Voting Day And Quick Catch Up

Ben Larson 0:00

Hey everybody, welcome to episode 159 of High Spirits. I'm Ben Larson. And I'm Anna Ree Gramstein. And we're recording Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026. It's voting day. It's finally here. We got a lot of big news today. We're gonna do a cannabis business news roundup. That means you just have the two of us. Uh, and we have, yeah, actually some headlines to talk about. There's the organogram acquisition of Aurora. That's big news. Uh it's election day, so I'm sure there's some news in there as well. And then the DEA is uh confusing everyone, or at least holding their feet to the fire. But they're doing it to all that.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

They're yeah, they're doing so.

Ben Larson 0:43

We're not sure what they're doing or why they're doing it, but we'll we'll we'll try to break it down. And I'm sure there's some other news in there. But before we get there, Anna Ray, do you have a good Halloween?

Halloween Costumes And Bay Area Sports

AnnaRae Grabstein 0:53

Oh, it was so fun. My whole family, which is just myself, my husband, and my son, but we all dressed up as quails, um, which are these adorable sort of pigeon-like birds that some people like to have for dinner. But there's a lot of them in our backyard in Northern California, and they have these really cute plumes on the top of their head that are sort of like fascinator hat. And um, yeah, we made these hats, we wandered around like quails, and it was a glorious time. And then towards the end of Halloween, after the after the party was over, the Valkyries just smashed the dream, and it was fabulous. After like the worst game six I'd ever seen in basketball.

Ben Larson 1:36

It was the worst game six ever.

AnnaRae Grabstein 1:38

It was the worst game six. I came to Virtosa. You hosted this whole viewing party, which was so awesome and so supportive of the team and of the Bay Area, and you had never seen a Valkyries game and they sucked. So I was really bummed because I wanted it to be amazing for you. And um, then anyway, the game on Saturday was just epic. And then since then, I've been in this like crazy vacuous um algorithm of awesome inspirational clips of the coach Natalie Nikase and the owner um of the Valkyries, Joe Lacobe and Gabby Williams, the MVP. They're all just freaking fantastic, and they are so inspiring.

Ben Larson 2:21

They are pretty fantastic, and the energy was was pretty infectious. I I uh am surprised about how much shit talking there is from the other side on like X and all this kind of stuff. I'm like, can't we just celebrate them? But regardless, one of my favorite uh Halloween outfits, we were out at this uh big family party in the park, all dressed up in costumes, and there was one woman who was dressed up as a sports commentator, and she had her iPad there watching watching the game while we're all getting ready to go trick-or-treating, and she was calling out the score. So it was a it was a nice little way to to feel involved while doing family stuff.

AnnaRae Grabstein 2:57

That's awesome. Uh, what what was your family? What did you guys dress up as?

Ben Larson 3:01

We did not do a coordinated one. It's you know, my my older kids are expressing their independence of thought, and so um we did actually end up centering around kind of classic costumes. Uh, I was in a skeleton onesie, uh, so I took the easy way out. Um, my son was some sort of pumpkin from some sort of video game. I don't know. He's always got this like weird bent. Uh, and then my daughter was a uh was a cute witch, uh, which was really nice. Oh cute and then the little one was a pumpkin, a pumpkin fairy.

AnnaRae Grabstein 3:33

Amazing. I love a baby in a costume. That's so fun. Um, amazing. Well, I thought it was a great weekend. And you know, the other costume I saw out there a lot on the trick-or-treat circuit was a grown-ups that were dressed up as Ted Lasso. And um, I thought that that was also sort of poetic um because there was just so much inspiration around this finals and and the way that the coach showed up and talked about this team that they had pulled together that had only been in existence for two years, and just all of these um underappreciated players that got pulled together and built something really beautiful. It seems like something Ted Lasso would have wanted us all to believe in.

Ben Larson 4:16

Yeah, it was kind of reminiscent of the the 2010 San Francisco Giants. But but now we're getting uh too much into to Bay Area Sports. Okay, not our podcast.

