Welcome And The New Buddy Logo

unknown 0:00

Hold on.

SPEAKER_04 0:11

I see you, Anna Ray Grabstein, with a ticket stub in your hand. This is this week in Cannabis Live. I am Jay Rosenthal. I'm here with my co-founder and our editor in chief Jeremy Burke. We have Anna Ray Grabstein and Ben Larson from High Spirits. And Mark Hauser was here. He's gone dark. Some, I guess, some some uh Santa Rosa, uh not Santa Rosa, but um uh some electricity issues in California might be keeping him here. But he'll be back, I'm sure. We have a busy week of cannabis stuff, even though we're sort of Jay.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Show off uh the new shirt, actually, before you get into it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

Um this is our new logo with our friend Buddy here. That's Buddy. You can see him on all our stuff now, increasingly all our stuff. The most recent update was to LinkedIn. There'll be more updates, but this is cultivated. This is Buddy. Um, there's more on this front, but you will continue to follow. Anna Ray has already um commented on it backstage, so we'll get you a shirt, Anna Ray, uh in big time.

AnnaRae Grabstein 1:09

Um I kind of missed the old logo too, though. You know, change management, it's a hard thing. How are you guys dealing with it? It's yeah, it's really challenging.

SPEAKER_04 1:17

I'm big on change. I like the way this looks. I also like the I like Buddy. He's been fun to place around uh our events and and our content as well. So welcome.

AnnaRae Grabstein 1:25

Is he a paper bag? Is Buddy a paper bag? He's a newspaper. He's a newspaper. Yeah. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

It's hard to the way you used to get news in in the old days. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:36

With the kids out there, the paper used to come to your door. You'd read the news. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Um I barely remember. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:43

Jeremy, you're so young. Uh well, welcome

Aurora Confirms Talks After Curaleaf Bid

SPEAKER_04 1:46

everybody. It's been a busy week. Um, uh, last week, uh, Jeremy had just broken a story about um the Aurora Cure Leaf other partner in this, uh, potential other bidder on this. Um, Jeremy, give us an update of where we are in this story because it continues to take interesting turns. Some non-denial denials. Some executives spoke this week. Give us the labels. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Um sure. So we uh we got a press release from Aurora, uh, basically admitting that they were uh in conversations with other companies. They did not name organogram. Um, but I think you can read between the lines. I I did think it was interesting. Um it didn't surface in my reporting that there were other suitors, although uh, you know, I can speculate that, and and I think many have speculated that. Uh Aurora's press release did say multiple parties. Um, so it seems like, you know, again, I'm varying to speculation here, but maybe their bankers uh reached out to multiple companies, probably um other Canadian LPs uh to discuss what uh a merger or some sort of transaction would look like that could help them push off Ture Leaf. The second piece of that is organogram CEO, um, James Yamanaka was interviewed, and he was asked about my report uh by the guys at the Dale's report. And he said something to the effect of, I like the speculation, and then declined to comment on the deal. Um he said he liked the speculation to be fair, that it gave him an opportunity to talk about organogram and all the good things they're doing and do the whole corporate comms thing. Um but look, like, you know, these these uh non-denials, you know, to a journalist who has covered the space for a long time and and you know engaged with a lot of executives of companies on deals, uh, you know, they had every chance to deny over and over again. We gave them fair comment. Uh that's the way we operate, uh, that's the way I operate. They again press released it. So, you know, I think you can read between the lines and say that you know there is a lot of uh, you know, there's fire where there's smoke, right? Um, but that doesn't mean a deal will materialize. Right? There's a lot to get from here to there. Um cure leaf could upsize its bid. There's a lot of other parties that could may be interested. Um but what we do know now is that CureLeaf's upsized bid did set the floor for Aurora and the assets they want to sell. And so, you know, any bid will have to beat that. And we'll see if it's CureLeaf, um, if it's organogram, if it's another company, or you know, Aurora tries to stay the course. So uh we will see.

SPEAKER_04 4:10

Yeah, we will see. And I want to uh get your take, Anna Ray, Ben, and Mark as well.

International Certifications And The Europe Bet

SPEAKER_04 4:15

But it was also maybe I'm reading too much into all of this, but there seemed to be a lot of international press releases happening uh this week. Uh there was one from Canopy Growth, got their facility in in Ontario, um, EU GMP certified. Uh we saw Kronos Group finalize a deal for a company in the Netherlands.

