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File: NR.May 19.NT.docx

News Release  May 19, 2017 Kelowna, BC

Marapharm Ventures Inc. "Marapharm" announces that in addition to medical marijuana licenses it is applying for recrea
--->tional 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 acre site and hav
--->e 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, t
--->he company awaits final approval. Once approved, cultivation and processing can begin in the smaller facilities, enabl
--->ing the licenses to perform a taxable transaction before May 31, 2017. These processes will position the Company to ap
--->ply 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 Neva
--->da State are projected to total $100 million for the first year (source rgi.com)" Linda Sampson, Marapharm CEO.

ABOUT MARAPHARM VENTURES INC.
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 n
--->ecessary security clearances. The application is currently in the in-depth screening process. In September 2016, Healt
--->h 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 Excha
--->nge, and in the United States, under the ticker symbol "MRPHF" on the OTCQB, and in Europe, under the ticker symbol "2
--->M0" on the FSE.

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: 
www.marapharm.com  or Linda Sampson, CEO, 778-583-4476 email info@marapharm.com

STOCK EXCHANGES:
Neither the CSE, the FSE nor the OTCQBtrademark has approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neith
--->er the CSE, the FSE nor the OTCQBtrademark accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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 a
--->nd other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-l
--->ooking 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.