THE CANNABIS TRENDS WE’RE BUYING IN 2023

CA QUARTERLY POT TAXES DIP $95 MILLION FROM 2021

California’s quarterly cannabis tax revenue dipped $95 million from Q4 2021 compared to Q4 2022. 

On Wednesday, The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) reported cannabis revenue today for the fourth quarter of 2022 totaling $221.6 million; these numbers are always adjusted when the next quarter comes out. So we’ll have the final number in a few months, but regardless, the $108 million in excise tax collected and $113.6 million in sales tax revenue from cannabis businesses will be a monster dip from 2021.

When the final numbers for the last quarter of 2021 were released in 2022, the number climbed from $308 million to $316.59 million. That figure includes $160.64 million in excise tax, $39.99 million in cultivation tax, and $115.96 million in sales tax. 

The $95 million in lost taxes represents a 30% dip in cannabis revenue for Q4 2022 compared to the same quarter a year prior. This revenue loss also is up from the $82 million loss in comparison of Q3 2021 to Q3 2022. 

The quarter-to-quarter dip wasn’t as bad, but still pretty brutal. The numbers for Q3 2022 were revised to $251.3 million. This represents a $30 million dip in Q4. The revenue dip from Q4 2021 compared to Q3 2021 was $25 million. The dip in revenue this year was roughly 20% larger than in 2022. 

Some would be quick to point to a halt in the cultivation tax for the loss, but lawmakers only expected to lose $150 million on that over three years. Sure they lowballed it, but there have to be other places the tax dip is coming from too.

We asked Kyle Greenhalgh of Heritage Mendocino if he felt like the dip in taxes was from brands going under.

“I think in general, people got broke in California and weren’t spending as much in the stores as they used to,” Greenhalgh told L.A. Weekly, “I know we still see the same amount of door swings, but a quarter of the spending of what it used to be. People were buying their needs, not their wants. So I think a bunch of dispensaries went to a value-driven model, but I see spending and higher quality bouncing back.”

Greenhalgh watched the shop’s average spend go from $100 to $20 really fast. He thinks people had to choose from buying gas at the gas station, or cannabis, and gas to get to work won that battle. 

“This in turn made it very hard for most big corporations and brands to make a profit, and the exit started to happen. I’m seeing a lot of success and movement now for more of the smaller and craft brands though,” Greenhalgh noted. 

Michael Katz of the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance broke down the $95 Million dip in revenue a bit further. 

“Overall, the dip in licensed cannabis tax revenues appears to be driven mostly by a small reduction of sales tax compared to the big hits to excise tax and the removal of the cultivation tax last year,” Katz told L.A. Weekly. 

He notes the tax dip spread across the supply chain and unfortunately did not provide the level of direct relief for which cultivators had hoped for. 

“Big picture I’d say that reduced sales are still primarily due to the high taxes levied on licensed products,” Katz argued. “As inflation has forced people to spend more and more on even the most basic of necessities, it becomes harder and harder for them to justify spending two or three times as much for licensed cannabis products. At the same time, there’s a significant amount of unregulated and untaxed cannabis retail throughout the state, offering product that looks ‘legal’ but costs a fraction of the price.”

Katz closed by noting, as long as the taxes remain high, most consumers who have less money in their pockets will be incentivized by their bottom lines to shop outside of the licensed market.

With annual surpluses coming to an end in 2022, the state will look to figure out how to replace that $95 Million.

LA PREPS FOR THE BIGGEST ZALYMPIX YET

Los Angeles is preparing to crown its latest Zalympix champion after the most competitive version of the contest yet. 

Over the past couple of years, Greenwolf’s Zalympix has firmly taken hold of the title of L.A.’s elite cannabis contest. This was even as it expanded throughout the state with Mainstage in Sacramento and The Outpost in Santa Rosa now taking part in the distribution of the boxes. 

I think one of the things that makes Zalympix so fun is the fact it’s genuinely highlighting the best of the best. It’s a pure representation of the Ethos that Greenwolf has used to fill the shelves at the shops since day one. It’s also refreshing to see a bunch of names in one place that are all crushing it during these dark times in cannabis.

This rendition of Zalympix was the wildest yet. It was simply massive. The initial amount of over 120 entries is considerably larger than all the previous Zalympix boxes combined. The Greenwolf team selected 25 judges to go through the entries and whittle them down to the finalists. 

