Agoracom Blog Home

Archive for the ‘Next Gen’ Category

Next Gen Enters into Letter of Intent to Acquire Market Leading Vaporizer E-Tailer Company

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 8:22 AM on Thursday, September 24th, 2015

  • Entered into a binding letter of intent (“LOI”) with Dollinger Enterprises Ltd., a market leader in the distribution and manufacturing of products including vaporizers, accessories and herbs with a presence in 25 countries
  • NamasteVapes has achieved an initial unaudited revenue of over US$3.3 million and positive net earnings of over US$180 thousand

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Sept. 24, 2015) – Next Gen Metals Inc. (“Next Gen“, the “Company“) (CSE:N)(OTC PINK:NXTTF)(FRANKFURT:M5BN) reports it has entered into a binding letter of intent (“LOI”) with Dollinger Enterprises Ltd., a market leader in the distribution and manufacturing of products including vaporizers, accessories and herbs with a presence in 25 countries (hereinafter referred to as “NamasteVapes“). In the first year of business ending August 31, 2015, NamasteVapes has achieved an initial unaudited revenue of over US$3.3 million and positive net earnings of over US$180 thousand, which demonstrates the market and growth potential for the company as it further expands into the production and distribution of high margin proprietary products, including the upcoming launch of the Guru, an enhanced vaporizer capable of seamlessly vaporizing liquids, concentrates and dry herbs from a single portable unit.

Consistent with Next Gen’s business model and subject to the closing of the Transaction (as defined herein), the resulting entity will represent the realization of Next Gen’s strategic objective to form an operating business with significant revenue growth and earnings potential, established brand and growing customer base, pipeline of expansion opportunities, and align with highly knowledgeable industry professionals that will leverage the decades of public markets experience provided by Next Gen.

Transaction Structure and Terms

Pursuant to the terms of the Transaction, it is anticipated Next Gen will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Dollinger Enterprises USA Ltd from Dollinger Enterprises Ltd. and/or an entity designated to hold all of the issued and outstanding shares of Dollinger Enterprises USA Ltd. upon the closing date on or before December 15, 2015 (the “Transaction“), subject to the parties further considering all applicable tax, securities law and accounting efficiencies. The Transaction terms outlined in the LOI are binding on the parties and the LOI is expected to be superseded by a definitive agreement (the “Definitive Agreement“) to be signed by the parties. The transaction is deemed to be a Fundamental Change as that term is defined in the CSE’s policies. The LOI was negotiated at arm’s length and is effective as of September 23, 2015.

Material terms of the Transaction include:

  • Issuance of 36,218,202 post consolidated shares by Next Gen in exchange for all of the outstanding shares of and/or existing assets of NamasteVapes (the “Acquisition Shares“);
  • Issuance of 8,692,368 post consolidated shares by Next Gen to be held in an escrow account for distribution to the post-Transaction management of Next Gen over a period of 3-years, subject to the attainment of certain performance milestones to be further defined in the Definitive Agreement and monitored by the post-Transaction Compensation Committee of Next Gen (the “Earn-out Shares“);
  • Assumption of a shareholder loan to the benefit of NamasteVapes in the amount of US$262,500 secured against an estimated inventory amount of US$420,000. The shareholder loan will be paid out over time and further defined in the Definitive Agreement;
  • Next Gen stock options being cancelled and reallocated at least 30 days after cancellation; and
  • Finder’s fee, equal to 4% of the Acquisition Shares from the Transaction, will also be paid in common shares of Next Gen.

As of the date hereof, Next Gen has 21,730,921 common shares issued and outstanding. There are also 4,340,417 warrants and 1,495,000 stock options to acquire common shares. 2,456,667 warrants expire September 26, 2015. Based on the foregoing, it is currently expected that the current shareholders of Next Gen common shares will hold approximately 16.7% of the issued and outstanding shares of Next Gen upon completion of the Transaction, calculated as the Acquisition Shares divided by the post-Transaction shares issued and outstanding, and subject to the amount any Earn-out Shares issued and the proceeds and terms of any capital raised. The Acquisition Shares are to be issued at a pre-consolidated deemed value of $0.02.

