Come on, New York.
Cannabis was decriminalized in New York in 2019, but legal growers haven't been able to bring their product to market yet because the state keeps fumbling the ball when it comes to rolling out their retail licenses. This has caused the black market in New York to go unchecked and become one of the world's biggest. New York's officials had no problem giving out 200 cultivation licenses almost two years ago but didn't give these cultivators a market they could sell into. Almost 300,000 pounds of the drug, worth as much as $750m, from last summer's production at 200 state-licensed farms are stockpiled, without a place to be sold and in danger of deteriorating, according to a Bloomberg report on Saturday. To put salt on the wound for New York officials, a federal judge handed down an injunction that blocked the state from handing out licenses in Brooklyn and areas of the Hudson Valley region after a lawsuit claimed that the state's cannabis equity program violates the US constitution. It is pretty sickening that New York would charge these cultivators for their licenses and encourage them to plant cannabis based on their language that retail licenses will be given out just to have the state cultivators lose their entire investment to rot (literally). theguardian.com
New Winner in Canada.
High Tide (HITI) announced today that according to new data recently released by the cannabis business publication New Cannabis Ventures, the Company is now Canada's top revenue-generating cannabis company. High Tide is a retail-focused cannabis company with bricks-and-mortar and global e-commerce assets. High Tide passed Canopy Growth, which is second for most cannabis-related revenue, with SNFL being the third biggest player. "Since going public, we've continuously been a leader in Canadian retail cannabis. According to New Cannabis Ventures, we are now the highest Canadian revenue-generating cannabis company across all three retail, extraction, and growing verticals. This is a testament to our team's dedication and continued execution to clearly surpass our own internal objectives over the last few years. High Tide was amongst Canada's top growing companies as ranked by the Globe and Mail's Report on Business Magazine in 2021 and 2022, reaching 21 out of 430 in 2022. This exponential growth was all accomplished without having more than 29 million dollars in our bank at any given time," said Raj Grover, President and Chief Executive Officer of High Tide.
Curaleaf opens new dispensaries in Florida.
Curaleaf Holdings (CURLF) announced today the opening of two new Florida dispensaries, Orlando International Drive and Miami South Beach. The new locations are Curaleaf's 53rd and 54th locations to open in the Sunshine State and 144th nationwide. "We are thrilled to welcome Florida's diverse and rapidly-growing medical cannabis community to these new locations on International Drive in Orlando and Collins Avenue in the heart of South Beach, Miami," said Matt Darin, CEO of Curaleaf. "We look forward to serving new and returning patients across the Sunshine State with the quality, trusted products they rely on, along with an unrivaled retail experience."
