Drake has heaped praise on PARTYNEXTDOOR, calling him ‘the real G.O.A.T.’ while announcing his new single along with a release date.
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Rappers Calling Out Names on Diss Tracks Is Dead – Or Is It?
Enough of the subtweets. Continue reading…
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MedMen Reportedly Closes All But Two California Locations
According to multiple reports late last week, MedMen has shuttered all but two of its stores in California.
“Only MedMen stores in San Diego and near Los Angeles International Airport remain open,” MJBizDaily reported on Friday.
Green Market Report, citing a former staffer at the company, reported that “[although] no one connected with MedMen’s corporate headquarters could be reached for comment, the chain had a small fire sale to unload product this past week prior to closing down.”
The outlet has more on MedMen’s precipitous decline:
“The report of more closures follows a series of troubling developments for the company, including a string of earlier dispensaries closing down – including MedMen’s flagship store in West Hollywood in February, then its shops in San Jose and Emeryville the same month, and just this week, the company closed its San Francisco location. The news also follows a string of C-suite departures, with ex-CEO Ellen Deutsch Harrison resigning in January after less than seven months on the job.”
MJBizDaily, meanwhile, has specific figures on the number of jobs lost:
“The cash-strapped company operated more than a dozen stores in the state before the latest round of closures. The Los Angeles-based MSO on Thursday closed its San Francisco store in the Cow Hollow neighborhood, Medmen’s last remaining outlet in the Bay Area, according to SFist. The store opened only two years ago, the news outlet reported. MedMen, which has closed several other stores and laid off dozens of workers in California, Illinois and Nevada in the past month, shuttered its Long Beach location last week, MJBizDaily confirmed Friday. The Long Beach location had about 10 employees, according to a former staffer. The company has laid off more than 100 employees since Jan. 26, according to MJBizDaily reporting, including a round of corporate layoffs in MedMen’s accounting and marketing departments.”
Both outlets noted that MedMen’s official website has been down since last week. On Monday morning, visitors to the site were met with an image of a man lounging on his back poolside, with the message: “We’ll Be Back Soon Sorry, we’re down for scheduled maintenence. In the meantime, connect with us on social.”
The company has not posted on its Instagram account since January. Its last post on Facebook was in 2022.
In 2019, MedMen scrapped plans for a major acquisition. Alarmed by plunging cannabis stocks, the company “backed out of a blockbuster deal to buy PharmaCann, a Chicago-based marijuana company with operations in eight states,” the Associated Press reported at the time.
A year earlier, MedMen announced its plans to acquire PharmaCann for $682 million in an all-stock transaction. In a press release at the time, MedMen said that the resulting “pro-forma company (including pending acquisitions by MedMen) will have a portfolio of cannabis licenses in 12 states that will permit the combined company to operate 79 cannabis facilities.”
“The combined company will operate in 12 states, which comprise a total estimated addressable market, as of 2030, of approximately $40 billion according to Cowen Group. Through the transaction, MedMen will add licenses in Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, Virginia and Michigan,” the press release said.
The deal was supposed to be a watershed moment for the cannabis industry, with the AP noting that it “was seen as a forerunner of a wave of marijuana industry mergers and acquisitions promising big returns for investors.”
Adam Bierman, MedMen’s CEO at the time, called it “a transformative acquisition that will create the largest U.S. cannabis company in the world’s largest cannabis market.”
“The transaction adds tremendous scale to our vertically integrated business model by expanding our U.S. retail footprint across important growth markets while strengthening our cultivation and production capabilities. With the revenue synergies that the deal is expected to produce, MedMen is well positioned to continue executing on our growth strategy,” said Bierman, who stepped down in his role as chief executive in early 2020.
“This would not have been possible even two years ago and is a testament to how far both the industry and these two companies have evolved. PharmaCann’s leadership has built a world-class organization, and we are excited about the value this transaction is creating for shareholders.”
But by the fall of 2019, MedMen was singing a very different tune. According to the Associated Press, the company “cited the steep pullback in U.S. and Canadian cannabis stocks this year,” and “noted the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index, a Canadian exchange-traded fund that tracks cannabis stocks, is down 47% since March.”
“The underperformance has made it increasingly more critical to allocate capital efficiently, given the current industry headwinds,” MedMen said in a news release, as quoted by the Associated Press.