Transaction Conditions

The Transaction is subject to the approval of the shareholders and the CSE, including the approval of the Definitive Agreement by the directors of Next Gen and NamasteVapes and completion of due diligence investigations that satisfy Next Gen and NamasteVapes, as well as the conditions set forth below. Where applicable, the Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all. It is currently expected that the Company will seek shareholder approval of the Fundamental Change, name change, consolidation and proposed directors, by way of obtaining consents from shareholders holding 50% or more of the Company’s issued and outstanding common shares.

Conditions to completion of the Transaction include:

  • Receipt of all director, shareholder and requisite regulatory approvals relating to the Transaction, including, without limitation, CSE approval;
  • Preparation and filing of a Listing Statement outlining the definitive terms of the Transaction in accordance with the policies of the CSE;
  • Negotiation and execution of a Definitive Agreement in respect of the Transaction;
  • Receipt of acceptable audited and unaudited financial statement for NamasteVapes;
  • Election of up to five individuals to the post-Transaction board of Next Gen, as proposed and supported by Next Gen and NamasteVapes;
  • Execution of acceptable management contracts covering the required skillsets for the commercial and financial operations of Next Gen post-Transaction;
  • Completion of one or more private placements for total gross proceeds and terms mutually acceptable to Next Gen and NamasteVapes; and
  • Changing of the post-Transaction name of Next Gen, as mutually supported by Next Gen and NamasteVapes.

Management Commentary

Mr. Harry Barr, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Next Gen, comments: “This proposed transaction with NamasteVapes represents a significant corporate milestone for the shareholders of Next Gen. In keeping with our company’s objective, the directors and management of Next Gen are pleased to have finalized the LOI with NamasteVapes and look forward to further positive negotiations with the objective of consummation a transaction that will combine the best of both teams. A completed transaction will allow the shareholders of Next Gen to participate in the equity of a global leader in aromatherapy and e-commerce, with a growing manufacturing platform for the production and distribution of proprietary products.”

Mr. Sean Dollinger, President of NamasteVapes, comments: “In the first year of commercial operations, our management team has achieved significant revenue growth and customer acquisition through best in class service, a global e-commerce approach and partnerships with leading manufacturers. Due to the rapid growth of the company and our strategy to expand into the production of high margin proprietary aromatherapy products, this transaction represents a logical step forward and the means for us to access the public markets for expansion capital. Next Gen’s management expertise in public companies when combined with NamasteVapes industry knowledge, provides the ideal combination of managerial, financial and industry expertise. We look forward to further positive negotiations with the management of Next Gen and concluding this transaction in due course.”

About Vapes

NamasteVapesâ„¢ is a global leader in aromatherapy product distribution and manufacturing. The company has over 30 e-commerce retail stores in 25 countries and aims to provide the best in class and most professional customer experience possible. This is supported by the leading independent consumer review authority, TrustPilot, which presently ranks NamasteVapesâ„¢ as #1 in Vaporizer category, scoring a 9.7/10. NamasteVapesâ„¢ also owns and operates a separate retail site called GreenVapes.co.uk which is presently expanding internationally as well. The company’s retail sites offer the largest range of brand name vaporizers products on the market, which includes distribution partnerships with over 30 manufacturers providing some of the latest and most innovative products in this fast-growing industry.

In addition to its e-commerce distribution business, NamasteVapesâ„¢ is actively manufacturing and launching multiple unique proprietary products for retail and wholesale distribution, including vaporizers, accessories and herbs. Recognized as a source of information and reviews on aromatherapy products, NamasteVapesâ„¢ has a unique market perspective and ability design and engineer products that align with the current direction of the market and customer needs. This business segment will be banded under the tradename GrizzlyOriginalsâ„¢ and will include the upcoming launch of the Guruâ„¢, an enhanced vaporizer capable of seamlessly vaporizing liquids, concentrates and dry herds from a single portable unit.

NamasteVapesâ„¢ is managed by a group of industry experts focused on continued global expansion and providing the best products and service available. Further information on the company and its products can be accessed through the links below:

www.namastevapes.co.uk

www.trustpilot.com/review/namastevapes.co.uk

About Next Gen

Next Gen is a Canadian public company, whose shares trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (“CSE”) (CSE:N), the OTC pink sheets (“NXTFF”) and the Frankfurt Exchange (FRANKFURT:M5BN), which focuses on investing in the Medical Marijuana, Industrial Hemp and Alternative Medicine sectors. Next Gen’s vision is to be the leading provider of venture capital, management expertise, education, and a facilitator for these explosive new industries.