AnnaRae Grabstein 4:36

Um and also and Glasshouse uh also announced um GACP. Um so similar but but different. Yeah, everybody is uh is now trying to promote that they also have the shiny object that Aurora has. And look at me over here. We've got the certification that can help you import cannabis to Germany and the EU and the rest of the world. Uh so it it has been funny. I thought that the canopy announcement was particularly um poignant. Just I for a long time as the Canadian market was maturing at the beginning, there was a lot of um of stats about how many square meters or feet or whatever you guys say in Canada about of cultivation has been planted and utilized and all these things. And there's all these cultivation canopy-related metrics. And there was a huge investment in compliance in these facilities beyond what we ever saw in uh the US cannabis market. And so maybe now those investments are actually coming to fruition in a way that they never really materialized for these companies before.

SPEAKER_04 5:48

And they may be coming to fruition. They may not ever recoup their money, but they are seen more valuable now than certainly they were at the beginning of legalization here, where there was uh too much capacity, not enough consumers, and there still is capacity at these places, but now at least it's getting shipped around. Mark and Ben, what say you on the sort of international the focus on international cannabis uh is brought to light, I think, mostly by the cure leaf interest in in Aurora.

Ben Larson 6:13

Go ahead, Mark.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

I you know, I mean, it's it's it's mildly interesting. Um you know, I think it's you know, I mean, part of it is that it's I mean, it's like great, you've GMP. I mean, you know, but the part, you know, the the Europe market is still, you know, I still haven't seen yet the real the promise that we've been hearing about for years really showing that it's gonna pan out anytime soon. Um but you know, but I mean it look it's all forward progress. I mean, I the only thing I the reason why I'm non-plussed about it is because, you know, as I've said before, this industry loves nothing more than issuing press releases.

Ben Larson 6:54

I was just gonna say, I'm like, I'm gonna be even more facetious than Mark. I was just like, I'm like, I'm so glad we're re-entering this phase of uh Canadian public companies issuing press releases for nothing burgers.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Yeah. Well, it's it's you know, uh it it is communicating with shareholders is difficult. Like I understand what the problem is, especially you know, in our sort of decentralized information space. And so there's not really a better way for them to communicate with a large group of retailers.

Ben Larson 7:25

Sure, there's it's actually doing something that's newsworthy and getting press about it.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Sure. Yeah. Outside of actually doing something, um, you know, there there is like it's a hard challenge, right? And I I know um, you know, I've spoken with with both sides of the deal, um, with Aurora and Fearleaf, and um they're all having a lot of, you know, they're all problem solving and thinking like how do we communicate to shareholders all the time? And the media is a part of that, press places are a part of that, social media is a part of that, but like, you know, the IR game is is changing very rapidly, um, which I think is interesting, you know, outside of cannabis. Uh, but you know, inside of cannabis, it's even harder because you're not just calling one person, you know, at a mutual fund in Boston, right? You have to talk to people who could be all over the world buying these thoughts, own one share, 100 shares, whatever it may be. Um so you know, I am sympathetic to the challenge of like, how do we get information out there? Um, you know, I think a better way to get information out there is to leak it to us than send a press release. But uh, you know, I I digress.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

You can reach you can reach Jeremy at Jeremy at cultivated.com. At all hours, he takes emails at all hours.

AnnaRae Grabstein 8:34

I think another important point is kind of like what is the size of the prize that everyone is actually fighting over, which is the global market. And the reality is that it's still very small. Um, the global market is smaller than the size of the Canadian market or size or smaller than the size of the California market, which I think of is sort of similar around $4 billion markets. And so there's an enormous amount of investment going into what is actually not a mature opportunity yet. And there is a lot of speculation of how big it all could be and how fast it might materialize and what's what countries are coming on next. But it is interesting to think of like, well, if you're trying to buy a hundred million dollars of market share or $200 million of market share, where else you could be doing that in the US and existing markets here and how much it would cost, which is a lot less than than what we're seeing people fight over and pay for for the international opportunity.

SPEAKER_04 9:37

I buy that. I also think um those markets, California's market's not getting bigger. Um, New York's market, you could sort of see where it's going. Um, whereas Europe is really like early, early days, and the regulatory environment is not going to ease up. It's only going to tighten or be the same. And I think that's sort of part of it. And the markup is much better in medical cannabis in Europe than it is uh everywhere else.

