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• Seven ways to see California’s debt crisis

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Alex

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No one denies that the California cannabiz faces a debt crisis. As insiders described recently to Green Market Report, years of unpaid bills and taxes are building to a “mass extinction event,” for the state industry.

Making the problem worse, distributors offer credit (“terms”) to retailers, which need to be extended when the retailers don’t pay. If distrus don’t get paid they can’t pay brands and growers, some of whom provided them with product on credit.

The result, according to the California Cannabis Industry Association’s 2023 legislative platform is “a significant cannabis debt bubble at serious risk…

Read the story…

Business:

• Canna Law Blog highlights five industry loan issues.
• The Coachella Valley Independent raises questions about a federal PPP loan to Desert Payroll Solutions, a company with apparent ties to grower Kings Garden. 
• A Mendocino grower is using a blockchain technology to track plants.
  Crypto Daily

Local:

• Orange County political consultant Melahat Rafiei agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud, in a cannabis-related matter, the U.S. Justice Department said. According to the plea, Rafiei falsely represented to an operator that in exchange for a payment of at least $300,000, she would work to pass an Anaheim ordinance “tailored for the victim’s business.” Rafiei had already had been working on such an ordinance for other clients.
  LA Times
• A company is suing Baldwin Park (LA Co.) for alleged license fraud.
  Law360
• Sonoma Co. shops have been hit by a wave of burglaries.
  Press-Democrat
• Former Adelanto (San Bernardino Co.) mayor Richard Kerr agreed to plead guilty to weed-related bribery.
  Courthouse News Service
• Barstow approved a 29-acre industry campus.
  SFGate

Legal:

• A Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled a California cannabis business cannot wield federal RICO statutes against another cannabis business.
  Metropolitan News-Enterprise 

Crime:

• After landing on a flight from LAX, nine Americans were arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport with $6.7M in weed.
  KTLA

Nevada:

• Regulators said products treated with an unapproved pesticide had been sold at more than 100 dispensaries.
  KUNR

Oregon:

• Canna Law Blog has a 2023 legislative preview for the Beaver State.

Fun and interesting:

• Michael Douglas was spotted leaving a Coastal shop in Santa Barbara Co.
  Daily Mail

Company Milestones:

• GRTR BRNDS launched to develop new IP opportunities for regulated industries. Its initial clients include Christopher “CJ” Wallace, son of Biggie Smalls, and Adam Mansbach, author of the bestseller Go The F*ck to Sleep.
• Cookies Bangkok, its first shop in Asia, opens today.
• Las Vegas boutique hotel Artisan, off the north Strip, will be rebranded The Lexi when it reopens as a 420-friendly property in a few months.
  Las Vegas Review-Journal
• Sip Elixirs joined the Petalfast brand portfolio.
• Vape player PAX has a new social impact initiative.
• Eaze sister brand Green Dragon added six Florida shops. It aims to expand from 20 to 50 this year. 

Job Moves:

• Canada-based distributor Humble & Fume, which handles Cookies, named Jakob Ripshtein CEO.
• Alexa Malmgren joined Petalfast as VP, Brand Development.