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Humboldt County Voters Reject Weed Cultivation Regulation Initiative
Voters in Humboldt County last week soundly rejected a ballot measure that would have tightened regulations on the area’s famed cannabis industry. Known as Measure A, the initiative was defeated at the polls on March 5, with more than 73% of the voters casting their ballot against the proposal.
Genine Coleman, the executive director of Origins Council, a group representing California’s legacy cannabis growers, wrote in an email to High Times that the “defeat of Measure A demonstrates that the grassroots cannabis industry in Humboldt County is politically organized and effective, thanks to the Humboldt County Growers Alliance and their successful ‘No on A Campaign.’”
Had it passed, Measure A would have changed Humboldt County’s regulations for cannabis cultivation in a manner that opponents of the initiative say would have likely destroyed the local industry. The proposal was created and advanced by Mark Thurmond and Elizabeth Watson, residents of Kneeland, an unincorporated community in Humboldt County, the epicenter of California’s infamous Emerald Triangle cannabis cultivation region.
Measure A would have added several restrictions on cannabis cultivation businesses to the county’s planning regulations, ostensibly for environmental purposes. New rules would have included a cap on the size of weed farms at 10,000 square feet, a change that would have made more than 400 cultivators noncompliant with county regulations, according to a report from MJBizDaily. The ballot measure also would have prohibited noncompliant businesses from expanding their operations, including increasing water or energy use or expanding the space or buildings used for cannabis cultivation.
Additionally, the defeated ballot measure would have required public hearings for cannabis cultivation operations exceeding 3,000 square feet. The proposal also would have restricted weed farms located on two-way roads designed to accommodate traffic traveling at speeds of 25 to 40 miles per hour.
Measure A was fiercely opposed by many members of Humboldt County’s cannabis community, who feared that passage of the initiative could cripple the local cultivation industry. Some referred to the proposal as the “Karen Initiative” because a group of neighbors began work on the ballot measure after a cannabis grower set up a new operation in their community.
Humboldt Pot Growers Welcome Election Results
The voters’ rejection of Measure A at the ballot box was welcome news for Humboldt County’s cannabis community. Dylan Mattole, a cannabis farmer and chairman of the Humboldt County Growers Alliance (HCGA), said that the members of the trade group were encouraged by the results of the election.
“There’s a feeling of relief from knowing that our community accepts us and that we’re not going to have to keep fighting for the right to do business,” Mattole told SFGATE.
Mattole said that cannabis businesses spent $150,000 on the campaign to defeat Measure A. Although the fight against the initiative was an ordeal, he cited bringing the cannabis community together as a positive outcome of the situation.
“I feel like we’ve really advanced our standing in the community through this terrible situation,” Mattole said. “The silver lining in all this is that I think we actually advanced … the normalization of cannabis as just part of the normal business community.”
Watson, one of the lead proponents of Measure A, said that the results of last week’s election were not unexpected. The initiative was widely opposed by members of the community, including Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal, three of five county supervisors and city and tribal leaders, as well as the Republican, Democratic and Green political parties. Environmental groups including Cannabis for Conservation also registered their opposition to the ballot proposal.
“When the environmental organizations and all the elected officials came out against it, that was pretty much the kiss of death,” Watson told the Times-Standard.
Watson said that she spent a quarter of her life savings on the campaign to pass Measure A. However, it was not enough to overcome the resources mustered by the campaign to defeat the initiative.
“We were just totally outgunned financially and did the best we could,” she said.
“I’m 76, you can’t take it with you,” she added, saying that she would probably have donated a similar amount of money to environmental groups.
As the defeat of Measure A became apparent on election day, opponents of the initiative also said they were not surprised by the results.
“We were definitely seeing a lot of support leading up to the election. So I think we felt pretty confident going into it,” said Ross Gordon, policy director for the HGCA. “But, of course, we didn’t know until we knew, and so I wouldn’t say it was shocking, but I think we were definitely happy to see that number.”
Gordon acknowledged that cannabis regulations should be reviewed continually. But he added that the process should be a collaborative effort that includes members of the cannabis industry.
“I think it’s been really unfortunate that for the past year or so, we’ve really had to focus on just maintaining the status quo,” said Gordon. “And I don’t think the status quo for small farmers is amazing right now. And I really think we need to be working on more hopeful affirmative projects,” he said, noting the organization’s support of AB 1111, a state Assembly bill that would allow small cultivation businesses to sell cannabis at events.