Ben Larson 10:01

Um I argue you could make the you could invest to make the California or the ri any of the regulated markets bigger, and there's plenty of people spending money to limit the size of the addressable market. So uh I'm sure we'll get back into that later.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

That sounds like a that sounds like a transition, right?

SPEAKER_04 10:18

Yeah, what do you want to transition to?

Ben Larson 10:23

Well,

Hemp THC Regulation Fight Erupts

Ben Larson 10:24

look, I mean, there's just been a lot of fodder lately between the talking heads of the industry, of which you have five of them here, I guess. Um, but yeah, it's like uh recently. Uh I don't know who do we start with? MPP put out uh uh an op-ed encouraging people to work towards uh regulation. Yeah, Mark.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Explain what MPP is for the for you. Yeah, sorry, just define MPP.

Ben Larson 10:48

Sad that we have to do that. Uh there's the marijuana policy project, who's been around for well over a decade pushing for uh uh policy reform for marijuana and other things. Um they put out an op-ed that said when it comes to public health and safety, regulation and education consistently yield better results than prohibition. The path forward to address real safety concerns is setting clear potency limits, testing and labeling standards, age restrictions, and keeping dangerous products out of the market, all while preserving consumers' access to a market that has created over 225,000 jobs and generated at least 28 billion in tax revenue nationally to date. They are, of course, uh speaking to the hemp marketplace. This is the marijuana policy project advocating for regulations over prohibition. And then you have a response from Chris Lindsay from Attach, uh I don't know, a couple days later, um basically saying that MPP is asking Congress to protect synthetic TAC products and TAC a flower that bypasses the state regulatory programs MPP built and keeps going. And I just take massive issue with this. So MPP is not actually advocating for anything that protects synthetic products, but this has been attached stance the entire time. They want everyone to believe that everything in hemp is synthetic and dangerous and gas station weed. What like what is this? Like it's so clear, it's become zero very clear, and let me be very clear also. I used to be a member of Attach. I was on Attach's beverage council when they started to launch it. And when Minnesota legalized, and Canra was holding their their regional event in Minnesota, and TAC beverages were being sold or are being sold in restaurants and grocery stores. Like attach was completely ignoring that this was going on, and they were just so laser focused on protecting the regulated market that I just there was this moment where I'm like, how's your guy's name? The American Trade Association of Cannabis and App. Anyways, I've I've hogged the mic for too long. There has since been another rebuttal from Aaron Smith, who is the former CEO of NCIA, again backing up MPP, being like, this is a positive movement for the plant. Like, we need to stop protecting the purgatory that we built. MPP did not build the current uh system, they were pushing for regulations, and this is what we fucking got. And it's not good enough.

SPEAKER_04 13:44

Thank you, Ben. And not to be self-promotionable, Adam Smith's gonna join us next week on Monday. We'll have that inner, we're gonna talk to him on Monday, we'll run it on Tuesday. So uh those that follow along will hear from Adam Smith uh next week. A lot of um uh head nodding from you, Anna Ray.

AnnaRae Grabstein 14:02

Yeah, you know, I I think that I want to draw a connection to this debate that's going on between these trade association leaders and um the repeal effort that is happening in Massachusetts. Because I think that when regulated cannabis, which is who attaches representing, is coming out so strongly and negatively against regulating THC broadly, and instead is only advocating for um for the adult use or medical markets that exist, there is an unfortunate consequence of that, which is the demonization of THZ more broadly. Um and that is really dangerous, and it sets up people like Safe Alternatives to Marijuana and um and Kevin Sabet to be able to push forward repeal initiatives in states like Massachusetts and shut down the legal market that Attach is working so hard to build walls around. Uh I really liked what Aaron Smith had to say. I think that that what Chris Lindsay and Attach are doing is something that's very familiar to me because I was a longtime operator and regulated cannabis. And when I started to understand that hemp is was operating kind of near me and outside of the businesses that I was trying to operate and scale, I felt very threatened. And that is what this is. This is people responding from a place of being threatened and trying to build walls around their businesses as opposed to doing things that I believe would create safe paths to regulation and access and ultimately be best for consumers and patients. So um yeah, I will I will pause that.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

I think I think one go ahead.

