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Cannabis dispensaries navigate operations as wildfires spread across Los Angeles

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As multiple wildfires rage across Southern California, cannabis dispensaries in the greater Los Angeles area are attempting to maintain operations while preparing for potential evacuations amid deteriorating conditions, sources told Green Market Report early Wednesday.

Four major fires – the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Woodley fires – have burned more than 5,000 acres combined as of Wednesday afternoon, forcing thousands to evacuate and leaving many businesses, including the region’s cannabis retailers, to make difficult decisions in an already economically battered market.

The Los Angeles Fire Department issued mandatory evacuation orders for large swaths of Pacific Palisades, with the evacuation zone stretching from the Pacific Coast Highway to Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Similar orders are in effect for parts of Pasadena near the Eaton Fire, ABC7 reported.

“Right now there’s a lot of places in the surrounding areas that are not open,” said Gilbert Romero, who works security at Harvest dispensary in Santa Monica. He said falling ash and smoke are visible but operations continue at the location. “We’re getting a lot of new people from other places because their places are closed.”

The fires, driven by Santa Ana winds reaching up to 60 mph with gusts of 100 mph in some areas, have forced several dispensaries to close, including the prominent 99 High Tide dispensary in Malibu, sources confirmed. Others reported they’re operating without clear guidance or emergency protocols from management. Green Market Report attempted to reach a number of operations bordering to the impact zones, such as Cookies in Brentwood and a Green Thumb Industries store off Wilshire Boulevard.

“Unfortunately, no one communicates these things with us, so I genuinely have no idea,” Lexi Hatch, a 24 year-old budtender at Farmacy Westwood near UCLA’s campus, told GMR around 11 a.m. PST on Wednesday when asked about contingency plans. Hatch, who moved to Los Angeles from Boston four months ago, said that she was keeping watch on news updates while continuing regular operations.

Some dispensaries, though, do have clearer protocols. At Erba Collective off Pico Boulevard, a front desk worker who identified herself only as Alex said they were “perfectly fine right now” but noted they were located just “10, 15 minutes away from Santa Monica.”

The situation remains particularly tense in Santa Monica, where Harvest’s Romero reported seeing black smoke, which is indicative of active burning.

“If we choose to stay open and it’s left to us, we’re gonna do it. Unless we see a fire,” he said, adding that ultimate closure decisions would likely come from city authorities.

At Xzibit West Coast Cannabis in Bel Air, Jordana Shank, a 27-year-old budtender, said management informed staff they would maintain regular 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. hours unless directed otherwise by authorities.

“Whenever the fire department shows up and says we need to evacuate is when we would close our doors,” Shank noted.

The fires have created a patchwork of closures across the normally bustling cannabis retail landscape. Cookies dispensary locations “up that way going towards L.A.” have reportedly closed, according to Romero, while some beach-adjacent locations remain open.

Banding together

Industry leaders are monitoring the situation closely while coordinating support efforts through informal networks, such as a text thread of approximately 50 dispensary owners who share updates and offer mutual aid. Jerred Kiloh, president of the United Cannabis Business Association and a 25-year veteran of cannabis retail, reported that several dispensaries in evacuation zones have already shut down, with many delivery services suspending operations to keep drivers off the roads.

Carlos De la Torre of Cornerstone Research reported being just two miles from an evacuation zone, Kiloh noted, adding that smoke conditions were also significantly affecting customer traffic, as residents heed official recommendations to stay indoors.

“When resources are spread thin, you kind of have to rely on each other,” Kiloh said, noting that the industry has developed informal mutual aid networks following previous crises. He expressed particular concern about insurance coverage, explaining that many operators have had to reduce coverage due to high premium costs.

“Fire insurance is not usually on a lot of commercial insurance plans. And when you pay this much insurance just as cannabis, you got to pick and choose what is high risk and what is not,” he said.

In prepared remarks emailed to GMR, the California Cannabis Industry Association expressed concern about both immediate and long-term impacts on businesses and their employees, “particularly those already navigating economic and regulatory hurdles.”

The organization said that the Department of Cannabis Control is making disaster relief available to affecetd licensees, who can evacuate cannabis products without prior authorization if facing immediate fire threat.

Aside from retail, there are growing concerns about potential impacts on indoor cultivation facilities in the region. While Los Angeles County prohibits outdoor growing, indoor facilities could face challenges from smoke infiltration.

“If you’re pulling smoke into your grow room, there’s really no way to get rid of it,” Kiloh explained, referencing past incidents where smoke contamination affected crop quality during Northern California wildfires.



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Nebraska medical cannabis regulations stall in legislative committee

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A Nebraska legislative committee voted 5-3 against advancing a bill designed to implement and regulate the state’s medical cannabis program, leaving legislators and advocates searching for alternative paths forward, according to the Nebraska Examiner.

The General Affairs Committee rejected Legislative Bill 677, sponsored by State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, during a Thursday vote where committee members declined to offer amendments to the legislation, the publication reported.

“I don’t want to shut all the doors right now, but some doors are closing, and they’re closing fast, and so we have to act,” Hansen told reporters after the vote, according to the Examiner.

