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Bringing Cultivation Dreams to Life in a Cotati, California Grow

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[PRESS RELEASE] – COTATI, Calif., May 28, 2025 – When Mercy Wellness founder and CEO Brandon Levine set out to build a new Sonoma County cannabis facility in Cotati, Calif., a long-held dream of premium cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution under one roof fueled his plans. Levine knew it would take determination and the right partnerships to bring his dream to life.

Today, visitors to Mercy Wellness experience his dream as they enter the dispensary and view a cultivation room through picture windows as transparent as Levine’s business approach. His intention has never been to be the biggest but to offer exceptional cannabis to the 1,000-plus people who visit the business every day.

The 6,000-square-foot grow’s artisan indoor flower reflects the dedication and persistence of the Mercy team, from Levine and Director of Cultivation Ben Horner to every member of the tightly knit crew. But as the team will tell, the perfectly controlled growing environment and award-winning flower didn’t come easy—until they partnered with Priva to turn dreams into reality.

Priva SystemPhoto courtesy of Priva

Overcoming Control Challenges and Disappointment

In building the privately owned cannabis facility from scratch, Levine intended to outfit the grow with the very best equipment so ambitions for premium, high-end cannabis could be achieved. Many companies lobbied for positions, but not all promises rang true.

“I’ve had the opportunity partly to see new equipment and use it before anybody else. But along the way, we’ve also run into a lot of challenges,” Levine says, noting many systems left disappointment behind. Environmental software controls, primarily regarding humidity, became a significant issue. The system in place had its own nonintuitive controls. The team struggled with software management and the lack of integration, while plants struggled with uncontrolled growing environments. The problem took a toll on plants and the Mercy team.

“Before Priva was installed in the rooms, we had virtually no control over the environment, mainly our humidity,” Horner says. The crew tried everything to overcome the problems. Working extra-long hours only added strain to Horner and the team.

Then Horner talked with Levine about his experience with Priva at another grow. Levine immediately grasped the impact a mature, proven system that understands commercial horticulture could have in resolving their pain points. The rest is history, Horner says.

For Levine, Priva’s reputation and Horner’s relationship with the company were key in deciding what would work for Mercy. “Customer service is extremely important,” Levine says. “We weren’t getting that from some of the other companies. We’ve spent millions on equipment and then just been left high and dry. I knew we weren’t going to have that happen with Priva.”

Priva System OpenPhoto courtesy of Priva

Bringing Precision Integration to the Grow

With Priva on board, Horner and his team can focus on precision crop steering and control strategies to perfect cultivation techniques, manipulate plant growth before it happens, and drive the quality that their dream for Mercy Wellness demands.

“Crop steering for me is controlling the environment precisely throughout the grow,” Horner says. “Priva has given me the ability to control the room, so I can steer the plants in the directions I want through the whole environment. … It’s the entire environment together and controlling that precisely.”

Features like integrated fertigation immediately boost labor savings and crop consistency, while eliminating human error that can happen when mixing tanks by hand. Now Horner can mix tanks from home, trading worry and human error for precision with Priva controls.

“We also can trigger automations, trigger waterings, trigger things that we need at key times, when the humidity is going down, when the VPD might be too big,” Horner says. “Those are important for the overall control of the room and maintaining that precision control we want.”

While the partnership with Priva strengthened cultivation success, it also lowered Horner’s worry quotient. He can confidently control the environment with precision integration, trigger perfectly timed plant stresses, and maximize targets such as potency and yield.

In an industry where one simple mistake can cost $100,000, Levine recognizes that superior system controls are critical. “So it’s super important for us to make sure that the control systems operate at the level that we are also operating. It’s a recipe for success,” he says.

Priva System ClosedCourtesy of Priva

Building on the Power of Partner Support

Levine and Horner stress that functionality in software controls and other systems is only one consideration when looking for partners to help elevate plants and performance in their grow.