Ben Larson 15:58

Sorry. No, I was just gonna say if if if we're all advocates, right? It's like shooting for the we would hope to shoot for the same destination and expanding access, like whether it's uh how you see it uh today or or or otherwise, like we can all work towards the same destination, but we need to procure that access, like right, like like if if the supply chain is not right or doesn't make sense, we can fix that. But like don't prohibit something that that has been opened up and legislation has been built at the state level, like and there's states and and and consumers that now have access to TC that have never had it before, and that's a threat of going away. Like your regulated system is not gonna fix that. Like, go tell that to people in Tennessee and and yeah, Texas, where sure there's teacup, but we know access isn't great. In many other states, South Carolina, it's like it's the the US USCR and attach like whatever whatever headlines they're putting out, it's there's just not a lot backing it.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

I think um what I mean one um one one larger point here is that you know we we are starting to see the difference between you know advocacy groups and and lobbying groups, right? And

Advocacy Versus Lobbying And Stigma

SPEAKER_02 17:20

they are conflated, you know, in because this is a small industry and this is you know sort of a hot button policy issue, but um, you know, attach, and we have people in attach who who view the show and and I want to choose my words carefully, like they are, you know, they're incentivized to protect their businesses, right? Whereas the marijuana policy project, their incentive is to increase cannabis access. Uh, you know, for a long time those two goals were intertwined. Now they are not, based on the policy that we have from Congress right now. Uh and so I I only make the point to say, like, not to take a side, but it's just interesting when you see, you know, incentives do decide outcomes. I think that's possibly apocryphal for an buffet quote. Um, but but uh uh, you know, it we are really seeing that in real time, especially with this sort of war of letters uh in marijuana moment back and forth. So I I just think that's interesting. I think it's worth pointing out uh, you know, for our viewers not to conflate like what a lobbying group does and what an advocacy advocacy group does, excuse me, because they they're different.

Ben Larson 18:21

But the the representatives in in Congress don't understand that. And they don't see that because when they come into the room, they're they're putting on the advocacy costume.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

I absolutely agree. Um, absolutely agree. And it's something, you know, like we we've written about that and called that out a little bit. It's like if you know if you are advocating for your business, you might win these little Pyrrhic victories that that get you to extend your, you know, you get an extra license, or you can co-locate a dispensary or sell more or roll back marketing restrictions. Um but Anna Ray and and Ben, to your points, like there's a broader war of the stigmatization and demonization of THC that that does feed into. And, you know, I think I think the industry should be a little bit more careful about that. Um, especially when you meet with congressional offices, like, you know, they they take you know, 15 20-minute meetings a day on all sorts of policy issues, and then when they have a 20-minute meeting on one issue and they're getting two different ideas, it's gonna be very hard to to create policy that's effective from that.

unknown 19:22

Yeah.

AnnaRae Grabstein 19:23

There's there's a path through this that that's a lot that that could I think could make everybody happy if if they came to the table together that are the good actors. And there are people that have been putting out crappy products in gas stations, like Ben mentioned, and people love to to fall back on that that narrative. And I think if we just assume that those are not the good actors or the products that we're trying to put forward, there's a path forward for for everyone that's trying to create safe regulated products that also includes broad access. So hopefully everyone can come to the table together. I don't see that happening before December, but you know, it's it's possible.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

I I want to take, I want to take the a mild sort of opposing viewpoint on this. And it's not because I'm disagreeing, um, but but just, you know, I want to, I'm a little sympathetic to to the other side of this for a couple of reasons. One is that um, you know, is I think that one of the things that that that I'm you know, this is a broad stroke, and I realize it's not totally for the the hemp folks, you know, for it is it took a very sort of aggressive position towards the licensed regulated, the licensed market. So I'm talking which I'm referring to as sort of the non-hemp state regulated, just sort of very broadly, you know, approach towards um it's too, you know, you all should just follow our side and throw, you know, and who cares about all the investments and time that you've made over the past few years? Look at all we're doing. And, you know, and I think that there is a, and I, you know, I'm sympathetic to the to the bit of sort of resentment that the license market has had relative to hemp, which is has been producing, you know, basically offering a very similar product, you know, without all of the Michigas that licenses to go through. And so, you know, so I I think, you know, now that the loophole is about to close, you know, I think it is easy for hemp to say, just, you know, we all should work together towards something. I think the the reality of that, of what does that actually mean for something that will benefit all of us, is is very hard to achieve. And so, you know, so I think that that's where that's, you know, the the way that the licensed side and these groups may be going about it may not be the right approach. And I agree, it is the risk of damaging the overall message. But I think, you know, but I'm I'm a little sympathetic to the underlying problem of, you know, of what is a solution that does benefit, you know, hemp, but also benefit you know would benefit the licensed folks that have spent you know billions and billions of dollars investment in time and money, time and effort to achieve what they have and come up pretty short. And again, I I don't know what that is. And the other the other thing.

