Steve Jones

1 week ago | cannabiz.com.au | Steve Jones

Heyday Medical co-founder Dr Jim Connell has admitted its sale to Cannatrek will “raise eyebrows” in the industry but insisted its new parent company “is no longer what it was” and has taken steps to address its historical reputation. Speaking to Cannabiz after the all-scrip sale of Heyday’s product business to Cannatrek – the deal excludes its clinic operation – Connell acknowledged the two firms “might seem like odd bedfellows”.

1 week ago | cannabiz.com.au | Steve Jones

Voter dissatisfaction with the major political parties could open the door for the Legalise Cannabis party at the upcoming federal election, as senate hopeful Fiona Patten formally announced plans to prioritise a new inquiry into medicinal cannabis if she is elected. Patten said 10 years after legalisation “a full review of the entire medicinal cannabis ecosystem is needed”.

1 week ago | cannabiz.com.au | Steve Jones

Fresh efforts are underway to patch up fractured relationships in the hemp sector as it emerged one of the industry’s prominent leaders was threatened with legal action in the week he resigned as president of the Australian Hemp Council (AHC). Tim Schmidt stepped down abruptly at the end of March, two days after AHC chair Sherri Smith-Hoyer also quit following what she described in her resignation letter as “recent events” and behaviour “that I can no longer tolerate”.

1 week ago | cannabiz.com.au | Steve Jones

One of Australia’s leading cannabis prescribers, Dr Nic Giummarra, is stepping back from the industry amid rising frustration that patients have been educated to treat clinics and the medicine “like McDonalds”. He told Cannabiz some industry advocates are “wearing blinkers” and in a “bubble” where there is “nothing else besides cannabis”.

1 week ago | cannabiz.com.au | Steve Jones

Cannatrek has acquired Heyday Medical and handed senior roles in the business to its co-founders Phoebe Macleod and Dr Jim Connell. In a surprise announcement this morning, Cannatrek said it has purchased the “product business” having been “impressed by the growth of Heyday, particularly through their development of minor cannabinoids and balanced CBD products”.