Here are some notable stories and events to watch for in the coming days:
A CANNABIS STATE OF MIND: New York adult-use marijuana legalization supporters are working feverishly to get a final bill together by June 19, when the current legislative session ends.
While there are still many hurdles to overcome, the latest iteration of a bill could be released this week.
State Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat and the bill’s sponsor in the Senate, told Gothamist that “tremendous progress” has been made addressing legislators’ concerns about such issues as law enforcement and entrepreneurial assistance for minority communities.
“There’s no guarantee we can do it this year, but I’m going to try,” Krueger said.
CAMPAIGN KICKOFF: The push to legalize adult-use marijuana in Minnesota ramps up this week when the group Minnesotans for Responsible Marijuana Regulation (MRMR) holds its campaign kickoff party Tuesday in Minneapolis.
MRMR is a social welfare concern that describes itself as “a broad coalition of Minnesota organizations and individuals supporting and advocating for the legalization and regulation of marijuana in Minnesota for adult recreational use.”
The “multi-partisan” alliance claims members from state government, industry, nonprofits and public at large. Among them, according to citypages.com, is Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
EARNINGS ROUNDUP: Canadian risk-management and security services firm 3 Sixty Risk Solutions plans to release its earnings results for the first quarter ended March 31 on Monday.
3 Sixty provides cash management, cannabis security consulting, guard and transport services to more than 600 customers and roughly 86 licensed cannabis holders worldwide.
CannTrust Holdings, a licensed producer of medical and recreational cannabis in Canada, will release first-quarter results Tuesday.
Ontario-based CannTrust operates a 450,000-square-foot harvest facility, has received permission to build another 390,000-square-foot location and operates a packaging plant near its headquarters in Vaughn. The company said it also expects to secure over 200 acres of land for low-cost outdoor cultivation it intends to use for its extraction-based products.
Tilray, the British Columbia-based company involved in cannabis research, cultivation, production and distribution, is also set to report first-quarter results Tuesday.
The company announced last week it plans to invest $32.6 million to increase its Canadian production and manufacturing footprint by 203,000 square feet across three facilities.
In December, Tilray and beverage giant AB InBev teamed up to invest $100 million to research cannabis-infused drinks.
Reporting first-quarter financials Wednesday is The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings, a Toronto-based organic cannabis company with operations focused on the medical MJ markets in Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America as well as the Canadian adult-use market.
The company last week announced it was entering the U.S. hemp-based CBD beverage space as a co-founding investor and strategic partner in the newly formed company Califormulations, which will operate out of Columbus, Georgia.
Also reporting Wednesday is Alberta-based Aurora Cannabis, which will detail its third-quarter results.
One of the world’s largest vertically integrated cannabis companies, Aurora has sales and operations in 24 countries across five continents. It also has 15 wholly owned subsidiaries, including MedReleaf, CanvasRX, Aurora Deutschland, Urban Cultivator and CanniMed Therapeutics.
Rounding out this week’s reports is Helix TCS, which releases first-quarter results Thursday.
The Denver-based company provides supply-chain management, compliance tools and asset protection for cannabis companies.
SURVEY SAYS: Recreational and medical marijuana are legal in Michigan, yet most of the municipalities in Allegan County in the southwestern part of the state opted out of both.
Now, the city of Saugatuck is considering taking the plunge.
Officials recently sent a four-question survey and information about state marijuana laws to more than 900 residents asking them how they feel about allowing medical and recreational sales within the city limits.
The deadline to return the surveys was May 3, and the responses will be discussed Thursday at a planning commission meeting.
When Michiganders passed Proposal 1 in November making recreational marijuana use legal, almost 70% of Saugatuck voters supported the initiative. That made it necessary for city officials to reach out to residents, Zoning Administrator Cindy Osman told the Holland Sentinel.
“We really don’t know what our residents want,” Osman said. “I’m hoping, because of the survey, people will have opinions to bring to the public hearing.”
EXPIRING LICENSE SCORECARD: There are 82 cultivation licenses set to expire this week in California, according to an analysis of state license data by Marijuana Business Daily.
But there is good news for cannabis companies: As of May 1, the California Department of Food and Agriculture had issued 77 permanent and 596 provisional licenses, up from 31 and 349, respectively, on April 3.
