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In the newsletter:

• LA market crisis deepens

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Alex

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“This is not equity, this is exploitation!” Evelyn Brinson co-owner of Mid-City Los Angeles social equity dispensary The Green Paradise seethed to a city council committee in April. “It’s a fucking fee trap.”

LA may be the toughest city in the country to run a pot shop.

Read the story

Business:

• The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Mississippi’s MED advertising ban.
  MJBiz
• Leading MSOs Trulieve and Green Thumb Industries kicked off earnings season. GTI turned a profit.
  Cultivated 
• Some operators are using Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) to skirt industry-hated tax rule 280E.
  MJBiz
• California operator Leef Brands is “building a bitcoin treasury.“
• George Clooney’s Casamigos, and sister Diageo brand Don Julio were sued over the agave content of their tequila.
  NYPost
• Brands, do these seven things to get dropped by a dispensary, marketer Angela Pih says.

State and local:

• A bill to create the country’s first state-run REC market has momentum in Pennsylvania. If passed as is, it would undermine the MSOs with beachheads in the state’s MED market, consultant AnnaRae Grabstein posted.
  Marijuana Moment
• A Colorado judge rejected an operator’s injunction request designed to crack down on inversion.
  Courthouse News Service
• Nebraska lawmakers advanced a de facto hemp ban.
  Nebraska Examiner
• With a new REC ballot measure circulating, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill making it harder for initiatives to get on the ballot.
  Orlando Sentinel
• Separately, former prosecutors suggested DeSantis could have broken federal law in funding the opposition to the failed 2024 REC initiative. He has denied wrongdoing.
  Miami Herald
• There have been molotov cocktail attacks on three Chicago area dispensaries.
  Illinois News Joint
• The owner of a Michigan business was banned from the industry for selling to minors and other offenses.
  Crain’s Detroit Business

Health and science:

• The Wall Street Journal‘s health columnist discussed hemp-derived drinks.

State:

• AB 564 to repeal the coming excise tax hike passed another committee 6-0.
  Cannabis Business Times
• Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said nearly 100% of businesses visited by inspectors are in compliance with his hemp ban, which expires in a few months.

Business:

• SCOOP: According to a court filing, Gold Flora, which recently went into receivership, allegedly has debt and liabilities in excess of $250M including $23M to four separate lenders and $18M in state taxes.
• THC Design is working with agency Super Okay to develop the “great American cannabis brand.“

Local:

• A NorCal tribe sued law enforcement alleging illegal raids on their land.
  SFGate
• Siskiyou Co. sheriff disputes Newsom’s enforcement claims.
  KRCR
• A public health forum in Oxnard focused on cannabis and tobacco.
  Ventura County Star