together with

Happy Friday Pre Rollers! Welcome to another edition of The Pre Roll, the cannabis newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on the industry happenings you need to know.

Here’s what we’re rolling up this week:

• Cresco and Columbia Care call off $2 billion merger

• Minnesota market kicks off, kinda

• Cannabis scheduling updates

…and more. Let’s get to it.

Was this email forwarded to you?

🚨 Roll Call

Business

Cresco, Columbia Care cancel combination. Multi-state operators Cresco Labs and Columbia Care have agreed to terminate a $2 billion megamerger that would have formed the largest cannabis company in the United States.

In a jointly-issued press release, the CEO of each company made a statement:

The deal was first disclosed in March of last year. The deadline was extended in February, but the cutoff to complete the merger was missed in June.

Both companies made The Americas’ Fastest-Growing Companies 2023 list — Cresco at #35, Columbia Care at #63 — from The Financial Times earlier this year.

Policy

Minnesota market kicks off, kinda. As of August 1, cannabis is officially now legal in Minnesota for use, possession, and home-grow. In May, Minnesota became the 23rd state to legalize adult-use cannabis as Governor Tim Walz signed the measure into law.

However, most dispensaries likely won’t open for at least another year or so as the state develops a licensing and regulatory system. The exception comes with tribal nations that remain sovereign and operate independently of state laws. The Red Lake Nation in northwestern Minnesota has already opened the state’s first recreational dispensary called NativeCare.

Policy

Deschedule or reschedule. A major question surrounding federal cannabis policy, and one that may feature prominently in discussions leading up to the 2024 presidential election, revolves around the scheduling of cannabis. As it stands, cannabis is considered a Schedule I drug, which are defined as “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”.

Last week, a pair of bipartisan senators grilled the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) about plans to deschedule cannabis during a House Judiciary hearing. To their dismay, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram testified that the agency has “not been given a specific timeline” to look into it.

On the flip side, in a conversation with Green Market Report, Howard Sklamberg, a notable former attorney at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), says he believes the Biden administration will reschedule cannabis either this year or in early 2024.

🇺🇸 State of the Industry

Maryland: Total cannabis sales — medical and recreational — topped $87 million in the first month of the legal adult-use market.

Massachusetts: Cannabis Control Commission chair Shannon O'Brien said the commission is “in crisis” amid announcing the departure of Executive Director Shawn Collins, who has run the agency since its inception.

📊 Business

Hemp Black inks deal with Under Armour

The subsidiary of Australia-based Ecofibre signed a $9 million annual supply deal to provide the American sportswear giant with specialty yarn made from its trademarked eco⁶ hemp biochar.

Slater Center reviewed by regulators

The prominent Rhode Island dispensary had regulators looking into its finances after a pair of bounced checks and several late payments to cultivators.

💨 Quick Hitters

• New York’s first adult-use dispensary Housing Works made more than $12 million in the first six months.

• The Boston Beer Company’s cannabis-infused iced tea brand TeaPot launched its newest flavor Good Evening Iced Tea in Blueberry Chamomile.

• According to a new study, Tokyo has the most expensive cannabis, while New York consumes the most.

📚 What We’re Reading

• Cannabis Industry Confronts Billion-Dollar Threat: Weak Weed (The Wall Street Journal)

• A beachside city became California’s legal cannabis capital. Not everyone is stoked (The Guardian)

• In states like New York with legal cannabis, black market marijuana is a growing problem: ‘It really is a constant battle’ (Fortune)

• 'Dreamtown' podcast examines how legal marijuana transformed one small town (NPR)

📼 Video of the Week

🔎 Job Board

• Customer Success Manager

  • Treez

  • $80,000

• Business Development Executive

  • Terrayn

  • $40,000—$60,000

• International Tax Manager

  • Tilray Brands

Stay tuned for more cannabis industry news next week!

💚,

The Pre Roll Team

*Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here.