AnnaRae Grabstein 22:26

I think the Van Dyne bill could could be that. I think that having um you know low-dose products that are broadly available to people, it's an opportunity for MSOs and everyone else to participate. It delineates very different products from dispensaries versus open retail. Uh, that's an example of what that could look like.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

That's a very fair point. And I, you know, and part of this is what could actually be achieved, you know, in terms of you know, in Congress, which I think is none of it, but you know, but but that's me being cynical. But you know, but I hope for the best. And I think something like Van Dyne is is probably the closest we're gonna get. But you know, but I I guess you know, I again I'm not trying to I'm not trying to downplay Ben your your point or anerate your point. It's just I you know, it's just I it this is this is what makes this all so fucking complicated.

Ben Larson 23:20

Um it is complicated because I I I think you're right. And and I I think I'd be less emotional about it if people were merely saying, hey, we built this multi-billion dollar industry and we have that as a consideration. Can we sit down and talk about that? Uh that would be fine, but coming in and lying and trying to like say something that is that it isn't like is is not the right approach, and it is shooting yourself in the foot. And like, there are so many analogies that we could create about like what the situation is, like for any of our fans of alcohol out there, right? Like, this is equivalent to these state-regulated liquor stores fighting against all the grocery stores and liquor and and gas stations that you might also buy your alcohol at saying, no, no, it's not safe there. Welcome to Canada, that's all fake. Um you have to come buy here, right? Like, that's not the future. And and like there are people that represent these organizations that do wear the cape and cloak of an advocate, but they aren't advocating for the future of the plant, they're advocating for the money that they're trying to protect for their constituents, and I get it like that's a tough position to be in, but but call a spade a spade, and like I'm here to fight for the future of the plant, right? This has been my stance the entire time. Like, yes, I largely represent a very narrow category, but these organizations want to kill that category merely because of the threat that it creates to their built business in this fucking purgatory that we all get to survive in.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

Well, I I would add another layer too, and this goes to rescheduling, and that is the longer the delay happens in DC or never happens with the don't use cannabis, the better it is for a lot of these operators, the big ones, I think. I mean, a lot of unlock might happen with rescheduling, but I think you could argue TrueLeave is doing great right now.

AnnaRae Grabstein 25:25

I you know, especially if the IRS is is accepting they're they're not not uh subject to 280e tax tax positions. But they're not.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

They they've been auditing that. They I mean, and the and the and the MSOs are paying it back. Yeah, that the it's not winning. Those arguments are actually getting, yeah, they're they're paying that shit back. So but I you know that is Jay, I mean, that has been a a theory for a very long time in this industry, is that the is that the big MSOs benefit from prohibition. You know, I I've never been fully convinced of that because if if we didn't have prohibition, this industry would not be the dumpster fire that it is, unfortunately. Is that and you know, I don't think they benefit from consistently make positive net income. I mean, it's sorry. I I just I I don't think you know there's very few companies that are actually financially sound in this industry. That's not a good position to be in. I'm sorry, Ben.

Ben Larson 26:30

No, I was just saying, I I I don't think big benefit from from pro prohibition. I think that they want to control how we emerge from it so that they continue to benefit.

SPEAKER_04 26:42

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

I mean that I would argue disagree with, but that's the same for who doesn't?

SPEAKER_04 26:48

That's every industry.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Yeah, that's that's every. Yeah, I know.

Ben Larson 26:51

I'm just saying it out, I'm just saying it how not. You're right.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

It's just just like so people hear it. But but it's it's reasonable, I mean, it's reasonable. You know, like I like I at the end of the day, like I I you know, I I I am sympathetic to that, but it is it is reasonable that you know companies that spent money to you know build this capacity and and benefit from the regulations, as poorly written as they may be, like it's reasonable to you know have your fiduciary responsibility to protect that position, right? Like I I do get that. At the end of the day, like you know, it's consumers who are gonna lose out with this fighting between hemp and cannabis, right?