Next Gen owns 100% of GreenRush Financial Conferences (“GreenRush”). GreenRush is Canadian conference company focused on business to business opportunities, investment and education for the Medical Marijuana and Industrial Hemp Alternative Medical Sectors. For further information on the company, visit our website at www.nextgenmetals.com.

To receive further information, please subscribe to our email list below:

www.nextgenmetalsinc.com/s/InfoRequest.asp

Further Information

Further details about the proposed Transaction and the combined entity will be provided in a comprehensive press release when the parties enter into a Definitive Agreement and in the Listing Statement to be prepared and filed in respect of the Transaction.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Listing Statement to be prepared in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a CSE listed company should be considered highly speculative.

The CSE has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Harry Barr, President & CEO

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This press release contains forward-looking information based on current expectations. Statements about the closing of the Transaction, expected terms of the Transaction, the number of securities of Next Gen that may be issued in connection with the Transaction, the ownership ratio of Next Gen post closing, the requirement to obtain shareholder approval and the parties’ ability to satisfy closing conditions and receive necessary approvals are all forward-looking information. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management’s reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that the Transaction will occur or that, if the Transaction does occur, it will be completed on the terms described above. The terms described above are not binding unless and until a Definitive Agreement is signed. Next Gen assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law.

Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this News Release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including various risk factors discussed in the Company’s disclosure documents which can be found under the Company’s profile on www.sedar.com.

This News Release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The CSE has neither reviewed nor approved the contents of this News Release

Next Gen Metals Inc.
+ 1 (604) 685.1870 or Toll Free: 1.800.667.1870
+ 1 (604) 685.8045
[email protected]
www.nextgenmetalsinc.com

Medical marijuana could be covered by insurance, experts say

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 5:38 PM on Monday, July 27th, 2015

New rules allowing the sale of cannabis oil smooth way for more controlled prescription of drug

  • Canadians who have been prescribed medical marijuana could one day see their insurance company footing the bill, experts predict, following the introduction of new Health Canada rules that allow for the sale of cannabis oils.

By Alexandra Posadzki, The Canadian Press Posted: Jul 27, 2015 10:30 AM ET Last Updated: Jul 27, 2015 2:21 PM ET

If marijuana had a DIN number, like other drugs, insurance companies might cover the costs.If marijuana had a DIN number, like other drugs, insurance companies might cover the costs. (Siavash Dezvareh/CBC)

Health Canada announced revamped medical marijuana regulations earlier this month after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that users of the drug should be permitted to consume it in other forms, such as oils and edibles, rather than having to smoke dried buds.

“You’re going to see insurance companies slowly start to creep into the sector,” says Khurram Malik, an analyst at Jacob Securities Inc., noting that the new regulations will allow medical marijuana producers to sell gel caps similar to those made from cod liver oil.

That will allow for more precise dosing, Malik says.

“When you’re trying to smoke a plant you have no idea how much you’re consuming, so that makes doctors a little nervous,” he said.

Legitimizing the drug

Experts say the changes are a major step towards legitimizing the drug in the eyes of doctors and insurers.

“When something doesn’t look different than other medicines, it becomes much easier for people to get comfortable with the idea that this is, in fact, a possible treatment option for patients,” says Bruce Linton, the chief executive of Smiths Falls, Ont.-based Tweed Marijuana Inc.

However, medical marijuana producers still have one major hurdle to overcome before insurers begin routinely funding the drug — cannabis currently doesn’t have a drug identification number, known as a DIN.

“If it was issued a DIN by Health Canada, it’s quite likely that the insurance companies would cover it,” says Wendy Hope, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association Inc.

“To obtain a DIN, the new form of medical marijuana would need to go through the full Health Canada approval process like any new drug.”

As it stands, most insurance companies don’t routinely cover medical marijuana. But some insurers, including Manulife, say they will consider making an exception if the employer has specifically requested it for one of its employees.

Up to the employer

“It’s up to the employer to ask if they want to have it covered,” says Hope.

