Edible cannabis company CannaCraft has converted a portion of their manufacturing space and production capacity to formulate and package hand sanitizer.
Cannabis dispensaries have been super busy as sales skyrocketed ahead of lengthy lockdowns. With anxiety levels rising, many consumers turned to cannabis to ease their tensions and help make the time stuck inside go by a little easier. For some companies, they have taken extra steps in order to assist in the fight against the virus.
Canopy Growth/Hexo
BNN Bloomberg reported that Canopy Growth (NYSE: CGC) spokesperson Jordan Sinclair said that the company donated “thousands” of gloves, Tyvek suits, and masks sourced from two massive greenhouses in British Columbia that it shut down earlier this month. “We committed our personal protective equipment from our recently shuttered B.C. sites to the front-line medical staff at a local health unit in Victoria,” Sinclair said in an email to BNN Bloomberg. Hexo said it donated 150 N95 facemasks to paramedic services in the Outaouais region in Quebec to “help fill their critical need”, according to a company spokesperson.
CannaCraft
The edible cannabis company CannaCraft said it has converted a portion of their manufacturing space and production capacity to formulate and package individual bottles of hand sanitizer that will be donated to individuals and organizations throughout California.
The company trialed the program last week, creating hundreds of tubes that were distributed to employees and customers. After the successful test run and registering with the FDA, the company procured enough materials to make 40 gallons (or 5,000 1oz. tubes) of hand sanitizer. The hand sanitizer will be donated to non-profits, customers, employees, and essential businesses and will be distributed later this week by Kind House Distribution, the company’s wholly-owned distribution arm.
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“We are doing everything we can to protect our employees and our communities by adhering to guidelines and directives from officials and experts. At the same time, we are uniquely positioned to help in other ways because we have manufacturing equipment, scientific expertise, and a statewide distribution network built into our business,” said Jim Hourigan, CannaCraft CEO. “When we started hearing reports of a shortage in hand sanitizer, we knew that we could be of assistance without negatively impacting our employees or our operations.”
The hand sanitizer was formulated by CannaCraft’s head of R&D, Matthew Elmes, Ph.D., and is being packaged and distributed by a limited production team, due to the company’s decision to restrict facility access to essential production and distribution staff only. The teams have been split into smaller groups and are spread throughout CannaCraft’s 70,000 ft2 headquarters to reduce unnecessary interactions. Additionally, CannaCraft has implemented robust health and safety protocols throughout every step of the supply chain process.
Glass House
Glass House Group is donating 1,000 protective gowns to Cottage Hospital, a Santa Barbara hospital, so their healthcare workers can use the disposable protective equipment during the COVID-19 health crisis. The company is also working with its suppliers to find extra masks for frontline healthcare workers, donating 5% of their local product sales from its Santa Barbara dispensary to the food bank to help kids get free nutritious meals while schools are closed and offering all of their workers two weeks of paid leave.
Marrone Bio Innovations
Plant health company Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBII) announced that its Jet-Oxide® 15% post-harvest sanitizer and industrial disinfectant product is now allowed by the U.S. EPA for use against human coronaviruses to sanitize industrial food and agricultural hard surfaces. The allowed use was based on a study conducted by the EPA with Human Coronavirus Strain 229E (one of the viruses associated with human colds) on the effectiveness of spreading of diseases on hard surfaces.
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The study, conducted at a sanctioned EPA laboratory, met all requirements for 40CFR 160 – yielding a 99.99% reduction of Human Coronavirus Strain 229E. The study was conducted using a dosage of approximately 1300 ppm (0.130%) of the active ingredient with a contact time of 60 seconds at an ambient temperature of 22 degrees Celsius.
Crazy Calm
CBD coffee brand Crazy Calm said that for every online order from now until the end of March, all profits will be donated to Direct Relief. The company said it chose Direct Relief (DirectRelief.org) because it has a long-standing track record, have already helped tremendously and will continue to do so:
“In the U.S., Direct Relief is delivering protective masks – along with exam gloves and isolation gowns – to health care organizations in areas with confirmed COVID-19 cases.”
“In China, Direct Relief has delivered via FedEx more than 30,000 pounds of protective gear — nearly 800,000 N95 and surgical masks, more than 400,000 gloves, and numerous coveralls, face shields, and shoe covers — to frontline health workers.”
This article originally appeared on Green Market Report.