SPEAKER_04 27:28

Um so uh can I shift because I think it is relevant to

Florida License Prices Slide Hard

SPEAKER_04 27:33

this. And Mark, you shared earlier, you shared an email that you got uh from uh someone who's brokering a license in Florida, and maybe this is indicative where Florida licenses used to be a license to print money and worth their weight in gold. That has that's not true anymore. What's the latest from your perspective, what's happening in Florida? Because it looks like a license was granted like a month ago and is now worth less than a million dollars. That's what looks like.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Yeah, there's a broke, you know, that one of the big uh business brokers in the industry. Uh they you know, they had listed a couple of the uh the provisional licenses licenses that were finally granted by Florida. I think there were 21 or 22 of them. And a few weeks ago they they listed a couple with you know with leaseholds built out and everything for a couple million dollars. And now they're they just listed one for just under a million bucks, which is, you know, which is I think it's just for the paper itself, but it's still like a million bucks for a Florida license. I mean, I sure I think it shows that you know, just where this industry's at, and also just how people are thinking about the state. Of it's so um, it's gonna be hard to build something there that that really can stand out at this point.

SPEAKER_04 28:48

Yeah, so we're gonna pool our resources on this call. We're gonna buy that license, um and we're gonna build something out in Florida. Everybody in? We can all stay my parents.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

No.

AnnaRae Grabstein 28:59

It's no, it's not even the million dollars, it's not a good deal. It is a tough market, and just to launch in that market, it's gonna take another 20 million dollars to open the stores, to build the infrastructure, to scale to a place that you could actually compete with the existing players in the market. Uh, it it's it's gonna take someone with a lot of cojones to uh to go launch in Florida right now.

SPEAKER_04 29:28

But not as much money as they needed before.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

You should say topographic cannabis.

Ben Larson 29:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:35

Not a bad idea. Not a bad idea.

unknown 29:38

I like it.

SPEAKER_04 29:39

I like it.

Ben Larson 29:40

It just stands in stark contrast to the what $50 million uh spent up in in Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_04 29:47

Um it's now time on the program as we come up uh a little bit past the half hour for everybody's favorite time on the show. Winners

Winners And Losers Roundtable

SPEAKER_04 30:00

and losers. Who's up first?

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Um I I can go.

SPEAKER_04 30:04

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

One second. I'm pulling up my notes here. Um my winner, um, bizarrely as it may be, is Aurora Cannabis shareholders, because uh, you know, they're long suffering. Um I think, you know, let's see, the stock is down six percent this year, uh since inception, 96%. Uh so you know, if you've been in it that long, you're long suffering. But uh companies that get acquired generally get acquired for a premium. So there is going to be a premium to their share price. And so hopefully this is an opportunity for the long-suffering shareholders of Canadian LPs to uh make some money. So, you know, I I'm I'm happy for them, and I hope I hope that the deal works out in their favor, and I hope that the premium is paid. So uh, you know, that's my winner of the week, even though it's a little bit subdued. No loser this week. I'll keep it positive.

SPEAKER_04 30:58

Such a hoser. Um such a hoster. Ben, you're next. Winners losers.

Ben Larson 31:04

All right, all right. Uh, I'm gonna keep the my my loser train going uh with with attach. And um, I just want to point out, right, like that I was excited to be a part of attach because of what they stood for, the American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hap. I was there when I also saw an opportunity for these organizations to start to come together to really represent a single voice in DC for progress. Uh, that's also when I was involved with the NCIA board and and thinking maybe, hey, maybe we could bring these two together. Um, they had started a beverage coalition, and I I got this illustrious award of being the beverage executive of the year. And um what's it all mean? Like, how how do I sit in Minnesota when beverages are being sold in grocery stores and in restaurants, and we pretend that doesn't even exist, and that's not progress. So uh attach. Um on the winner side, bang bang niner gang. Let's go five and oh. Uh we had the Valkyries. I heard Anna Ray shout out to the Valkyries last week. We had the Niners. Uh, there's they're gonna go six and oh. Uh, we're up against the Commanders on Monday night football. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:17

And the Dodgers lost. That's the other thing.

Ben Larson 32:20

And the Dodgers lost, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:22

That's a San Francisco thing to cheer for that the Dodgers lost. Yeah, yeah.

Ben Larson 32:26

We also don't even want to draw attention to the Giants right now.