Earlier this year, Sun Life agreed to pay for a University of Waterloo student’s medical marijuana prescription through his student health plan after the student union went to bat for him. Jonathan Zaid, 22, uses the drug to combat a syndrome called new daily persistent headache.

Some health insurance companies may pay for medical marijuana through a health spending account, says Hope. But, she adds, “my understanding is it doesn’t happen often.”

Malik says the primary reason why medical marijuana doesn’t have a DIN is a lack of rigorous, clinical research on its efficacy.

“The evidence is very circumstantial — not your typical 10-year, double-blind study that doctors and big pharmaceutical companies like to see,” Malik said.

He suspects that’s about to change.

Need for DIN numbers

“You’re going to see a lot of Canadian companies partnering up with universities overseas that are a little more progressive than the ones we have here, at least in this space, to drive this research forward and legitimize it in the eyes of doctors and get DIN numbers on these things,” Malik said.

Malik says there is a financial incentive for insurers to pay for medical marijuana, rather than shelling out for pricier chronic pain drugs such as opiates.

“From a dollars and cents standpoint, if marijuana is the same thing as a narcotic opiate, they would much rather cover marijuana because they’re in the business to make money,” Malik said.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/medical-marijuana-could-be-covered-by-insurance-experts-say-1.3168940

-by-insurance-experts-say-1.3168940

Medical marijuana includes cookies, brownies, oils and tea rules Supreme Court

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:33 AM on Thursday, June 11th, 2015

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that limiting medical consumption to dried marijuana infringes on liberty protections under the Charter of Rights.Cannabis-infused peanut butter cookies are displayed for sale at a Weeds Glass and Gifts medical marijuana dispensary in downtown Vancouver, B.C.

DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Cannabis-infused peanut butter cookies are displayed for sale at a Weeds Glass and Gifts medical marijuana dispensary in downtown Vancouver, B.C.

By: The Canadian Press, Published on Thu Jun 11 2015

OTTAWA—The Supreme Court of Canada says medical marijuana can include products other than dried pot, such as cannabis-infused cookies brownies, oils and tea.

The court has rejected an appeal by the federal government of a lower court ruling that medical marijuana users have a right to a range of products containing the drug.

In a 7-0 decision, the court ruled that limiting medical consumption to dried marijuana infringes on liberty protections under the Charter of Rights.

Current federal regulations stipulate that authorized users of physician-prescribed cannabis can only consume dried marijuana.

The case stems from the arrest in 2009 of Owen Smith, former head baker for the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada, who was charged after police found more than 200 pot cookies and cannabis-infused olive oil and grapeseed oil in his Victoria apartment.

Medical marijuana registry in Quebec called world’s 1st

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:50 AM on Tuesday, May 12th, 2015
The varying levels of THC in medical marijuana could help to shed light on how safe and effective the drug is for different clinical conditions.
The varying levels of THC in medical marijuana could help to shed light on how safe and effective the drug is for different clinical conditions. (Jeff Chiu/Associated Press)

Medical marijuana users in Quebec can now help shed light on the drug’s long-term safety and effectiveness through a new registry at McGill University in Montreal.

McGill said its medical marijuana registry, which launched on Monday, is the first research database of its kind in the world.

The registry meets a requirement of Quebec’s college of physicians, which considers cannabis an experimental therapy. Under provincial regulation, cannabis can only be prescribed as part of a formal study.

Health Canada estimates over 40,000 Canadians legally consume cannabis to relieve symptoms from diseases including multiple sclerosis, HIV, cancer or epilepsy.

While cannabis has been studied for years as a recreational substance, little is known about its medical use, said Dr. Mark Ware, director of clinical research at McGill’s pain management unit.

“I got frankly tired of giving talks and presentations about the potential medical use of cannabis and always having questions for which I did not have answers,” said Ware. “I hope this study is a step in the direction of trying to fill some of these huge knowledge gaps.”

The registry allows doctors and users of medical marijuana to look for any possible safety concerns.

It will also allow researchers to look for clues about what variations of medical marijuana might work best for which conditions.

Combining information on the patients and the drugs could not only identify potential safety considerations but also start to answer questions about the effectiveness of cannabis under certain clinical conditions, Ware added.

Despite expanding access to medical marijuana globally, the university calls the project a world first. Ware said to his knowledge no country or region has set up such a prospective, formally approved clinical project.

