Hi all,

This is the last WeedWeek newsletter of 2023.

Thanks so much for your continuing interest. It means the world to me. Have a happy and restful holiday season and get ready for what’s sure to be an eventful 2024 in cannabis and otherwise.

Alex

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Stiiizy partner alleges rampant “self-dealing” and illegal activity

Stiiizy’s CFO and controller recently resigned rather than sign auditor letters that “falsely claimed” co-founders Tony Huang and Samuel Cho were not involved with the company, alleges a lawsuit filed by one of Stiiizy’s partners.

The allegation is one of many in an August complaint filed in LA County by Raquel Origel, a former Stiiizy director who co-owns two Stiiizy dispensaries in San Bernardino. It alleges that Stiiizy and related entities “diverted all the [stores’] profits to itself”, repeatedly breached their operating agreements and participates in the unlicensed market.

Stiiizy president Tak Sato previously told WeedWeek that the company “has absolutely zero connection to any unlicensed stores or sales.”

Read the story…

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PLUS: Here’s some of our best work from 2023:

1. A Plant Divided: Can weed and hemp get along?
2. Berner discussed past pimping experiences
3. Dead Trulieve worker coughed “whenever the grinding was done,” OSHA
4. Our coverage of Herbl’s collapse.
5. Could Cookies’ THAa gambit pay off? PLUS lots more coverage of Cookies.
6. Glass House sues Catalyst for defamation.
7. Dead Green Thumb worker was repeatedly hospitalized.
8. Mendocino growers seek “urgent” state intervention
9. Seven ways to see a debt crisis
10. Eaze lawyer grew “increasingly concerned” over Calif. partnerships

California AG Rob Bonta declared in a 36 page opinion that California could not proceed with plans to set up trade agreements with other states. Doing so, he argued, would create “significant legal risk” for the state. Many companies and the state Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) had hoped interstate trade could be a boon for the state’s struggling market. It also had support from Governor Gavin Newsom (D).
SFGate, WeedWeek

Last year, California enacted a law that would have created a pathway for interstate sales provided it got the green light from the federal government or California’s Justice Department. Bonta, long known as an industry ally, said there are “strong arguments” for interstate commerce being permissible, but “We are not in a position to make political or economic predictions about whether the U.S. or another party” would sue.

“We appreciate the Attorney General’s conclusion that the arguments supporting interstate agreements are ‘strong,” DCC spokesman wrote to SFGate. “Unfortunately, even strong arguments cannot put novel questions beyond all debate. If you are looking for certainty, you will not find it in cannabis,”

Federal:

• Dow Jones suggests rescheduling could happen close to next November’s election.
• President Biden expanded his cannabis pardons to folks busted on federal land.
• Forbes talked to superlawyer David Boies, who’s trying to legalize REC.

Business:

• State regulators still can’t keep up with questionable potency data from labs.
  MJBiz
• Cannabis Business Times interviewed Kim Rivers CEO of leading MSO Trulieve.
• MJBiz assessed five new state markets.
• Massachusetts-based MSO Theory Wellness thinks it can escape industry hated tax rule 280E by becoming employee owned. It’s also opening what it calls the country’s first beverage dispensary near Boston.
  Green Market Report, Boston Globe
• AdWeek picked its top 10 weed marketing campaigns of 2023.
• Consultancy Whitney Economics is taking a nationwide survey about unpaid bills.

State and local:

• New York regulators have been hit with another lawsuit over their licensing program.
  Law360
• Missouri Regulators are wrestling with whether licensees can add hemp-infused THC to products. The state also disqualified a quarter of the 48 equity licensees.
  Missouri Independent
• CNN investigates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) quiet support for the MED industry.
• Michigan dispensaries are closing and ghosting on their bills.
  MLive
• Colorado edibles brand Coda Signature closed shop.
  Westword
• In southern Oregon, the illegal market is dominant, Willamette Week reports.
• The Feds are warning Georgia about plans to be the first state to let pharmacies sell MED.
  AP

Health and science:

• Hemp derived gummies are sending kids to hospitals.
  WSJ
• New Scientist checks out a lab making “futuristic weed.”

International:

• In the middle of war, Ukrainian lawmakers passed a MED bill.
  Marijuana Moment

Book:

• Massachusetts physician Ben Caplan has a new book out: “The Doctor-Approved Cannabis Handbook.”

Fun and interesting:

• Talking Joints Memo shared a recipe for its favorite cocktail: Infused Cubed.

State:

• A ballot measure on decriminalizing psychedelics could change the situation for pot taxes.
  Marijuana Moment

Business:

• SoCal-based MedMen agreed to sell its Arizona and Nevada assets to Arizona-based Mint Cannabis.

Local:

• The SacBee checks out Crystal Nugs, the city’s first pot shop owned by a Black woman.
• Respect My Region shares a history of weed smoking in San Francisco.
• At the new Cookies in Fresno, some folks waited 22 hours to meet CEO Berner.