Organigram’s Aurora Acquisition Breakdown

AnnaRae Grabstein 4:28

Let's talk about Aurora and Organogram.

Ben Larson 4:31

Wow. Yeah, what a big deal. Uh 780, I think, is the the price mark that we finally landed at, which uh is up significantly from the $4 and $5 marks or $6 marks that Kierleaf was was reported just weeks ago. Um, and really interesting to see just how much they've developed around this announcement. Like if there's this website that just looks like it was professionally developed, and maybe maybe this is just a sign of the age of AI. Um, but yeah, this looks like a big deal. What what's your take on it?

AnnaRae Grabstein 5:06

I mean, my take is that big tobacco is picking the winner in Canada. Um, absolutely. I think that the details are that BAT British American Tobacco has put up 187 million US dollars, which is about 141 million in Canada, um, or they're buying 141 million shares um for 187 million dollars of organogram. And then they are also bringing to the table ATB Financial, who's committing another $210 million debt um for this combined company. And this is a big deal. This is a 93% price premium to Aurora's August 10th close. And it's a 21%, it's 21% above CuraLeaf's hostile bid that was amended on October 6th. So what Aurora has clearly um is viewed as incredibly valuable and competitive to the future of global cannabis, and I think that it's solidifying Canada's place as the leader of production for the global cannabis marketplace.

Ben Larson 6:22

Yeah. And you know, it's funny, there's so many years where we talked about MA waves, and a lot of waves never like came to fruition. Um, but this one is interesting because there's been a lot of conversation around this deal. And even CureLeaf themselves said that they have other companies in the holster if this one doesn't work out. So it'll be um interesting to see how quickly a new target bubbles up for CureLeaf.

AnnaRae Grabstein 6:50

Yeah. And for folks that haven't been following the news, it is just breaking today. I think some things to know about this deal is that um it has been approved by the board of Aurora and the Board of Organogram, but it still needs final approval from the shareholders and the regulators. And that's what the big exciting announcement and all these websites are designed to do, is to get the shareholders of Aurora behind this deal so that they will tender their votes in support of it. And then all that will be left is for the regulators to say yes. The shareholders of Aurora are being offered a combination of cash and stock, or all cash or all stock, kind of depending on which path they choose. And depending on how many individual shareholders choose, stock versus cash, the combined ownership proportionally of kind of what Aurora shareholders were will own of the combined company is somewhere between 35 and 42 percent. Um, which the reason that Aurora isn't gonna end up with more than 50%, because we had talked about this on an earlier pod, that that it it was gonna be a stretch for Organagram to be able to buy Aurora because they actually had a lower enterprise value than than Aurora did. Um so BATs come into the table with the dollars, and then this debt is making it possible for Organogram still to be the lead in this deal, even though they didn't come to the table with um as valuable of a company as Aurora for the the price that is being paid.

Ben Larson 8:33

Yeah, I I don't see how this deal doesn't go through. If I'm a shareholder and I'm getting a 93% you know premium on my shares in a company that was designed for acquisition, essentially, it's like they they've completely removed themselves from from you know the adult use cannabis market. And this is just this is a deal that just makes sense if if I'm a shareholder, especially if there's a cash option. I mean, come on.

AnnaRae Grabstein 8:58

Yeah. Um and I'm not a shareholder. Are are you do you have and I I wish that I was like I am so terrible at buying weed stocks. Um, for someone that knows so much about cannabis, I never buy stocks at the right time when it comes to these cannabis stocks. I thought about buying some of the Aurora shares when this whole thing started happening, and then thought, ugh, I don't want to be a loser like I've been in the past so many times with shares going down 90% later, I'm staying out of it. But I guess it's there's one cannabis stock.

Ben Larson 9:29

There's one cannabis stock I own and and it's my own. And that's not because I am an Elon Musk type. It's because my financial advisor years ago stared me in the face. And when I was asking him if I should go heavier into stocks, uh, he looked at me and said, I think you're a little bit over-indexed in cannabis right now. Totally. Like, fair enough. Uh, we'll not be investing in cannabis stocks.