One of the best parts of that preliminary round finals was the fact they were blind. We didn’t know which weed was which. Past renditions of Zalympix had the product in whatever bag it came in. The haters would point to this as evidence of a popularity contest between the big dogs, even if it never was. So, kudos to Greenwolf. 

The finals box this year was insane. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of Z terps. But there was a lot of other cool stuff, too. There was some great OG with the #3, some weird sweet funk notes on the #1, and both #15 and #18 have some fantastic fuel notes. 

After you get through talking elite entries, you can’t forget how awesome the party is, too! Zalympix is easily one of the best cannabis events of the modern era, as many of the world’s best cultivators gather to see who will take the top prize. 

We’ve smoked every Zalympix entry ever. For us, the most dominant Zalympix victory ever was when Blueprint took home the top honors as it beat out a box of monster heat from all over the state. Now a year and a half later, we caught back up with Blueprint’s cofounder Jordan Aguilar. 

“I would say what was cool about Zalympix was just the authenticity that I think leaks through. Who set it up, to the people smoking it saying this is what I enjoyed the most,” Aguilar told L.A. Weekly. “So I thought that was really cool and almost surprised me in a lot of ways. Just because I was like, wow, people are in tune, and I was surprised with how in tune people were, which was a good relief.”

Aguilar also noted he appreciated the transparency. He felt like it was one of the things that made the contest stand out for him. 

Aguilar went on to speak to what the win meant at the moment coming out of 2021 where their launch was already considered the best new company of the year. 

“I think it’s always good to give that moment to kind of smell the roses, because outside of that moment, and just before then, just after, we just get back to the grind,” Aguilar said. 

Spending a lot of time in grow rooms is one of the curses of being elite. Much of the time running into your peers outside your immediate circle can be rare; Zalympix represents one of those nights of the year the various tribes get together to talk heat and debate who has the best weed.  

“To go with the guys who are in the same boat as us. These other growers do the same thing. So it’s for all of us to come out and get to see each other,” Aguilar said. “It’s a we’re all at the watering hole together type of thing.”

Aguilar went on to say how supportive people were all over. He also pointed to the Zalympix win as probably what ended up getting him on the First Smoke of The Day podcast. That was another huge moment for getting the word out about what the Blueprint team is doing up north. 

Greenwolf’s Zalympix Awards show is tomorrow night. We chatted with Brian from Greenwolf about the festivities. Those in search of the heat can expect over 40 vendors with many offering consumer-direct pricing. 

“It’s exciting, it grew again,” Brian told L.A. Weekly. ”Obviously a lot more vendors. I think that the preliminary round and then having it this way and having it be one event really helped, having more time, and more people hear about it getting bigger.”

A lot of times people point to the rec market as garbage, with a few places like Greenwolf doing their best to chase down the real heat floating on top of the mess. We asked how cool it was to carry that reputation with elite consumers.

“There is fire out there a lot of time,” Brian laughed. 

He went on to note there is a big parking lot across the street, but they’re recommending you Uber. Also, people will be on the prowl for the best stuff; if you’re trying to get your hands on some fireball heat, make sure you beat the crowd there. 

Tickets are still available for Saturday.

Photo: Molly Keesling

WOMEN IN CANNABIS REMEMBER BROWNIE MARY 

For this week’s Women in Business issue, we reached out to the ladies of the cannabis industry to see what Mary Jane Rathbun, more famously known as Brownie Mary, means to them. 

While Brownie Mary was most famously an activist providing thousands of brownies for San Francisco’s AIDS community in the 1980s and 1990s, it is important not to disenfranchise the fact she was one of the early female entrepreneurs of the game, too. After decades as a waitress, she started selling brownies in the 1970s to make an extra buck. She would go on to help a lot of people, too, but for the sake of this piece we were celebrating the business side of things. 

These days, Lauren McNaughton is the director of brand marketing for Kiva and Lost Farms. In a past life, she helped build one of the largest infused baked goods companies California will ever see, Korova. McNaughton spent the tail end of the 215 era delivering boxes of cookies and brownies out of her trunk and being the boots on the ground for arguably the most bang-for-the-buck edible company ever in California.