The researchers hope to engage doctors on the front lines to participate in the research — an approach that could be adapted to study the safety and effectiveness of other drugs over the long term.

The data collected will not have any identifiable patient information to protect patient privacy.

The registry will remain active for at least 10 years and involve thousands of patients. Ware hopes to share the data with other provinces and potentially other countries.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/medical-marijuana-registry-in-quebec-called-world-s-1st-1.3069316

Clinical trials high on list for medical marijuana community

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 2:42 PM on Tuesday, February 17th, 2015

The medical marijuana movement is asking the scientific community to make examining the therapeutic potential of cannabis in much more depth a priority, cannabis experts from North America and the UK declared on 14 February at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in California. But the drug’s controlled status is continuing to slow efforts to investigate the myriad compounds in the plant.

The panellists said the evidence is clear that cannabinoids can treat different types of pain effectively. In addition, they cited some evidence that cannabinoids help with neurological conditions like epilepsy. There is also very early clinical trial data suggesting that the molecule cannabidiol (CBD) has an antipsychotic effect and some evidence that it could help with anxiety disorders.

Although cannabis use is associated with things like short-term memory loss and learning problems, the experts presented data showing that once use is stopped those effects disappear within a few days. They also said there is no proof of any long-term neurocognitive effects of chronic marijuana use on the adult brain, although there is some cause for concern about heavy use by adolescents.

The question of whether the compounds have untoward effects remains unclear due to insufficient research. The field is stalled because large clinical trials require the deep pockets of the pharmaceutical sector, but a major barrier is the lack of intellectual property around some of these compounds. ‘They are old drugs, they are hard to lock in patents, and that makes it difficult for someone to invest significantly into these kinds of research studies that might not have the long-term payback,’ explained Mark Ware, who runs the pain research unit at McGill University, Canada.

However, possession of cannabis is still illegal in most US states making it a difficult drug to work with in the clinic. Igor Grant, a neuropsychiatrist who directs the cannabis research centre at the University of California, San Diego, US, has conducted seven clinical trials that involved smoked or inhaled cannabis and all required that he obtain regulatory approvals from three separate agencies before he could even acquire the cannabis for the studies.

Research marijuana for the US is grown by University of Mississippi under government licence. Once investigators clear all of the approvals, they can request the study drug from the NIH in the form of cigarettes containing different concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC – the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis.

Cannabis in Canada

Cannabis research is far easier to pursue in Canada where there is a regulated government programme. The country controls cannabis differently to other drugs, arguing that it fits neither under natural health product regulations that govern the use of herbal medicines, nor under the pharmaceutical drug regulations.

Some of the Canadian companies that grow cannabis under licence are now funding clinical trials to try and develop a drug, according to Ware. ‘The money is out there, but the trick is to get these kinds of pilot studies – proof-of-concept studies – done that encourage people to do larger-scale trials,’ he said.

The experts agreed that more information is needed about therapeutic use of cannabis. To help fill this gap, the provincial ethics committee in Quebec recently directed that all patients cleared to use cannabis for medical reasons must agree to be part on an ongoing study. Ware has been tapped to help set up a Quebec-wide registry that will allow these patients to be tracked anonymously for adverse events, as well as for things like pain, spasticity, appetite level and mood. The registry is expected to go live by the end of March.

In the US, there has been much media and public interest in a strain of medical marijuana first developed to treat a child suffering from repeated seizures, dubbed Charlotte’s Web, which is high in CBD but does not contain any psychoactive compounds. But Ware is troubled by the phenomenon of parents and patients seeking out CBD therapeutics. ‘We don’t know where the cannabidiol is coming from; there is a tremendous kind of mythology about the stuff coming from eastern Europe or China,’ he said. Hemp farmers in Canada are being approached to produce CBD and are charging huge amounts of money, he added.

The development of such medicinal products is complicated by the fact that cannabis contains over 100 different ingredients that may be bioactive. This flies in the face of the model followed by regulatory agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration that are set up to deal with single molecules rather than complex mixtures.

Source: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/02/clinical-trials-high-list-medical-marijuana-community

Legal Marijuana is Now the Fastest Growing Industry in America

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 1:16 PM on Tuesday, January 27th, 2015

Legal Marijuana is Now the Fastest Growing Industry in America

Indulging in the green is no longer just a cocktail conversation – it’s big business.

