Page 6 - Cannabis New Florida August 2018

Schyan Exploration Inc.

Medical Marijuana Office Enters into Letter Agreement

Receives Additional with Trulieve

$13.3 Million in Funding Schyan Exploration Inc. announces that it has entered into a non-binding letter
agreement with George Hackney, Inc. d.b.a. Trulieve whereby the Company and
Trulieve have agreed to merge their respective businesses resulting in a reverse
BY LOIS THOMSON takeover of the Company by Trulieve and change of business of the Company from a
mining issuer to a marijuana issuer. Concurrently with the closing on the Transaction
It has been two years since a bill passed that implemented a constitutional amend- the resulting issuer will apply to have its shares listed on the Canadian Securities
ment legalizing marijuana for medical purposes in Florida. But less than a month Exchange. Accordingly, the Transaction is subject to the approval of the CSE.
after the state's new fiscal budget went into effect, in which the Office of Medical Trulieve is a vertically integrated ‘seed-to-sale’ company and is the first and largest
Marijuana Use received slightly less than $1 million, the office requested additional fully licensed medical marijuana company in the state of Florida. Trulieve cultivates
funding. and produces all of its products in-house and distributes those products to Trulieve
Representatives from the office said they delayed in making the request for the branded stores throughout the state of Florida as well as directly to patients via home
extra funds because they were still gathering information to try to determine what delivery.
unforeseen costs might be incurred, and when. The state budget requires passage by As a vertically integrated company with a patient-first mantra, Trulieve has devel-
both chambers of the Legislature, but the joint legislative budget committee is able oped a suite of Trulieve branded products with over 80 SKUs including flower pods
to make changes to it if a request is made during the year. As a result, the committee for vaporizing, concentrates, topicals, capsules, tinctures, and vape cartridges.
approved $13.3 million in additional funding for the state office regulating medical Headquartered in Quincy, Florida, Trulieve is focused on being the brand leader for
marijuana. quality medical cannabis products and service in Florida and beyond. Trulieve
More than half of the supplemental funds are programmed for licensing four more employs over 800 people and is committed to providing patients a consistent and wel-
medical marijuana treatment centers, and reviewing the applications for those slots, coming retail experience across Trulieve branded stores.
which are anticipated to run into the hundreds. A portion of the money will also go Trulieve intends to continue to focus on penetrating the Florida market with plans
toward such actions as a universal tracking system for medical marijuana products, to open an additional 15 Trulieve branded stores by January 2019. In addition,
obtaining a vendor for patient identification card processing, and paying legal fees Trulieve is focused on leveraging its manufacturing and retail expertise to expand into
for lawsuits brought against the department. other states in the United States.
Additionally, the Department of Health, of which the Office of Medical Marijuana
Use is a part, recently granted a license to a Miami nursery, to settle ongoing litiga- For more information, visit www.trulieve.com.
tion; and also announced it was moving forward with awarding the additional licens-
es after the state patient registry exceeded 100,000 patients earlier this year.
Nevertheless, state lawmakers expressed their frustration as to why the request
was not made sooner, during the time when the budget was being put together. Rep.
Janet Cruz (D-Tampa) commented that most of the costs that were outlined in the
request had been known about, or at least anticipated, for a while. Likewise, com-
mittee chair Sen. Rob Bradley (R-Fleming Island) expressed his concerns with the
department's belated move to ask for an amendment to the budget, rather than
request the money outright during the planning process.
The office has blamed various issues for the lack of progress in implementing
cannabis for medical use, including the after effects from Hurricane Irma. In fact, the
slow pace of development was so frustrating that during the legislative session earlier
this year, lawmakers made the decision to hold back nearly $2 million in salaries and
benefits for department officials until rules were implemented.
But Bradley, for one, is willing to put matters behind, saying he just wants to get
this done.

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