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VI UPDATE U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS Q&A Info Session September 18, 2025 Office of Cannabis Regulation (OCR) September 18, 2025 · 1.1 hours · gov Source recording https://youtu.be/U27K5Svuym8 Status This is NOT the official transcript. 3 V.I.C. § 884 requires the agency itself to make a verbatim record of its proceedings and reduce it to a transcript within sixty days. This is a working transcript produced by machine from a recording of the proceeding, offered as a finding aid. Transcribed by VI Update, using OpenAI Whisper large-v3-turbo, run locally. Not reviewed by a person. Reliability Automatic transcription, UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording before relying on it. Speech recognition splits spoken digits and wraps figures mid-number, so a dollar amount, a vote count or a bill number can be wrong in a way that reads as correct. Speakers are not identified: automatic speaker labelling was measured unusable and removed. 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A verbatim transcript is mechanical rather than authored, so there is likely nothing in it to own; to the extent any copyright is nonetheless found to subsist, it is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Please copy it, quote it, index it, train on it, republish it, mirror it, sell it. Redistribution is the point: a public record with one copy is one fire from gone. No permission is needed, and none is ours to grant or withhold. So, first things first, a little housekeeping. I'm here today because I was really hoping to make it. For those of you who are not in the Virgin Islands at the moment, we're having quite a day here in the territory. St. Croix is flooded. St. Thomas is also underwater. St. Thomas also had island-wide power outage until just recently, so luckily it came back in time for us to have power and internet. I say that to say keep your fingers crossed that we have power and internet for the duration of this call, and if we don't, I apologize, although it's totally beyond my control. 0:00:00 So, and also government offices are closed today because of the weather, schools are closed. I mean, it's been quite a day here in the territory. So those of you who are here know it's a little crazy. um so i had intended um to have a guest appearance today to give you guys some information on dlca's policies on what kind of licensing and and how you go about that licensing process as i mentioned this morning um all government offices were closed due to the weather and the power issues and so as far as i know right now we will not be joined by our dlca guest um maybe they might join a little later i'm not sure and if they do we can just interrupt and and uh get some information from them i apologize this is just out of everybody's control so um i will just kick it off um i i recognize a lot of names on here and i see some new names so that's very exciting for us so for the folks who are new and have not been to one of these sessions before this is really your show um i will sit here and from now till three o'clock as long as power and internet stay on and answer whatever questions you have it is intended to be and i this is the last opportunity uh before the dispensary application deadline which is september 30th which is two weeks away um so this is the last opportunity to have these kinds of 0:00:58 this this kind of forum and these kinds of questions um it's not relegated to only dispensary application questions if you have other questions i'm happy to try to answer most of the time i have some kind of answer um but i know there are some of you we do have some dispensary applications in um and i i know that there are some of you here who may not be interested in a dispensary license, but maybe a different type of license, you are welcome to ask those questions as well. I 0:02:59 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 1 of 9 Office of Cannabis Regulation (OCR) · Q&A Info Session September 18, 2025 will reiterate, please, if you can, do not wait until September 30th to submit all parts of your application. And I say that only because today is a perfect example. um if something crazy were to happen uh and you can't get your submission your application submitted I would hate for you to miss it just because you waited until the last minute and I know this now because when we did the cultivation applications there were a lot of folks who waited until the absolutely last minute uh before the cashiers closed and they were stressing me out And I don't want you guys to shut this out and worry about getting it in on time. So the best you can do if you give yourself at least a day or two buffer, I think that would be helpful just in case something crazy happens again. 0:03:49 So to just go through it real quickly, for those of you who may not have been with us during the cultivation application process, on our website, ocr.bi.gov, there is up in the top of the website page, there is a drop down menu that says forms. You go to that page. You have to sign in. You have to create a username and password to sign in to access those applications. If you're wondering why we have that, it's so that if there are issues, there are technical difficulties with your application, we can troubleshoot and we can find your application that you started and maybe your computer died or how it went out or something happened in the middle of your application. We are able to troubleshoot it because we have that in. So that's why you have to do the username and password. It's not because we're trying to get more information out of you. We're trying to help you in case there are issues. 