According to researchers from cannabis industry investment and research firm The ArcView Group, the legal marijuana market in the United States ballooned to $2.7 billion last year, growing 74 per cent from 2013 to become the fastest-growing industry in the nation.

That’s a lot of weed sales – and a major boost to the economy business leaders are all of a sudden taking very seriously.

Just ask former US Senator Mike Gravel.

What’s especially impressive is only four states have legalized adult cannabis use and sales, with another eight expected to jump on board by the end of next year.

If legalization is eventually enacted across all 50 states, the legal marijuana industry is projected to become larger than the organic food industry.

And while the U.S. is blazing the trail, we can probably expect a budding cannabis business to boost Canada’s GDP in the near future – Trudeau 2015, anyone? After all, everything that happens in the U.S. eventually becomes big North of the Border.

Who would have guessed that the most effective recovery from the next recession could be to smoke ourselves out?

Certainly not what we learned in economics class.

#NOTABLE

Want more updates on the most Notable things happening so you know before your colleagues do? Get our exclusive newsletter here and follow us on Twitter for all the latest.

Source: http://notable.ca/nationwide/yp-life/Legal-Marijuana-is-Now-the-Fastest-Growing-Industry-in-America/

Start your small cap medical marijuana research in the AGORACOM Small Cap 
Medical Marijuana Stocks Gateway: 
http://agoracom.com/portal/Small%20Cap%20Medical%20Marijuana%20Stocks

Montreal’s first medical marijuana clinic opens doors

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 3:17 PM on Tuesday, November 11th, 2014

Clinic serves as portal to legal access to medical cannabis

CBC News Posted: Nov 11, 2014 12:42 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 11, 2014 12:42 PM ET

Palliative care expert Dr. Michael Dworkind will serve as medical director of Santé Cannabis.Palliative care expert Dr. Michael Dworkind will serve as medical director of Santé Cannabis.

The first medical marijuana clinic in Quebec has opened its doors in Montreal.

The goal of Santé Cannabis is to evaluate patients for therapies using medical marijuana, said Adam Greenblatt, the clinics’s executive director.

“There’s about one million patients across Quebec who medicate with cannabis in some way or another,” Greenblatt told CBC’s Daybreak.

“But the large majority of them access their cannabis from illicit unregulated sources. So our goal really is to help facilitate access to legal sources of medical cannabis to eligible patients who meet certain qualifications.”

Santé CannabisSanté Cannabis is in Montreal’s Gay Village neighbourhood. (Kate McKenna/CBC)

The name, Santé Cannabis, is a play on the French term for the federal government department, Santé Canada, (Health Canada).

‘The purpose of our clinic is to serve as a portal to legal access to medical cannabis. We know that the demand is out there’– Adam Greenblatt, Santé Cannabis

Greenblatt has enlisted Dr. Michael Dworkind as the clinic’s medical director, while Dr. Marcia Gillman will serve his associate director.

Both are known for their work in palliative care at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital.

Greenblatt plans to have five doctors working in the clinic by February 2015.

Patients who come to the clinic are asked to have a referral from their family doctor or treating physician.

He said the clinic follows the guidelines set out by Quebec’s Collège des Médecins on the prescription of medical cannabis.

$250 annual fee

Greenblatt says Quebec’s medical insurance system will cover the cost of the consultation by one of the clinic’s doctors.

After that, patients will have to pay a $250 annual fee for the uninsured services of the clinic.

Those services include help choosing a licensed cannabis producer and an appropriate marijuana strain for treatment, and help navigating through the medical marijuana system.

Greenblatt says Santé Cannabis is a private business, but the main motivation is not profit.

“The purpose of our clinic is to serve as a portal to legal access to medical cannabis,” said Greenblatt. “We know that the demand is out there.”