AnnaRae Grabstein 9:53

Yeah, I I feel that for sure. Um yeah, I'm I'm excited though for this deal. I think that um it's just been fun to watch the whole thing unfold. It's been a little bit like like uh HBO drama F. And I think the cannabis industry needed that. I I think that the that the team at Organogram is seems really mature in the way that they're thinking about can the cannabis industry developing and the way that they have been building CPG products and kind of really leveraging RD in a way that I don't see a lot of other companies do in the space. And for them to now have this massive cultivation asset um along with this kind of like legacy of innovation and RD that they've been building, I think that they are one to watch for sure.

Ben Larson 10:47

Yeah, absolutely. Big deal. All right. Anything stateside for us to talk about?

Massachusetts Question 8 And Rescheduling Update

AnnaRae Grabstein 10:54

Well, it is election day, and uh, you know, we don't know the outcome of the election, but we've been talking a lot about Massachusetts and question eight, and Massachusetts could become the first state to repeal adult use um by vote today, uh, if the referendum wins. But I don't think it's gonna win. And so by the time that everyone starts listening to this tomorrow, I want to personally congratulate the people of Massachusetts for stopping the repeal initiative and ensuring that adult use in their state stays legal.

Ben Larson 11:36

So if you're happening to watch this live, like and happen to be in Massachusetts, get out and vote, please, because like this is just ridiculous. Um, and it's there's there's a certain direction they're supposed to be voted. It's it's no on eight, right? And because no on eight. Absolutely.

AnnaRae Grabstein 11:55

No on eight. And really, there are over 50 plus lawmakers that also are encouraging people to vote no on eight, um, uh including Senator Warren, Governor Mora Healy, um, and her GOP challenger, Mike Mano. So, yeah. Congratulations, Massachusetts. I know you're gonna do the right thing. I know that you did the right thing already. All the people that already voted, um, let's make sure that the businesses and access stays where it is in Massachusetts. It's been a rough market there, and people deserve a win, or at least not to have their businesses taken away from them.

Ben Larson 12:33

Amen. Amen. And yeah, if we can serve up a loss to Sam on this one, that would be wonderful. And just at some point, you know, Kevin Sabet's gonna have to think of a new business model because he just keeps getting served losses. And so Anna Ray's predictive loss here on Massachusetts. Uh the GAO on on the the marijuana rescheduling has also somewhat served up a loss, basically, saying that they are not gonna reopen the case uh for further discovery. And so that was being pushed by the opponents there, and so everything seems to be back on track. It's still in suspension, but I I think what it comes out October 29th or November 5th. Replies are due November 5th.

AnnaRae Grabstein 13:20

November 5th, yeah.

Ben Larson 13:21

And then the pause ends automatically after that. And so um the rescheduling conversations are gonna be kicking back up as it re as it relates to adult use, I suppose.

DEA Timely Applicants And Closed Loop Rules

Ben Larson 13:33

Um, but meanwhile, there's a bunch of communications coming out from the DEA uh regarding uh the temper what what is it called? The timely applicants. Timely applicants.

AnnaRae Grabstein 13:45

Yeah.

Ben Larson 13:46

There was famously the 60-day window where everyone, if they were interested in being a DEA registered schedule three operation that they had to get their applications in. And there was what, some like near like 7,000 applicants that actually got submitted.

AnnaRae Grabstein 14:03

Yeah, apps, yep, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So it was on Friday. The Department of Justice announced that there they are have processed federal registration for 900 dispensaries in seven states, so only dispensaries so far. And Florida accounts for most of them. A little over 700 came from Florida, and um both TrueLeave and Virio have both announced that their Florida dispensaries have received the registration. So big surprise. It's it's happening. Um, the DEA is busy, but there are still another 6,000 applications that are waiting. Um, between all of the applications, the DEA collected over $12 million of fees, and the the around 1,900 registrants um are less than a million dollars of those fees. So there's about $11.5 million of fees collected, then people that have not heard back that are waiting.

