Author: Tom Hymes
[ad_1] Recently ranked no. 214 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America, New York-born and New Mexico-based Azuca has also added new products to its offerings since Cannabis Business Executive profiled the company in July of 2022. Azuca’s accomplishments during a difficult time for an industry that is really just getting started suggests a firm grip on the trajectory of this developing market, and prompted a follow-up call with CEO and President Kim Sanchez Rael to get the skinny on her plans for this fast-moving and ambitious company. I first asked here to unpack the company’s…
[ad_1] In the aftermath of yesterday’s election, Ohioans are either celebrating or bemoaning the passage of State Issue 1, which establishes a constitutional right to abortion in the state, and also the passage of State Issue 2, which authorizes the legislative enactment of adult-use sales of cannabis in the state in addition to home grow. What is particularly interesting about the results of the election, however, is the fact that the two ballot measures passed by essentially identical margins – 57 percent for, 43 percent against – and that an overlay of the state map by county result suggests a…
[ad_1] A non-profit called the Public Health Institute (PHI) this week released its 5th annual State of Cannabis Report, which offers snapshot scorecards of jurisdictions in almost every county in the state. A product of PHI’s Getting it Right from the Start project, the scorecards track the adoption of recommended policies by California counties and cities. “The 2023 scorecards bring to light a patchwork of local policies that continue to fall far short of what is necessary to prevent the cannabis industry from following in the footsteps of Big Tobacco,” said PHI Tuesday in announcing the report. “Despite examples of…
[ad_1] Despite a long history in the cannabis industry during which there were periods of time when everyone and their uncle was a cannabis consultant, with the inevitable bad results, professional consultancy thrives today and will continue to grow as more states legalize cannabis, markets are created, and people open new cannabis businesses and expand existing ones. Meeting the myriad needs of these businesses has become more sophisticated, as well, offered frequently by law firms with cannabis-specific departments that span the nation, and also by business and branding experts who are starting to bring an elevated level of experience and…
[ad_1] It is always edifying getting caught up with a distributor, especially a cannabis wholesaler whose bones were built in the hardscrabble California markets, where buzzards get fat on the unwary, the unlucky, and the lazy. To that end, Cannabis Business Executive recently spoke with Nabis co-founder (with Joon S. Lee) and CEO Vince C. Ning to get a sense of the development of the San Francisco-based company and the market since our last profile in November 2022. It had been a productive year because of headwinds, reported Ning. “I would say business has increased by a couple of percentage…
[ad_1] Los Angeles-based lawyer Hilary Bricken has officially joined Husch Blackwell, a leading business-focused law firm with 20 offices throughout the country and a thousand attorneys servicing a national footprint of clients from industrial sectors ranging from energy, education, healthcare, real estate, and manufacturing to financial services, technology, life sciences, and transportation, and the many industries they encompass. Formerly with Harris Bricken (now Harris Sliwoski), Bricken joins the firm as a partner in the Los Angeles office and as a member of its Food Systems industry group, with a decided focus on the cannabis industry of course. Well-known in the…
[ad_1] With a presidential election year looming, the politics of pot is once again front and center in Washington, D.C., but this time there seems to be a greater probability than ever before that something significant will be accomplished. Yesterday, a newish banking bill was introduced by a bipartisan group of senators that adds fuel to those hopes. Constructed on the smoldering bones of previous versions of the SAFE Banking Act, the ‘‘Secure And Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act,” or “SAFER Banking Act,” would, according to congressional analysis of the bill, “ensure that all businesses – including State-sanctioned cannabis businesses…
[ad_1] As calls are increasing to codify CAURD, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a motion late last week with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York seeking “an order granting defendants-appellants a stay pending appeal of the decision and order of Supreme Court, Albany County (Bryant J), entered on August 18, 2023, which among other things, enjoined defendants-appellants from processing, approving, or investigating pending applications for Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses pending further order of Supreme Court.” If a stay is denied by the court, the motion proposes an alternative action “granting defendants-appellants…
[ad_1] Prodigy Processing Solution could be seen as the cannabis second act for founder and CEO Marc Beginin, an attorney and entrepreneur who founded a similar company, Precision Extraction Solutions, in 2014 before it was sold to Agrify in October 2021 against his wishes. Discontented with the deal and wary of Precision’s future under Agrify’s direction, Beginin attempted a hostile takeover of Precision in November of last year. But he also had begun the arduous process of raising a new company from the ashes of his previous venture, and last month, nearly two years after the sale of Precision to…
[ad_1] It is almost an understatement to say that a lot has happened to New York-based Columbia Care Inc. (NEO: CCHW) (OTCQX: CCHWF) (FSE: 3LP) since Cannabis Business Executive last profiled the company in November 2021. Four months after that story was published, the company announced plans to merge with Chicago-based MSO Cresco Labs in a $2 billion deal touted by Bloomberg at the time as “one of the largest cannabis industry mergers yet.” But fate had other plans for the two companies. The ambitious transaction veered off-track in line with tightening cannabis and credit markets that created a perfect…
[ad_1] As much as NORML has been in the cannabis spotlight as the preeminent organization fighting to normalize a plant that has helped so many of us so profoundly, a whispered consensus could likely be found that its day has come and gone, thank you for the help, and please don’t let the door hit you on the way out. But that sense of demise might be a tad premature in light of the government’s recent move to recommend through HHS that cannabis be moved to Schedule 3. Even the briefest inquiry into the history of cannabis scheduling will reveal…
[ad_1] While New York cannabis consumers are feeling their oats in terms of having access to copious amounts of weed in the Big Apple and beyond, the situation for operators is far less rosy, to say the least. Applicants to the state’s adult-use program remain stuck in a court-imposed quagmire due to a preliminary injunction issued last month by Judge Kevin Bryant in Fiore et al v. NYCCB et al, the lawsuit by service-disabled veterans challenging the constitutionality of the CAURD program. The injunction not only stopped New York’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary program in its tracks, but it also…