Jimmy Kimmel & Conan O'Brien both run Cannabis segments
Michigan Adult-Use Cannabis Sales ($104M) down 1% sequentially in May. Canadian Cannabis Sales increased 4% ($309.7M) sequentially in April. Canopy Growth completes acquisition of Supreme Cannabis.
Top News
Jimmy Kimmel Segment on Emjay features LEUNE, WYLD, Cann, and Wunder. Jimmy Kimmel Live! reached out to Emjay after the Company received 1,100+ applications for its summer intern — to test products. The Company received plenty of media attention for the job posting earlier this month.
Conan O'Brien smokes with Seth Rogen on CONAN.
Michigan Adult-Use Cannabis Sales Down 1% Sequentially in May as Prices Plunge. The Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency breaks out sales by medical and adult-use, with medical sales falling 1.5% from a year ago to $44.5 million, down 8% sequentially, and adult-use sales increasing 165.6% to $104.4 million, down 1% sequentially. As supply continues to expand, flower pricing for adult-use has seen a dramatic decline. In May, the average price of $3539 per pound fell 10% from April and 46% from a year ago.
Lessons from California’s Pot Industry Bailout. While California’s 15% tax on legal marijuana has been blamed for pushing consumers to the illicit market, it’s clear that much more has gone wrong. Legalization, which began in 2016, has been messy with rules varying by city and county. The process has also been slow and expensive. That weighed most on small operators, thus many haven’t transitioned to the regulated recreational market.
Headset — Comparing Alberta to U.S. Sales: Larger portion of sales driven by Gen Z consumers in Alberta.
After Connecticut legalizes marijuana, only 2 New England states now prohibit cannabis. Eyes are now on Rhode Island and New Hampshire as the final holdouts in New England to legalize cannabis. While a vote on a legalization bill in Rhode Island is gaining strength following a passage in its state Senate, New Hampshire needs extra work. When it comes to New Hampshire, local marijuana legalization advocates contended the conservative state legislature and Gov. Chris Sununu's vocal opposition to legalization will make it harder to join their neighbors. New Hampshire House Representative Timothy Egan, who chairs the Democratic House Cannabis Caucus, suggested that legalizing cannabis was critical for the state's post-pandemic future.
Canadian Cannabis Sales Increase 74% in April to $309.7 Million. Statistics Canada released April retail sales shows cannabis sales increasing slightly from March, which had one more day. Sales of C$309.7 million rose 3.8% after a 14% increase in March that followed two consecutive sequential declines of 6% to begin the year and increased 73.6% from a year ago, an improvement from the 65.1% year-over-year growth in March, which was the lowest growth to date.
House Reps. Challenge Biden's Block On Adult-Use Marijuana Sales In D.C. While adults over 21 are allowed to grow and possess marijuana, commercial sales remain barred by a rider that has been consistently included in all presidential budget proposals since 2014. Rep. Mike Quigley, Chairman of the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee is pushing for a spending bill that lifts that ban. If the legislation moves to a full appropriations debate, it could set the stage for a cannabis-related quarrel between the House and the Biden presidency.
Lemon Grove (San Diego County) approves recreational cannabis sales. Recreational cannabis sales have been given the green light in Lemon Grove. Seven months after first discussing the possibility of allowing dispensaries to sell adult-use marijuana, the City Council last week approved allowing cannabis cultivation, transportation, distribution, manufacturing and research in certain areas of the city. Although Lemon Grove voters passed Measure V in 2016 that allowed for the sale of medical marijuana, five years later, the city has just one store, The Boulevard Dispensary on Federal Boulevard. Another shop is expected to open in the city this year and at least two more will be coming in the near future, city officials say. Lemon Grove will allow previously approved dispensaries in the city’s light industrial zone to add recreational cannabis sales and associated uses with a minor-use permit. There will be no need for a public hearing, though surrounding property owners must be given notice of the additional use.
90+ Cannabis Delivery License Applications Begin in Massachusetts. Over 90 Cannabis delivery license applications have been started, and 31 permit applications have already been submitted to regulators, the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission chief said. The permits, which will allow recipients to buy wholesale marijuana and perform home deliveries to customers, are so far only available to qualified social equity or economic empowerment program applicants – and not the general public. For the second type of delivery license – a courier model that allows a business to charge a fee to make deliveries from licensed marijuana retailers – the CCC has issued one final permit and seven provisional ones.
Mile High Labs and Brightfield Group Launch Innovation Platform to Fuel Next Generation of Novel Consumer Products. Mile High Innovation Lab is a product development platform purpose-built to give brands the confidence to develop, launch and scale new products in the health and wellness industry. Select Partners join the Innovation Lab to leverage Mile High Labs' R&D and manufacturing expertise, Royal DSM's global library of unique vitamin and mineral combinations and Brightfield Group's in-home consumer surveys to bring innovative product concepts to life.
