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Pennsylvanians with minor, nonviolent marijuana criminal convictions could be pardoned beginning Thursday in a period until the end of the month under a joint effort from Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.
The so-called "one-time, large-scale pardon effort" will allow anyone who has been convicted of possession of marijuana or small amount of personal use to apply. There is no limit for the age of conviction.
The application is free, and entirely online.
Cresco Labs is expected to sell off $250 million-$500 million worth of marijuana cultivation and retail licenses largely to meet state license limits as part of its planned $2 billion acquisition of rival Columbia Care.
Company executives told analysts that Chicago-based multistate operator Cresco “will likely” divest assets in Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio because of overlapping operations with New York-headquartered Columbia Care in limited-license markets.
Florida-based Trulieve Cannabis reportedly is planning to build a mammoth, half-million-square-foot cultivation and processing operation at a former steel mill in Pennsylvania with the help of a $2 million state redevelopment grant.
The plan, first reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, comes on the heels of Trulieve completing the acquisition of Arizona-based Harvest Health & Recreation and raising $350 million of capital at an 8% annual interest rate.
The financing deal closed on Wednesday.
Marijuana industry finance company AFC Gamma significantly boosted a loan to Chicago-based Justice Cannabis Co., increasing it from the $22 million figure announced in May to $75.4 million.
Justice Cannabis plans to use the additional capital to further develop cultivation and processing operations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, purchase assets and refinance existing debt.
Florida-based AFC Gamma committed an additional $43.4 million, and another $10 million was syndicated to an affiliate, according to a news release.
Why Ayr Wellness could continue to be a hot buy
Long-term investors will want to zero in on the company's outlook for 2022, when it anticipates that it will benefit from investments in multiple markets, including Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The company projects that in 2022, its revenue will hit $725 million and adjusted EBITDA will come in at $325 million.
Florida-based medical cannabis company Trulieve is spending $60 million to buy more MMJ dispensaries in Pennsylvania.
The multistate operator said Monday it will be purchasing Keystone Shops, a medical cannabis company with retail locations in Philadelphia, Devon and King of Prussia.
The deal is comprised of $40 million in Trulieve subordinate voting shares and $20 million in cash.
The decision could put two competing dispensaries just a block apart in the city. The state only has 15 medical marijuana dispensaries currently. Some are more than an hour away from a competitor.
Terrapin, which has dispensaries in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Colorado, sued the Hoboken Planning Board and Harmony last fall. It claimed Harmony lacked valid approval because it bypassed a newer municipal law requiring applicants to come before the review board.
Today, more than two-in-three Americans support marijuana legalization, including 49 percent of respondents who self-identify as “conservative,” according to Gallup’s 2020 polling. Even in a historically conservative state like Texas, nearly two-in-three respondents, 64 percent, supported legalizing and taxing marijuana in the 2021 Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation Poll.
In the span of eight short years, the number of states in the U.S. allowing adult-use marijuana has gone from zero to fifteen. Most of these efforts have happened via state-wide ballot initiatives.
Voters approved a slew of marijuana legalization initiatives during November’s election—in states around the country and across the political spectrum—but activists aren’t slowing down. They expect that 2021 will see another surge of reform in state legislatures.
As of September 2020, 17 states and Washington, D.C. had passed some form of home growing laws, be they for medical or adult use.
Comparatively, most states have so far failed to pass social equity laws, with just a handful being considered adequate parameters.
Groups like the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) say laws with "reasonable safeguards" have not been challenged by any states so far. The MPP suggests secure grow sites away from the public and cultivation caps as adequate parameters.