“She was a beacon of compassion, activism and heroism,” McNaughton said of Brownie Mary. “Foundational to Prop 215, Brownie Mary represents the entirety of what built this “industry.” Compassionate care, not for profit. Not to mention the roads she paved for women in the industry. What an incredible influence to help guide us on this ever-changing landscape. And don’t get me started on what she meant to me when the beginning of my cannabis career was literally serving up brownies out of the trunk of my car.”

Cara Cordoni is the host of Dirty Bong Talk. She was also very connected with many of Rathbun’s surviving friends before she made the move to Humboldt from San Francisco. She spent countless hours with Brownie Mary’s peers from the fight for Proposition 215.

“Loudmouth for love, that’s one way I think about Mary Rathburn,” Cordoni said. “I love that she swore like a sailor! And my heart always aches when I think about her losing her only child, and then years later calling all her patients ‘her kids,’ mostly young men dying with AIDS, many of whom had been abandoned by their families. Compassion in action.”

Cordoni noted that as much as we celebrate Brownie Mary and as much as she was respected during her life, her end days sounded sad. 

“The last bit that haunts me, and I’d be curious to find out if it’s true, is that it’s widely understood that she actually died alone. That she ended up in the hospital and her friends didn’t know. I hope that is not factual.” Cordoni said, 

Jeany Zhou, the buyer and assistant manager at Berner’s on Haight, noted the San Francisco and then wider industry adopted her idea of compassion at The Hemp Center and donated cannabis to those who needed it.

Zhou went on to note, “The Brownie Mary Democrat Club is very active in the community and best represents her name; lobbying for safe cannabis access, shaping cannabis regulations, and educating the importance of cannabis and its properties.”

One of the greatest honors she has had since her passing was having the restoration of compassion programs in the age of legalization. The Dennis Peron and Brownie Mary Act was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2019. It created a mechanism for dispensaries to legally give away product to sick people without having to pay a bunch of extra taxes.

The act has now facilitated millions of dollars worth of medicine being distributed to California’s low-income population that need help affording it in the years since it passed. 

THE DREADED REBRAND

Rebranding, whether it applies to products or individuals, poses a significant challenge within the cannabis industry.

As the California cannabis sector gradually emerges from the turmoil of recent years, those who contributed to its struggles seek to join the soon-thriving market. They endeavor to conceal their involvement in the previous failures.

The detrimental effects of rebranding permeate every aspect of the marketplace, extending beyond the legal domain.

The Ambition of the Shady Players in the Recreational Market

Individuals who exploited the industry until now, leaving behind the chaos we find ourselves in, are observing the end of the dark times as bulk prices creep up. They are now witnessing the resurgence of value as the post-pandemic price crash subsides. Who would have predicted that the cannabis industry, only three years later, would find itself in such a predicament after experiencing its most prosperous sales period? However, sales eventually began to decline, and numbers were down for years until we started our recent climb out of the hole. 

But back then, prices continued to plummet, with a market oversupply devastating pound prices. If a product made it to the shelves, one prayed that the dispensary could afford to pay the distributor. You would assume that partnering with major distributors would secure access to the most shelves—a safe bet, right? Nevertheless, we recently witnessed the demise of Herbl, causing a considerable loss of livelihoods. As the company was on the brink of collapse, more aware brands swiftly switched distributors, demanding payment for their products directly from retailers. Unfortunately, it seems that the rest are left empty-handed for now.

I spoke with an entrepreneur who faced the perfect storm caused by the collapse of Herbl. First, he claimed that he was charged an additional $30,000 due to discounts on products that were initially paid on delivery with cash. Furthermore, one of his tenants lost everything in the collapse and hasn’t paid rent for two months, struggling to stay afloat. Lastly, the entrepreneur is unable to obtain the products he needs for his shelves until new distributors pick them up or he figures out how to handle distribution himself. Both options are time-consuming.

It is disheartening to consider that those responsible for inflicting these hardships on so many people may evade accountability. While retailers bear some responsibility for not settling their debts, should we allow those who perpetuated an unsustainable system, which lacks bailouts like the banking industry, to absolve themselves of the sweat, money, and time lost in this ordeal?

