ALTRIA SCOOPS UP CANNABIS TECH

Cannabis or tobacco?

Since 2019 when Marlboro parent company Altria invested $1.8B in Canadian cannabis player Cronos Group, the company appears to be “quietly trying to claim a long-term stake in the marijuana industry by patenting cannabis technology,” Chris Roberts reports for Forbes:

• “The Altria cannabis devices have temperature controls meant to allow consumers to vaporize THC or CBD.”
• While the company’s plans for cannabis remain unclear, a patent attorney describes its actions: “I don’t see anything here other than, here’s a big business, they made a big investment, and now they’re pursuing it as they would any other business…Once you drop $1.8 billion, you’d be silly not to protect your IP position as much as you can.”

A story in Cannabis Now says cannabis and tobacco are “inexorably intertwined.“