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-s-first-medical-marijuana-clinic-opens-doors-1.2831175

Start your small cap medical marijuana research in the AGORACOM Small Cap 
Medical Marijuana Stocks Gateway: 
http://agoracom.com/portal/Small%20Cap%20Medical%20Marijuana%20Stocks

Sanjay Gupta Discusses Possibilities, Challenges of Medical Marijuana

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:47 AM on Thursday, October 9th, 2014
Dr. Sanjay Gupta at IOP

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent at CNN, spoke about the potential of medical marijuana during an Institute of Politics forum event on Wednesday evening. The conversation was moderated by Dr. Staci Gruber, an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

 

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta discussed the possibilities and challenges in expanding medical marijuana at the Institute of Politics on Wednesday.

The John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum event, moderated by Harvard Medical School associate professor Staci A. Gruber, comes just two days after the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital announced a “landmark new program” examining medical marijuana. The program will “explore the potential impact of medical marijuana on cognition, brain structure and function,” according to the announcement, and was funded by a $500,000 gift from best-selling crime writer Patricia Cornwell.

Gupta started off the conversation by discussing his “about-face,” referring to the well-known 2013 CNN column in which he apologized for misrepresenting marijuana to the American public.

“I realized that I had in my own way probably dismissed many patients as malingers who were just trying to get stoned,” Gupta said. “And there are a lot of those people. But there are also a lot of very, very legitimate patients as well for whom not only I realized that medical marijuana was working for them, it was working for them when nothing else had.”

He discussed how he afterwards looked at the evidence and found a “very distorted picture” of marijuana in the medical world, with a disproportionate number of studies “designed to find harm.” Gupta highlighted the stigma around supporting medical marijuana as a major challenge limiting scientific research on the topic.

Gruber then shared a clip from Gupta’s documentary “Weed,” highlighting the story of Charlotte Figi, a five-year-old suffering from severe epilepsy. Charlotte and her family had tried several toxic anti-epileptic drugs—but none of them worked, and Figi was still having around 300 seizures a week.

Medical marijuana was ultimately the solution to Figi’s condition, and, as Gupta emphasized, Figi’s story is “emblematic of [the story] of hundreds of families.”

Families like Figi’s, he pointed out, are “medical marijuana refugees”: they can now gain access to medical marijuana in Colorado but can lose their children and be put in prison for drug trafficking if they attempt to leave the state.

“I think it’s interesting to see how his viewpoint changed,” Zarin I. Rahman ’18 said. “Maybe we all need to be exposed to these families that he was, to maybe change our mind on this as well.”

Gupta repeated throughout the evening that the “policy has outpaced the science.” The states, he said, are moving forward without waiting for the science, and the issue is only compounded by the fact that the “policies and the laws we have in [the US] make it challenging for the science to get done.”

The important thing to do at this point in the legalization process, Gupta concluded, is to let marijuana, like any other medicine, “stand on its [own] merit scientifically.” When more scientific studies have been conducted, he said, when that “takes away some of the stigma surrounding this [issue], we can more easily get to the point where we can establish the thresholds” for marijuana use.

Source: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/10/9/sanjay-gupta-medical-marijuana/

Next Gen to Reschedule the Seattle GreenRush Financial Conference

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 7:09 PM on Friday, September 5th, 2014

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Sept. 5, 2014) – Next Gen Metals Inc. (“Next Gen”, the “Company”) (CSE:N)(PINKSHEETS:NXTTF)(FRANKFURT:M5BN) reports that due to numerous requests by both exhibitors and attendees to change the conference to a two day format, management has made a decision to postpone the Seattle GreenRush Financial Conference scheduled for September 23rd, 2014 to a later date. The company is actively seeking a suitable venue/date to accommodate these format changes. Management will issue a news release announcing all new developments for the conference at such time as they become available. In the event that the company is unable to secure a suitable venue and/or date this fall for Seattle, it will continue to focus on scheduling a full slate of conferences for the 2015 conference season including Seattle. The Company apologizes for any inconvenience this decision may have caused and asks that those who have been affected to please contact the Company at either 1-800-667-1870 or 604-685-1870.

Next Gen looks forward to expanding our presence; not only in North America, but also internationally as other countries continue to champion the legalization of Cannabis. Within North America, the company’s future conferences will be coordinated with those states that are in the process of Legislating the legalization of Cannabis.

About Next Gen

Next Gen is a diversified Canadian public company which focuses on investing in the Medical Marijuana, Industrial Hemp and Alternative Medicine sectors. Recent regulatory/legal changes in North America have provided an opportunity for the company to enter into this emerging multi‐billion dollar industry. Next Gen’s vision is to be the leading provider of venture capital, management expertise, education, brokerage and consultancy solutions and a facilitator for these explosive new industries.

Next Gen’s business model generates new industry business proposals and plans on a continuous basis. To that end, Management is currently developing two wholly owned subsidiaries, GreenRush Financial Conferences and GreenRush Analytical Laboratories. Management is negotiating with a number of companies who are interested in entering into contractual arrangements to co‐venture, co‐finance, and option‐joint venture on one or more of Next Gen’s large inventory of business opportunities and existing 100% owned companies and projects in these multi‐billion dollar industries.

For further information on the company, visit our website at www.NextGenMetalsInc.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Harry Barr, President & CEO

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words “anticipate”, “continue”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “project”, “should”, “believe” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including various risk factors discussed in the Company’s disclosure documents which can be found under the Company’s profile on www.sedar.com. This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The CSE has neither reviewed nor approved the contents of this news release.

Toll Free: 1.800. 667. 1870
Main: + 1 (604) 685. 1870
Fax: + 1 (604) 685. 8045
www.nextgenmetalsinc.com

Start your small cap medical marijuana research in the AGORACOM Small Cap 
Medical Marijuana Stocks Gateway: 
http://agoracom.com/portal/Small%20Cap%20Medical%20Marijuana%20Stocks

Smoking hot marijuana stocks could give investors a buzz

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:41 AM on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014
Dilys Chan, BNN.ca staff
10:53 AM, E.T. | August 30, 2014
Canadian, Energy & Resources

It’s an exciting time for medical pot in Canada. Two new licensed medical marijuana companies started trading on Monday: OrganiGram Holdings Inc. (OGI.V 2.27 0.02 0.89%) and Bedrocan Cannabis Corp. (BED.V 1.12 0.04 3.7%). They joined Tweed Marijuana Inc. (TWD.V 2.45 -0.02 -0.81%) on the TSX Venture Exchange, bringing the total number of publicly traded marijuana stocks in Canada to three. Both of the new stocks ended the week above their opening prices.

The trend in the commodities space will continue with a fourth company, Mettrum, to hold an IPO in September. According to Khurram Malik, a research analyst at Jacob Securities, the fledgling licensed marijuana industry is at very early stages of enormous growth.

“The [companies] on the Venture exchange with licenses – they’re going to go from $0 to $10 million in revenue pretty quickly in the next year. Tweed’s a perfect example. They’ll have 12 grow rooms up and running by the end of the year,” said Malik.

“The question over the next few months is how quickly suppliers can get their act together and start getting their supply in the market. It is a bit tricky to produce marijuana at a large scale.”

Producers who can ramp up capacity, production and revenue quickly enough can tap into a target market that could potentially generate $1.8 billion in annual revenue, he said to BNN.

The cannabis plant can be a legitimate treatment option for over 100 ailments, said Malik, with pain relief being a common use. With an estimated 500,000 medical pot users in Canada and only 13 suppliers licensed by Health Canada, there is significant demand for product.

“These are very profitable investments for investors to be getting exposure to,” he said.

Investors can compare two key metrics of companies as the industry matures, Malik said. The first is cost to grow product, measured in dollar per gram. The second is how effectively the company acquires customers, a metric that will become more important as producers seek to differentiate themselves from their competition.

Ultimately, Malik thinks marijuana will be legalized, though it’s unclear when that will happen. In the meantime, a regulatory challenge for producers is that they can’t market directly to the consumers or open storefronts. Potential customers need a medical document, similar to a prescription, which then allows them to choose a supplier. But, they have to research and find the supplier on their own. The industry depends on its consumers being self-educating.

Despite that inconvenience, Malik isn’t worried about demand being low for medical pot.

“Buying from the legitimate producers is cheaper, it’s a higher quality and it’s more convenient than going to your proverbial street corner and buying it black market at twice the price.”

Source: http://www.bnn.ca/News/2014/8/30/Smoking-hot-marijuana-stocks-could-give-investors-a-buzz.aspx

Start your small cap medical marijuana research in the AGORACOM Small Cap 
Medical Marijuana Stocks Gateway: 
http://agoracom.com/portal/Small%20Cap%20Medical%20Marijuana%20Stocks