Ben Larson 15:09

Yeah, not surprising. I mean, that's a lot of money to all of us, but not a lot of money to the DEA. I'm sure they spend that in a day. Um yeah, I mean, here are the states, uh, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Uh, there's a very certain color that that starts painting. And again, not surprising, but we are still in the middle of this transitionary phase. So they sent out a letter uh to all of us applicants, of which we uh we do have an application in. And it's a DEA medical marijuana timely applicants information. And so it's interesting because this is guidance, and I'll start by saying it's a very detailed guidance that says of like how you can comply and how you won't comply. And then the entire letter ends with the fact that uh this is not law and this is subject to change. Um but Anna Ray, to your point, these are all uh dispensaries that have been granted their licenses. Registrations, I think. Or registrations, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Yeah.

Ben Larson 16:22

But in the language of the letter that was sent on on October 30th, which was Friday, um it's basically saying that it has to be a total closed loop system, which means lic registrate registered manufacturers have to interact with registered distributors, which have to interact with registered dispensaries, and there can be no activity outside of that. And obviously there's this transitionary phase, which ends November 29th, end of this month, by which you have to have a fully validated ecosystem, and there's like a blind spot, there's one exception in there where there are no uh there are no registered labs. So the DAA is just saying, oh, well, that's fine, just you know, send a de minimis amount and make sure it's all tested so you comply with states. If you somehow lose your state license, then you're totally out of federal compliance. I don't know. This just seems like a complete shit show, knowing that we have three and a half weeks to to get into compliance.

AnnaRae Grabstein 17:26

Yeah, it is such a tangled web. And this closed loop system that you're talking about, I think is part of the reason why they have only granted these registrations so far in it's not just red states, but it's medical-only states. And the problem is that yeah, these these states that have adult use programs inherently do not comply with what this letter that they sent to out states about um fully closed loop transactions between registrants only. And uh, as a result, the DEA did respond to a Minnesota applicant and um let them know that there's a mismatch between the way that the dual use licensing happens in Minnesota and what the DEA requires. And I think that they rejected their application or at least gave them notice that that they wouldn't be able to comply. They wouldn't be able to grant them the registration, at least right now. And um I'm confused about that. And that has been where my head is going is why is the DEA accepting applications if they don't intend to be able to process them from people? Like this should have been something that they communicated back in April when they opened up the 60 days that hey, if you're in a state that has an adult ease program, or if you have dual use licensing, um, you're gonna be effed and you should just uh sit this, sit this round out. But they didn't do that. But I also don't think that they knew.

Ben Larson 19:05

So yeah, I don't think they knew. I think that would have required them to like at least have time and sit down and analyze what is happening and how to harmonize between the state systems and the federal systems. Uh, I think the one thing they are paying attention is the harmonization with this single convention of whatever that international convention of drug narcotics or or whatever it is, um is that this is all all these communications are coming from the diversion control division, uh, which is interesting because that convention requires that every gram of Schedule III product be tracked through the whole system and making sure that it's not being diverted into the international marketplace. And so that is the lens that the DEA is using, and it's interesting because there's no system that is more tracked and contained than these state systems, and we have a massive diversion problem. Uh, so this is gonna be a total mess uh for the foreseeable future.

AnnaRae Grabstein 20:07

The DEA letter also makes really clear that they are depending on all of the registrants to stay in compliance with their state programs, um, which adds this other unique and complicated layer of complexity. Because if it wasn't for saying that you needed to stay compliant with your state program, then everything else about their guidance would open up the door to interstate commerce from my perspective, because they don't talk about state lines at all. What they talk about is that DEA registrants need to transact with other timely applicants. And so theoretically, if the states didn't put the restriction on their licensees about where the product could go, and if your metric track and trace allowed you to be able to transact with another timely applicant, it should be able to be a timely applicant anywhere. So I'm definitely paying attention to that as well, because I know that a lot of operators are going directly to their state regulators and saying, all right, how how fast can we move here? Because if there is no opportunity to transact out of state lines with other timely applicants, you've really created a much smaller funnel of who you can do business with if you want to stay a timely applicant in order to get the tax benefits that this allows and just to participate in this next chapter, whatever it is, um, at this point.

