• So much unregistered weed flows through the state that keeping one’s paws out of the figurative jar during one of The state’s dysfunction spasms has proved difficult.
• “I have to imagine that 60% of the market overall is probably playing in parallel markets, but I don’t think they enjoy that. It’s truly a decision of necessity,” Pacific Expeditors narc, er, CEO Chris Columbe said.
• Though a touchy subject — feds are watching — local California media have previously engaged this issue.

1. Meanwhile, your tax dollars went into busting a 78 year-old Squaw Valley grower and jacking his 2,000 plants, as well as another seizure of 1,400 lovely THC producers, this time in Calaveras County. KCRA/KSEE
2. More than 100,000 people attended last week’s World Ag Expo, in Tulare. Of the 1,400 exhibitors,  the most popular had space in the expo’s brand-new Hemp Education and Marketing Pavillion. Some of the most innovative hemp-cultivation technology and the people who sell it can be seen here. Foothills Sun Gazette/Hemp Industry Daily
3. Regulation is a top issue in a Santa Barbara County Supervisors race. In an op-ed, a supporter of challenger Laura Capps goes after longtime incumbent Das Williams for what she calls a “shameless” coziness to the industry. Santa Barbara Independent

• Granting pot patients the same rights as prescription drug users, the NORML-supported bill would explicitly make it against the law for employers to refuse to hire a person over MED use, as well as fire an employee over it.
• Sixteen American states have MED patient protections.

• Some of the wine folk believe weed will damage Napa Valley’s reputation and—potentially—the region’s vaunted grapes themselves. "You have to protect the Napa name," said Ryan Klobas, CEO of the Napa County Farm Bureau.
• The REC insurgents of Napa county have support from investors such as Francis Ford Coppola and the Robert Mondavi heirs. They believe their product to be the region’s one sure way of holding onto millennials, who are consuming all-time low levels of wine.

1. Hello Again is an all-natural cannabis-infused menopause care product. After months of anticipation, it’s now available for retail in California. PR Newwire

• If you can pick up the pot you want to buy and inspect i or you got a free pre-roll for showing up or you watched the budtender weigh it and \purchasing that weight didn’t liberate your wallet of its cash? That’s for sure an unregistered dispensary.
• Also, there’s a QBR code that can answer this riddle before you even step inside (and enjoy those savings!)

Quick Hit

1. Eureka’s Humboldt Seed Company is a carbon-neutral enterprise that has its tendrils in states and nations around the world. MG Retailer

• The law going into effect lowers the Long Beach municipal tax rate from 6% to 1% for manufacturers, distributors, and testing labs. “Lowering the tax rate will also help keep more jobs in Long Beach because it helps keep prices competitive,” said Long Beach Collective Association  President Adam Hijazi. The LBCA, also cited improved public safety among the tax decrease’s potential benefits.

• Most fraud cases brought by the SEC concern operations that present themselves as cannabis businesses but instead are schemes.
• Experian's 2020 "Data Breach Industry Forecast" for 2020 lists cannabis among green energy and cryptocurrency industries expected to more frequently targeted for cyberattacks.
• "The unscrupulous people who have always existed — the out-and-out fraudsters — take advantage of investors who want to make a buck quickly," said former prosecutor Jodi Avergun.

• Government relations expert Tiffany Coughlin Lichtig, whose background in gaming far outstrips her cannabis resume, will preside. Because San Francisco lacks cannabis compliance experts?
• Stop by Golden Gate at lunchtime  on Saturday, March 7 and ask the expert some deep cultural questions. The quality of future carpetbagging depends on you.

• Drum up some Acapaulco Gold should you have tickets for Helado Negro, which mixes present-tense Brooklyn with Latin American roots. In America, A.G. is the most well-known brand from south of the country’s border.
• For the surf-rock of Best Coast, one might consider Rock Star, which crosses Rockbud and Sensi Star and is by reputation a “potent indica-dominant hybrid that delivers strong effects without debilitating sedation.”

• Krisha Fairchild plays the grower, Devi, whose desperation increases as she accrues fines and faces prosecution.
• Freedland debuts next month at South-by-Southwest.