ISSUE 28: NO TIME FOR A CLEVER HEADLINE
Another jam-packed weed news. I give you one last ad for my CCC Recaps, share my thoughts on Connecticut's rollout and Curaleaf/Kremlin connections, & say a bitter farewell to Cannabis Confidential.
Welcome to the 28th 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.
No time for clever titles, and no rest for the weary. There’s simply too much in the weed world to talk about this week — and thanks to the CCC meeting be on a Thursday — I’ve been working for about 16+ consecutive hours at this point.
It’s after midnight as I write this, and the only food I consumed today was a Dunkin Donuts muffin and several slices of Papa Gino’s. LET’S GET INTO IT.
CCC RECAP:
In this week’s first ever CCC Recap, I covered all the happenings at yesterday’s eventful meeting:
The Greenfield Greenery Investigation reached its conclusion.
The Commissioners addressed the growing concerns over worker safety.
Commissioners Roy And Camargo got into a bit of a verbal tussle over the new stoned driving public awareness campaign.
Everything else cannabis insiders need to know.
Check it out here if you’re a paid subscriber:
KREMLIN-LEAF?
I didn’t get to talk about this story much since it broke over the holidays, but it’s worth revisiting: Forensic News did a deep dive into some leaked financial documents which appear to show that Russian Oligarch/ex-Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich has made a series of large investments into Curaleaf.
This is totally weird, because searching Mr. Abramovich and his entities on the Cannabis Control Commission’s website reveals zero results.
The Commission hasn’t revealed yet if the company is under investigation for this potential hidden investor, but I imagine a number of government entities — both federal and state — are looking into this. Expect it to be a massive story whenever one of those entities allows news of an investigation to become public.
Of course, this leads one to ask: What other shady secret investors are cannabis companies courting? I imagine there’s a few folders in the Caymans and British Virgin Islands that are full of all sorts of juicy MSO secrets.
I’m also beginning to suspect that state-run entities aren’t equipped to untangle the web of shell companies that Big Cannabis uses to obscure who owns what.
CONNECTICUT’S ADULT USE LAUNCH MAKES ME FEEL A BIT DEAD INSIDE
A new legal cannabis market used to be an undeniable reason to celebrate, but as Connecticut conducted its first ever rec sales, I felt nothing.
Maybe I’m used to legalization rollouts at this point, or maybe it was the fact that their regulatory scheme seems a bit doomed. Even if I was a well-funded MSO with a solid existing presence in Connecticut, I would have deep concerns about the viability of the state’s market.
I was not the only one who was lacked enthusiasm about Connecticut's rollout. Results varied, but some dispensaries didn’t see the massive lines we’re used to seeing.
The state said it saw just over $250k of sales in the first day. With nine stores, that’s about $28,000 per store. Assuming an average purchase of $65, that’s about 430 customers per store. Not terrible, but not certainly not as crazy of an opening we’ve seen elsewhere.
The more important thing is whether or not they are actually able to build on these numbers. I remain skeptical.
The flaws in Connecticut’s regulatory system are hard to ignore. Their lottery system allows rich applicants to stack the deck. There’s serious doubts their equity program is tenable. And there’s even more doubts that revenue numbers will live up to expectations, considering the state’s launch in a region of the country that is already full of legal cannabis markets — all of them with arguably more consumer-friendly rules.
To make matters worse, the state has decided to take one of the weirdest cannabis regulations we’ve seen from their medical program and apply it to their adult use program as well…
That’s right, conventional strain names aren’t allowed. Instead, you get names like Hybridol FG T28.14 17004 and Sativarin U T23.41 17001. All to protect children, who are apparently uninterested in cannabis until they come across a particularly clever strain name.
This one of worst things you could when you’re trying to encourage people to buy from the legal market. Traditional strain names have their issues (their confusing nature, copyright infringement, tributes to serial rapists/murderers, etc..,) but I don’t think Connecticut’s method is the right fix either.
This just gives legacy users yet another reason to clown on the Nutmeg State’s rollout. Can you blame them?
Trust me: teenage cannabis users don’t care about the name of the strain they’re smoking (or at least they didn’t circa 2010).
I think states that are this late to the legalization are going to have to get creative if they want cannabis to be the economic windfall they are projecting it to be.
RIP CANNABIS CONFIDENTIAL (2022-2022)
I’m not really sure if I’m making this decision (or it’s already been made for me), but Cannabis Confidential is coming to an end. Even if their freelance budget freeze ever defrosts, I think I’ve accomplished all I can writing the cannabis-focused column for Gannett-owned Worcester Magazine.
Gannett may lack the finances to pay their freelance writers or keep their newsrooms open, but I recently discovered that they do have enough funds to make donations to Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), an anti-drug organization that has repeatedly called on its members to oppose cannabis reform at the federal level.
Anyways, the budget freeze was supposed to only last until the end of 2022. We’re now almost two full weeks into January, and I still haven’t heard any updates from the WoMag. So I’m ready to declare the column dead and move on to other ventures.
I have additional thoughts and opinions, but I’ll leave it at that.
But before we bid Cannabis Confidential adieu, let’s take a look back at a few of my favorites from the 41 columns I wrote in my time there:
Coming out against SAFE (or at least the amount of attention it receives)
Speaking with the folks behind the East Coast’s first outdoor social equity cannabis farm
Weighing the impact of Diddy's purchase of MA cannabis businesses
You can check out the full archives here. I’d love to hear what other pieces people enjoyed.
Bringing cannabis-focused content to the general public is still a worthwhile pursuit, and I’m really looking forward to doing that on my own terms.
There’s also a ton of talented Worcester-focused writers who are now doing their own thing independently. Head over to my recommendations tab to check them out.
♫ 99 cultivators, getting people high ♫
In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve had some fun throwing together some cannabis-related graphs and infographics lately. Here’s one I put together today that depicts the latest stats related to cultivation in Massachusetts.
I’m going to drive to start digging into various numbers in neighboring states over the coming weeks too. I’m particularly interested in Rhode Island, considering we haven’t seen a ton of attention towards their rec program as its rollout has since been overshadowed by NY and CT.
I did a little impromptu AMA with the fine folks over at r/Crainn — Ireland’s cannabis sub-reddit. I had a good time talking cannabis business and policy with our friends across the pond, and only one guy gave me crap for being a yank. Progress!
A REVIEW OF CANNA-HEADLINES
New England
Will CT recreational cannabis sales impact Massachusetts dispensaries? (Emily DiSalvo | The Hour)
Plummeting prices destabilize Mass. marijuana market (Shira Schoenberg | Commonwealth Magazine)
National / Rest of U.S.
International
THIS WEEK’S NEW ENGLAND / VIRTUAL CANNABIS EVENTS
1/14+1/15: 2023 HomeGrown Maine Trade Show & EXPO
Augusta, ME.
1/20: Backwards Never: Representation, Justice, and Equity for Cannabis Workers.
Roxbury, MA. 5-8pm.
1/21: BAKED Burlesque
Northampton, MA. 7pm-12am.
WELCOME DISTRACTION
I got to admit, I’ve been a bit too distracted this week to come up with a topical distraction, but in case you’re an It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and/or Danny Devito fan, his appearance on their podcast from a few weeks ago is not to be missed.
CAT OF THE WEEK
This cat wants to attempt to run for mayor in Attleboro, MA. Attleboro won’t let him.
Revolutions have been started over less, Attleboro.
#LetMrSpookyRun
SPECIAL BULLETIN
(A little space I’m setting aside for cool announcements from cannabis-focused nonprofits and small businesses.)
Big Hope Project has a few events coming up, including this really cool one on 1/20 featuring Martin Luther King III and a bunch of other interesting people.
That’s a wrap on this issue. Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions or feedback, email me here. Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already, and if you would like to support my work, please consider a paid subscription.