Oklahoma investigations
Just over a week ago, the state's population voted down a measure that would legalize adult-use cannabis. Now, reports are coming out that the state is investigating roughly half of their licensed cultivation farms on suspicion of fraud. 3,000 of the state’s nearly 7,000 licensed marijuana farms are being investigated by law enforcement for suspected fraudulent or illegal activity over the last year, according to Mark Woodward, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. The agency believes that 2,000 of those farms have a Chinese connection — supplying workers, funding or both. There are still many unknowns, like if these Chinese-funded cultivations have connections to the Communist Part. California law enforcement says that some Chinese-funded grows they’ve encountered are operated by Chinese triads. We will have to wait and see how this shakes out.
Massachusetts CANNABIS TRENDS.
In the month of February, Massachusetts recorded ~$115M in cannabis sales, which represents a sequential decline of 3.9% but a YoY increase of 4.8%. Unit volumes in the month were down 2.1% sequentially but up 29.7%% YoY. The average price per unit was down 1.9% sequentially and down 19.2% YoY.
Canopy USA
Acreage Holdings (ACRDF) announced this morning that it had obtained a final order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia approving the previously announced arrangement involving Canopy. Last week, Acreage shareholders approved the deal at a special meeting. On March 17, 2023, Acreage, Canopy and Canopy USA entered into an amendment to the Floating Share Arrangement Agreement to extend the Exercise Outside Date from March 31, 2023 to May 31, 2023, or such later date as may be agreed to in writing by Acreage, Canopy and Canopy USA. Canada-based Canopy Growth is backed by spirits giant Constellation Brands Inc. (STZ).
