Mainebiz

V O L . X X I I I N O. I V F E B R UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 7 14 I N S I D E T H E N OT E B O O K O n a dank Maine winter's afternoon, a guard escorts me into a nonde- script boxy building, then takes my driv- er's license for the duration of my stay. She ushers me to a dressing area, where I slide booties over my shoes, don a blue lab coat and follow her down a long cor- ridor to a warm room with bright grow lamps. Inside, Patricia Rosi, the petite CEO of Wellness Connection of Maine, smiles and looks almost lovingly across rows of lush, green cannabis mother plants that resemble a tropical forest. She takes me into an adjourning room, the nursery, where cuttings from the mother plants start new lives in blocks of rock wool. e rows of baby plants, with each plant individually labeled, bathe under warm growing lights for about three weeks. e company grows more than 40 diff erent strains. Rosi says Mainebiz was the fi rst press to get broad access to the WCM's cannabis growing and pro- cessing factory in fi ve years. See more in the Feb. 6 cover story, "Growing a 'cannabiz' in Maine." We walk across the hall to two adjourning rooms. We have to wear spe- cial glasses to protect our eyes from the harsh grow lights in both of them. Rosi describes the fi rst room as the kinder- garten, where the baby plants undergo a growth spurt under a yellowish metal- halide light for 18 hours a day. Next door, high-pressure sodium lights are on 12 hours a day and then off to mimic the autumn sunlight and prompt fl owering in eight weeks. Back across the hall a room holds horizontal rows of strings running fl oor to ceiling, fl owering plants clinging to them upside down for a week until the buds dry. I inhale deeply, but the air cir- culating in the room renders it scentless. ose buds will be stripped of debris, the clean buds bagged and the debris processed into edibles in a separate area. To get to the processing section, Rosi takes me back to the dressing area, where we take off the blue lab coats and booties and walk outside to the adjoining building. We put on white lab coats and booties. e aim, she says, is to prevent cross-contam- ination of the growing plants, which exude oils and other debris, with those that are clean for fi nal processing. Rosi's excitement grows as she takes me into a room fi lled with machines that process the excess fl ower parts into tinctures and other forms of edible mari- juana, so most of the plant can be used. In another room, she introduces me to Sonia Buckhoff , an employee of three years who is weighing buds for packaging. Rosi says that while many people think those who grow and sell marijuana are ston- ers who sit on the couch, it is an intri- cate business with lots of chemistry knowledge needed and with high costs — $50,000 a month on electricity alone. While the state monitors the fac- tory every year, Rosi says more clarity is needed on quality and safety require- ments for marijuana. Her company essentially self-polices its safety and cleanliness conditions. It is setting up its own research and quality lab and has hired Dan Niesen, a PhD, to run it. In his LinkedIn profi le, Niesen notes he's "quality control, quality assurance man- ager at Wellness Connection of Maine, ' e way Medical Cannabis should be.'" e stringent regulations and safety standards for drugs that go through U.S. Food and Drug Administration testing don't exist yet for marijuana. Niesen says outside labs can't test the product, partly because it's still illegal on a federal level. As the tour concludes, we head to the security station to retrieve my driver's license and take off our white lab coats. Near the exit, security work- ers watch a series of monitors showing all parts of the factory and each of the company's four Maine dispensaries. I take a last look at the lush greens on the screen, sigh, and head out into the New England winter. A re breaches the new normal for small business? According to a National Cyber Security Alliance study, 71% of cyber attacks target small businesses. Of those that experience a data breach, 60% will close within six months. Among the myriad costs tied to a data breach, reputation damage may be most insidious, lasting long after remediation and deterring customers from working with you. The right public relations partnership can help repair and mitigate damage. A proactive Call (207) 619-7350 today. Learn how a proactive public relations strategy can help sustain your business's vitality. Less than half of businesses survive a data breach. communications disicpline will foster goodwill among clients long before an incident, and timely and appropriate public communications can mean the difference between successful recovery and a closed sign. As a former bank security officer, Broadreach president and founder, Linda Varrell, has over 20 years of crisis communications expertise. She understands the ins and outs of corporate security. Call Broadreach to learn how a consistent and proactive public relations campaign can keep your business viable in the face of a crisis. This farm encourages weed growth Lori Valigra, senior writer / content specialist, can be reached at lvaligra @ mainebiz.biz and @LValigra P H O T O / T I M G R E E N W A Y cate business with lots of chemistry knowledge M a r ij uana a t W e ll nes s C o n n e c t i on o f M a ine

• Cover