🌿 Rescheduling hearing postponed, Eaze restarts operations, and industry groups merge

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.

Introducing “Seed to Scale” — the newest section of the newsletter where we profile the people and products building the business of cannabis. Be sure to check it out at the bottom of today’s newsletter.

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

• Rescheduling hearing postponed

• Eaze restarts operations

• Industry groups merge

…and more. Let’s get to it.

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🚨 ROLL CALL

Policy

Rescheduling rescheduled. An Initial hearing scheduled to begin next week regarding the proposed rescheduling of cannabis has been postponed due to ongoing legal challenges. The ruling was given by DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge John Mulrooney II.

While this sets any movement back at least three months, there are some who believe it is ultimately good for the industry as the DEA’s involvement has drawn sharp criticism from many insiders. The next steps on rescheduling will now take place during the term of the incoming Trump administration. President Biden originally initiated the process in October of 2022.

Under the recommended reclassification, cannabis would move from Schedule I to Schedule III, representing the most significant policy shift in more than a half-century since the Controlled Substances Act came into effect.

Business

Eaze back up. Eaze Inc., which purchased the assets of its similar-sounding predecessor Eaze Technologies Inc. in November last year, has restarted operations of the cannabis delivery pioneer and retail giant. In total, 70 retail locations and two cultivation sites are now back up and running, with approximately 1,100 employees hired and onboarded across California, Colorado, and Florida. A first planting a its newly expanded Green Drag cultivation facility also took place; production capacity is growing from 32,000 to 64,000 square feet of flowering canopy.

Chief Executive Officer Cory Azzalino remains at the helm of the company.

Eaze originally indicated it was winding down operations and laying off close to 500 workers in October 2024.

Before temporarily shutting down, the cannabis delivery pioneer had completed over $1 billion in deliveries across its 10-year history.

Policy

Better together. The two largest cannabis industry groups are joining forces to create a singular authority for their policy advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill. The National Cannabis Roundtable (NCR) and US Cannabis Council (USCC) announced an agreement to combine the organizations, forming the US Cannabis Roundtable.

The new entity says it will focus on “common-sense reform initiatives” and lists the following as top priorities:

• Rescheduling cannabis to Schedule III

• Passing states’ rights legislation that allows each state to make its own decision on cannabis policy

• Enacting cannabis Banking Legislation (the SAFE/SAFER Banking Act)

• Ending the un-American scenario that allows foreign cannabis companies to list on the NASDAQ and NYSE while prohibiting state-licensed US cannabis companies from doing the same.

The combined organization will represent operators across 38 states and a substantial amount of the 13,000 retail locations and nearly 450,000 full-time employees working in the state-licensed cannabis industry.

🇺🇸 STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

Arkansas: Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) plans to use tax revenues from medical cannabis to fund free breakfast and lunch for students in schools.

Minnesota: The Office of Cannabis Management opened a 30-day public comment period with respect to rules and regulations for the recreational cannabis market.

💼 BUSINESS

Acreage fined for accounting violations

The vertically integrated multi-state operator will pay a civil penalty of $225,000 to the Securities and Exchange Commission over false records relating to a transfer of approximately $4 million allegedly aimed at inflating its year-end cash balance.

STIIIZY starts selling seltzers

The cannabis consumer brand and retailer launched a line of hemp-infused beverages in four flavors: Caribbean Breeze, Mango Tango, Strawberry Kiwi, and Watermelon Wave.

🤝 DEALS

High Tide gets going in Germany via acquisition

The Canadian cannabis company signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in German medical cannabis provider Purecan.

💻 TECH

Leafly learns of stock listing status shift

The online cannabis consumer marketplace company received notice that the Nasdaq stock exchange determined to delist its common stock due to failure to comply with specific listing rules.

🌏 AROUND THE WORLD

Czech Republic: Regulated sales of low-THC cannabis will begin in July of this year.

💨 QUICK HITTERS

• Miami finally got its first dispensary almost ten years after Florida legalized medical cannabis.

• The parent company of RAW cannabis rolling papers won $8.7M in a copyright infringement lawsuit.

• Former High Times founder and chairman Adam Levin agreed to plead guilty in a criminal conspiracy case.

• GTI partnered with iconic Chicago music venue The Salt Shed to bring an on-site retail from RISE Dispensaries with hemp-derived THC products.

• A man filed a lawsuit against a Portland cannabis dispensary claiming an employee recommended a THC dose that led to him ending up in the emergency room.

• San Diego’s first cannabis lounge is set to open next month.

• Federal agents seized $100,000 in state-legal cannabis products at a Border Patrol checkpoint from a Las Cruces, New Mexico-based cannabis company.

📚 WHAT WE’RE READING

• America's oldest active pot dispensary appears to be in crisis (SFGATE)

• Despite strict laws, Texas is awash in intoxicating cannabis (NPR)

• THC-infused hemp drinks are all the rage, but legal questions loom. (Bloomberg)

• How Michigan created a $10B weed market (POLITICO)

• Shareholders push back against high pay at some of Canada’s largest cannabis companies (The Globe and Mail)

• Is Alabama’s long stalled medical marijuana dispute finally nearing a solution? (AL.com)

🎙️ POTCASTS

• Signs of Recovery With Kyle Sherman, Founder and CEO of Flowhub (Higher Exchanges)

📽️ VIDEO OF THE WEEK

🔎 JOB BOARD

• Director, Learning & Development

  • Curaleaf

  • $140,000—$160,000

• Sr. Analyst, Retail Data

  • Cresco Labs

  • $74,000—$100,000

• Account Executive - NYC

  • Green Thumb Industries

  • $65,000—$85,000

📈 SEED TO SCALE

From booze to infused

Chicago-based Maplewood Brewery & Distillery has made a name for itself in the world of craft beer and spirits since 2014, when it opened as the first of its kind in Illinois to establish brewing and distilling roots under a single roof. It has always taken pride in pushing the boundaries.

After some persuading by its distributor and a number of unsolicited inquiries from vendors, it did just that when it cleverly revealed it was launching DRO — a new and now award-winning THC-infused seltzer — last October.

This was a way for Maplewood to branch out beyond beer and cater to an entirely different demographic, including many staff that don’t drink alcohol anymore. And it had two factors working in its favor: it was already making regular seltzer in the back-of-house and had successfully offered a similar product, WYNK, in cans at its taproom. The team knew it could be replicated.

To start, DRO was sold locally in Illinois at more than 95 on- and off-premise locations throughout the state, as well as in Maplewood’s local lounge. It came in 12 oz. slim cans with 5mg of THC in two flavors: Kushberry, a mixed berry concoction of raspberry and blackberry, and Grapefruit Lime Haze, which the team says taste like Squirt.

A THC “Tall Boy” was introduced in time for Dry January in Grimeberry Haze (a crossbred mix of the original two flavors) with 10mg of THC, available exclusively on-site at Maplewood.

DRO can now be found in more than 200 stores and nearly 1,000 cases have been sold.

As for what’s next? Much of that is still to be determined, but the team has big plans including creating a version with CBD added, formulating more flavors, selling nationwide, and offering DRO for delivery.

📨 PUFF, PUFF, PASS REEFERAL PROGRAM

Stay tuned for more cannabis industry news next week!

💚,

The Pre Roll Team

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