Nebraska voters approved medical cannabis in November 2024, with residents legally permitted to possess up to 5 ounces with a healthcare practitioner’s recommendation since mid-December. However, the regulatory commission created by the ballot initiative lacks effective power and funding to regulate the industry.

Hansen described his legislation as “a must” for 2025 to prevent a “Wild West” scenario in the state’s cannabis market. The bill would have expanded regulatory structure through the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission and extended deadlines for regulations and licensing to allow more time for implementation, the Examiner noted.

Committee disagreements centered on proposed restrictions. A committee amendment would have prohibited smoking cannabis and the sale of flower or bud products while limiting qualified healthcare practitioners to physicians, osteopathic physicians, physician assistants or nurse practitioners who had treated patients for at least six months.

The amendment also would have limited qualifying conditions to 15 specific ailments including cancer, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, and chronic pain lasting longer than six months.

State Sen. Bob Andersen of Sarpy County opposed allowing vaping due to concerns about youth drug use, while committee chair Rick Holdcroft suggested selling cannabis flower would be “a gateway toward recreational marijuana,” a claim Hansen “heavily disputed,” according to the Examiner.

Hansen now faces a difficult path forward, requiring at least 25 votes to pull the bill from committee and then needing 33 senators to advance it across three rounds of debate, regardless of filibuster attempts.

Crista Eggers, executive director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, remained optimistic despite the setback.

“This will not be the end,” Eggers said, according to the outlet. “Giving up has never been an option. Being silenced has never been an option. It’s not over. It’s not done.”

The legislative impasse is further complicated by ongoing litigation. Former state senator John Kuehn has filed two lawsuits challenging the voter-approved provisions, with one appeal pending before the Nebraska Supreme Court. The state’s Attorney General is also trying to do something about the hemp question, akin to other states across the country.



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One of Las Vegas’ cannabis lounges closes its doors

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Nevada’s cannabis lounge experiment faces some expected growing pains, with one of just two state-licensed venues closing its doors after barely a year in business, according to the Las Vegas Weekly.

“The regulatory framework, compliance costs and product limitations just don’t support a sustainable business model,” said Thrive Cannabis managing partner Mitch Britten, who plans to convert the space into an event venue until regulations loosen up.

The closure leaves Planet 13’s Dazed Consumption Lounge as the only operational state-regulated cannabis lounge in Nevada. Dazed manager Blake Anderson estimates the venue attracts around 250 customers daily, primarily tourists. One other establishment, Sky High Lounge, has operated since 2019 on sovereign Las Vegas Paiute Tribe land exempt from state regulations.

Even with Nevada regulators conditionally approving 21 more lounge licenses, potential owners are struggling to meet the $200,000 liquid assets requirement – particularly social equity applicants from communities hit hardest by prohibition.

Recreational marijuana has been legal statewide since 2017, but public consumption remains prohibited. That’s created an obvious disconnect for the millions of tourists who visit Las Vegas annually but have nowhere legal to use the products they purchase. The state recorded roughly $829 million in taxable sales during the 2024 fiscal year.

“It always comes down to money, and it’s difficult to get a space if you can’t afford to buy a building. On top of that, getting insurance and finding a landowner who’s willing to lease to a cannabis business is a challenge in and of itself,” said Christopher LaPorte, whose consulting firm Reset Las Vegas helped launch Smoke and Mirrors, told Las Vegas Weekly.

Many think the key to future success lies in legislative changes that would allow lounges to integrate with food service and entertainment – playing to Las Vegas’s strengths as a hospitality innovator. In the meantime, the industry will continue to adapt and push forward.

“Things take time,” LaPorte said. “There’s a culture that we have to continue to embrace and a lot of education that we still have to do. But at the end of the day, tourists need a place to smoke, and that’s what these places are.”



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Psyence Group consolidates its shares

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Psyence Group Inc. (CSE: PSYG) told investors that it will be consolidating all of its issued and outstanding share capital on the basis of every 15 existing common shares into one new common share effective April 23, 2025 with a record date of April 23, 2025. As a result of the consolidation, the issued and outstanding shares will be reduced to approximately 9,387,695 on the effective date.

This is the second time a Psyence company has consolidated shares recently. In November, its Nasdaq-listed associate, Psyence Biomedical Ltd. (Nasdaq: PBM), implemented a 1-for-75 share consolidation as the psychedelics company worked to maintain its Nasdaq listing.

Psyence Group reported earnings in February when the company delivered a net loss of C$3 million and was reporting as a going concern. At the end of 2024, the company said it had not yet achieved profitable operations, has accumulated losses of C$48,982,320 since its inception.

Total assets at the end of 2024 were C$11,944,478 and comprised predominantly of: cash and cash equivalents of C$10,611,113, other receivables of C$159,808, investment in PsyLabs of C$1,071,981 and prepaids of C$68,243.

Still, the company is pushing ahead. Psyence told investors that it has historically secured financing through share issuances and convertible debentures, and it continues to explore funding opportunities to support its operations and strategic initiatives. “Based on these actions and
management’s expectations regarding future funding and operational developments, the company believes it will have sufficient resources to meet its obligations as they become due for at least the next twelve months,” it said in its last financial filing.

The company said it believes that the consolidation will position it with greater flexibility for the development of its business and the growth of the company.

 



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