Certainly, the blame does not lie with the young individuals manning the booths or attempting to sell the products. They had no say in how far the company would stretch itself before the disaster that unfolded this week. Perhaps only a few individuals bear true responsibility. Understanding each person’s role in that current cannabis tragedy is crucial.

Although Herbl stands out as a recent catastrophe, numerous other companies also mistreated people. Some caused harm inadvertently, while others acted out of misplaced self-belief. However, the most egregious offenders are schemers who are eager to reenter the market, while the other two likely bear some trauma from their actions. We must not allow them to return solely to line their pockets and inflict further damage.

However, the issue extends beyond distributors.

Questionable Retail Operators Sold Shelf Space to Busters

These individuals are the ones who secured shelf space at corporate dispensaries, thereby overshadowing small, high-quality businesses through the payment of slotting fees. It is possible that they initiated the concept of slotting fees completely eroded the notion of customers obtaining the best value for their money from location to location. Many of those who managed to secure such positions were unscrupulous individuals with extensive networks of like-minded opportunists. It was an arduous and lengthy process for smaller retailers to establish themselves, unless they held significant influence or connections.

These people who undermined the initial wave of corporate shops are desperate to regain entry before interstate markets open up. They recognize this as their next prime opportunity to latch onto someone else’s value. We must not permit the worst offenders to jeopardize the national rollout. 

City councils played a role in enabling these unscrupulous individuals to thrive while everyone else suffered, lining their own pockets. Consider the immense financial losses incurred by L.A. Equity Program applicants over the years, following the rules set by a city council that was only revealed to be racist through a secret recording. Politicians throughout the state have also contributed to the headaches faced by the cannabis industry. As the market stabilizes and normalizes, it is crucial that these individuals are held accountable indefinitely and prevented from rebranding. Once we forget that they were never on our side to begin with, we may inadvertently allow them to alter the rules.

As for the underground market, the rebranding problem is mostly just people renaming weed. It’s still shady, but less devastating. 

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM LIVES UP TO THE MASSIVE HYPE

Link’s latest adventures in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom (TOTK) are everything we were waiting for. 

The game has proven a roaring international hit. One common phrase often seen across social media in the past two weeks since the launch is the idea that Breath of The Wild, Zelda’s previous foray on Nintendo’s Switch when the system launched, almost feels like a beta version of what we ended up with in TOTK. How wild is it to call a game that went on to sell 30 million copies since and win a ton of awards a beta test? But it honestly feels kind of accurate with how much TOTK built on the last version of Hyrule we visited six years ago. 

The Legacy of Zelda Enthusiasm 

There are few dates on the video game calendar that get circled with more enthusiasm than a new Zelda game. Since the first one dropped in 1987, its raving fan base has always wondered what would be next for the franchise that often served with Super Mario Brothers as a flagship game that showed off the capabilities of Nintendo’s hardware from generation to generation. Zelda’s creators Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka were a part of both famous franchises. While it doesn’t quite serve that role in the same fashion given Nintendo has now allowed many more developers to publish games for their hardware in the Switch era, Zelda still very much serves as the benchmark for how much fun you can have on the Switch.

Zelda has turned down the cartoon style from 20 years ago. But the current look and feel still have a very anime feel that looks a lot cleaner than Wind Walker released in 2002. But 2006’s Twilight Princess feels much more similar to what the game looks like today. The modern version feels a lot brighter and more fun, like the way the lava pops with bright red and orange bubbles.

Miyamoto explained some of the thought processes they had as Zelda continued to transition into the 3D format in the 2000s. He noted part of the reason they went for the cartoon look was it made it easier to show expression in the characters. He also wanted it to feel like you were playing a cartoon in 3D, they definitely aced that test. 

Breath of The Wild provided a lot of the building blocks for this new sequel on the same generation of hardware six years later. In an interview with Game Informer, Miyamoto noted one of the big jumps as Zelda made the move to the Switch was the nature engine. Exploration has always been a significant backbone of the fun in the play-it-at-your-pace game where you can toss around chickens or make a speed run for the master sword. 

“Adventuring and exploring nature is what makes the game,” Miyamoto told Game Informer when the game launched. “I had to relook at what dungeons look like for us and kind of take it out of the dungeon. We spent five years kind of working on that.” 

