Some of the country's largest MSOs reported earnings that "exceeded our greatest expectations," New Cannabis Ventures writes. The site's Alan Brochstein offers three key takeaways.

• Companies with big quarters included Cresco Labs (record revenue of $153.3M), Trulieve (record revenue of $136.3M), Ayr Strategies (revenue of $45.5M up 61% quarter over quarter) and Curaleaf (record revenue of $182M).
• Curaleaf's new CEO Joseph Bayern talked to Business Insider (paywall) about why he's bullish on the Northeast.
• Canadian player Canopy Growth is eager to get into the U.S. market (paywall).
  Business Insider

Quick Hit

1. Canna-Tech company Meadow introduced a fundraising tool for pot start-ups.
   Benzinga

In a potential breakthrough, a California judge ruled delivery services can deliver in the vast swaths of the state which do not allow pot shops.
WeedWeek

• Fresno County Superior Court Judge Rosemary McGuire ruled in favor of the state's Bureau of Cannabis Control which allowed statewide deliveries beginning in 2018. It had been challenged by 25 local governments who argued the policy violated their ability to regulate the industry.
• Judge McGuire determined that the policy does not violate local jurisdictions' authority since it doesn't require or prohibit them from doing anything. A jurisdiction can still pass a law to restrict delivery, for example, though the state won't help enforce it.
• On its face this seems like a big win for the industry, though operators may still have to litigate the issue against local governments.
  MJBiz
• Separately, Lori Ajax, the first head of California's Bureau of Cannabis Control is stepping down.
  MJBiz

More from Willis Jacobson at WeedWeek:

• How should states spend pot taxes?
• Social equity programs aren't working.
• The industry has a long way to go on environmental sustainability.

CannaCraft-owned AbsoluteXtracts has released the strongest legal edible in California, a soft gel capsule containing 200 mg of THC.
Forbes

• California typically doesn't allow edibles packages to contain more than 100mg, but the gel caps count as concentrates which are allowed to contain up to 1,000 mg in a package.
• According to Jackie Bryant, many in the industry think "this separate classification of capsules versus edibles addresses an injustice perpetrated against medical patients that was initiated thanks to Proposition 64." Others just think its a way to appeal to very heavy REC users.
• In 2017, when California regulations were less strict, Vocal Media, published a list of the nine most-potent edibles available, including an 1,800mg rice crispy treat from a brand called LOL Edibles. Its web site is no longer up.

Related: A company called Mellow released a new artisanal cannabis ice cream in Los Angeles. It's not clear how they're getting around the state's ban on infused dairy products (p.77), which only makes an exception for butter used in cooking.
MGRetailer

In January, Joe Biden, who hasn't endorsed legalization, will be sworn in to lead a nation increasingly comfortable with it.

• Support for legalization is strong among Democrats than in the country as a whole. In a new documentary, (see below) Sen. Cory Booker said Biden's plan to decriminalize is not enough. In multiple states with ballot initiatives, legalization got more votes than Biden or Trump.
  Marijuana Moment
• Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) wants to become the first state in the former confederacy to legalize REC.
  Virginia Mercury
• Flow Cannabis CEO Michael Steinmetz argued legalization can help Biden address the country's most intractible challenges, like race relations and climate change.
  WeedWeek
• In his new memoir, Barack Obama said Republicans gave him a "handy excuse" to avoid legalization.
  Marijuana Moment

The new BET documentary "Smoke: Marijuana + Black America," directed by Erik Parker, has attracted plaudits for its frank depiction of the "complications and compromises" of cannabis for Black and brown Americans. It features everyone from vice-president elect Kamala Harris to celebrities to prisoners.

Per Nic Juarez in Weedmaps:

We're constantly seeing how weed is a part of the culture and a source for expression and creativity, yet it's stigmatized and criminalized. How cannabis is a relatively safe, inexpensive medicine to help manage the fears and stressors of oppression in America, yet it leads to harsher, more severe oppression from U.S. law enforcement. How cannabis helps create and is the subject of some of the most significant works of art, and yet Black people are the last in line to profit.

Read the whole review.

• The Washington Post calls the film  "sharp and persuasive...equal parts love story, tragedy and outrage"
• WW California has more.

Robert J. Corry Jr., a prominent Colorado cannabis lawyer and activist who has had several run-ins with the law in recent years, had his license suspended for a year due to ethics violations.
WeedWeek

• Corry admitted to 13 counts of professional misconduct including not tracking funds properly and not keeping sufficient records.
• After getting arrested in June 2019 on suspicion of domestic violence, Corry was arrested again a month later after witnesses alleged he waved a samurai-style sword and threatened passersby, according Westword.
• Corry was involved in writing Colorado's first in the world REC ballot initiative, which voters passed in November 2012.
• He didn't respond to a request for comment.

A Pennsylvania appeals court upheld unemployment benefits for a MED patient fired for cannabis use. The case highlights the difficulties employees are beginning to face as more states legalize and use becomes more common and acceptable.
WeedWeek

• The case involves a former customer service representative with the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority who had his benefits restored after it was determined he made a good faith effort to be compliant with his employer's policy.
• In newly legal New Jersey, a bill would have granted broad protections to people who consume in their spare time, but then the language was scaled back.

In a landslide vote, Mexico's Senate approved a legalization bill to create the world's largest legal REC market.
Reuters

• President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has neither endorsed nor condemned the measure, which has support from his left-of-center party.
• The next step for the bill is the lower house of the national legislature.
• Mexico's Catholic church opposed the vote.
  ABC
• WW California has more.

With MED psychedelics becoming increasing respectable and lucrative, I spoke to University of New Mexico psychiatrist Rick Strassman about DMT, a short-acting hallucinogen sometimes called the "God molecule:"

Strassman:

"One of the most impressive hallmarks of the DMT experience is that it feels more real than real. Everyday reality feels like a dim shadow, as it were. That’s one of the unique aspects of DMT. Even, when you take a large dose of LSD or a large dose of psilocybin, you pretty much know you’ve taken a drug. But with DMT, you’re completely transported into this free standing, separate level of reality. That’s a very common description...

The effects peak in about five minutes. They start fading at about 12 to 15, and you’re down pretty much within the half hour."

Read the whole interview.

• Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary explained why he's betting big on psychedelics.
  Business Insider

Esquire meets the family of Jerry Garcia, who've been on a long strange trip to develop a pot brand inspired by the legendary Grateful Dead frontman.

• Jerry's daughter Trixie harbors "memories of the many weed-infused private times with Jerry: playing video games (Pong was an early favorite), reading R. Crumb comics, doodling Deadhead faces, watching Frankenstein movies. She was less keen on her dad’s day job, which she likened to being the chief of some strange tribe. “For a long time, it was so oppressive and embarrassing,” she says. “It wasn't like everyone was saying, ‘Oh, that's the rock star family.’ No, we were just dirty fucking hippies in Marin County as far as I could tell.” 

Read it.

• The brand? It's called Garcia Hand Picked.