Last week, India Globalization, Inc. (ICG), a New York Stock Exchange-listed company in the materials sector (i.e. iron ore, steel, and electronic components), announced plans to build a cannabis growing facility in Washington State as part of its “vertical indoor farming” strategy. Talk about diversification! And with a worldwide cannabis market estimated at between $200-$400 billion, growth potential is huge.
The facility will be approximately 20,000 ft.² and house state-of-the-art software systems for security, plant tracking, lighting, enhanced climate control, and irrigation and fertilizer delivery, be pesticide free, and be ready for production within 3 months.
This isn’t ICG’s first facility. The company built a similar indoor growing facility in Rhode Island in which it has begun growing leafy green vegetables ahead of approvals needed for legal cannabis production. ICG intends to lease or sell the facilities to licensed cannabis growers.
ICG cites the growth in the medical marijuana industry is due to the use of cannabinoids extracted from cannabis such as cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotropic component of the drug, that is expected to help patients with seizures and other illnesses. Cannabidiol is currently in FDA trials.
A bill currently before Congress called the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States Act (CARERS) would give states the responsibility to set medical marijuana policy, does away with federal prosecution of marijuana growing in possession, reschedules marijuana, allows states to import CBD, provides veterans access, permits financial services and banking for marijuana dispensaries, and expands research.
References and related content:
