Newsroom
Off the wire.
An independent desk on the people, policy, and money moving cannabis, plus the science that cuts through the noise.
BusinessA Sacramento dispensary just went first in California on self-checkout
State regulators signed off on RFID-powered self-checkout at Perfect Union Northside, the first approval of its kind under California's cannabis rules.
2mo ago · 4 min read
Vireo's third deal in a week would make it the biggest dispensary chain in America
An all-stock deal for Planet 13 gets Vireo to roughly 265 stores across 15 states — assembled almost entirely out of other people's distress.
2mo ago · 4 min read
SNDL just erased $842 million in debt to grab 56 dispensaries in three states
A multi-year restructuring of the failed Parallel empire closed July 27, handing SNDL majority economic control of a medical-cannabis platform across Florida, Texas and Massachusetts.
2mo ago · 5 min read
BusinessSurterra is closing the greenhouses that supply its own stores
211 jobs and 330,000 square feet gone in Florida while all 44 dispensaries stay open — the flower has to come from somewhere.
3mo ago · 4 min read
BusinessIllinois sold more weed than ever in the first half of 2026 — and it's still getting cheaper
Unit sales grew faster than the year before even as average prices kept sliding, six years into adult-use.
3mo ago · 3 min read
BusinessHemp drinks grew 133% last year. In November, most of them become illegal.
1.6 million cases, 305,000 points of distribution, and a federal 0.4mg-per-container cap that lands on November 12.
3mo ago · 4 min read
Business50 workers are losing their jobs at the plant Vireo didn't buy
The Cannabist Company is shutting its Denver grow — the old Medicine Man site — even as it sells most of its other assets to Vireo Growth.
3mo ago · 4 min read
Vireo just bought Cannabist's assets in five states — for up to $35 million
Up to 25 dispensaries, a grow, and a production plant change hands as Vireo picks through another restructured MSO — and becomes the country's second-largest dispensary network on paper.
3mo ago · 4 min read
BusinessFour of the biggest MSOs each wrote a $2.5 million check to a Trump-linked PAC
New FEC filings show Trulieve, Curaleaf, Verano, and a Green Thumb subsidiary put $11.5 million into America First Agriculture Action in June — pushing industry money to Trump-connected committees past $15 million.
3mo ago · 4 min read
BusinessGreenlight just hit Ohio's dispensary ceiling — and brought its own factory with it
Four new stores and an in-state manufacturing buildout take the Kansas City operator to the max eight licenses Ohio allows any single company to hold.
3mo ago · 4 min read
BusinessAscend Wellness is next in line for the reverse-split-to-uplist playbook
Shareholders vote August 28 on a split as wide as 1-for-50, the same move Curaleaf and Trulieve just ran to get onto a major U.S. exchange.
3mo ago · 4 min read
BusinessTrulieve's coming to Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio this fall
The Florida MSO is opening three medical dispensaries in Texas this September under the state's Compassionate Use Program.
3mo ago · 4 min read