0:04:34 There is a link for cannabis dispensary license application part one and part two. You have to fill out both parts, please. You do have to check the boxes. You fill in the information in all of the boxes with a red asterisk. That's required information. At the end of both part one and part two, there is a box where you can upload as many PDF documents as you like. It would be best if they were PDF documents. I think we've had some trouble being able to open Word documents or Google documents. 0:05:37 So, if you can PDF your documents, you are welcome to put in as many or as few PDF documents as you find the need to support your application. Then, another question that I often get at the end where it asks for signature, you type your name, it counts as an electronic signature. You can, if you really want to, print it out and upload it as a PDF with handwritten signatures, but the typewritten names are acceptable as electronic signatures, and there is an attestation, I think, to that regard. Part one is all of your identifying information for owners. If you have, for some reason, more than what is there, you can submit it. upload a document with the additional names. Please make sure when you upload documents, if you are uploading documents, that you clearly identify what that document is and make sure that you have your information on those documents as well, like, you know, I guess, Moorhead dispensary application or something like that, so that we just in case it gets confused that we know who it belongs to and what it is for uh part two is the section it they uh part one is all the identifying information for the individuals and owners and financial interest holders part two is the section where you include all of your business plans security plans staffing plans all of those fun things um it follows exactly the outline that is found in rules and regulations i believe the cannabis dispensary starts on page 93 um of the rules and regulations so you can follow the the rules and regulations have in them a little more detail as 0:06:16 to what it should be included in each of those sections what should be included in a business plan what should be included in your security plan uh it also tells you the maximum number of points for each of those sections as you remember that it is a merit-based evaluation and maximum total points is a thousand and I am missing the chat messages let's see sorry what's happening here yes I see Lynn Marie has joined us thank you so she's answering some of those questions in the chat but yes i'll say it again here for everybody if you didn't see the chat part one you have to fill out part one first or i'm asking you to fill out part one first because once you fill out part one it generates an automatic um random number the application number that you then use at the very first thing on part two it asks you for that application number just so that we can connect the two pieces and make sure that we have the right piece with the right people. So that was a good question. Thank you, Mr. Klinger. I think that's it. Part two is the same thing. Fill in the boxes. You can fill in the boxes online and you can also upload additional supporting documents if you'd like to um and i think that's it again oh the deadline the deadline is september 30th that's two weeks from tomorrow right no yes no it's not calendar it's september 30th the deadline is september 30th uh the cashier the payments of the application fees um please remember it says it all over the application it says it all over everywhere but i still get questions about it the application fee is required in order for 0:08:17 your application to be considered complete which means the three things that we need to have in order for your application to be considered complete are part of completed part one a completed part two and your application fee the application fee for dispensary applications is a non-refundable ten thousand dollars you can pay it in the dlca offices in st thomas or st croix in st croix they're located at golden rock shopping center in the corner close to where Domino's is. I think most of you probably know where that is. In St. Thomas, DLCA offices are located in sub-ace in the yellow 0:10:25 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 2 of 9 Office of Cannabis Regulation (OCR) · Q&A Info Session September 18, 2025 three-story government building on the second floor of that building in the DLCA offices. This is important. Cashier hours of operation for all government offices, I believe, but for DLCA cashier office hours are 8 30 a.m to 3 p.m. So on the 30th please don't show up at 3 30 trying to pay your application fee because the cashier is closed by then so you can pay and you don't have to do them all at the same time on the same day if you'd like to fill out part one and then fill out part two tomorrow and then pay your fee the next day I mean you can it doesn't all have to be at the same time if you think that there's something going on if you've got technical difficulties or computer difficulties and you can't get the application submitted online, you can pay the fee. We'll take note of your name. It's either Lynn Marie in St. Croix or myself in St. Thomas. We'll take note. I promise you we will allocate it to the correct application once you get your application submitted. I mean, we're sitting here with all kinds of technical difficulties today, so I know that that happens. But please, if you don't pay the application fee by the deadline. I am trying to be a stickler about that only because there are a lot of other people who are going to make it, and if I make exceptions for everybody, then what's the point of having rules and deadlines? Is there any chance that the deadline will be extended um i don't think so i don't um i don't see why i would extend it um you know i suppose if for some reason we don't get enough applications or i don't know what would happen but you know it's possible i suppose that we could reopen applications but i don't i don't think at this time that we'll be extending this deadline? Unless you give me a really good reason, I don't think so. We're close. Hopefully you guys have