Ben Larson 21:45

So confusing stuff. There there seems to be two viable pathways. One, you hustle up, you do the due diligence. It is the impetus is on you to make sure you're transacting with federally sanctioned time. Timely applicants, and so every person you interact with with that entity, you need to do the work to make sure that they're listed as a timely applicant. So you need to identify their DCNs and all that kind of stuff. Or I think you withdraw your application. I it's the only way I see like this going smoothly. I mean, I guess you could just kind of wait there in purgatory and wait till you get inspected by the DEA, but I don't know if I want to invite that, right? Um it is interesting to think on on the long timeline here, um, because we talk a lot about what we're doing in this administration, what what we might be able to achieve in the next administration, how Congress plays into all this, but I I anticipate this being a total mess uh for for the next couple years. And if if the red states are the ones that get the outsized benefit of this, or one state like Florida, um that if there is a switch in an administration that there might be enough motivation to then clean it up and at least create parity for for all the states. It's my silver lining uh for what is that, 2028?

AnnaRae Grabstein 23:11

Yeah, I'm I'm also watching how within these medical-only state markets that are being granted these licenses, when the DEA um process kind of runs up against the existing state law, but that has nothing to do with interstate commerce, but more about commerce between DEA registrants, what happens? And an example of that would be in Florida, where there's no wholesale allowed between um licensees. So everyone in Florida is selling what they produce and only what they produce. Uh, if Verano now goes, can Verano as a registrant now go sell to Virio, another registrant, um, wholesale, because that is what the DEA would allow, but it isn't currently allowed under under Florida law. And how is that gonna become reconciled uh as folks try to push up against that? And I can see that there'll be people that will want to maintain existing state law and folks that will want to tear it apart and and rebuild it in in different ways. So it's it's all gonna be happening over the next 12 months, 24 months. I don't know. I don't know how long it's gonna take to work this all out, but it's not gonna be easy for anybody.

Ben Larson 24:30

Well, we'll we'll keep everyone up to date the best we can. I think the important takeaway here is if you were a timely applicant and you're on the list, you have November 29th to mark on your calendar and keep on top of the news until then. Um, just because it does seem like a significant date. Uh yeah.

AnnaRae Grabstein 24:49

And if you guys know, if anyone can think of like the prominent expert that could help us unpack this for all of our listeners out there that are operating and trying to make sense of this, or if you are that expert, reach out to us and we'll have you on and have a conversation and try to break down what people need to be thinking about right now because the answers are are are fuzzy to say the least.

Ben Larson 25:11

And I think my qualification for that person is someone that's willing to admit that there are no experts on this topic. A little bit of humility uh will go a long way.

AnnaRae Grabstein 25:23

Yeah, absolutely.

Hiring Season Meets Data And AI Fluency

AnnaRae Grabstein 25:24

Well, I think along with that, what we're looking at is kind of like companies who registered trying to predict the future. And um, there's a lot of that going on right now. And uh I saw an interesting LinkedIn post uh yesterday or the day before from David Belski from Flower Hire. And he shared that at Flower Hire, which is a recruiting company, Labor Day to Thanksgiving is one of the is the busiest stretch for cannabis executive hiring. And um that FlowerHire sees it every single year, that more jobs open and the interviews move faster between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. And uh I was thinking about how you know it's also annual planning season. And so it's it's not a coincidence, it's the kind of the same conversation happening. It's about what are we gonna do next year and then who are the people that we need in order to make that happen and and lighting everything up. So yeah, I don't know. Ben, are you hiring? Does that resonate?