Mexico’s Supreme Court Moves To End Marijuana Prohibition Itself After Lawmakers Fail To Act. Minister Norma Lucía Piña Hernández, who serves on the high court, recently filed a general declaration of unconstitutionality with respect to Mexico’s cannabis laws. 8 ministers on the Supreme Court will have to vote in favor of passing the declaration of unconstitutionality for prohibition to be overturned.
Napa rejects cannabis dispensary plan in dispute over minimum distance from school. When is 600 feet not really 600 feet? According to Napa city planning officials, when a would-be cannabis seller tries to measure that distance from the nearest school in anything but a straight line. A company trying to open Napa’s next dispensary has clashed with the city over its plan to serve customers on Iroquois Street, in the same neighborhood as New Technology High School. Its claim to meet Napa’s minimum 600-foot distance away from schools and other youth-serving locales has been turned aside by the city’s planning department — a rejection upheld last week by the Planning Commission, Napa’s authority on land-use matters. At the heart of the disagreement is whether that buffer zone must be reckoned in a cannabis retailer’s point-to-point distance “as the crow flies” from a youth hub—or, as Iroquois Street Dispensary LLC argues, by the distance one must walk from a dispensary to a youth gathering place, turns, buildings, obstructions and all.
Cultivation & Retail
Trulieve Expands Winter Park, FL Location. The dispensary (85th in FL) expands access throughout Central Florida, joining four locations throughout nearby Orlando.
Next Green Wave — Commences Construction. The Company has received approval from the City of Coalinga to start the civil work relating to its ~62,000 sq. ft. (previously announced as 50,000 sq. ft.) premium indoor cultivation facility.
Interviews
Podcast: Cannabis Investing Network — Why We're Bullish on Limited License States (ft. Andrew Semple of Echelon Wealth Partners)
NCV Interview — Gage Growth CEO Fabian Monaco. Dominant players have yet to emerge in markets like California and Colorado. Gage is aggressively pursuing the opportunity to be a dominant player in the Michigan market in the near term. After achieving that goal, the company will be looking to expand into other states and become an MSO.
NCV Interview — Dama Financial. The company started out by offering banking and merchant acquiring. Today, it offers those services as well as lending, secured credit cards and now payroll.
Deals
Canopy Growth -- Completes Acquisition of Supreme. Canopy Growth and The Supreme Cannabis Companycompleted the arrangement whereby Canopy has acquired 100% of the issued and outstanding Supreme Shares and Supreme shareholders are entitled to receive 0.01165872 common share of Canopy and $0.0001 in cash in exchange for each Supreme Share held immediately prior to closing of the deal. In aggregate, Canopy issued ~9,013,400 Canopy Shares (valued at $212M) and made a cash payment of ~$84K pursuant to the deal to former Supreme shareholders as consideration for their Supreme Shares. the acquisition of Supreme further strengthens Canopy’s overall leadership position within the Canadian recreational market and creates a pro forma Q4 FY 2021 market share of 18.1%
AFC Gamma — Raises $56.4M @$20.50/Share. AFC Gamma priced its public offering of 2,750,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $20.50 per share. AFC Gamma anticipates total gross proceeds of ~$56.4 million. The Offering is expected to close on or about June 28, 2021.
The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD) — Closes $27M Sale of its Quebec Facility to Cannara Biotech. TGOD’s wholly owned Quebec subsidiary Medican Organic has completed the sale of the majority of its assets in Valleyfield, Quebec (industrial and agricultural land, main hybrid greenhouse, rooftop greenhouse, all support buildings and certain related equipment), to Cannara Biotech through an all-cash offer of $27 million plus the funding of certain deposit requirements of approximately $5.7 million. Concurrent with the closing of the Transaction, TGOD repaid ~$31.8 million to its senior lender to settle all of its outstanding obligations and terminated the loan agreement with such lender. Medican entered into a lease with the Purchaser concurrent with the closing of the Transaction, for ~80,000 square feet of cultivation and processing space in the Quebec Facility.
Fire & Flower -- Exercise of Series A-3 Warrants by Alimentation Couche-Tard. Exercise of warrants brings Circle K owner, Alimentation Couche-Tard to 22.35% ownership of Fire & Flower.
Audacious Brands Enters Massachusetts - Partners with Belle Fleur and Rapper Weed Bringing the Culture Back to the Bay State and Boston. Australis Capital, operating as Audacious Brands has entered into a supply agreement and, through its majority owned subsidiary ALPS, a facility engineering and design services contract with Belle Fleur. The agreement furthermore includes ongoing APIS Compliance and Maintenance services. Under the supply arrangement, (subject to local licensing requirements), Belle Fleur will dedicate a certain percentage of its canopy space for the cultivation of AUSA's proprietary cultivars under a cost +5% agreement. The Companies have agreed to jointly explore opportunities for brand collaboration and further expansion in the U.S.