Cultivated Media

It's earnings season for many US publicly traded #cannabis firms, and of course, execs are answering questions about the prospects of federal reform under Trump 47. Despite having access to the same sources of information, they seem to be arriving at wildly different conclusions: Florida-based Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers says she's "optimistic," that the Administration will pursue industry-friendly reform, including normalized tax rates and banking access, but stopped short of legalization. Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries CEO Ben Kovler thinks the exact opposite: "We’ve seen things differently from our peers for a long time.... And we are not optimistic about changes in DC. Look at the appointees and look at Kennedy’s (RFK JR’s) total 180. So instead, we’re going to play offense… We think the people in DC are out to lunch." And Verano CEO George Archos landed somewhere in the middle. So what explains the difference? Well, for one, most of the industry prognostication over federal reform is pure speculation based on a few of Trump's social media posts. It's clear cannabis was never a day one initiative. Two, it's another sign that the industry should focus on profitability and controlling what it can control under the current regulatory environment. Read the latest Cultivated Media in the comments below.

Cannabis reform under Trump? Two industy CEOs see it very differently. Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers and Green Thumb Industries (GTI) CEO Ben Kovler have very different perspectives on cannabis reform under Trump. Is the Administration "...out to lunch..."? More from today's Cultivated Media ?? #cannabisnews #cannabisindustry

When New York legalized cannabis in 2021, it charted, or at least attempted to, a different path from other states. Instead of immediately opening the industry up to big, out-of-state publicly traded cannabis corporations, the state sought to use the economic opportunity provided by legalization as a form of?race and socio-economic based reparations for those harmed by the War on Drugs. That meant giving “social equity” license-holders —?people with cannabis convictions or close family members with convictions under previous laws — the first crack at the burgeoning market. But those lofty goals bumped up against economic and political reality. The proliferation of unlicensed cannabis shops quickly filled consumer demand, while legal dispensaries had to jump through multiple bureaucratic hoops to get stores open. And few investors and banks were willing to lend capital to cannabis operators, given federal illegality and elusive profits in other states. To remedy this, the state set up a $200 million social equity fund backed by investment firm?Chicago Atlantic?and secured by state taxpayers in order to provide capital to these entrepreneurs. Several lawmakers, including in the highest levels of Albany and the state’s?Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), portrayed the social equity fund as a “generational wealth opportunity.” It turned out to be anything but. The fund left many entrepreneurs, such as?Roland Conner, the owner of the dispensary Smacked, in a “debt trap,” that made doing business nearly impossible,?The New York Times’ Ashley Southall reports. That fact belies the broader recent success in the New York market, which crossed $1 billion of sales earlier this year. Read more in today's Cultivated Media in the comments below.

In today's Cultivated Media New Hampshire tries... again? A Republican led bill passed the state House, though it would only remove penalties for cannabis consumption and use. NH residents would still have to drive to Vermont or Maine to buy legal. Gov. Kelly Ayotte, however, has signaled that she would veto any cannabis reform legislation that crossed her desk, following Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's example. New Hampshire is the only state in New England where cannabis isn't legal. State lawmakers have tried multiple times but could never reach an agreement — Republicans wanted total state control, Democrats wanted a more free market, small-business oriented approach. It’s a reminder that everything with cannabis policy is bizarro-world. Read more in the link below, and be sure to subscribe to get all the cannabis industry news, insights, and updates you need to crush your job in your inbox daily.