The post Humboldt County Voters Reject Weed Cultivation Regulation Initiative appeared first on High Times.
Hemp Fiber Market to Hit Over $50B by 2028, Report Indicates
The hemp-derived fiber market is growing exponentially. The Business Research Company, a global market research and consulting firm located across the globe, updated its reports with latest data on hemp fiber for 2024 and projections up to 2033, and the projections look promising.
The Business Research Company’s “Hemp Fiber Global Market Report 2024” was published on March 8 and provides a comprehensive source of information that covers every facet of the market. According to the TBRC’s market forecast, the hemp fiber market size is predicted to reach $50.38 billion in 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.0%.
The growth in the hemp fiber market is due to increasing legalization to cultivate industrial hemp. Asia-Pacific region is expected to hold the largest hemp fiber market share. Major players in the hemp fiber market include Shenyang beijiang, BaFa Holding BV, Plains Industrial Hemp Processing Ltd., Industrial Hemp Manufacturing LLC, Hemp Oil Canada Inc.
“Hemp fiber refers to one of the robust members of the family of strong natural fibers, which are generated from the cannabis family’s hemp plant,” the report reads. “The plant’s stem is made up of long strands that are used to make hemp fabric. By using a technique called retting, these fibers are extracted from the bark and then spun together to produce a continuous thread that can be woven into textiles.”
The report also identifies what parts of the plant are typically used in the hemp fiber process.
“The main types of hemp fiber are long (bast) fibers, and short (core) fibers. The long (bast) hemp fiber market refers to the soft woody fiber obtained from the stems of dicotyledonous plants and is used for textiles and cordage, the report continues. “The different sources include organic and conventional, and are used in food, beverages, personal care products, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and other applications.”
Researchers divided hemp fiber market segments by the following parameters:
• By Type: Long (bast) Fibers, Short (core) Fibers
• By Source: Organic, Conventional
• By Application: Food, Beverages, Personal Care Products, Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, Other Applications
• By Geography: The global hemp fiber market is segmented into North America, South America, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The market report includes Hemp Fiber Market Characteristic, Hemp Fiber Market Trends And Strategies, Hemp Fiber Market – Macro Economic Scenario, Hemp Fiber Market Size And Growth, Hemp Fiber Market Competitor Landscape And Company Profiles, Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The Market, and many other topics.
Industrial Hemp Uses
Every day, people are finding more uses for industrial hemp. (Just refer to the works of Jack Herer, the “Emperor of Hemp.” Architects, for instance, are increasingly relying on hemp as a cleaner, more efficient replacement for traditional home construction materials.
A recently published article by The Cool Down (“America’s mainstream climate brand”) detailed how hemp can be “transformed into a material called hempcrete.”
“Hempcrete is a carbon-negative building material made out of hemp, which is increasingly being used in place of concrete. The biocomposite material is created from hemp shiv—the woody core of hemp stalks—and mixed with a binder, such as lime powder, and water,” according to the article. “The result is a tough, adaptable material that can be mixed with varying proportions of hemp and lime depending on its intended purpose.
Hemp is constantly proving to be useful in making other materials and products. A Wisconsin-based hemp battery manufacturing company, for instance, created a goal to hire former employees of Energizer.
Portage, Wisconsin-based Wisconsin Battery Co. (WinBat) makes batteries out of hemp instead of graphene, for use in devices like hearing aids. Earlier this month, WinBat announced that it has acquired 17 acres of land in the Portage Industrial Park to develop its battery plant, a According to a Dec. 21, 2023 press release,
Last October, a variety of hemp plant genetically modified to produce little-to-no THC was approved by the United States Department of Agriculture as safe to grow and breed on U.S. soil.
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) released a notice about the plants last week, created and submitted by Indiana-based Growing Together Research, a biotechnology company specializing in cannabis, hemp, psychedelics and agriculture. APHIS regulates the “movement of organisms modified or produced through genetic engineering.”
“APHIS found this modified hemp is unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated hemp,” the USDA notice said. “As a result, it is not subject to regulation under 7 CFR part 340. From a plant pest risk perspective, this hemp may be safely grown and bred in the United States.”
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