“It’s functionality and also partnership,” Horner says, noting the value of true partners who collaborate and come through with timely and transparent support when you need them, especially with highly customized systems, like Mercy’s, tailored to specific growing needs.

Through collaboration and transparency with partners, growing teams can understand problems and learn to prevent them from happening again. With some previous suppliers, Horner says, collaboration, transparency, and timeliness were lacking.

“But all the while, our plants are growing in the room, and plants in uncontrolled environments are not going to thrive,” he says, noting the burden he felt as the grower responsible for those plants. With Priva, that changed. He now has the support he needs when he needs it.

“Plants are living things, and they need attention 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Horner says. Things happen—and not only on weekdays during regular working hours.

“Knowing I can reach out to somebody in off hours and have them help me. That is the confidence I need to keep the plants happy, and that’s what most companies are missing in our industry now,” Horner says.

With Priva, he says, “Everybody working together makes it easy for me to solve problems.” Even when a problem can’t be solved immediately, Horner knows he can count on Priva support to be there for him until it is.

Priva FlowerCourtesy of Priva

Maximizing the Potential for Cultivation Excellence

Horner believes the precision control he has with Priva will continue to set Mercy Wellness apart from its competitors. As evidenced by awards accumulating in the facility, including coveted California State Fair Golden Bears, the team’s ability to focus more on plants and less on equipment is paying off.

“This is still a new grow, and there’s a lot of things I need to work through to maximize yield to its fullest potential. But before Priva was here, we were significantly down on our yield because the environment was bad,” Horner says.

For Levine, choosing Priva enabled the team to take all the tools they had and make everything work together. “Priva gives us full control of everything and full insight to what’s happening so that, if a piece of equipment goes out, that we’re able to address an HVAC need or some other lighting need that might happen that we never had the window to view into without having Priva.”

Now that Priva has put the growing environment under Horner’s control, maximizing excellence in yield, quality, and consistency is within reach. “The best part about Priva is that it makes my ability to control the environment a reality,” he says. “The sophistication of our equipment means sophisticated controls.”

Horner highlights another advantage by recalling many 15-hour days before the Priva installation: “Priva also lets me spend time with my family. That’s important. Now I’m able to have confidence that the machines will keep the environment steady for me, so I can stay home with my family on the weekends.”

As the Mercy Wellness Cotati team continues to dream bigger dreams, Priva is part of their plan to see those dreams come true. “As we grow our business, we’re excited to partner with an industry leader like Priva,” Horner says. “We look forward to growing together.”



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Fun Things To Do After Consuming Marijuana

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Sometimes you just want to cut loose and laugh – here  are some suggestion for when you consume

Let’s be real—being high can turn even the most mundane activity into a full-blown adventure. Whether you’re sparking up alone or vibing with your crew, there’s something magical (and hilarious) about the way weed makes everything 10x funnier. If you’re looking for ways to lean into the giggles and good vibes, here are some tried-and-true stoner fun things to do after consuming marijuana which will make you belly laugh.

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Watch Weirdly Specific YouTube Videos

You haven’t lived until you’ve watched a 20-minute deep dive on why Shrek is secretly a cinematic masterpiece—or a guy restoring rusty knives in silence. The weirder and more niche, the better. Bonus points if you’re watching with friends and everyone has different commentary.

Play “High Charades”

Take classic charades, but add the confusion of being high. Someone inevitably ends up acting out a pineapple or accidentally miming their entire life story. It’s chaotic. It’s absurd. It’s comedy gold.

Sometimes you just need to laugh and enjoy yourself. Here are some fun things Tod o after consuming marijuana.

Cook Something You Definitely Shouldn’t Be Cooking

Think: grilled cheese with Doritos, marshmallows, and hot sauce. The high kitchen is a lawless place, where flavor profiles are made up and regrets come later. Just remember to document your “creations”—because your sober self won’t believe it.

