In what's being billed as the biggest U.S. cannabis merger to date, Trulieve said it would acquire Harvest in a $2.1B all-stock deal. The conventional wisdom sees it as a way for the Florida-based MSO to become a major player in Arizona and have a beachhead in California.
MJBiz

• The merger would create a company with 126 dispensaries across 11 states.
• Trulieve says the merged company would be the most profitable MSO with $461M in estimated 2021 earnings on $1.2B in revenue.
• Dai Truong has the financial nitty gritty. Here's the investor deck.
• Trulieve is the dominant operator in Florida's MED-only market.
• The deal could usher in a wave of mergers which had declined since the pot stock crash of 2019 and 2020.

Sander Zagzebski, an M&A attorney at Clark Hill, told WeedWeek:

• The deal feels less frenzied and more strategic than the "land grab" mergers announced before the crash, some of which collapsed.
• The involvement of investment bank Moelis & Co. as an advisor to Harvest "indicates that this was probably a heavily negotiated and well-thought out deal."
• Zagzebski called it "very good news for the industry" and expects to see more like it in the coming quarters.

Separately, a message posted on Reddit, which claimed to be from "Trulieve workers" claimed "pay was late - again" and after "lots of people" walked off the company offered workers $50. 

• Trulieve declined to comment.

Quick Hit

1. In earnings news: MSO MedMen saw revenue drop. Curaleaf did not.
2. Cannabis is expected to add $92B to the U.S. economy in 2021.
   MJBiz

The vape business is beginning to reconcile with its environmental impact:

WeedWeek:

"The vast majority of single-use plastics, the use of which are mandated for cannabis companies in most jurisdictions, end up in landfills, according to a 2020 report by the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA). Landfills are also the final destinations for many vape products, a large swath of which are sold as disposable.

Learn all about it.

This story was made possible by The Blinc Group.

Quick Hit

1. Pistil Data CEO Jeffrey Graham posted the top 5 vape brands in California, by store penetration.

In 2015, former Bacardi executive George Scorsis was intrigued by cannabis but realized that from a branding perspective, the industry had a long way to go. Nonetheless, he accepted a position as president of Mettrum, one of Canada's first major cannabis companies.

Now leading his third cannabis company, WeedMD, Scorsis is a bit of a contrarian: While companies on both sides of the border chase recreational users, he continues to focus on the medical side of the business. It’s a strategy that has served him well. So far, Scorsis has led two medical-oriented companies to nine figure acquisitions.

Read the WeedWeek Spotlight.

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Goings on:

• Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he is prioritizing federal legalization over bank reform. His proposal is expected to drop in the coming weeks.
  Marijuana Moment
• America's reddest states are embracing MED.
  Politico
• A WSJ story looks at how pot lobbyists, advocates and unions are beginning to resemble those in other industries. 
• The National Institute on Drug Abuse said 5 mg THC will be considered a "standard dose" for research purposes, despite variances in consumption method. This is roughly the equivalent to a can of beer, a glass of wine or a shot each qualifying as one drink.
  Marijuana Moment
• Four Twenty Bank in Palm Springs, Calif. may be the biggest consumption lounge in the country. It's part of a pot boom in the SoCal desert.
  NBC
• An officer with the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. called for the relocation of a popular Cookies dispensary on Melrose Ave., which has attracted complaints since at least last fall.
  WeHoVille
• A prominent executive at Massachusetts operator NETA was fired after her husband opened a competing store.
• Wholesale marketplace LeafLink partnered with Foursquare to produce a report on cannabis consumer behavior and preferences during the pandemic.
• Venerable rolling papers brand Zig Zag is has discovered the cannabis market.
  CFO Dive
• Medical psychedelics could change psychiatry forever.
  N.Y.Times
• Flow Kana, a purveyor of sun grown cannabis products, asked 28 experts to take the #sungrownchallenge, comparing indoor vs. outdoor product. Guess which won. (YouTube)