Happy Friday everyone,

Here’s a question: Would you or someone you work for be interested in doing Ask Me Anything sessions for select WeedWeek readers? If so, drop me a line at alex@weedweek.net.

In today’s newsletter:

• Former MedMen execs give “damning testimony” in court
• Election Day 2021
• Vegas wrap up and pics

Alex

*

Hiring? The new WeedWeek Careers Center offers a great value prop for employers. Get a 15% discount on the $299 Job Flash Package with promo code: WeedWeek15.

Reach the most influential audience in cannabis by advertising in the self-serve WeedWeek store. For a limited time you can get a 30% discount with the promo code WeedWeek30. 

Want to learn more about email blasts, sponsored content and other promotional opportunities? Download our media kit or contact hello@weedweek.net.

Our advertising policy.

*

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram!

WeedWeek regularly links to paywalled content.

Cannabiz tribes gathered in Las Vegas last month for the industry’s largest jamboree since December 2019. Back then there was only one tentpole conference, MJBizCon, and none of us had heard of the coronavirus. This year, tens of thousands of industry professionals returned to MJBizCon while also checking out a new rival conference, MJUnpacked, at the Mandalay Bay.

Of course there were dozens of parties, dinners, networking free-for-alls, not-so-secret seshes, brunches, awards ceremonies and other chances to celebrate how far the industry has come, and to plan for the road ahead. Here are a few of our favorite pics from the festivities.   

Do your part to make High Society possible, get vaccinated.

Check out the pics.

More Vegas wrap-up:

• Andrew DeAngelo discussed his panel on whether cannabis culture and big business can co-exist.
  Forbes
• Writer Alexa Oliphant checked out MJUnpacked.
  Stupid Dope
• MJUnpacked’s Blues Brothers benefit concert starring Dan Ackroyd and Jim Belushi raised $70,000 for the Last Prisoner Project.
  @steve.deangelo
• @thefarechild posted pics from its Zodiac Party.
• Toxic masculinity was erumpent, writes veteran industry writer Rachelle Gordon. Her piece, for Beard Bros. Pharms notes that the much tweeted fight on the floor of MJBizCon, re-ignited later at the Spearmint Rhino gentlemen’s club.

Business:

• J.P. Morgan said it would restrict trading in some U.S. pot stocks. Business Insider posted the mega-bank’s letter.
  Reuters
• Business Insider looks into the legal, but fraught, practice of paid stock promotion, which is popular in emerging industries. 
• Five PotCos made Inc.’s 250-best led companies list.
  MJBiz
• A legal “supercase” is shaping up in Illinois over licensing.
  Grown In
• Several Native American tribes are looking for cannabis partners, MJBiz reports. 
• Texas Monthly takes a look at the state’s nascent hemp industry.

Health and Science:

• A group of physicians convened by Canopy Growth have developed new protocols for taking MED for chronic pain.
  Benzinga

Fun and interesting:

• An article in the San Francisco Chronicle had a harsh assessment of Grass Lands, the cannabis pavilion at the Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco. Another article in the same publication had a much more favorable view. Industry voices agreed with the latter.
  Highly Objective
• The new animated series The Freak Brothers has an impressive voice over cast including Woody Harrelson, John Goodman, Tiffany Haddish and La La Anthony. It’s based on the underground comic series “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.”
• Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker declines to puff a morning pre-roll at a NorCal B&B. Maybe she read the infamous 2014 column by fellow Pulitzer Prize winner Maureen Dowd of the New York Times. 

• Deloitte, HiFyre and BDSA released a report on cannabis pricing. “National pricing does not exist,” it notes. 
• BDSA found the five top performing brands nationwide in Q3.
• Grower Kyle Kushman likes to sing to his plants.
  Respect My Region
• Legal weed is now the fifth most valuable crop in America, Leafly says in its harvest report.
• A marketing consultant explains how PotCos can advertise on Google.
  MJBiz
• The libertarian Cato Institute argues taxes and regulations are stifling California’s cannabiz.
• A survey by The Cannigma and Amanda Reiman found women are more likely than men to replace prescription drugs with MED.

• Non-profit Humboldt Grace is currently hosting an online auction to benefit Emerald Triangle farmers affected by wildfires.
• Catalyst Cannabis, Immersia Labs and The Blacklist are hosting the November 13 Harvest for Heroes festival in Long Beach, Calif. to benefit Veterans for Cannabis.
• The Luxury Meets Cannabis Conference is set for November 11 and 12 in New York City.
• Double Blind and Miss Grass are hosting a November 16 online conversation on Cannabis vs. Psychedelics with Dr. Jeff Chen, head of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative. 
• Today in San Francisco, California NORML is celebrating the 25th anniversary of legal MED. 
• Cannabis experience The Stone Age is hosting a CWCB Expo after party tonight in New York City.

• SoCal brand Pure Beauty launched a conversation starting product: the first cannabis menthol cigarettes. (Pictured)  Earlier this year the FDA said it would ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. Health advocates have said menthol cigarette marketing has targeted Black communities.  
  STAT
• Vape company PAX released a new Releaf Era Pod to benefit Weed for Warriors. 
• Salty and savory edibles brand TSUMo launched in California. The company is also hosting “Snacksgiving Challenge” for the most appetizing holiday dishes made with its chips and cheese puffs.
• Flower by Edie Parker released a new line of fruit pipes.
• @overheardla captures a hazard of legalization.
• CBD seltzer brand Rhythm released Rhythm Sport, a “hydrating seltzer,” line. 
• Accessories line Higher Standards released a heavy duty spoon pipe to benefit Last Prisoner Project.
• In Colorado, edibles brand Cheeba Chews released a new THCX Charged chocolate taffy. Each morsel contains 5 mg THC and 2.5 mg of THCV, a lesser known cannabinoid the company says has an energizing effect. 

• Spring Leaf Capital‘s David Kram says a big institutional investor suddenly wants to go green.
• Comic artist Brian “Box” Brown paid tribute to Greg Longenecker, a grower with mobility issues who had a tragic encounter with police.
• Rapper and Cookies co-founder and CEO Berner said he was out of his cancer-related surgery and the doctors said it went well. He also posted about new music dropping soon.
  @berner415
• Max Simon, CEO of WeedWeek advertiser Green Flower Media, asked about what kind of cannabis goes into edibles.
• PR and social media expert Alice Moon highlights a new feature on Instagram.