Go on a Deep Dive into Random Wikipedia Pages

Start with “platypus,” end up at “the history of vending machines in Japan.” Reading while high becomes a journey through the most bizarre corners of human knowledge. You’ll be smarter? Maybe. Entertained? Definitely.

Try to Beat a Kids’ Puzzle Game

Bust out Connect 4, Jenga, or even those weird logic puzzles meant for ages 6–10. You’ll either feel like a genius or realize you’ve been staring at a Rubik’s cube for 45 minutes. Either way, it’s hilarious.

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Narrate Life Like a Nature Documentary

Turn your living room into a National Geographic special. Watch your roommate forage in the kitchen like a wild animal. Add a British accent. “Here, we observe the rare species known as ‘Chad’ in his natural habitat… the snack cabinet.”

Listen to a Song That’s Just… Strange

Find the weirdest song you can—something with yodeling or heavy theremin use. Then sit back, close your eyes, and let the confusion wash over you. It’s like going on an intergalactic voyage in your brain.

Being high isn’t just about chilling—it’s about laughing so hard your abs hurt and making memories that are somehow both chaotic and wholesome. Just remember: stay safe, stay hydrated, and never underestimate the comedic power of a banana



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Oregon Cannabis Companies No Longer Need Labor Peace Agreements to Renew Licenses

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Fifty-seven percent of Oregon voters believe cannabis retailers and processors should have labor peace agreements as a prerequisite for state licensure, but that public position is now moot.

The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) announced May 29 that, effective immediately, it will no longer require cannabis companies to submit labor peace agreements to apply for or renew their licenses. The commission had adopted that requirement in December 2024, following the previous month’s passage of ballot Measure 119.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 filed the ballot measure, in part, “due to ambiguity in federal law” that, according to the international labor union, has led to cannabis workers being denied rights, resulting in “unsafe workplaces, wage theft and other abuses.”

“Something that’s rampant in the industry is toxic chemicals, unchecked safety concerns and lack of proper PPE,” Local 555 spokesperson Miles Eshaia told the Oregon News Service in the leadup to November’s election. “Employers often cut corners. They compromise both worker and consumer safety, and you can avoid all that with a collectively bargained agreement and a collectively bargained safety agreement.”

The OLCC’s U-turn on no longer upholding voter-approved Measure 119 comes after U.S. District Court of Oregon Judge Michael H. Simon ruled on May 20 that the ballot measure is preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and violates cannabis companies’ rights to freedom of speech.

“Given this ruling and in consultation with the Oregon Department of Justice, the OLCC will no longer require labor peace agreements as part of cannabis license applications and license renewals,” according to an OLCC news alert released on May 29.

Initially, it was unclear whether Oregon’s Justice Department would appeal Simon’s May 20 ruling.

Before getting overturned, Measure 119 had required cannabis business licensees or license applicants to “remain neutral” with respect to a bona fide labor organization’s representatives communicating with their employees, which Simon ruled was an abridgement of their First Amendment rights.

“Measure 119 is not limited to restricting only threatening, coercive, false, or misleading speech, but instead prohibits all speech by employers that is not ‘neutral’ toward unionization,” Simon wrote in his opinion and order. “Therefore, Measure 119 violates plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights to free speech.”

Cannabis retailer Ascend Dispensary and cannabis processor Bubble’s Hash, both licensed in Portland, Ore., filed the lawsuit in February, naming Gov. Tina Kotek, state Attorney General Dan Rayfield and a pair of OLCC officials as defendants.  

The defendants, in part, argued that the NLRA might not apply to state-sanctioned cannabis businesses, which operate in a federally illegal marketplace under the Controlled Substances Act. This presented a “threshold question” in the case that Simon answered.

“The NLRA does not limit its jurisdiction to ‘lawful commerce’ or ‘legal substance,’ as some other federal laws do,” the judge wrote. “The NLRB has issued advisory memoranda dating back to 2013, in which it has stated that the medical marijuana industry is within the NLRB’s jurisdiction if the business meets the NLRA’s jurisdictional monetary requirements.”