Ben Larson 26:24

We we are actually. It's uh I think my HR team was just saying that this is the most open applications we've had at any time. Um, and the pipelines are are very healthy uh outside of the cannabis industry. I mean, it that's great to hear that the hiring is strong right now uh in the in the cannabis industry. Um I'm you know sitting in the Bay Area and we're we're getting all these notices about like waves of layoffs in the in the tech industry. Uh totally not related to AI or anything like that taking jobs. Um I think I think Microsoft's I think that was sarcastic. Yeah, I think Microsoft's wave was like it's gonna be like 60,000 or something like that. It's an insane amount. Um so a lot of a lot of great talent out there. Um but yeah, we're we're we're in the throes of planning. Uh we're planning multiple scenarios because of our business exposure to all of this uh that we talked about. And still, uh regardless of those scenarios, I think we're always looking for talent around this time just because you take that moment to to apply different lenses to your company and and really think about what you're trying to achieve in the in the year to come.

AnnaRae Grabstein 27:34

Yeah. Well, to thread the needle with with planning, um, back in the summer, you and I both read this great book called Turn the Ship Around, which is a business book about leadership. And and in that book, they talk a lot about this, this, this parallel importance between competency and clarity as leadership teams are planning. And I was thinking about that a lot as it related to this hiring post. And what came to my mind was not that clarity and competency aren't kind of key foundational, key foundational focuses uh when you're doing annual planning, but that there's this other piece to it now that has to do with data, because we are in this era of AI, like you said, and that data competency and AI competency and technology kind of becomes this third leg of how fluent is the team. If you come up with these ideas, you create this clarity. Can you prove it to yourself? Can you disprove your idea? Um really like figuring out where the answers lie.

Ben Larson 28:38

Um the the intersection of having read that book and and leaning into my very talented team, and then the the data that companies like BDSA put out there, um, really yeah, just creates such a depth of our our analysis and and leveraging like the AI tools to kind of really pick apart that information. It's like we have such a granular hold on what's happening in each market now, what the trends are, what the market share looks like, what what product categories are are going where and and then applying that lens to to the needs of our business or or where we should be focusing. Yeah it's just I feel like we have more tools than ever to grow our businesses. And it's it's pretty exciting.

AnnaRae Grabstein 29:23

The the tools really are yes, are so incredible. And and here on this podcast, if you guys think that we have hot takes, or if you think that maybe I had something interesting to say or an insight that made you think about something differently, it probably is because as I am filtering the news, I am going to my BDSA portal and talking to it and trying to think about how is what's going on in the world going to affect the market and where is that showing up in the data and what can I unearth and reinforce as a good idea. Um, so it's it is really it's a big deal. And and to bring it back to hiring, and I was thinking about this, you know, with with Belski talking about all these executives interviewing for roles right now, that one of the things that I would want to be asking in any of those interviews is about data fluency and asking executives in a hiring process about a time when data might have changed their mind and and what is the data that they're paying attention to uh that would help them make better decisions and drive competency on their teams and and clarity on their vision.

Ben Larson 30:34

Yeah. Yeah, we actually have a very specific flow towards the end of our hiring process where there's like a take-home assignment. And obviously we're gonna hope we're we're hoping the applicants are are doing some some level of data analysis, some data-driven kind of like reporting. But then also we just presume that they're using some sort of tools to help them in the preparation of their their documents. The assignments have gotten incredibly good compared to like to years past. Um and so we just ask people like straight up, it's like, oh, how did you incorporate AI in into your process and and how did you balance it with the output? And it's really interesting to have people reveal what their workflows are. Um and so, yeah, and in major red flags if you're if you're saying that you didn't use AI at all.

AnnaRae Grabstein 31:29

Yeah, if you're saying, yeah, exactly. Well, and and what you said about asking people how they got to the answer is becoming more important than the answer, right? What what is the data? What is the AI tool? Who are the people that you talked about? What is the vision that you brought to the table? How are you making all of these connections that really brings the human layer to it all? Uh but but the quality of the information really matters. So um, yeah, just was thinking about that. I thought that was a really interesting post. And I'm excited to see who all these new executives are that are going to be entering the industry over the next couple of months or showing up in new companies, moving from place to place. It always it always kind of changes the trajectory of things when you get new energy on the team.

