Hi all,

Sorry I’m late again. Here we go:

• Mendo growers demand “urgent” state intervention
• Judge rules cannabis user gun ban unconstitutional

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Mendocino County growers demand urgent intervention

A group representing Mendocino County growers has requested an “urgent [state] intervention” to accelerate the county’s licensing process. In a 16-page memo to Governor Gavin Newsom and Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) executive director Nicole Elliott, it argues delays by the county government have pushed small and legacy growers to “the brink of irreversible failure.”

The bureaucratic morass in some of the most hallowed cannabis terroir comes on top of miserable market conditions that have legacy growers leaving the legal market statewide.

In the memo, Mendocino Cannabis Alliance executive director Michael Katz writes that nearly six years into the licensing process, the county has “struggled to establish a functional permit application system.”

As of late January, the memo says, only six of the counties’ 623 of state cultivation licenses (<1%) had been transitioned from provisional to annual. Next door in Humboldt, 882 of the 1,414 state licenses…

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A federal law banning gun ownership by cannabis users is unconstitutional, an Oklahoma federal judge ruled.
Reuters

Trump appointee Patrick Wyrick dismissed an indictment against a man charged with violating the ban saying it infringed on his Second Amendment rights.

• Wyrick said that while the government can protect the public from dangerous people possessing guns, it could not argue Jared Harrison’s “mere status as a user of marijuana justifies stripping him of his fundamental right to possess a firearm.”
• He said using marijuana was “not in and of itself a violent, forceful, or threatening act,” 

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Business:

• Once proud Canopy Growth reported another dismal quarter, more layoffs and the closure of its original facility. Retired executive Rob McPherson continues to mock the company.
  CBC
• Nationwide, sales were up 5% in December.
  New Cannabis Ventures
• Gardening company Scotts Miracle-Gro is suing MSO TerrAscend and its chairman Jason Wild over the acquisition of New York license holder Etain. 
  Green Market Report
• Rolling paper maker Republic won a permanent injunction against marketing claims made by rival Raw.
• MedMen is warning of possible imminent collapse.
  MJBiz
• Coindesk asks if crypto can save the cannabis.
• “Beware the false promise of cannabis unions,” Mitchell Osak warns.
• Ophelia Chong isn’t happy about the convenience store-bound “Frankenstein” products she saw at Champs.

State and local:

• I warned that the New York market could soon be facing similar problems to California.
  NY Post
• To undermine the illegal market, New York is going after unlicensed businesses’ landlords.
  Fox40
• A Nevada bill would remove weed’s status as a controlled substance and streamline regulation.
  Fox5Vegas
• Contrary to a decision in Maine, a federal judge in Washington state ruled against an out of state investor fighting the state’s residency requirements.
  Law360
• Legalization efforts in Indiana struggle to find a foothold.
  WFYI
• Oklahomans vote on a REC ballot initiative March 7.
  The Oklahoman
• In Minnesota, former Gov. Jesse Ventura still supports legalizing.
  CBS

International:

• Amsterdam banned weed in its red light district.
  BBC

Fun and interesting:

• The L.A. Times checks out the consumption scene in Palm Springs.

Company milestones:

• MSO Ayr Wellness is exiting Arizona.
• Track and trace software Metrc’s latest state is Missouri.
  MJBiz
• Cannabis Business Times named the best cannabiz companies to work for.

Upcoming:

• A new National Geographic documentary checks in on Steve DeAngelo.
• Consultancy Regennabis will hold its second Regenerative Cannabis Live Event at the United Nations on May 11.
• @cannabiscapitol is taking over the 420-friendly Clarendon Hotel in Phoenix for Super Bowl weekend.