California

John Salley, former NBA player turned entrepreneur, has teamed up with insurance industry veteran Daron Philips to launch The Cannabis Plan with National Insurance Partners.

California cannabis operators have accused Border Patrol agents of confiscating cash and legal cannabis products at certain border checkpoints throughout the state.

Brian Lannon, the co-founder and former CEO for Cannalysis, a California testing lab, has filed suit against the company over allegations of wrongful termination, fraudulent activities, and more.

San Diego is the latest California city to establish a city-specific agency dedicated to licensing and regulating businesses in the cannabis space.

Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch announced the clearing of 2,735 low-level cannabis convictions last week.

Brent and Barry Walkers are the two brothers behind Dub Bros, a California-based, vertically integrated cannabis company with a foothold in multiple state-legal marketplaces.

Following a pattern of dispensary burglaries during last weekend’s unrest, California regulators have started pulling databases containing cannabis business information from public view.

California officials have lowered their estimated cannabis tax revenues in light of the coronavirus and its effects on the economy, particularly the unemployment rate.

Protests over the police killing of George Floyd took place nationwide over the weekend; in California, cannabis dispensaries were wrecked and looted, including Cookies and several MedMen locations.

California-based tech and delivery company Eaze cut its 2020 sales predictions and is pivoting to become a vertically integrated cannabis retailer.

California cannabis taxes generated nearly $135 million during the first quarter of 2020, which is $42.4 million less than the state’s 2019 first-quarter cannabis tax revenue.

Four men have been arrested for the 2019 murder of Tushar Atre, CEO of Santa Cruz-based tech company AtreNet and cannabis manufacturing firm Interstitial Systems; two of the suspects are former employees of Atre’s cannabis company.

An explosive fire that rocked Los Angeles over the weekend and left 12 firefighters hospitalized has been tied to Smoke Tokes, a wholesale distributor of butane and other vape supply items.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture has unveiled its proposal for certifying organic cannabis products where the federal government, due to prohibition, cannot.

The High Times brand is continuing its push into cannabis retail, announcing last week that the company would buy 13 planned and operational California cannabis dispensaries.

Cannabis supply company Advanced Nutrients says a shipment worth $250,000 was stolen during transit from its Washington-based facility to a warehouse in Valencia, California.

Santa Clara County in California is set to expunge or reduce over 11,500 cannabis convictions this week.

California officials from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development are disbursing some $30 million in grant funding for local governments to fund low and no-interest loans for social equity cannabis operators.

Amid the pandemic crisis, California’s cannabis distributors have begun sharing information about which cannabis firms are reliable for paying their bills and which are not.

The Social Equity and Workers Association is suing Los Angeles over the city’s first-come, first-served cannabis licensing process.

The Vallejo Holistic Health Center in Vallejo, California is employing a “virtual budtender” to fulfill customer orders while maintaining social distance; the process includes a 6-foot long pole with a basket attached.

Continuing with our theme this month of honoring heroes to the cannabis movement, the next person on our list is “Brownie” Mary Jane Rathbun, a cannabis activist, baker, waitress, and mother figure to young patients at the height of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco.

Local and state lawmakers have called on Santa Clara County public health officials to re-allow in-person adult-use cannabis sales after shops were shut down last week in favor of delivery services.