Vegas Morning Mixer Momentum And Sponsors

Ben Larson 32:15

Yeah, absolutely. Well, speaking of of data and metrics and and new energy on the team, uh, we have a ton of applicants coming in for the morning mixer in Vegas uh that we're co-hosting with Seth Seth Yakitan. And so I don't know. Last time I checked, I think we were up toward towards like 300 uh registrants. Uh which up there. Yeah, getting up there. Uh, we still have a month to go and and uh yeah, the party's getting better and better by the minute. So we're excited uh for all the momentum and super appreciative of our our sponsors this year. Um, you know, we try to keep our events free and curated. Uh that's the value. Uh we don't ask for people to pay, but we do need help. So we have incredible sponsors that are are stacking up this year. Um, of course, we've talked about Select Risk Captive with J Jesse Parenti um in the past and and kind as well. Um, but I want to highlight Rhythm, uh, one of our our partners on on the beverage side. Rhythm is a GTI agrify company, and and there's also a brand Signorita. There it is. Uh Anna Ray's holding it up if you're listening. She's got the THC Mango Margarita, uh, which I hear you can buy by the palette right now if you're living in Chicago.

AnnaRae Grabstein 33:37

Yeah, Ben Kovler uh posted this week, be iconic, buy a palette. Um you know, rhythm is has an incredible portfolio of of THC beverages. And unfortunately, if the hemp band stands, uh all of the hemp derived beverages under their brands um will be banned. So they are really having a fire sale. Um, so if you're excited about seniorita, I'm sure you can find it. You can buy a palette. I think we can. And in the meantime, luckily, our party is not before the ban. So we will hopefully have some delicious Signorita beverages to taste um at the party. Absolutely. And we should also give a special shout out to a few of our other sponsors. Uh Sonar, an incredible recruiting company, has come to the table to support the party. Canix, a cannabis ERP, Grossi, a cannabis accounting group, Grogen, who's powering supplies for cultivators, Navis, one of the premier distribution companies uh operating across the industry, FundCana, helping with capital needs for cannabis companies, and Swede, uh POS. Um, so we've got an incredible group of supporters, and we've got some special shout-outs also for Wild, Gron, Timeless, Uncle Arnie's, Heirloom, Ignite It, Reclaim, Coastal Sun, and To Me. And of course, the party is powered by Vertosa, Ordo Verde, Wolfmeyer, and we are supported by Tina Ullman and the Grow Up Co-op for the event planning this year. So it's gonna be epic.

Hemp THC Beverage Last Call In Illinois

Ben Larson 35:23

That all sounds like a party in its own. Uh yeah, but back to the beverage front because we are nearing some critical dates. Uh Illinois uh passed their own legislation that that shuts down the the THC uh hemp THC landscape um next week, the the 12th, uh the original uh the original due date of of the federal legislation. Um and so if you're in Chicago and Illinois, I know that there is a special toast that is happening on the 10th. Um reach out. I don't have the details right here in front of me. I'll be in Chicago. And then I think the following day on the 11th, the GTI is also doing something. And so you can get your senior data in rhythm there. So come to Chicago next week, show your support, buy a beverage, and and yeah, we're in the the final days of of the effort before December 11th comes in.

AnnaRae Grabstein 36:24

Yeah, that's that's really a last call. Go go get your go get your THC beverages before you can't.

Ben Larson 36:31

A literal a literal last call this time, unfortunately.

AnnaRae Grabstein 36:34

It's a literal last call.

Final Takeaways And Sign Off

Ben Larson 36:36

All right. Well, and since we end up with our last call, I guess that'll be our last call. So that's you. Yeah. Thank you for uh tuning in to this week's cannabis business news roundup. I'm Ben Larson, that's Anna Ray Grabstein. Thank you to our teams at Vertosa and Wolfmeyer, and of course our producer Eric Rossetti. If you've enjoyed this episode, please share, like, review, do all the things, especially over there on YouTube. If you're on YouTube right now, thank you. Smash that bell. Thank you for listening. As always, folks, stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high. Until next time, that is the show.