Last Week In Weed Issue 23
Published May 17th 2021
In this week’s issue of Last Week in Weed, We’ll be looking at Florida-based cannabis company Trulieve acquiring Arizona-based Harvest Health and Recreation, Spain finally looking to ‘legalise’ ‘medical cannabis’, and finally Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan from heavy metal band Slipknot launching his own ‘Clown Cannabis’ brand.
Trulieve acquires Harvest to create one of America’s largest cannabis companies.
Trulieve Cannabis, Florida’s largest cannabis retailer and cultivator announced last week that it will acquire Arizona’s largest cannabis operator Harvest Health and Recreation. The deal worth $2.1 Billion will make Trulieve one of America’s and the world’s biggest cannabis companies.
The deal is still to be approved by US regulators but the acquisition is likely to go through. Once approved the deal would see Trulieve expand its reach to 126 dispensaries and 22 cultivation facilities across 11 US states. The deal would see Trulieve become the biggest player in Florida and Arizona with a significant presence in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
“It’s a significant moment for both of our companies as we create the most profitable cannabis company in the largest market in the world,” – Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers
The combined revenue of the two companies appears to mean that Trulieve will have a slightly larger adjusted profit than that of Curaleaf, which is currently considered America’s largest cannabis company. Analysts at Needham estimate that the acquisition would make Trulieve “slightly larger than Curaleaf by revenue and believes that it will be transformative for the company.”
News of the acquisition sent Trulieve stock down 2.3% and Harvest Health and Recreation shares rose 17% after the announcement. Harvest stockholders will receive 0.117 shares of Trulieve for each share they own. This represents a premium of around 34% on the closing trade price of Harvest shares based on the share price at the end of trade before the deal was announced.
As America, inches ever- closer to ‘federal legalisation’ expect to see many more of these kinds of deals going being announced and completed. There is after all quite a lot of individuals invested in this space purely for the short-term fiscal return. So the US going ‘full legal’ would likely start a selling frenzy as investors seek to capitalise on the stock market.
Keep an eye on Connecticut and Minnesota as either one of them could be the next US states to ‘legalise’ cannabis. Connecticut is the most likely to ‘legalise’ this year with Minnesota expected to get cannabis on to the ballot in 2022.
Spain to consider ‘legalising’ ‘Medicinal Cannabis’
Although it was one of the first European countries to ‘decriminalise’ personal possession and cultivation of cannabis, Spain still doesn’t have an established ‘medical cannabis’ market. For individuals wanting to be prescribed cannabis in Spain, the options are incredibly limited. It is only possible to get drugs like GW’s Sativex and Epidiolex products as under current rules they must be approved licensed medications.
The Cannabis Social Clubs (CSC) have for many years been the best place for Spanish citizens to access cannabis for therapeutic consumption. They provide flowers, concentrates, and in some cases FECO oil for their members to purchase and use as they see fit. This may be coming to an end as last week it was announced that Spain is looking to finally consider ‘legalising’ ‘medical cannabis’ across the country.
The announcement was made after Congress voted to create a subcommittee to examine the policies of other countries that have already ‘legalised’ ‘medical cannabis’ with a view to creating a bespoke domestic legislative framework. The committee was first proposed by the Grupo Parlamentario Vasco (Basque Parliamentary Group) and passed in the Spanish Congress with a vote of 20 votes for and 14 against.
The proposal includes a commitment to analyse the experiences of other governments that have already regulated ‘medical cannabis’ and a six-month time frame to produce a report for ‘the Comisión de Sanidad y Consumo’ (Spanish Congressional Health and Consumer Affairs Commission) to review before it would then be considered by the Spanish Parliament.
Spain already allows for the cultivation of ‘medical cannabis’ in the country just not its use by its citizens. There are currently 19 companies operating in Spain, with a few rather large-scale international commercial grows that export their products around the world. These include a few of the usual names like Canopy Growth and CuraLeaf who have both bought out companies in the region recently.
A recent survey conducted by The Center for Sociological Research found that a massive 90% of respondents supported ‘legalising’ ‘medical cannabis’ in Spain. Prohibition Partners estimate that Spain could see 30,000 ‘medical cannabis’ patients by 2025 if the country adopts a similar prescription system to that of the UK in 2022.
Until the situation is resolved and likely after too, the CSC’s will remain most Spaniards primary access point to consistent quality cannabis for their therapeutic consumption. Watch this space to keep up to date as the situation unfolds.
Slipknot’s Clown launches his own Cannabis brand
In the final story that we’ll cover this week, we look at ‘The Clown’ from popular American heavy metal band Slipknot launching his own line of cannabis products called ‘Clown Cannabis’
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan the percussionist from the Iowa-based band best known for donning rather unusual masks announced that the ‘Clown Cannabis’ range would be dropping soon. A link to their website was shared on social media where you can sign up to receive updates, news and find out in which states it will be stocked.
Clown is by no means the first musician to release a cannabis line. In recent years we have seen
Jay-Z, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, Method Man, Redman, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne, Julian Marley, Post Malone, B-Real, and Die Antwood (to name just a few) all release cannabis products.
As we discussed in Last Week in Weed Issue 2 Jay-Z signed a deal with TCPO Holding Corps (the Parent company) earlier this year to bring artists from his Roc Nation entertainment management company into the cannabis industry. With artists like Dj Khalid, Rihanna, and Alicia Keys on their books it is likely we can expect to see them launching their own brands soon.
Written By Simpa For The Simpa Life
