Portfolio includes Safety Strips, Inc.'s low-cost test strip that provides an affordable, reliable way for people to test substances for two of the dangerous adulterants that are exacerbating the growing opioid epidemic
Drink Spike Test strips meet New California Assembly Bill No 1013, passed July 2024, that requires Clubs and Bars to offer for sale to their customers drug testing devices designed to detect the presence of controlled substances in a drink
Greenlane to leverage its strong distribution, operations, marketing and sales teams to support the brand
BOCA RATON, FL / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2024 / Greenlane Holdings, Inc. ("Greenlane" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:GNLN), one of the premier global sellers of premium cannabis accessories, child-resistant packaging, and specialty vaporization products, today announced its plans to launch an all-new line of fentanyl, xylazine and drink spike detection test strips under the Safety Strips, Inc. ("Safety Strips") brand of drug test strips. Products will be available to order beginning September 25th via the Company's multiple online retail storefronts, (vapor.com, puffitup.com, and higherstandards.com/) as well as its wholesale portal (wholesale.greenlane.com). Shipments will commence October 1 st.
In August, Greenlane announced that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent to be the exclusive distributor in the U.S., of Safety Strips drug detection test strips. Greenlane has been a trusted partner for some of the most successful and well-known cannabis and lifestyle brands, such as Higher Standards, Marley Natural and K.Haring, providing full sales coverage, marketing, warehousing and logistics services.
Safety Strips, Inc. Testing Strips
"We are delighted to be working with the Safety Strips' team who share our high standards for safety and quality, and our strong focus on improving people's lives and enhancing their safety," said Barbara Sher, Chief Executive Officer for Greenlane. "By combining our extensive sales, marketing, and distribution network with Safety Strips ISO 13485 validated product line of easy, fast, and accurate test strips to detect the presence of various drugs, we can do our part to help prevent accidental overdoses as well as protecting individuals from drug-induced date rape."
The Opioid Epidemic in the United States
According to SHADAC.ORG, "Over the past two decades, the United States has experienced a growing crisis of substance abuse and addiction that is illustrated most starkly by the rise in deaths from drug overdoses. Since 2000, the annual number of overdose deaths from any kind of drug in the U.S. has multiplied nearly six times over, rising from 17,500 to over 106,000 people in 2021. The vast majority of these deaths (about 80,000) involved some form of opioids, including heroin, prescription painkillers, and, most prevalently in recent years, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. Fentanyl and related synthetic opioids alone accounted for roughly 71,000 drug overdose deaths in 2021, and are also involved in most methamphetamine, cocaine, and prescription opioid overdose deaths-the next most common substances associated with overdose deaths."
The Rising Incidence of Drink Spiking
In a January 2023 article posted on Alcohol.org, it was reported that "According to the Office on Women's Health, date-rape drugs like Rohypnol, GHB, and ketamine are used because they are not easily detected, and victims often do not remember being drugged or assaulted until many hours later. In 2016, there were over 320,000 incidents of rape and sexual assault, and these incidents are often underreported for both women and men. According to RAINN, 11.2 percent of college students experience rape or sexual assault through force, violence, or incapacitation, and in terms of drug-facilitated sexual assault, alcohol is the No. 1 substance for assailants, next to prescription drugs with tranquilizing effects and Rohypnol, ketamine, GHB, and ecstasy."
In response to the rising prevalence of drink spiking, the Californian Assembly passed AB 1013, July 1, 2024. The bill mandates that approximately 2400 establishments with a Type 48 license, which allows the sale of beer, wine, and distilled spirits, must display signage informing patrons that drug testing kits are available.The new law requires businesses to display signs reading, "Don't get roofied! Drink spiking drug test kits are available here. Ask a staff member for details." Establishments must offer these drug testing devices either for sale or free of charge.
About Greenlane Holdings, Inc.
Founded in 2005, Greenlane is a premier global platform for the development and distribution of premium smoking accessories, vape devices, and lifestyle products to thousands of producers, processors, specialty retailers, smoke shops, convenience stores, and retail consumers. We operate as a powerful family of brands, third-party brand accelerator, and an omnichannel distribution platform.
We proudly offer our own diverse brand portfolio and our exclusively licensed Marley Natural and K.Haring branded products. We also offer a carefully curated set of third-party products through our direct sales channels and our proprietary, owned and operated e-commerce platforms which include Vapor.com, PuffItUp.com, HigherStandards.com, wholesale.greenlane.com and MarleyNaturalShop.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 concerning Greenlane and other matters. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "intends," "targets," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this press release are only predictions. Greenlane has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that it believes may affect its business, financial condition and results of operations. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties that affect our business, including those described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including under the caption "Risk Factors" in Greenlane's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed for the year ended December 31, 2023 and the Company's other filings with the SEC, which can be obtained on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. These forward-lookingstatements speak only as of the date of this communication. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise. You are advised, however, to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our public announcements and filings with the SEC.