been working on it. I've been telling you guys all summer this was happening, this was coming up, so hopefully you guys are in a position to be able to meet the deadline. If there's some really crazy extenuating circumstance i guess you can send us an email you can give me a call or send no don't give me a call send me an email um but i can't i can't promise that we'll be extending that deadline um and limary says applicants are also encouraged to upload pictures of ids for all individuals listed in the application that's a good point um it just saves us time we'll just have to call you and ask you for it um so if you could upload pictures uh upload files of your photo ids uh that would be helpful um remembering please do remember 0:12:25 that um anybody that you list on that part one as an owner or financial interest holder we do verify and do security background checks and we verify that information. So that is what the IDs are for so that we can conduct those security checks as required by the law. So now I think I've given you a decent overview if there are any questions that anybody else would like to ask. um i'm i'm here anybody old enough to know when i say bueller hi mrs moorhead this is justin moriconi calling in how are you good how are you doing well doing well not really a question i actually i was i got some interference on my side and i didn't hear everything you had to say with regards to the identifications was that just for usbi residents identifications or all identifications for all persons on the application so and any okay sorry you have time so i'll take i'll take more questions but let me just start with the first one first part one anybody that you identify in part one as an owner or financial interest holder it would be helpful if you would also attach a copy of their photo ids whether they are usvi residents or not all all owners and all financial interest holders there is some background information verification required if you recall in the legislation and it's outlined some more in the rules and regs so that's that's all we're asking for any of those 0:14:20 people that you identify in that in that part one section as an owner or financial interest holder excellent thank you very much that clears up the question completely i just also in the cultivation application i had submitted as well i don't believe we included everybody's id we included usbi ids but we haven't received any questions about additional ids do we expect them to come yes the questions are coming um we've been we um ocr i i somebody somebody else said it i didn't say it and so i'm just i'm just adopting what they said we've been drinking out of a fire hose uh for the last couple months and so um yes it is coming and we've been going through those i thought they had reached out to you so i'll double check but But yeah, we'll get to you shortly. 0:16:18 Thank you, Ms. Morehead. You're welcome. Anita, when can we expect to hear the final decisions on the cultivation licenses? I was hoping that we would have been able to notify folks by now, but like I said, things, the best laid plans. So I am aiming right now for everybody to have heard from us and be notified by October 15th. 0:17:08 I think initially we hadn't until September 30th, but I think I just need a couple extra weeks and hopefully we can we can get that cleared up. So I'm shooting for I'm shooting for October 15th. Jennifer, is it within the regulations for an individual to have ownership in more than one dispensary on one island? is an interesting question and i've i've had a variation of this question a couple times um and i i do think so owners and financial interest holders i think that um the financial interest holder in particular will have to go to the board is well it's on the agenda for the board to make a decision on i don't think that it is specified but we have said all along that um we do not want one owner to have multiple of the same license type certainly in the same place uh and that i think is really because um you know it's a very small market and dispensary and cultivation licenses are capped by law and I think it would be very unfair to allow one 0:17:58 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 3 of 9 Office of Cannabis Regulation (OCR) · Q&A Info Session September 18, 2025 individual or one entity to have a monopoly on a very very small number of licenses. So you can have different license types so vertical if you if you're thinking about being vertical and you want to have a cultivation and a manufacturing and a dispensary you can do that but having multiple of the same license type I don't think is going to be allowed. And I see Mr. Klinger, I see what you guys are saying, that you would rather know whether or not you have a cultivation license before you submit the dispensary application. Is there a date? Um, I suppose that's fair. Um, you know, except not everybody is doing vertical integration but um let me let me think about that for a little bit let me see um it's a fair question um also is there a date associated for when all licenses for cultivation laboratory transportation dispensary would love to connect with the full value chain if awarded a license is there a date associated for when all licenses mr watkins can you i think there's something missing is there a date associated for which part what what are what are you asking if you you can unmute yourself and clarify oh i'm sorry what date when all licenses are awarded i mean we're staggering again we have a very very small staff um and it's a lot of work So we have to stagger the licenses. We started with cultivation because obviously we need cultivation to start first. So I don't know. I mean, I can't give you a date per se. I think that we, I think somebody else asked a question up here. Is there a date that first sales to the public would begin? I mean, I think, yeah, I think that, I don't, I don't know. 0:20:18 But I mean, I think if