SMOKE SIGNALS: FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS EDITION 11.21.22

Miss us?

The news cycle was as slow as retail and we were super depressed so we took a few weeks off, ate a lot of mushrooms and regrouped in Vegas. 🎰

The image above sums up MJ Biz Con 2022 and let’s start with our favorite headline from our friends at Green Market Report:

Curaleaf Chairman: Cannabis Could Emulate Tobacco Oligopoly

“This industry has to consolidate. There’s no way there’s going to be 35 or 40 or 50 or 100 cannabis companies 10 years from now,” Jordan said. “It’s probably going to be three to four large operators, all of whom are probably going to be closely doing what the tobacco industry has done, in terms of their supply chain and their costs, in order to be able to earn a very healthy margin.” - Boris Jordan, Executive Chairman Founder, Curaleaf

It sounds like someone wants to put 99.9% of cannabis brands, dispensaries and distributors out of business so the major players can get COGS consistent and three to four cannabis overlords can dominate the industry?🖕

In the spirit of Las Vegas we would like to place our bet on the alcohol model. We envision a handful of major players but 100’s to 1,000's of small and medium sized brands. Maybe these brands will be acquired down the road by big cannabis or maybe they only seek an opportunity to make a modest living. Either way, consumers and business owners have options. 💡

TAKE-AWAYS

Pet the usual, the Jimi Devine party brought the fire. We hunted down a few giraffes in the wild (thx Doja) and closed it out with Red/Method x High Times. The FOMO was real, robots got super overwhelmed and spent most of our time posted up at the Chandelier Bar. ✨

The talk of the town landed on compliant vending machines, the TRP x Dr. Greenthumb beef and retailers banging out in-house brands. The event felt packed but we heard a lot of chatter about the show feeling overwhelming and lackluster at the same time. It was good to connect with new and old friends and feel the hype around all the new states but California robots feel super down and out. There is so much concern around the tax shift at the beginning of the year and the overall state of the industry. 😔

In case you missed it…

BRANDS

Wonderbrett TEAMS with Consensus Holdings in the AZ. 🌵

Wyld’s Good Tide DROPS in California and Colorado. 🏄🏽

Vitaly Mekk’s Bloom Brand REDESIGNS packaging with NYC’s High Tide. 🎨

Old Pal collabs with Album Surf and that fish LOOKS super fun. 🤙🏽 cc: Rusty

Kendra Stocking’s Cherry World takes inside front cover in ID. Super dope. 🍒

Jeeter keeps it coming with their WAFFLE capsule and WORLD CUP drops. 🧇

DISTRO

As we wrap up another brutal year we have lot’s of questions about the current California distribution and sales landscape. How is Raw Garden doing at Nabis? How is Pacific Stone doing at Kiva S&S? Does the HERBL machine equate to long term success? Does Petal Fast improve sales? How will Humble & Fume fit into all of this? Is LeafLink going to make a distro appearance? Does it make sense to blame distro for all your problems or might the problem be with internal leadership? Many many variables here but we are going to deep dive the data and make our best attempt to see what is working in these wild times. 🤓

RETAIL

We hear that NY is an absolute MESS but NYSOC Director John Kagia made a POST this morning suggesting that the first 36 Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary licenses awardees will be announced and awarded. What do ya know?!🗽

It appears that Diddy made some super QUESTIONABLE business decisions. 🐉

TECH

Beal’s steps DOWN, Doug Francis takes back the reins and brings on Randa McMinn as CMO. 📊

Berner and Weedmaps LAUNCH Social Club to combat the IG shadow ban… we are def interested to see how this pans out. 🍪

EVENTS

Stoked for Tim Blake’s HARVEST BALL on 12/10 + 12/11. 🥳

PSYCHEDELICS

Colorado passed the ballot initiative to decriminalize possession of and legalize limited use of psychedelic mushrooms and other plant-and fungi-derived psychedelic drugs by those 21 years of age or older. 🍄

Do you have a favorite new mushie brand? MUSE is def ours. 🚀

OG Kenny Morrison shoots Deepak Chopra for the cover of Psychedelia Magazine. 🌀

READ / WATCH / LISTEN

READ Jon Cappetta’s “The Trap Is Forever: Why the Traditional Market Isn’t Hurting Your Pretendo, an Essay” 🤘

FTOSD interviews OG Anna from Cam. 🐐

The latest episode of MARIJUANA MANIA helps us wrap our heads around the current state of NYC and makes us super bummed that we missed this early 00’s vibe as we see that the CRACKDOWNS have begun. 🚓

READ Lauren Yoshiko’s “Learn to Earn” a story of thriving against all odds. 👨‍🌾

Have a great Green Wednesday.✌️

Per the usual… tips, tricks, events and guest lists: high@cannabis4robots.com