<< Back to All NewslettersThe Big Apple (Pipe): New York Reaches a Deal to Legalize Recreational Marijuana
New York Times
OUR TAKEAWAY
The city that never sleeps might get a little help thanks to a recent deal struck between embattled Gov. Cuomo and the legislature. The bill permits delivery and consumption lounges, and also directs the majority of tax revenues towards drug treatment, prevention, education, and investments in communities disproportionately affected by the war on drugs. While sales for legal cannabis products are still more than a year away, medical patients in the state will be allowed to start home growing cannabis in 6 months.
Not chill, Biden bros! Biden White House Sandbags Staffers, Sidelines Dozens for Pot Use
The Daily Beast
OUR TAKEAWAY
After having announced that past usage of marijuana would not be a dealbreaker for employment, the Biden administration abruptly let go of five staffers. Over 30 Democrats sent a letter criticizing the Biden administration’s totally uncool actions.
“Stimmies” for retail consumers and cannabis companies alike: Cannabis companies anticipate added sales bump with new round of stimulus checks
Marijuana Business Daily
OUR TAKEAWAY
With checks from the American Rescue Plan in consumers’ hands, the cannabis industry expects a bump in retail sales. In addition, the latest round of economic stimulus contains provisions that allow marijuana-related firms to access some limited government help in the form of tax credits.
Return to normalcy: Marijuana consumers return to pre-pandemic shopping hours, favoring evenings versus the daytime
Marijuana Business Daily
OUR TAKEAWAY
The United States economy is starting to show signs that it is beginning to return to its pre-pandemic normal. 25% of Americans have received at least their first shot and now cannabis consumers are returning to their regular, evening shopping hours.
DTC advertising in a federally illegal industry: Jetty Extracts Takes California’s Cannabis Market Head-On
leaf.vip
OUR TAKEAWAY
Cannabis marketers have a tough job. Not only do they have to work within the budgetary constraints imposed by high Federal tax rates (due to 280E), they also do not have the same tools at their disposal to market to high conviction buyers as other industries. Online platforms and cannabis-specific applications are closing the gap by giving companies alternative ways to advertise online or directly to influencers, rather than having to go the traditional route of Facebook advertising.
New Facts Are Hard: March 26, 2021
“I don’t know about that . . . that doesn’t feel right to me at all” was the best argument a CNBC host could muster at Ben Kovler, CEO of Green Thumb Industries, Inc. (GTI) during a recent interview at the claim that cannabis is actually an “exit” drug that reduces opioid deaths. Unfortunately, the entire conversation about cannabis and opioids, and doubts about cannabis being able to reduce opioid use, is obscured by another, terrible, underlying truth. Like a frog in water that is slowly being brought up to a boil, the entire debate often misses the reality of just how much opioid death rates have increased (see graph below) in the last few decades:
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