we get cultivation licensed in the next few weeks and, you know, depending on the status of the folks, whether they have facilities set up or, you know, they do have a timeframe for cultivation. once you're awarded your license there is a time frame for which cultivation has to begin so theoretically we're looking at two to four five months for there to be cultivated products and by then dispensary licenses should have been awarded um manufacturing licenses hopefully should be awarded uh so it's i conservatively i'm saying maybe march um i would think is possible it just really depends i think too on dispensaries um once the licenses are awarded i i you know i until the applications come in i don't even have a sense of do people have leased spaces do they have to go under construction do they have to do all of those other things you know i i think it's a little difficult to say right now um yeah i just wanted to chime in uh yeah i've worked in a couple of states uh when they are rolling out their programs and one of the things that kind of a cultivator issue that was run into is uh cultivation licenses were allowed to produce product before laboratories were able to test the product so unfortunately the product that was produced by some of the original cultivators kind of sat on the shelf for a little bit and then the value of that product was lost so from the cultivation side we you know just wondering if when we could you know be in contact with everyone throughout the full value chain to kind of start making plans and arrangements for initial sales to the public thank you so um good question and uh there's a couple things and it sort of ties into i see jody was asking about metric classes um there are a couple things that um are going to 0:22:55 happen in the next few months as well right um metric as you guys know uh has a contract with government to provide seed to sale inventory tracking and so all licensees are required to use metric to track their inventory and so metric is going to be doing training with licensees in each category as soon as they're awarded and so you will have the ability to do that the testing the lab testing oh please believe that i am working really hard to make sure that we have the ability to test product um i think that is if i'm being honest another reason why instead of september 30th we pushed out the awarding of licenses a little bit because remember in the i can't remember if it's in the legislation specifically or if it's in the rules and regulations that there is you you're given a time frame when you're awarded a cultivation license where you have to start growing um and i don't want your clock to start and for exactly what you're just saying mr watkins and then you grow it and then you're like now what you're just sort of stuck with all of this um plant that you can't do anything with so it is a little bit of a ballet that we're doing over here to make sure that everybody has what they need to be operational, fully operational. But yes, there will be multiple opportunities over the next six months. I mean, I had a meeting with them yesterday and we were looking at the calendar. Speaking of metric, I'm giving folks plenty of time and access to be 0:25:21 trained on metric so that you can move your inventory from licensee to licensee. Also, I put in the newsletter that went out yesterday for you guys. I think we're also planning, not i think we are also planning um for the first week of november uh public open free to whomever uh ocr hosted compliance summit where you hear not just from me but some other folks in the industry on how to make sure that you set your business up for success uh and to remain compliant and that is another opportunity and that will be in person where you can come and meet other folks I mean, there will be at that point folks who have applied for licenses, folks who have been awarded licenses, folks who are interested in getting licenses, perhaps folks who are interested in working in your businesses. that it's so that will be the first week of November I just have to confirm venues so that I can give you guys dates it will come out I think it's going to be very helpful to everybody and it's certainly intended to be that so I just don't have a concrete date for you today but I'm hoping to have that for you very very shortly and that is the first week of November all before Or anybody should be selling anything so that you have time and opportunity to purchase software or, you know, sort your business operations out a 0:27:18 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 4 of 9 Office of Cannabis Regulation (OCR) · Q&A Info Session September 18, 2025 little bit better and meet other people in the industry here. I hope all of that answers your question, Jodi. I hope. I know you're not a fan of metric, but here we are. awesome thank you um and then i guess another question i'm not sure if you're able to uh release or not is do you know how many uh total applications were in for cultivation licenses um yes we we announced that at our last board meeting in august i believe and i think there were a total of 26 cultivation applications across the territory thank you so much i i don't remember off the top of my head um the breakdown of how many and where uh forgive me for that and i'm not operating here on my normal computer so i'm i i don't have the breakdown but it is um it wasn't our last board meeting and i the next board meeting is october 8th um and so i probably will just refresh again and and we should be able to um I have an update for you. Olin Marie says, we had 13 micro cultivation permit applications and 13 commercial cannabis cultivation license applications. 