🧑⚖️ Former Verano Exec charged with insider trading
Frontier Risk Group $3M Seed+. Blüm $900K Financing. Smart & Safe Florida files campaign for 2026 Ballot. California Cannabis Operators Association (CaCOA).
🌿 Industry
Missouri Now 5th Largest Adult-Use Cannabis Market. That sales total includes $1.28B in adult-use transactions and $181M in medical cannabis sales. — CBT
Notably, Missouri dispensaries concluded 2024 with their best sales month on record, coming just shy of $131M in December
Missouri’s adult-use retail market is only bested by California, Michigan, Illinois and Massachusetts. However, medical-only markets in Florida (roughly $2.1B) and Pennsylvania ($1.7B) are larger than the Show-Me state’s expanded market
Florida Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization Sponsor Launches Campaign for 2026 Ballot. Smart & Safe Florida, the political committee behind 2024’s failed measure, filed a new proposal for a constitutional amendment with minor tweaks. — CBT
Smart & Safe Florida filed a new initiative on Jan. 14 with the Florida Division of Elections to place a constitutional amendment to legalize adult-use cannabis on the state’s November 2026 ballot
While Smart & Safe Florida’s new initiative for 2026—the “Adult Personal Use of Marijuana”—contains many of the same provisions, it added language to the ballot summary clarifying that the measure would “prohibit smoking and vaping in public,” “maintains prohibition on driving under [the] influence,” and “prohibits marketing and packaging attractive to children”
Have dispensaries maxed out in Connecticut? Real estate is becoming an issue. While the market here has been steady, sales have not exploded, either. — CT Insider
Between local zoning restrictions, state laws and the usual considerations on location and competition of which every business must be aware, and the reality that neighbor states offer similar products at often cheaper prices, cannabis retailers in Connecticut are having a difficult time finding real estate
Mix all of that together, along with the fact two cannabis shops just closed making them the first in the state to do so, and it may be time to start wondering if Connecticut is reaching its max when it comes to new cannabis shops
Texas has twice as many cannabis dispensaries as California. They're largely unregulated. — NPR
Today, Texas has more than 7,000 cannabis dispensaries, almost twice as many as California. Add to that: 24-hour cannabis delivery, mobile pot trucks, cannabis vending machines, and mail-order cannabis
The wide-open cannabis marketplace in Texas is that it's replacing the black market. From 2021 to 2023, Border Patrol seizures of illegal marijuana along the Southwest border plummeted from 71 tons to 20 tons — a drop of 72%
Cannabis Operators Association Forms to Tackle California’s Pressing Legislative Issues. The California Cannabis Operators Association (CaCOA), an organization committed to reshaping the legislative and political landscape for legal, licensed, and regulated cannabis businesses.
Led by Executive Director Amy O’Gorman Jenkins, CaCOA has assembled many of the state’s most prominent retail leaders into a unified voice on cannabis priorities
CaCOA’s members employ ~10,000 workers, nearly half of whom are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
💵 Deals
Frontier Risk Group Secures $3M Seed+ Funding. Existing investor Casa Verde led the most recent financing round with significant insider participation. Illinois Casualty Company, an A.M. Best A- rated carrier focused on the food & beverage industry, joined the round as a strategic partner, anticipating explosive growth of THC beverages as an alcohol alternative.. The company has raised $6M in funding to date.
Blüm $900K Financing and Intended Acquisitions. Blüm received $900,000 in financing led by Douglas Rosenberg. The capital will support operational and acquisition-related activities in 2025. Rosenberg is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mesh Ventures and Co-Founder of 1212 Ventures, both of which hold significant investments in Cookies. The acquisitions include membership interests in Mt. Tam Ventures II, LLC, a holding company with equity in Cookies; Mesh Ventures, LLC, a venture fund that also holds equity in Cookies; and a dispensary in Northern California.
📄 Company Updates
Theraplant Loses $1.3M Business Income Loss Claim. Theraplant has lost its bid to have its insurer cover $1.3 million in claimed business income losses after a building fire damaged almost 1,000 of its plants and shuttered one of its “flowering” rooms. A federal district court judge has agreed with National Fire and Marine Insurance Co. that its policy did not cover the loss. U.S. District Judge Vern D. Oliver granted the insurer’s motion for summary judgment. National Fire’s policy provided coverage for building and personal property damage. It also covered business income loss but only if the loss was caused by a suspension of operations or due to and during a period of property restoration.
GTI appeals ruling prohibiting medical marijuana dispensaries at Florida Circle Ks. GTI filed a notice Jan. 16 requesting the 1st District Court of Appeal to review Judge Joshua Pratt’s Jan. 7 decision.
Explosion at PharmaCann facility in Maryland injures two. The cause of the explosion, which took place in an extraction booth where propane and butane were used, remains under investigation, officials said. The exact cost hasn’t yet been determined, but damage is estimated to be over $250,000.
Aurora Cannabis Launches First Domestically Grown Medical Cannabis Brand in Germany Under New Cultivation License. Manufactured at Aurora's leading EU-GMP facility in Leuna, Germany, the new brand offers a supply of high-quality, locally grown and sold, medical cannabis for the country's expanding patient base.
🏬 Retail
Mango Cannabis Opens 9,000 Sq Ft Superstore. It is located on one of the main roads connecting El Paso to New Mexico.
nuEra Cannabis opens East Dubuque, IL dispensary. This is the company’s 8th dispensary in Illinois.
Trulieve Relocates Affiliated Dispensary to Lancaster, PA.
🧔 People
Anthony Marsico, Former Verano EVP, charged with insider trading over Goodness Growth acquisition. When the companies announced the planned $413M, all-stock deal on Feb. 1, 2022, Goodness Growth’s stock value jumped 42%. Marsico allegedly used the insider information to purchase shares of Goodness Growth stock before it ballooned in value. In hundreds of transactions over the two preceding months, Marsico bought up more than 900,000 shares of Goodness Growth stock totaling nearly $1.5M, prosecutors say. He sold the shares before Oct. 14, 2022, when it was announced the deal had been canceled, netting $607,338 in “illegal profits.”
LEEF Brands adds Jesse Redmond as Head of Investor Relations and Business Development. Jesse Redmond is a former hedge fund manager, dispensary operator, and cannabis analyst.
Former DEA Special Agent Derek S. Maltz Appointed Acting DEA Administrator. Maltz has gone on the record suggesting that if science supports cannabis rescheduling, “then so be it';” however, Maltz also said “It’s crystal clear to me that the Justice Department hijacked the rescheduling process, placing politics above public safety.”
🎙️ Interviews / Opinions
Mike Tyson and Weldon Angelos: We hope Trump will fight awful marijuana laws. Biden wouldn't bother | Fox News
Four Fundamental Catalysts w/ LEEF Brands CEO, Micah Anderson | Higher Exchanges
Champ Bailey Discusses How Cannabis Helped Him During His NFL Career | GQ
Thoughts on the Terrible Pageant of Marijuana Rescheduling | CBE
Will Trump Sign Executive Order for Cannabis Industry? | TDR