Hi all,

A pressing question as we eaze into peak summer:

• Can B Real break the celeb brand curse?

And so much more in today’s newsletter. Enjoy!

Alex

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What California’s top 25 flower brands say about the market

Headset data on California’s highest-grossing flower brands depicts a hypercompetitive market where the 25 bestsellers account for barely one-third of sales. Insiders say the list, shared exclusively with WeedWeek, shows how premium brands are struggling to adapt in the face of improving quality from greenhouse grows and an abundance of inexpensive, high quality product.

Flower’s market share has fallen to about 37% of the total state market but it still represents the single most important product category. California’s flower market does nearly $2B in sales annually.

• The top sellers include a range of flower types…

Read the story… 

PLUS: The cultivation tax dies unmourned, and lots more in the new WW California Pro.

The newsletter One Weed Please recently asked Headset to pull data on celebrity brand sales and the results came back very clear: No one is smoking it. Only one celeb brand, Seth Rogen’s Houseplant, made the top 100. Cypress Hill’s B Real thinks his Dr. Greenthumb’s dispensary and premium Insane brand can be an exception.

SoCal-native B Real’s arrival in the cannabiz had an air of inevitability. He’s been rapping about the plant since the early 1990s and is one of the movement’s most exalted cultural icons. But unimpeachable street cred hasn’t been enough for Willie Nelson, Bob Marley and plenty of other brands that haven’t lit the world on fire.

I spoke to Dr. Greenthumb’s exec Travis Howard about breaking the celebrity brand curse…

Federal:

• Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition is calling for a reinstatement of the Cole Memo, which essentially protected state-legal activity from federal prosecutors.
  Marijuana Moment
• WNBA star Brittney Griner plead guilty to drug charges in Russia. President Biden, under pressure to free cannabis prisoners at home, spoke to her wife. Russia is reportedly interested in exchanging her for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Business:

• Industry companies struggle to offer employees 401(k) plans.
  Pensions & Investments
• Former Speaker of the House John Boehner and powerful law and lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs asked a court to throw out a lawsuit alleging they stole talking points on legalization from another pro-legalization group.
• High Times Holdings bought a West Hollywood consumption lounge for $6M, most of it in “zero value stock.“
  Green Market Report
• State sales for May fell 7.6% year-over-year to $442.2M, per BDSA. Most other markets saw declines as well.
• Green Market Report explains why dispensaries often open in former banks.

State and local:

• Washington D.C. residents can now self-certify as MED patients.
  NBC
• Lawsuits over Illinois craft growing licenses keep piling up.
  Grown In
• Oklahoma activists say they have enough signatures to get REC on the ballot.
• A top Minnesota Democratic lawmaker described the state’s new edibles law, which allows hemp-derived THC products to be sold, as a step towards legalization. 
  Marijuana Moment, Twin Cities Business
• California eliminated its cultivation tax.
  LA Times
• Amid a last minute signature push, Nebraska activists face another legal hurdle before getting MED on the ballot.
  KETV (ABC)
• The CBS affiliate KLAS finds that five years of legal REC have been a financial boon for Nevada. 

Equity:

• Broccoli Mag meets a community of Zapotec growers in Mexico.

Health and science:

• Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham blamed the Highland Park, Ill. shooting on legalization.

Fun and interesting:

• Mashed tells how celebrity chef Todd English developed an infused mac and cheese recipe.

• California-based The Parent Company is expanding to Maryland through a partnership with Curio Wellness. It’s TPCO’s first out-of state expansion.
• California lab Cannasafe reportedly said it would cease operations.
  Analytical Cannabis
• The first Cookies store opened in Vienna, Austria. 
• Real estate player New Lake Capital invested $50M across three properties in Nevada and Pennsylvania.
• Bespoke Financial and PoS software company Blaze Solutions launched what they’re calling the industry’s first “tech-enabled B2B lending product,” similar to a credit line for dispensaries. It debuts in California and Massachusetts.
• In a first, brand Burb is opening a store at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

• LatAm Cann.BIZ is hosting a conference in Panama, Sept. 1-2.
• Higher Way Travel’s first Baked on the Beach trip in Hawaii will be August 11-14 in Oahu.
• ICBC Berlin is set for July 19-20.

• SōRSE exec Diana Eberlein discusses why infused beverages haven’t yet reached their potential.
• Lawyer Jeffrey Hoffman remembers a Philadelphia Grateful Dead show from 33 years ago.