Category: Marijuana News

In a tale of two program rollouts, New York’s licensed cannabis dispensaries have reported more than $100 million in adult-use sales so far in 2023, while Missouri stores have surpassed $1.1 billion in total cannabis sales this year.

Similar aged markets, New York launched its commercial adult-use retail program via one social equity licensee on Dec. 29, 2022, while Missouri launched adult-use sales via existing medical cannabis operators on Feb 3, 2023.

New York

Now with 27 licensed adult-use retailers—including 22 stores and five delivery-only operators—New York eclipsed $104 million in adult-use sales through the first 10 months of the year, according to the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM).

In addition, New York regulators have approved 54 cannabis grower showcases (CGS) allowing licensed growers and processors to work with retailers to set up temporary shops and showcase their products at events like farmers markets where consumers can make cannabis purchases. These events have provided $3.4 million in sales, OCM Director of Policy John Kagia said while presenting his sales report during the Cannabis Control Board’s regular meeting Nov 17.

Cannabis flower made up 52% of sales at these CGS events, while edibles (20%), prerolls (11%), vapes (11%) and concentrates (5%) were

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Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez has authored a bill to legalize cannabis for adult use, Hawaii News Now reports. The measure seeks to keep the state’s medical cannabis industry intact by not imposing taxes on medical-only cannabis sales, while imposing a 10% tax surcharge and 4.25% excise tax on adult-use sales.

The measure creates the Hawaii Cannabis Authority, which would regulate the cannabis industry, and oversee product testing, program enforcement, and social equity and health education programs created by the legislation.

State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole (D), Consumer Protection chair, told Hawaii News Now the plan is “the best version to date.”

Prior legalization efforts in the state had faced pushback from the attorney general’s office but Lopez, who was confirmed in April, said during the confirmation process that she wanted to “create a structure that will allow the state to have legal recreational marijuana with as few problems as other states on the mainland have experienced,” according to Hawaii News Now.

Part of Lopez’s plan is to offer state grants and support to growers currently operating illegally and help them adopt a traditional retail model and deal with regulation and taxation.

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BudSense

BudSense is ready to present its latest offering and a first-of-its-kind innovation: Automated Print Cards.

Regina, Canada, Nov. 21, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BudSense, known as an industry trailblazer in the cannabis sector for their customizable menu platform, is ready to present its latest offering and a first-of-its-kind innovation: Automated Print Cards. This green field solution is poised to add much needed improvements to merchandising management for dispensaries, offering an unmatched blend of convenience, efficiency, and compliance.

“A cornerstone innovation for sure. We’ve been building automated print cards since legalization, when we learned first hand how hard cannabis menu management can be. Inventory moves so fast and without the right tools manually updating menu assets makes it near impossible to run a smooth operation.” Says Founder David Thomas, speaking about his dispensary operation experience.

In the dynamic evolution of the cannabis industry, dispensary owners encounter the ongoing task of managing product variations, fluctuating THC/CBD potencies batch to batch, price adjustments, and updated descriptions, all while ensuring compliance with local and state regulations.

Conventional approaches to creating and managing print and pricing cards frequently prove labor intensive when addressing these challenges, resulting in operational inefficiencies and increased compliance risks.

Shahbaaz Kara, Cannabis Collective Co-Founder sees BudSense’s

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New York cannabis regulators have finalized rules for intoxicating hemp products in the state, which include a ban on Delta-8 THC, THC-A, and THC-O, Syracuse.com reports. The regulations also require hemp products that include THC must have CBD-THC ratios of 15-1 and limit THC to 10 milligrams per package and 1 milligram of THC per serving.  

The rules, first published as emergency rules in July, were the subject of an injunction by Supreme Court Judge Thomas Marcelle last week; however, the injunction does not apply to the finalized version of the rules. 

Joshua Bauchner, chair of the cannabis and psychedelics group at Mandelbaum Barrett PC, told Syracuse.com that he expects legal challenges to the adopted regime because they amount to a government body banning the sale of a legal product. 

“I think there’s gonna be a lot of constitutional challenges to what the state’s trying to do here, and it just smacks of government overreach.” — Bauchner to Syracuse.com 

During the meeting, the Cannabis Control Board also approved new fees for cannabis testing laboratories – either 1% of the lab’s gross revenue, or $1,000 (whichever is greater) and approved registration renewals for nine of

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Cannabis sales in Missouri totaled $113.1 million in October, according to Department of Health and Senior Services data. In all, adult-use cannabis sales reached $95.5 million with medical cannabis sales topping $17.6 million.  

According to state data, medical sales were about $2 million less than the previous month and have been on the decline every month since March, when sales reached $32.7 million. In April, sales dipped to $30.1 million, then to $28.3 million in May, to $26 million in June, to $24.5 million in July, and to $22 million in August.

Adult-use sales in the state have ebbed from month to month but were down about $2.3 million from September to October. September sales totals increased about $1.2 million from the previous month but dipped about $1.7 million from July to August. July’s totals were up about $3.5 million from June and the state has seen at least $90 million in sales every month since March.  