0:29:03 I guess another question I had, maybe, and if I apologize, I was not able to make the uh the last board meeting um his uh some of the his uh i guess considerations been made for uh actually getting genetics onto the island for cultivation or seeds i know in in other states it's been a window in which you're able to import seeds or clones or tissue culture product for production um and i know that getting material onto the island is a little bit higher stringency than the contiguous united states so that was just another question i had as well thank you uh good question and um you know we ocr have not made any provisions for that um i do think um there's a little bit of a of a a grace period in the beginning where you're not going to be asked where you're receiving your sort of starter your starter genetics um uh that's the best answer i can give you i i yeah i know the farm bill says uh how most or many large companies are uh working through the uh the thca of the 2018 farm bills how a lot of tissue culture labs have been kind of sending a product and things like that i mean i'm i've been told that number one that there are 0:30:22 people that can get that product those those products tissue cultures and I I don't really ask specifically how uh but that's that's all I will say um I we have not made any provisions and we're not we're not uh we're not asking you either we're not requiring you to tell us in the beginning okay perfect thank you you're welcome um do dispensaries require for a bathroom to be located inside the store um ocr rules and regulations do not specify that you must have a bathroom inside the store um i assume you're gonna have employees and staff i mean if you want to make it a private bathroom just for staff i don't know i i this is why one of the things that i was hoping um why i invited dlc to come to this meeting today you will have to have a regular dlca business license i'm not sure what the requirements are regarded to bathrooms and having a retail business license, but certainly I think you can ask DLCA for the specifics for that. I don't know what the law is regarding restrooms. 0:32:24 um um nicholas i don't know um how will disposal of cannabis waste oil spoiled otherwise unusable product be regulated would there have to be companies licensed to deal with cannabis waste or will businesses be trusted to properly dispose of cannabis waste material um we are actually i'm i'm working on a disposal policy right now um i i mean for the most part we're going to trust that you guys are disposing of it appropriately there is of course depending on what kind of waste and at what point in the chain that we're talking about um there are certain ways that you have to do that uh also noting it in metric um but we're working on a policy right now um that is i think reasonable given the the resources that we have in the territory and expectations um it will probably be it will probably be mostly uh trust-based that you guys are disposing of it as you say that you are and appropriately um but that That will be put out in a policy and and certainly posted and published and given to all licensees and available for the public to know. 0:33:58 But that's a good question. Anybody else? No, trust-based that you're doing it the way that we're asking you to do it. Jody. I mean, that's why we have enforcement and compliance personnel, right? 0:35:24 I mean, and there will be rules for how you dispose of it. We will tell you how we are expecting you to dispose of it. I'm just saying that we're going to trust that you follow the rules and remain compliant. Thank you, Mr. Watkins, for the composting legislation in Nevada. We'll check it out. Thank you. Any other questions? 0:35:59 would we potentially be able to recycle waste products like plant fibers and spoiled product into mulch compost or biofuel um potentially yes i i i promise you that that the policy is being worked on and i hope to have that shortly there's a lot of things being worked on right now that i hope to have out for you guys in the coming weeks i just don't have it today um but but all of those things are being considered um as soon as we just we as soon as we we have um clearance our our disposal and destruction policy you know we also have to it's not just all ocr We have to also run it through other agencies that are responsible for territorial, natural resources and waste disposal, etc. 0:36:34 So that's part of the challenge and the time that it takes for us to get the policy together. Any other questions? Dennis, yes and yes. 0:37:42 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 5 of 9 Office of Cannabis Regulation (OCR) · Q&A Info Session September 18, 2025 has the ocr reached out to any of the already submitted applications for further information or clarification has the ocr initiated conducting any background checks yes and yes if we if you submitted an application and you haven't heard from us as yet um it just means that we haven't made it to your name on the list uh you will hear from us if you have not as yet but yes we have Must applicants apply for agent cards now or after approval from the OCR? I would wait to apply for agent cards until after you hear from us, after you get your license. It's not a super complicated or lengthy process, so I would wait if I were you. 0:38:56 I mean, I suppose you can do it now if you want to, but you don't have to. will there be a metric compliance officer in the vi i assume that's metric and compliance officer from metric or from the ocr jody um no there's not i to my knowledge metric is not going to have a dedicated person in the virgin islands um there is a support team and there's help desks and there are classes there are uh what do you call them sort of um self-paced um learning classes and they will also be doing virtual and i think they're planning to be here in the territory and do some in-person training as well Well, I mean, your metric questions, I think, stem from your concern about metric in general. Metric is not necessarily the easiest software to use. 0:39:49 I understand and I appreciate your concern about metric. And we have been sharing those concerns with metric, and we are trying to make every possible opportunity for there to be training so that folks are able to use metric the way that it is intended to be used. And then we will also have, we also have OCR staff who will be trained in metric to assist with compliance. um and mr clinger oh wait where did that question go yeah i'm sorry to be that guy no no no it's okay no i was started to read your question and then the chat moved on me so i couldn't finish reading this the sentence yes yeah the question was again i mean you know and again i've already made the point and so forgive me um but i'm just wondering if it might make sense to close the retail application process a week after the cultivation licenses have been awarded. 