With states like California, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York already requiring certain cannabis businesses to enter into labor peace agreements for licensure, a common assumption is that cannabis workers don’t have the right to organize under the National Labor Relations Act and therefore need state statutes.

Jeff Toppel, a partner at Bianchi & Brandt, told Cannabis Business Times in December 2023 that that assumption doesn’t hold.

“The premise of [Oregon’s] statute, and I think a lot of the other statutes that seek to require labor peace agreements, is this false premise that [cannabis workers are] not given the full gamut of federal law, of federal protections, because they’re in cannabis,” Toppel said.

One example is when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in December 2022 that Curaleaf acted unlawfully when the multistate operator refused to come to the bargaining table and recognize that its dispensary workers in Chicago voted to join the UFCW.

Toppel, who has argued countless union cases before the NLRB, said that forcing labor peace agreements through state statutes often leads to employers shopping around to get the best deals, which doesn’t always benefit the employees.

Although cannabis companies are no longer required to strike labor peace agreements in Oregon, nothing is stopping the state’s dispensary workers from organizing on their own.

Simon’s ruling in Oregon, however, collides with a March 2025 decision in the U.S. District Court of Southern California, where Judge Todd W. Robinson dismissed a challenge to California law that requires cannabis business applicants or licensees with 10 or more employees to enter into labor peace agreements.

That lawsuit was filed in April 2024 by Ctrl Alt Destroy LLC, which, according to the California Department of Cannabis Control’s (DCC) licensing database, does business as Embr, a dispensary in La Mesa, San Diego County.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and DCC Director Nicole Elliott, as plaintiffs, argued that the court should not grant Ctrl Alt Destroy its requested relief because doing so would directly facilitate federally illegal conduct.

Robinson agreed, tossing Ctrl Alt Destroy’s challenge on the conclusion that the federal court could not lend its judicial power to a plaintiff “who seeks to invoke that power for the purpose of consummating a transaction in clear violation of [federal] law.”

In Oregon, a UFCW Local 555 spokesperson pointed out the conflicting federal rulings in a statement provided to KOIN 6 News.

“We now have conflicting federal rulings, with a judge in Oregon putting Measure 119 on hold while a California judge has upheld a similar law,” the spokesperson said. “One of these rulings is destined to be overturned on appeal. Our strong suspicion is that Judge Simon’s opinion, which flaunts Supreme Court precedent, will be the one reversed.”



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Colorado Psychedelics Program Primed for Launch

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Colorado’s medicinal psilocybin program is set to launch soon after officials said they have licensed and inspected a testing facility, which was the last type of business required to properly run the program, Marijuana Moment reports.

The Colorado Department of Revenue’s Natural Medicine Division (NMD) said in an email Tuesday that officials are “excited to announce that the first licensed testing facility is fully certified by the Department of Public Health and Environment” (CDPHE).

Colorado voters approved the legalization of psychedelic mushrooms in 2022. Under the proposal, people aged 21 or older can grow and share psychedelic mushrooms, and the state is establishing regulated “healing centers” where people will soon be able to make appointments to consume psilocybin in a controlled environment.

In addition to the testing license, regulators have also approved five separate healing center licenses, three cultivation licenses, and two manufacturing licenses. Dozens more licenses are still pending.

“Now that the Colorado Department of Revenue has licensed cultivators, manufacturers, healing centers, and testing facilities, CDPHE has certified a testing facility, and the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies has licensed facilitators, natural medicine can start to be transferred from a cultivator or manufacturer to a lab for testing, then eventually to a healing center where a facilitator can oversee administration.” — CDPHE statement, via Marijuana Moment

The Colorado psychedelics program follows in the footsteps of Oregon, where voters approved a medicinal psilocybin program in late 2020, and the program launched in early 2023.

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