Burn After Reading X
LIT, The dogfight between GTI and Trulieve, and more
Welcome to the 10th edition of Burn After Reading! This is my newsletter on cannabis (and other things). You can check out last week’s issue here.
In this week’s Cannabis Confidential, I looked at the latest West Coast flower brand to hit shelves here in Massachusetts.
LIT (short for Lost In Translation) is a flower/genetics company from Nevada. They’re hitting shelves on the East Coast thanks to a partner with Ayr Wellness, formerly known here in MA as Sira Naturals.
I got to sample a few strains of LIT. I would say it’s of above average quality compared to what else I’ve seen here. The Red Velvet is particularly worth seeking out.
Two cannabis MSOs are settling a trademark dispute in the most 2022 way possible: on twitter.
T.L. Stanley at Adweek chronicled the beef between two cannabis giants. In one corner we have Dogwalkers (produced by GTI) and in the other, we have Trekkers (produced by Trulieve). GTI is claiming that Trulieve’s new line of pre-rolls is a ripoff of their brand.
Here’s what Dogwalkers look like…
….and here’s what Trekkers look like.
You can’t blame GTI for wanting to protect this unique piece of intellectual property. After all, they took a bunch of shake and trim and other parts of the cannabis plant that nobody wants, threw them in a bunch of pre-rolls, and then packaged those pre-rolls in a metal tin. Who else could have thought of that idea? It’s a clear example of the type of genius innovation that can only be created by free market capitalism.
This battle reminds me of watching two insufferable, arrogant UFC fighters in the octagon together; it has you rooting for the rare simultaneous double knockout.
So why is the fight between Dogwalkers and Trekkers all bark and no bite? Two main reasons: (1) the federal illegality of cannabis means that weed companies usually can’t rely on trademark laws to protect their IP and (2) these companies have way more common than they would like to let on. Why sue a company that you could be merging with in a year or two?
Newsflash to MSOs: You’re all stealing from each other on a constant basis. All your financial presentations look the same. All your store designs look the same. All your packaging looks the same. In a way, you almost have to applaud Trulieve for being blatant about it.
Another week, another survey for cannabis employees. This time, Boston Cannabis Week is conducting a survey of workplace conditions. If you’re employed in the industry, be sure to take the time to fill it out. And if you missed it last week, be sure to fill out the Vangst employee salary survey too.
Some quick hits:
Curaleaf fined, Oregon license suspended in THC-CBD snafu (MJBizDaily)
Aurora Cannabis buying vegetable company for CA$45 million, sells Sky greenhouse (Matt Lamers/MJBizDaily)
CanEx returns for fifth staging in Jamaica next month (Jamaica Loop News)
Cannabis next big thing, says John Teeling, the man who revived Irish whiskey (Ellie Donnelly/Irish Independent)
Thailand Had Notoriously Harsh Drug Laws. Now Weed Is Legal—and That's Making Things Complicated (Charlie Campbell/TIME)
New England/virtual cannabis events this week.
August 27th: Greenmind Beats & Buds
12PM-9PM. Franklin County Fairgrounds, Greenfield. $25-60.
August 30th: Licensing Caps and Vertical Integration in the Cannabis
1PM-2:15PM. Online. Free.
Got an event you wanted listed here in a future issue? Email me.
Welcome Distraction of the Week.
A new 30 for 30 podcast chronicles my girlfriend’s worst nightmare: A baseball game that lasted over eight hours.
From ESPN:
Baseball holds its records sacred. Most home runs, strikeouts, career wins. But what about the longest game ever? That honor goes to a small-town AAA game in 1981, when the Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings slugged it out from dusk to dawn. The record-breaking 33 innings brought hope, despair and drama on and off the field. Radio Diaries and 30 for 30 take listeners to that frigid, surreal night with the voices who lived it – including Hall of Famers Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken Jr. Most heroes of The Longest Game never made it big, but their unflagging endurance made history.
Even if you despise baseball, you’ll probably enjoy this story, which includes like players burning broken bats in the dugout to stay warm, and Wade Bogg’s teammates casting scorn on him for leveling the score again with a base hit in the top of the 21st inning.
This episode of ESPN’s 30 for 30 podcast series is available here, and wherever you listen to podcasts.
Cat picture(s) of the week.
Smudge!
You’re probably familiar with the famous “woman yelling at cat” meme…
…but did you know that the cat featured is named Smudge, and has his own Instagram page?
