these areas' – which could be surveillance, ventilation, security, inventory software. We are beyond this stage and ready to execute, once we get Health Canada approval." "We should have a final inspection and review later this summer, which is the last step before licencing," stated Mr. Levy, "We fully expect to be the next licenced medical marijuana producer. Because this is a new industry with an established user-base. Health Canada has been swamped with applications. If you're applying now, it is most likely too late. We have an appointment with Health Canada shortly to inspect our facility for final approval. The facility is built and we are ready to begin high quality medicinal production." The target company made an application in July of 2013 with Health Canada to become a Licensed Producer (LP). "The state of the art facility will be operating in a tax-efficient jurisdiction," stated Mr. Levy, "We also have negotiated inexpensive power and unlimited access to pure natural potable 'soft water'." Soft water means natural, non-industrial water. It cleans and aerates as it runs. There are no fluorides, additives and toxins to remove and it promotes faster growth and healthier plants. Mr. Levy recently visited the facility and inspected all 48 surveillance cameras around the perimeter of site, and a 20 x 28 foot storage vault with 8" thick reinforced walls and ceilings and every square inch of the facility to ensure that it is 100% ready to produce. The target company had interest from multiple suitors, both private and public. Mr. Levy has personal relationships with some of the principals and confirms that "there are good synergies between both management teams." A key factor driving the project is Mr. Levy's successful track record in the public markets and the personal successes of the founders of the target company. Mr. Levy is the founder and former CEO & Chairman of Norsemont Mining Inc., which he grew from a market capitalization of $1 million and subsequently sold to Hudbay Minerals Inc. for $520 million in 6 years. Mr. Levy has been instrumental in several successful profitable buy outs including Petaquilla Minerals sold to Inmet Mining for $350 million and Coal Hunter Resources to Cardero Group for $52 million. "Due to national advertising regulations public medical marijuana companies in Canada have a competitive advantage over private companies," stated Mr. Levy, " Simply speaking you cannot advertise marijuana directly, however you can disseminate information about the operations, products, revenue streams of a the publically traded company. So the ability to communicate in public markets is an important part of the over-all story." PMC is working on a distribution plan with new standards of delivery in all the major cities in Canada. This innovative distribution plan will be released to the market once products are ready. For competitive reasons the company currently does not wish to divulge their plan to capture marijuana market share in Canada. "We've sponsored several key events so that we are connected to and supporting the culture understanding their needs first hand," stated Mr. Levy, "We've talked to men and women from all walks of life at these events who consume up to 7 grams of marijuana a day. Those are big numbers when you look at the whole demand side of the industry. Looking to the future, we believe it is vital to connect with the both recreational as well as the medical users." The target company has the ability to grow 5,500 kilograms of pot a year, which translates to about $55 million worth per annum of marijuana from our first facility. "PMC has an executive plan for multiple facilities," stated Mr. Levy, "Which will give us the ability to rapidly increase revenues and distribution, lower costs and mitigate risks associated with only one facility." Canada's conservative government has begun regulating and taxing medical marijuana production. The liberal leader of the Canadian opposition, Justin Trudeau is in favour of full legalisation. Sixty-one percent of Americans and 69% of Canadians support the legalisation of recreational marijuana. It is not hard to see which way the wind is blowing. There are about 40,000 registered medical marijuana patients today. In ten years the number of qualified patients is expected to be over 450,000 according to Health Canada. However, it has been estimated there are over 1,100,000 pot smokers in BC alone.