The state collects a 6% sales tax on adult-use cannabis products and a 4% tax on medical cannabis products. Most of the taxes collected go to veterans’ services – which has so far totaled<span

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In the past 10 months, the Official Dispensary Showroom Tour embarked on an intentional journey across New York state, covering diverse regions including The Bronx, Queens, Mount Vernon, Buffalo, Rochester, Long Island, Syracuse, and Poughkeepsie.

From license application bootcamps led by top legal firms to a life-sized dispensary demonstrating compliance with current regulations, the emphasis was on ensuring that under-resourced communities gained the knowledge necessary to actively participate in the ever-evolving New York cannabis industry.

By integrating workforce development and local community groups, the tour not only showcased compliance education but also contributed to equitable job opportunities, thereby reinforcing its role as a model for inclusivity and economic empowerment in the cannabis landscape.

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to have worked with some of the smartest, hardest working cannabis retail operators in the world (and even luckier to now call some of them my colleagues), and I’ve learned a few things from them along the way.

Here are some tips I shared during the tour for anyone looking to open a cannabis retail dispensary in New York:

Identify the decision makers.

When it comes to opening a dispensary, identifying your decision makers and forging connections with them as

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SEATTLE — A group of thieves used a stolen Kia to smash their way into a cannabis dispensary in north Seattle early Tuesday morning.

Diane Walter, the vice president of Have a Heart, told KOMO News she got a call after 2 a.m. saying a car had driven through the dispensary’s Greenwood store, located on the 300 block of NW 85th Street.

Surveillance video from outside Have a Heart in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood shows a Kia backing into the front of the business multiple times. A group of people can be seen standing on the side of the store waiting with bags in hand.

The video shows the vehicle slam into the front of the building at least three times before it broke through the front doors. The group of people are then seen running inside the store as the driver of the vehicle that hit the building gets out and runs inside.

Walter said there was “pretty extensive” damage to the front of the store.

“They ran a car three times into our steel doors. It took three times for them to break into our steel doors,” Walter told KOMO News. “Our framing, everything is completely torn apart.”

Video from outside the dispensary shows the

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SEATTLE — A group of thieves used a stolen Kia to smash their way into a cannabis dispensary in north Seattle early Tuesday morning.

Diane Walter, the vice president of Have a Heart, told KOMO News she got a call after 2 a.m. saying a car had driven through the dispensary’s Greenwood store, located on the 300 block of NW 85th Street.

Surveillance video from outside Have a Heart in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood shows a Kia backing into the front of the business multiple times. A group of people can be seen standing on the side of the store waiting with bags in hand.

SURVEILLANCE PHOTOS: Smash-and-grab at Have a Heart Greenwood

The video shows the vehicle slam into the front of the building at least three times before it broke through the front doors. The group of people are then seen running inside the store as the driver of the vehicle that hit the building gets out and runs inside.

Walter said there was “pretty extensive” damage to the front of the store.

“They ran a car three times into our steel doors. It took three times for them to break into our steel doors,” Walter told KOMO News. “Our framing, everything is completely torn

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The Thanksgiving table at the home of dispensary owners Joshua Corbett and Tifini Scarcella boasts quite the spread. Corbett, who is Black, married the Italian-American Scarcella in 2010, and their feast resembles a tasty mashup of their respective cultures and traditional fare.

“It’s my favorite holiday,” Corbett says. “Our table looks pretty good now. There’s things like collard greens, cranberry sauce, a little pasta and a whole bunch of rare cheeses.”

Corbett and Scarcella own Buku Loud, one of the most popular medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado Springs. But a sizable number of residents have also heard of Buku Loud thanks to the couple’s turkey and teddy bear drive, which is now one of the state’s largest food drives around Thanksgiving.

In 2018, the same year the dispensary opened, they held their first Thanksgiving drive, giving away around 130 turkeys on a couple of fold-out tables. Four years later, the total reached 2,000. This year, the couple led an effort that provided over 3,000 turkeys to those in need, and the meal didn’t end there.

Corbett and Scarcella’s Thanksgiving giveaway on Saturday, November 18, boasted a free farmers’ market complete with sweet potatoes, onions, gravy kits and over 1,000 apple pies, as well as hundreds

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San Francisco APEC turned out to be a gut punch to a commercial area that has been struggling to recover since the pandemic.

Four businesses The Standard spoke to that are based in and around the APEC security zone said contrary to the summit’s billing as a shot in the arm for business, the results were the exact opposite, as food rotted and seats remained empty for an entire week.

Pedestrians walk through and around metal barricades at the corner of Fourth and Mission streets in San Francisco on Nov. 14, 2023. | Source: Justin Katigbak/The Standard

Business owners blamed the lack of customers on messaging urging people not to visit the area unless they had to, the physical barriers around the Moscone Center security perimeter and the protests.

At the Grove, a restaurant on 690 Mission St., revenue was down 40% during the APEC conference, with 350 fewer customers than a normal week, according to David Cohen, CEO of the Grove’s parent company.

‘It Destroyed Our Financials’

“We stayed open to be a part of this event to showcase the city, and we saw a huge sales drop,” Cohen said. “It destroyed our financials.”

Cohen said the Grove is normally packed all day during large conferences

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