ISSUE 26: Trulieve Claims OSHA Delivered a Generous Christmas Gift
Plus, I crunch some cannabis sales numbers in Northampton to see how bad things have gotten there.
Welcome to the 26th edition of Burn After Reading! This is my newsletter on cannabis (and other things). You can check out last week’s issue here, and if you haven’t subscribed yet, please do.
Editer’s note: No regular issue next week, but expect a little recap of 2022, with some things to expect in 2023.
WORCESTER WEED GUIDE
ICYMI: This week I dropped the ultimate guide to cannabis in Worcester. In it, you’ll find everything you need know about the city’s weed scene; including details on every dispensary in operation, and a list of prospective cannabis businesses. I’ll be updating this guide on a monthly basis, so be sure to bookmark it for the next time you find yourself in the Heart of New England’s cannabis community.
TRULIEVE CLAIMS OSHA SETTLES OVER VIOLATIONS IN MA; NO WORD YET FROM DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Trulieve made an announcement Thursday morning that they reached a settlement with OSHA regarding the violations that stemmed from the death of one of their workers at their Holyoke, MA facility.
The agreement allegedly reduces the $35,219 fine against Trulieve to $14,502, and two of the serious allegations have allegedly been withdrawn.
As of Thursday night, OSHA has yet to release a statement on the settlement, and the violations remain listed as “current” on the Department of Labor’s website.
Trulieve’s statement failed to mention the worker death that sparked the OSHA investigation, and there’s a lot to process in what they claim, including this detail:
Under the agreement, Trulieve will undertake a study to determine whether ground cannabis dust is required to be classified as a "hazardous chemical" in the occupational setting, according to OSHA regulations. Work on the study is to be complete by May 29, 2023.
It’s unclear how this study would be objective, considering a lone cannabis company would be the one undertaking it. It’s also unknown why OSHA would rely on a for-profit cannabis company to conduct this study — instead of some sort of accredited institution — considering the results are going to have ramifications for cannabis workers for decades to come.
Perhaps it’s most unclear on why we need a study to determine whether or not inhaling any type of dust in an industrial setting is bad for one’s health.
If this study goes forward, I assume Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers will be the first to volunteer. After all, she continues to claim that Trulieve was already a safe place to work — and that they’re somehow making it even safer.
She’s also continuing to rely on the Sometimes People Have to Die for the Sake of Improving Production argument.
"Increased-scale manufacturing in our industry is a relatively new endeavor and we are determined to continually ask questions and seek answers to make our workplace the safest and healthiest it can possibly be," said Rivers.
News flash to Trulieve: You’re not building the Panama Canal. You’re not sending humans to the moon. You’re making a bunch of low-grade prerolls.
It’s not exactly a technological advancement where you can argue that loss of life is an acceptable hazard. If you can’t guarantee that process isn’t going to kill someone, perhaps you shouldn’t be doing it.
Nobody forced Trulieve to be a publicly-traded multi-state cannabis company.
Nobody forced them to attempt “increased-scale manufacturing,” whatever that may be.
Nobody forced Trulieve to attempt to dominate the Massachusetts wholesale market by opening a massive grow and processing facility.
Nobody forced Trulieve to burn through piles of cash while failing to make a profit.
And nobody forced them to scale at such a rate that worker safety had to be left on the sidelines.
There are plenty of medium size cannabis businesses out there that are treating their customers and workers right while making still a handsome sum of cash, but that wasn’t good enough for Trulieve. They had to do it bigger than everyone else. Now the problems continue to pile up.
So while they may have gotten OSHA to roll over, this company that lost $114.55M last quarter still has several hurdles to climb — including the still-pending CCC investigation.
But the biggest thing standing in their way?
Conscious cannabis consumers simply aren’t going to buy their products.
SALES NUMBERS IN NORTHAMPTON HEAD SOUTH
A review I conducted of Northampton’s total adult use sales numbers showed that totals in the city have been on a decline long before the Source+ even opened (and then closed) its doors.
