Chicago-based Cresco Labs is more than doubling its workforce in Illinois as the multistate operator prepares for the Jan. 1 launch of recreational cannabis sales in the state. The company, expected to close its acquisition of Canada-based distributor Origin House by Nov. 15, said it is hiring more than 300 people in its home state […]
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Cannabis firm Green Thumb refuses to recognize Illinois union effort
Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries, a vertically integrated multistate cannabis company, is refusing to recognize a newly formed Teamsters unit at its cultivation facilities in Rock Island, Illinois, saying the union failed to hold a vote among GTI’s employees on the decision. “GTI respects the rights of our employees,” the company told Marijuana Business Daily in […]
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Chart: Recreational cannabis stores will be few and far between in Illinois
Recreational cannabis sales are set to begin in Illinois at the start of the new year, but a lack of retail stores threatens to curtail the rollout of what could eventually be a $2.5 billion market.
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Entrepreneur offers $250,000 in loans for Illinois social equity cannabis applications
An African-American entrepreneur is offering $250,000 in loans with either zero or a low interest rate to 100 social equity applicants for marijuana business licenses in Illinois in hopes of getting more minorities into the industry. Good Tree Capital founder Seke Ballard – who already is in the business of handing out loans to cannabis […]
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Acreage Holdings inks $72 million cannabis real estate deal
Acreage Holdings, a multistate marijuana operator, signed a sale-leaseback deal valued at more than $72 million for cannabis facilities in several states with GreenAcreage Real Estate, a real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on the MJ space. New York-based Acreage Holdings said on Friday it already closed deals with GreenAcreage for facilities in Florida, […]
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Chicago wants to charge maximum 3% tax on recreational marijuana sales
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposed in her 2020 budget that the city impose the maximum local tax of 3% on recreational marijuana sales, a levy that would come on top of a state sales tax and a retail tax based on product potency and type. Marijuana Policy Project has calculated that the total retail marijuana […]
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Chicago marijuana firm inks $29 million real estate deal
Revolution Global, a Chicago-based cannabis company, will more than double the capacity at its flagship cultivation facility in Illinois after securing $28.75 million in funding from Freehold Properties, a Las Vegas-based real estate investment company. The doubling of size is in anticipation of a huge increase in demand when recreational marijuana sales begin in Illinois on […]
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Chicago allows some adult-use cannabis sales downtown
Chicago’s City Council approved a zoning ordinance that bans recreational marijuana stores from the central business district but allows them to locate in part of the popular River North area downtown. Mayor Lori Lightfoot initially had proposed a ban covering nearly all of downtown, but she recently had a change of heart that unlocks some […]
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Week in Review: Cannabis merger goes up in smoke, regulators target MJ vaping, Maine inches toward adult-use sales & more
MedMen and PharmaCann scrap their planned merger, state and federal officials act against marijuana vaping, Maine moves toward the launch of recreational MJ sales by the spring – and more of the week’s top cannabis business news. MedMen, PharmaCann pull the plug MedMen, a California-based cannabis multistate operator, announced that its planned acquisition of […]
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California awards cities $10 million in social equity marijuana grants
Ten cities in California will divide $10 million from the state’s Bureau of Cannabis Control to help social equity programs in those municipalities. Top grant recipients include Los Angeles and Oakland, which will get almost $3.5 million between them. The grant awards, which were delayed from June, also includes Coachella and Palm Springs, which total […]
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Will Illinois change the social equity landscape for the marijuana industry?
Illinois is set to open recreational cannabis dispensaries Jan. 1 after becoming the first state in the nation to officially legalize adult-use marijuana via its Legislature in June – and the marijuana industry will be watching carefully for several reasons, including the program’s significant social equity component. Industry sources say Illinois’ marijuana companies are at the […]
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MedMen and PharmaCann terminate $682 million cannabis merger; MedMen CFO ousted
MedMen, a Los Angeles-based multistate marijuana operator, announced that its blockbuster acquisition of PharmaCann has been scuttled and that the company will focus on beefing up its retail operations in California and other states.
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The pandemic pivot and how cannabis companies reacted to COVID-19.