Miyamoto admitted he himself likes the open-world aspect of players creating their own adventures across the storyline over the years but understands there are folks out there that like those deep storylines with a lot of backstories. He thinks this modern generation of Zelda games has done a good job balancing the two.

The Tears of The Kingdom Launch

Over the past few weeks, the world has now had a moment to dive into Hyrule. But the months and years leading up to this moment had a bit of mystery to them. Regardless, once the game hit shelves, it was on. 

In just three days, it became the fastest-selling Zelda game of all time. Ten million units moved globally in that first 72 hours, 4 million of them here in North America. That makes it the fastest-selling Nintendo game ever on any system in North America according to Nintendo. A major achievement for the game’s creators. 

“Many players are returning to Hyrule with all its new mysteries and possibilities, and with the record-breaking launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Nintendo Switch, we can’t wait to see what they’ll create in the game and the stories they’ll share next,” said Devon Pritchard, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales, marketing and communications. “We’re grateful for all of our fans who’ve shown their passion for The Legend of Zelda over the years, and these sales numbers for the latest installment continue to show the strong momentum for both the franchise and Nintendo Switch this year.”

Reviews and Livestreams Pumped The Hype

One of the things that helped the massive launch was just how positive all the reviews were. It’s currently sitting at a 95 on Metacritic, the most noted aggregator of video game reviews by a mile. That score puts it as the 49th greatest game of all time per their review system. While 22 other games in history have scored a 95 on the site, TOTK ranks No. 1 one among those games that have scored a 95 since the website was founded over 20 years ago. 

Zelda’s 1998 edition Orcana of Time is the number one game of all time on Metacritic as the only game ever to score a 99. The last installment on Switch, Breath of The Wild, ranks No. 14 on the all-time list with the Wii U version coming in No. 26. Twilight Princess is No. 39, and The Wind Walker is No. 44. There are a few on the list after TOTK also. The Gamecube Collectors edition from 2003 came in at No. 54. The Game Boy Advance edition of A Link to The Past came in at No. 59 with Majora’s Mask right behind it at No. 60. Twilight Princess is two spots later at No. 62. A 3DS version also made it. With the TOTK’s reviews getting added to this all-time list, basically one in 10 of the top-reviewed video games of all time on Metacritic is a Zelda game, if you count the two versions of Breath of The Wild as one. 

“The fandom behind the Zelda franchise is stronger than ever and to date, Tears of the Kingdom is the best reviewed game of 2023 on Metacritic,” Marc Doyle, Co-Founder of Metacritic told L.A. Weekly. “In fact, it currently ranks in the top 50 games of all time and the number four Zelda game to ever be released.”

We asked Polygon Senior Reporter Nicole Carpenter if she thought the game got scored tougher by critics as a direct sequel. 

“I don’t necessarily think it got scored harder, but Breath of the Wild did have a major impact on the industry so there was an expectation for what Tears of the Kingdom would be. The bar was already set high and people expected Tears of the Kingdom to jump over that bar,” Carpenter told L.A. Weekly, “The game sold 10 million copies in a few days so it’s definitely up there for the biggest game of the year. Beyond that, Tears of the Kingdom will be one of most influential games of the year.”

Another thing the newer generation of Zelda games has had play to its favor is the rise of online streaming. The launch has been a hit. According to TwitchTracker.com, over the last week, people have spent 8 million hours watching other people play the game and the streams averaged about 50,000 people watching at any given time. Things peaked on May 11 when 351,714 users were simultaneously watching TOTK streams. 

50 Hours In

What?! The Great Deku Tree has a stomachache again?! Sign me up. That’s not even a spoiler at this point, it’s presumable Hyrule’s bad guys at any given moment have had an impact on his acid reflux. Those kinds of expectations are one of the things that have made the series great. Each time we go back, the little things we love are done even better.

We are about 50 hours in. I’ve completed the Wind Temple but have predominantly spent most of my time exploring. I’ve hit about 35 Shrines so far in the process of building up hearts for the main storyline. One of the reasons I’ve hit so many shrines early is because of how fun the new gameplay mechanics make them. The massive refreshing of all the minigames makes each one feel very unique.

Those four new core gameplay mechanics are called Fuse, Ultrahand, Ascend and Recall. Fuse lets you attach objects from the world to each other or your hand after you use Ultrahand to move them around. You’ll use a combination of those powers and the world around you all the time to upgrade your weapons, solve puzzles and even build vehicles. 