0:41:05 You know, not to extend it for some crazy length of time, but again, for our part, we probably wouldn't be moving forward. Yeah, if we weren't able to vertically integrate. And $100 is a lot of money, obviously. um yeah i let i i i it's a fair question um like i said and i am um i can't i can't make that call here today on this call um i also just for the sake of this discussion i also would like to remind you that even if you vertically integrate, you are still going to be required to, uh, do business with other cultivators. You cannot, you cannot be the sole supplier of your, of your dispensary, even if you have a cultivation license. Um, and, and I think that's for good reason. Um, I want to, Lynn Marie just said the same thing um but so so um you know i i just when you say that if you don't get the cultivation license and and that changes your decision whether or not to have a dispensary um it just makes my little heart clench a little bit i'm sorry obviously i rely and forgive me and i know you're gosh you guys are dealing with so much right now down there um but but you know kind of with respect to that of course if we're cultivating then we would be able to supply other people as well I mean it's you know it's it no no no for sure for sure right I just it's just not a situation where when I hear you say that if you don't get a cultivation license then you would reconsider putting in an application for dispensary you know, then I just don't, I mean, there's opportunity to do business with other folks besides just yourselves is all I'm saying. Like, you know, yes, we do allow vertical integration, 0:42:14 but we also are trying to share the wealth, so to speak, and make sure that everybody has the opportunity to participate in the industry and in the supply chain in a way that is beneficial to multiple people and not just one person or entity or group. So I do hear you. I understand. And I saw some thumbs up to your question. So you're certainly not the only person who has that question or is requesting that we consider that. And I'm not saying that I'm not going to consider it. I just can't tell you right now today on this call, yes or no. um so i will certainly take that up and and endeavor you know i was gonna say by tomorrow afternoon i'd try to have an answer and put it out in the newsletter and then i just remembered um what my calendar looks like tomorrow um so i i'm going to do my very best um i will do my very best to get an answer back to you guys as soon as as humanly possible. One way or the other. If you don't see anything come out from me, that means the September 30 deadline stands. Only if I'm changing it, I will send out another blast, right? I try also not to inundate you guys with emails from the OCR all the time. I'm sure everybody's email inbox is already full of all kinds of things um so if you don't see anything come out from ocr that means september 30th is the deadline if i do extend the deadline i will put it in the newsletter as soon as humanly possible thank you for that thanks for your consideration sure 0:44:22 are cultivators or any license awards able to sell their license if they decide not to build out their business plan i think there are a lot of people that think they can please clarify in available detail thank you um no you're not allowed to sell it just willy-nilly like you sell like I know, there's a lot of language in the, I think it's the rules and regulations and not necessarily the law, but it's certainly in the rules and regulations about transfer of ownership or selling of licenses. You would have to notify the OCR first. And there is a similar approval process for whomever you're selling the business or 0:46:13 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 6 of 9 Office of Cannabis Regulation (OCR) · Q&A Info Session September 18, 2025 the license to or transferring ownership to you cannot just sell it to whomever whenever however you want um so hope that clears it up um and i and you know i that is one of the things it anyway it's it's it's written out in the rules how to transfer ownership or sell ownership or sell, you know, if there's an owner or financial interest holder or somebody who becomes ill or wants to sell their portion or is deceased, you know, any of those kinds of changes in ownership, it just requires you to be in communication with the office. And we do the paperwork from there. Please hold one... Oh, sorry. Sorry. I had an emergency text. What is this one? If an applicant demonstrated proof of funds such as bank statements for the cultivation license application, can they use the same proof of funds for the dispensary license application? um i mean theoretically i suppose so um i mean i guess it would depend on what kind of financial assets that you are saying that you have and you're showing proof of funds uh as long as it's enough to support the business plans that you have submitted um i don't see why not if it's the same people and the same source of funds again i think people have asked before how much are we looking for it just as long as as long as it can support the proposed plan that you that you have submitted um it's gotta it's got to add up a little bit again it's this is a committee uh merit-based you know if you submit a plan that looks like a seven hundred thousand dollar dispensary and you show us proof of funds of $50,000, that doesn't really add up. And I know that sounds crazy, but I've seen some crazy things. I hope that helps, Dennis. And I'm calling you Dennis and not by your last name because I don't want to butcher your last name. So please accept my apologies. 