Apeks Supercritical hosted the Ohio Rights Group for a tour of its facilities at 14381 Blamer Road in Johnstown, Ohio, on Saturday, January 11, 2014. Immediately following the tour, Apeks Supercritical President and military service veteran Andy Joseph presented the Ohio Rights Group with a check for a pledged donation of $10,000. The purpose of this pledge is to spur similar donations, with the goal of obtaining at least nine others to match it for a total of $100,000. The Ohio Rights Group will largely use the funds to hire disabled and out-of-work veterans to gather signatures for the proposed Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment. Lincoln Horsley of cureyourowncancer.org also presented the ORG with a $1,000 donation. Apeks Supercritical designs, builds, tests and refines subcritical and supercritical CO2 botanical oil extraction systems, used in part for the extraction of these oils from cannabis and hemp in order to create concentrates for medicinal use. As a result of the growing demand for cleaner and safer oil extraction methods, Apeks Supercritical generated $3.2M in revenue for 2013, representing an increase of 250 percent over 2012 revenue. Apeks also increased staff from 1 person to 8 employees including 3 degreed engineers from Ohio State University and 4 highly trained technicians with more than 90 years combined experience. In addition, Apeks is also able to support the Licking County Career and Technology Education Center's (C-TEC) Welding and Sheet Metal Layout program by providing on-the-job training to one of their high school students. This growth will allow Apeks to move into a larger facility in the spring of 2014, as well as continue to add staff and new equipment to its capabilities. Company President Andy Joseph, who lead the tour, noted, “The passage of the Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment is important for small businesses like mine. The increased demand combined with the markets it creates means that my company can continue to grow, expand and bring new jobs to local communities like Johnstown.” More than 50 attendees, including ORG board members, County Captains who lead local signature drives for the Amendment and several media outlets, were on hand to watch ORG President John Pardee accept of the check from Apeks. Commenting on its significance, Pardee stated, “The ORG is delighted to accept this gracious donation from Apeks Supercritical, a company that represents the future of Ohio. These new technologies provide an example of the bright economy that will result from a legal therapeutic and industrial cannabis market. The Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment has a direct positive effect not only on the people of this state, but also its businesses.” The Ohio Rights Group is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that advocates for the rights of Ohioans to make medical, therapeutic and industrial use of the Cannabis plant and supports the growing number of individuals, organizations and industries facilitating those uses. The organization is fielding the Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment, based on Article 1: Bill of Rights in the Ohio Constitution, which reads, all Ohioans are, “by nature, free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and seeking and obtaining happiness and safety.”