KELOWNA, BC, May 23, 2017 /CNW/ - Marapharm Ventures Inc. "Marapharm" (OTCQB: MRPHF) (CSE: MDM) (FSE: 2M0) announces that in addition to medical marijuana licenses, it is applying for recreational licenses in Nevada. The Nevada department of taxation is accepting license applications for recreational cultivation, production, lab and retail store licenses, from existing Nevada marijuana establishments that hold valid registration certificates.

The state of Nevada has moved its recreational program closer by 6 months. Initially the program was to go into effect in January, 2018, the program will now commence in July 2017.

Marapharm, in order to position itself for this opportunity brought two modular buildings onto its 7 acres site and have fully equipped them to meet state licensing requirements. A roadway was installed along with a paved access to each building in order to meet occupancy requirements. The buildings were inspected and given pre-approval for cultivation and processing. The City of North Las Vegas has issued an occupancy permit, and with a few more small steps to take, the company awaits final approval. Once approved, cultivation and processing can begin in the smaller facilities, enabling the licenses to perform a taxable transaction before May 31, 2017. These processes will position the Company to apply for licensing under the state's recreational program.

"The marijuana industry is poised to be up to $50 billion nationally by 2019 (source, CNN) and now Nevada has legalized recreational marijuana and it has 50 million adult tourists a year. Fees and taxes of recreational marijuana for Nevada State are projected to total $100 million for the first year (source rgi.com)" Linda Sampson, Marapharm CEO.

About Marapharm Ventures Inc.

http://www.marapharm.com

Marapharm has 300,000 square feet of medical marijuana licenses for its land and facilities in WA and NV. About three years ago, Marapharm applied in Canada to Health Canada for a MMPR (production and sales) license and has passed the necessary security clearances. The application is currently in the in-depth screening process. In September 2016, Health Canada contacted Marapharm with a provision to amend its application to allow for the new regulations, ACMPR.

Marapharms common shares are publicly traded in Canada, under the ticker symbol "MDM" on the Canadian Securities Exchange, and in the United States, under the ticker symbol "MRPHF" on the OTCQB, and in Europe, under the ticker symbol "2M0" on the FSE.

Additional information on the operations or financial results of Marapharm are included in reports on file with applicable securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed through the CSE website (http://www.thecse.com), the OTC website (http://www.otcmarkets.com), and the SEDAR website (http://www.sedar.com) under the profile for Marapharm Ventures Inc.

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Forward - looking statements:

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", 'may", "will", "project", "should", 'believe", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumption but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and the forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon.

SOURCE Marapharm Ventures Inc.

For further information: Linda Sampson, CEO, Phone: 778-583-4476, E-mail [email protected], http://www.marapharm.com