Florida Tracker
Sales recovered slightly after an abysmal week. THC sales were up 7%, while flower sales were up 9%. The state continues to see the same market share trends as the past few weeks. Trulieve, Suterra, and Verano have been increasing market share while Ayr and Curaleaf lose share. Medmen and Trulieve added one dispensary location in the state.
New Jersey Focus on Minorities
New Jersey has licensed 14 new cannabis businesses, exceeding the number expected in the state's long-awaited expansion of its medical cannabis program. The Cannabis Regulatory Commission on Friday announced that the winners of a competitive and often burdensome licensing process that began several years ago. During that time, nearly 200 entrepreneurs applied for licenses to grow, sell and cultivate medical marijuana, and a lawsuit brought the process to a standstill for at least a year. The wait is finally over. At the Friday meeting, the commission's executive director Jeff Brown proposed licensing ten cultivation sites, double the initial number, to meet patient demand. All of the businesses given licenses Friday are certified minority- or women-owned, Brown said. And one of them, Etain, NJ LLC, is comprised of nearly 75% percent females. Etain is also New York's only women-owned, family-run. While we are disappointed that FFNTF did not Win a license, we are glad NJ did the right thing.
Virginia Expungements
Since the state legalized in July 2021, Virginia has expunged more than 64,000 misdemeanor marijuana distribution charges. These records were scrubbed from the state's criminal record database white is used by various government agencies for jobs. This comes after the state had already expunged the charges of 333,000 simple possession cases last year when the state reduced the offense to a simple civil infraction. "These aren't just numbers, and there are families attached," Gracie Burger, a member of the last Prisoner project, said. These expungements are increasing the workforce of Virginia and easing the historic labor shortage the entire country is in.