Ascend adds another vertical element of gameplay in addition to the massive sky map that covers the whole game from above. It allows you to climb through ceilings within reach of the ability and emerge through the floor on the other side. 

Recall allows you to move objects and then recreate that object’s movement through time. Say a rock falls down a waterfall you want to go up, you hit the rock with recall and ride it up the waterfall. There are some wild uses for one when it comes to all the puzzles.  

There also is a ton of wild physics mechanics attached to the main storyline. As you dive further and further in, you’ll get access to an even wider array of tools to combine with the Ultrahand and Fuse abilities.

With all that, and what feels like triple the game compared to Breath of The Wild, I think the only reason TOTK isn’t higher on the all-time list is that it’s a direct sequel. Regardless, it’s one of the best games ever.

2023 WAVE OF CANNABIS BILLS FILED IN SACRAMENTO

Numerous cannabis-related bills were filed in Sacramento this week. 

There is still a lot of work to do to fix California’s cannabis industry as many hold on by a thread. That work is reflected in the annual wave of cannabis bills we see this time of year. 2023 will be no exception, as lawmakers look to cover everything from the expansion of the regulatory task force to where to put the tags on your plants. 

Here are many of the bills we saw filed this week. There are a few more we’ll dive deeper into next week.

AB 993

The main purpose of this bill is to expand the state’s cannabis task force. Currently, there is not a seat at the table for either the Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency or the Department of Industrial Relations within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. These are essentially worker protection agencies that enforce civil rights laws when it comes to employment and housing access or push for a better quality of life and working conditions for the state’s labor force. The task force already includes The Department of Cannabis Control, CDTFA, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the water board, CHP, The Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and the Department of Justice. It would also include representatives from municipalities that opt into the task force. 

SB 622

This bill would change the technical wording on how the mandated unique identifier can be attached to plants. The current language requires the tags to be attached at the base of the plant. This would make it easier for any going big. Some of the largest outdoor plants have literal tree trunks you have to saw; it’s better for the plant to attach it to one of those stems shooting off the side. So again, they’re just changing a few words around, but it makes sense. 

AB 766

This bill is dedicated to anyone who has ever had to call someone five times over an invoice. It’s meant to empower the legislator to set maximum terms by which someone can sell cannabis on credit, create penalties and a course of action for the failure to pay invoices on time, and empower the DCC with the powers needed to ensure timely payments throughout the supply chain. 

AB 1126

This bill would crack down on people attempting to falsely represent cannabis products as licensed. Specifically, it emphasizes, the use of the cannabis universal symbol to push unlicensed products could cost you up to $30,000. While using the symbol was noted given how prolific it’s been on unlicensed cannabis packaging, any claim or representation of a product as licensed cannabis that’s not could land you in hot water. The good news? If you have a permit, you’ll only be charged $5,000 for pretending something was legit, meaning there is an argument to go legal just for the sake of discounted fines. 

AB 1111

This bill on the surface seems pretty straightforward in blocking appointees from the governor from taking part in the industry but, in fact, could possibly hinder the efforts to save California cannabis. Prop 64 prevents the DCC director and members of the Cannabis Control Appeals Panel from engaging in certain cannabis activities. The effort to add appointees to the list could prevent actual experts that have been successful in California’s industry from coming in and helping to fix things. Would you want someone that knows how to run a thousand lights trying to help save the day or a random political appointee in compliance with AB-1111?

SB 540

This bill would have the DCC reevaluate packaging regulations based on evolving science. The DCC would have to determine by July of 2025 if the current standards are still up to the task. As of January 2030, they’d have to reevaluate any changes to determine if any new concerns based on science need to also be added to packaging. The bill would also require the DCC to form an advisory committee dedicated to this subject of evolving label accuracy in the years to come. 

AB 741

Filed earlier this week, AB 741 would prohibit the California FAIR Plan Association from refusing to issue, canceling, or refusing to renew coverage over an applicant or policyholder possessing or previously possessed a legal amount of cannabis. Regardless of whether it was flowers, hash, or living cannabis plants, or because the applicant or policyholder had ever had a commercial cannabis licensee.

Keep an eye out for more coverage of cannabis bills coming out of Sacramento this year.