0:48:32 Any other questions? Um, well, guys, I don't know if anybody else has any questions. We made it almost a whole hour. I will hang out here for a little bit just in case anybody thinks of a question, has any questions. I see some people on here who have emailed the office. You can always email the office. I think Lynn Marie put the email address in the chat. 0:50:09 email is better than calling I am the only person answering the phone in St. Thomas and Lynn Marie is the only person answering the phone in St. Croix so if you call and we're in a meeting sometimes you get frustrated because we can't always answer the phone every day all day so please send us an email we try our best to respond as quickly as possible is there a limit on how long after licensure a company has to begin operating for both cultivators and dispensaries in the rules and regulations the only one that has a limit on on how soon to begin operating is cultivation I don't believe that we have that same requirement for dispensaries I think somebody else asked earlier too if we're doing inspections before giving you the full license and we are doing inspections we are doing site inspections we are walking through remember that for dispensaries in particular there is an additional balance of fifteen thousand dollars once you are awarded a license and that is essentially a certificate to operate you will not be allowed to open doors until everybody and that includes dlca and whoever else as part of the dlca business licensing process um have all signed off that you are able to operate um the cultivation there is a time frame in the rules and regulations where cultivation is supposed to start within a particular time frame unless there is some i can't remember what it's called in the rules and regs there's a particular phrase that they use but in good 0:51:01 faith you have to begin cultivation and i mean these are cultivation in particular i think is because um you know we can't have you sit on a license and not do anything with it when we're literally calculating you as part of the supply chain um which goes into every other decision and every other uh licensing decision further down the chain so um yeah the cultivation the only one that i know for sure has a specific time frame um dispensaries i mean i don't i don't know i do think there is a a startup timetable that is required in one of the sections i i'm not sure if it's in the business plan or operations plan there there is something that's supposed to speak to your startup timetable in your application um and um so you know certainly that would be a factor um and remembering if if we get more applications than we get then we have licenses available to issue um i would imagine that that is um a factor in the evaluation of those applications. If somebody submits a dispensary application and says that their startup timetable is one year versus somebody who says that theirs is six months and we only have X number of licenses to give, I would imagine that the shorter time startup timetable would weigh heavier than the longer one i mean that makes sense to me um if we're trying to get doors open and sales started so i think that answers your question dennis um there is not it's it's there's not a timetable or retail in the rules and regs it's 0:52:47 just for cultivation um manufacturing applications i was hoping to have out today or tomorrow uh wafa had other plans for me today um i'm trying my best um if i get that out I should get that out shortly. So maybe I have to backtrack what I said earlier. So if you see a newsletter coming from OCR, it's not just about an extended deadline. I'll let you guys know when the manufacturing applications are available. They'll be online anyway. I do know that there are some folks who tend to check the website regularly. It will be there and I will send out notification when that has that has been added to the website it is hard for us to consider things like disposal to include in our application process if it isn't clear does that mean we won't have points taken if it's not clearly set I think that you should probably have something in your application that speaks to your disposal plan anyway, whether it clearly can't be specific to the rules, the rules or OCR 0:54:54 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 7 of 9 Office of Cannabis Regulation (OCR) · Q&A Info Session September 18, 2025 policy since OCR has not published that policy as yet, but I think you can make some sort of generic plan available in your applications in the meantime. Good afternoon. When might the November compliance dates and locations be announced? Yeah, I am hoping maybe tomorrow we can confirm venues and dates. And I don't, there are not a lot of spaces that we can use and, you know, government budgets are government budgets. So I'm just trying to confirm dates. I can tell you for sure they will be in person, and there will be one on St. Thomas and one on St. Croix, and they will be back-to-back, and it is going to be the week of November 3rd. um nope I think November 3rd is a Monday November 3rd it's the week of November 3rd the very first full week of November um I just don't know which days uh as yet but I am hoping to have that confirmed soon I guess that's going in the newsletter update that's coming out sometime next week I have a lot of things to update you guys on then thanks William it ain't easy that's true it's fun maybe but it's not easy Any other questions from anybody? 