Using the tax revenue data derived from Northampton’s FY2023 budget, I was able to determine how much cash the city’s dispensaries brought in each fiscal quarter. This graph depicts how much combined revenue Northampton’s dispensaries were bringing in (not including medical cannabis sales).
As you can see, overall revenue started to decline long before Northampton stopped adding additional cannabis retailers.
To really drive this graph home for my readers, I decided to depict it in Linerider:
NETA WAS RAKING IN THE DOUGH WHEN IT HAD A MONOPOLY
In addition to displaying the impact that rapid growth of dispensaries elsewhere in Western Mass had on Northampton’s revenue, my review also showed how lucrative it was for NETA to be the only adult use dispensary in town until November 2020; the company brought in over $87.3M between Q3 FY2019 and Q4 FY2020.
(NETA was able to open so quickly due to its status as a pre-existing medical dispensary, and was actually the site of one of the first two adult use sales in the state.)
If you assume that NETA is in the middle of the pack when it comes to sales totals in Northampton, they brought in about $880K in the most recent quarter — about 5% of the best-ever $17.8M they made in Q1 FY2020. Ouch.
Northampton’s FY2023 budget predicts a 1% decrease in the amount of cannabis tax revenue — but if current trends continue — it may end up being a lot worse.
Municipalities in other states should probably take note: You can make a lot of tax revenue if you work quickly to implement local regulations and encourage cannabis business to set up shop in town post-legalization.
Just don’t expect that gravy train to stick around forever.
SAFE BANKING FAILED TO PASS THIS YEAR
Ah well. That’s a real shame.
Anyways…..
WORCESTERY COUNCIL THEATRE 3000
I used the fact that there was a minor technical change to Worcester’s cannabis regulations on the City Council’s agenda this week as an excuse to invite myself on Worcestery Council Theatre 3000. If you missed my appearance (which included a brief cameo from my cat Brockton) you can catch a link to the recording below.
Thanks to the guys for having me on! Be sure to check out the show if you live in the area, they do a valuable service in making council meetings actually tolerable to watch.
Cannabis News Round-up
New England
[MA] Marijuana content labels can’t be trusted (Shira Schoenberg | Commonwealth Magazine)
Sixth RI dispensary gets greenlight to sell recreational marijuana (Steph Machado | WPRI)
National / Rest of U.S.
Cowen downgrades Columbia, Cresco over lack of marijuana banking reform (MJBizDaily)
Detroit awards first 33 recreational marijuana retail licenses after court ruling (Sarah Rahal | The Detroit News)
The [CO] cannabis industry is facing its longest downturn yet, with no end in sight (Ben Markus | CPR)
Bipartisan lawmakers urge Biden to deschedule marijuana (MJBIzDaily)
International
🇳🇱 Amsterdam looks to shake off its image as Europe’s sex and drugs capital (Diego Lasarte | Quartz)
🇬🇩 Grenada plans to bring legislation to allow cannabis for medicinal use (Loop News)
🇺🇾 In South America, investors bet on big pharma buying cannabis( Ken Parks| Portland Press Herald via Bloomberg )
No event segment this week. Enjoy the holidays!
Welcome Distraction
We lost another real one this week. RIP to Terry Hall, lead singer of The Specials.
Their most famous music video is the legendary Ghost Town, but I’m partial to What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend, where Specials keyboard player Jerry Dammers plays a space alien who is attempting to steal your girl at the club.
A close second place goes to House Bound, which felt particularly topical during the lockdowns.
The Specials will continue to be known as one of the greatest protest bands of all-time, and Hall will be sorely missed.
CAT OF THE WEEK
I’m sad to say my “Buy one cat, receive one free cannabis newsletter” deal has not been a rousing success. In fact, there are now more cats in the shelter than when we started! Not good people. I’d adopt another one, but my current cat is ruining my life.
Anyways, in addition to the previously highlight Skeeter and Lily/Poppy, let’s take a look at Jani.
Does the thought of little Jani spending christmas by himself make you sad? It shouldn’t (cats have no concept of Christmas) — but still — bring this little guy home.