Happy Friday all!

Let’s get to it. In the newsletter:

• Desperate LA licensees shut down meeting

Read up,

Alex

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Police had to be called in after disruptive licensees and their allies shut down an oversight committee meeting in Los Angeles yesterday. There were no arrests, a source said.

Footage posted, and apparently taken by, Elliot Lewis, CEO of 30-store retailer Catalyst Cannabis, shows about a dozen cops…

Read the story…

Federal:

• DEA boss nominee and perceived cannabis hardliner Terrance Cole, declined to endorse rescheduling or another pot policy, but he has described the issue as a priority. The agency is partnering with Johnny’s Ambassadors, a group that fights youth marijuana use, to share National Prevention Week content.
  Business of Cannabis, Marijuana Moment
• The acting U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C., who recently threatened a District dispensary over compliance with federal law, will now serve in a role investigating the Biden administration. Trump’s new nominee for the powerful prosecutor role is Jeanne Piro, a Fox News contributor who previously served on the board of a CBD company. Though something of a MED advocate, she has not endorsed full legalization.
  Marijuana Moment, Washington Examiner
• Trump ally and former Congressman Matt Gaetz blamed the slow pace of legalization in part on the desire for “reparations.“
  Marijuana Moment

Business:

• MJBiz dives into the state-level hemp chaos.
• Tobacco giant Philip Morris International is expanding its cannabis footprint in the MED arena.
  Benzinga
• Staffing shop Vangst published its annual jobs report. The industry employees 425,000 Americans.
• Enterprise tech platform Distru launched a wholesale marketplace. A new Colorado-based player GreenLists has also entered the space.

State and local:

• Industry backed ballot initiative joined a lawsuit that aims to restrict ballot initiatives in the state.
  Florida Phoenix
• A Texas bill would expand MED access. It lands as lawmakers await a likely more permissive House rewrite of the Senate-passed bill to ban hemp products.
• Workers with MSO Trulieve landed Arizona’s first agricultural labor union contract in 25 years.
  Phoenix New Times
• In Pennsylvania, a GOP-led Senate panel rejected a bill to legalize REC and sell it through state-owned stores.
  SpotlightPA
• Cookies and another brand settled with the Colorado attorney general over unlawful sales of hemp products.
  KDVR
• New York state court annulled the Office of Cannabis Management’s policy limiting licenses to one per majority owner. Lawyers David Feder and colleagues at firm Harris Beach, discuss the fallout.
• New York state suspended sales of several brands, including Stiiizy, while it investigates possible inversion. Stiiizy expressed confidence it would be cleared of wrongdoing. Kaycha Labs, which did the testing for another suspended brand, received a warning this week from the state of Arizona.
  NY Times, MJBiz
• Megan Dobro Ph.D., CEO of Massachusetts lab SafeTiva, testified “the market is consolidating around labs whose results are wildly inconsistent with scientific reality.”
  Talking Joints Memo
• Alabama’s Gov. signed a bill limiting hemp products to low dose edibles and beverages.
  Alabama Political Reporter

Fun and interesting:

• Real weed experts would never do this at a dispensary.
  GreenState

State:

• Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget wouldn’t stop the coming tax hike, but the industry hasn’t given up.
  MJBiz

Business:

• Glass House will manage a dispensary for fellow big grower Leef Brands.
• Despite being in receivership, Gold Flora is seeing success with its Gramlin brand, according to Headset data.
• The big Planet 13 store in Vegas is giving away 20 tickets to the massive EDC Vegas rave.
  EDM.com

Local:

• Mendocino Co. supes requested state help to ‘clean up’ the unlicensed industry.
  Anderson Valley Advertiser
• SF homeless charity St. Anthony’s honored industry pioneer and entrepreneur Aundre Speciale as a success story. She posted, “Many of the first dispensary/compassion club operators were individuals from marginalized backgrounds, driven by a desire to assist others. It’s disheartening for me to see the absense of this compassion component in much of todays “industry”, or even an understanding of this history.”
• The inaugural Mendo Cup went well.
  Local News Matters