0:56:44 Inevitably, this is what happens. Those of you who've been on these sessions with me before, we get to the end here. Nobody has any questions, and I cut the call off. And I guarantee in about 45 minutes, somebody's going to join the Zoom and be looking for us, and we'll be gone. So I hate to jump early. But. Any other questions? My usual folks. Did Mr. Klinger hang up? Nope. Mr. Klinger, Jody, Mr. Hank, Dennis. Any more questions? i see mr thomas on here you usually have questions too i'm happy to no ma'am i'm good thank you for your help we won't beat you up anymore no no it's fine i don't mind i just i just want you guys i know that you guys usually have lots of questions um dr reams um always has good questions um i'm happy to try no really it's greatly appreciated honestly we know you're up against a lot here. Thank you very much. No problem. So, again, any updates with banking? Yeah, I think there's some really good news coming there. I don't have it today, but yes. 0:58:36 Um, and I promise you as soon as I can say something, uh, for sure, I, you will be the first to hear it. Cause I, that's been, um, an albatross for, for quite some time. That's been a big, a big challenge, but, um, yeah, I think, I think there's some good news coming, um, on banking very shortly. In fact, before I started this call, I got a good email. So we are moving in a very good direction there. Any updates on sacramental licenses? Oh, yes. I have two pending sacramental organization cards uh so so not cards uh two pending sacramental organization uh applications and honestly i i apologize this is on me um it's just been incredibly incredibly busy um and i am trying to get back to those as well um um how many medical cards are there now i will have an update on october 8th at the next board meeting i believe it is 40 something um i think something somewhere around there um you know what we've kind of stalled a little bit we were seeing lots of applications and now not so much i'm not sure why other than maybe because it's taking so long for dispensaries in people's minds um but we'll see I think it's about 40 something um I'll have that specific number in the breakdown 1:00:21 and the next cab meeting which I know you almost always attend uh Harut that's to you um any other let me just quickly see okay um I don't have anything else did I miss anything regarding the application other than um the deadline is now an iffy September 30th um but please oh and just please please please please, please remember the hours for the cashier, 8.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday when government offices are open, unlike today. And please make sure that your payment is in before the deadline. You can submit the online applications up until midnight on the day of, but if the payment's not in, your application will not be considered complete. 1:02:16 We had some folks that were not very happy with me for the cultivation applications. It's not the electronic submission of the form, it's the payment that is like the final step for you, so hopefully that makes sense. No, there's no payment online. There's still no payment online. You have to pay in the office. If you would like to pay with a credit card, there is a credit card authorization form on our website that you can download and email to us. If you would like to pay with a credit card, you can pay with a credit card in the office as well. 1:03:29 if you can't make it into the office for some reason or you can mail a check you know old fashion way um that's how my dad does his business and some people still do you can mail the check in if you're in the territory it usually doesn't take more than a few days maybe so if you put it in the mail tomorrow um you should be able to it should it should get to the office either way if it doesn't get to the office if the the if your letter if your mail your envelope is date stamped before September 30th or by September 30th, I'll honor the payment. Any other questions? Um, all right, guys, I don't have anything else. I don't see any more questions. Um, yes. Lynn Marie says, in case you didn't see the chat, if for some reason you're having difficulty with your application online, with the forms online, please email us. Please email us before September. I'll just keep saying September 30th in case we don't change it, right? Please email us before. We can try to help you before. But, you know, it's possible that we can troubleshoot, that you don't have to start completely over. I do think there's a save 1:04:17 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 8 of 9 Office of Cannabis Regulation (OCR) · Q&A Info Session September 18, 2025 button. You can start the application, save it, and come back and finish it later. Either way, um the the more you do it in advance the better it is because i cannot guarantee that we're going to be available all day september 30th or the day of the deadline to assist if it's not working so please please please try to do it um a little bit ahead of time so that we have some time and space to help you if you need it uh anything else bueller i feel a little bit like charlie Brown teacher. All right. I am going to call it. You know that I will put the link. I will add this call to our YouTube channel and put it in the newsletters going forward so that you have access. We do have a YouTube channel. All the previous info sessions are on the YouTube channel as well. If you want to go back and listen to see if there are any other questions that you think There might have been asked already, or just send us an email info.ocr at ocr.bi.gov. 1:06:05 All righty. Thank you guys for joining us on this very gray, wet day. WAPA did us a favor. We made it through the whole thing. And as soon as I say that, I'm sure WAPA is going to go out in a second. So have a good day. Stay dry. Be safe on the roads. I saw crazy car accidents this morning for no good reason. So just be safe, everybody. Thank you. 1:07:16 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 9 of 9