SPEAKER_04 32:32

Fair enough. Mark Hauser, winners-losers.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Um, well, I dovetailing Jeremy's point, um, I think the other losers are generally holders of of cannabis stocks over the past couple weeks, um, particularly stocks like, I mean, like Glasshouse, which has gotten just decimated. You know, it was it was trading above 12 before they, you know, at the time that they announced the um traded up over 12 before when they announced the the the um the decons the the uh the splitting apart of the uh of the um plant sorry the adult use of medical and then listing, and they're now trading at uh $3.46, you know, and but they're not the only ones who've gotten hammered recently, and it's just you know, I I think it's just a the the cannabis stocks are so you know detached from reality to begin with, um, but it just shows how um how tough this is for for for cannabis stockholders.

SPEAKER_04 33:35

Yes. That that could be a loser for the past five years if you look at the the full if you if you zoom out on the full chart, that's that's sort of the the general trend. Yeah. Um Anna Ray.

Outdoor Harvest Highlights And Fusarium

AnnaRae Grabstein 33:47

Um I'm gonna bring up something we didn't talk about at all today, but um that's really relevant right now, which is the outdoor harvest. Um, we are in like the last week of the outdoor harvest in a lot of the West Coast states that have been growing legal cannabis for a long time. Think Oregon, Washington, California, and neighboring areas. Um, this has been a gangbuster season for outdoor. The weather has been perfect. It hasn't really rained in October yet, which is what sometimes comes and happens and will really ruin ruin the buds when they're full and dense and get moisture on them, and that hasn't happened at all. And um, I've been having calls canceled this week because people are just dealing with gangbuster harvesting. And um I am just really excited. I think the winners are the consumers who are about to get all of their fresh drops of really nice green outdoor sun-grown weed, and then the whole supply chain that's about to get flooded with all the fresh biomass that's gonna go into creating all of the extracts and things that will be um supporting the industry for the rest of the year until next harvest. Um, and on the flip side, the loser of the outdoor harvest is the few is fusarium. Um, I posted about this early this week, but fuserium is a plant pathogen that lives in the soil and will eat the roots. And um, even though there are lots of healthy plants coming down this year, there is also um a lot of folks that have been telling me about hearing that half of half of fields can't be harvested or three-quarters of a field can't be harvested because fuserium has been such a challenge for for certain regions and certain farms. Um, it's also annihilating lettuce crops. It's really, really intense. So um the winner is the outdoor harvest and the loser is fusarium.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Great. Thank you. Uh I have two. I love the joy in your voice when you're talking about cultivation. I love it. It's awesome. It's awesome. I am seriously.

Events Road Show And Closing

SPEAKER_04 35:48

I have I have two winners. I'm keeping it positive on two fronts. Uh, one, uh, if you are among the 121 at last count folks coming to our event in New York City next Thursday night, the high rise, with our friends at Gotham, you will be treated to a conversation uh with a lot of people, but the one that I'm most keen on is with Clint Kellum and John Kagia, the two folks in charge of the markets in California and New York, respectively. That we have not submitted questions. Jeremy is moderating the panel. There'll be questions uh from the audience as well. So we really look forward to their answers to those big markets. Um I don't think they've ever been on stage together, uh, but it will be interesting to see. My second shout out and winners are folks that tune in every week on our link on our YouTube channel, MIGI420 and Al Guapotron 4000. I guess it's cool to end your names with uh with numbers. Uh, but shout out to both of you and others that watch both on our LinkedIn channel and our YouTube channel. We appreciate you. We see you and we see the comments uh every week. So we appreciate that. And with that, you can also find this show wherever you get your podcasts. I never remember to say that, but check that out. Yeah. And um, we've been upgrading. Jeremy and I have been upgrading our website so you can find all that we do, both our videos, podcasts, all of our events on cultivated.news, which I no longer have the hat, but cultivated.news. And we are taking our show, Cultivated on the Road. We'll be in New York City next week, November 12th. We will be in St. Louis, Las Vegas, December 2nd, and Buffalo, December 17th. That's where you want to be, with our friends at Jaunty or helping us host an event called Cultivated Buffalo at the Resurgence Brewery in Buffalo on December 17th. I encourage anybody who has not been to Buffalo in December to actually make a plan to be there. You will be welcomed with open arms in Buffalo if you show up in December. That's why we're going. So, with all of that, um, check out what Anna Ray and Ben do at High Rise. Uh, it's not High Rise, that's our Ven. High Spirits. Mark Hauser, you can find him at Cannabis Musings. Jeremy and I, you can find at cultivated.news. With that, have a good weekend, everybody.