The Daily Hit is a recap of the top financial news stories for Wednesday, December 11, 2024.

On the Site

Berkshire unit seeks dismissal of Trulieve’s insurance coverage case over worker death

Berkshire Hathaway’s insurer says the worker’s death falls outside of Trulieve’s $3.1 million policy with the firm.

Read more here.

Tilray AMA: Cannabis beverages offer the biggest opportunity

The company’s chief financial officer also fielded numerous questions regarding the use of stock to pay debts and its plans to reach profitability.

Read more here.

More California officials caught in cannabis bribery cases

Newly unsealed court records reveal that Baldwin Park officials were soliciting bribes for supporting companies.

Read more here.

Weedmaps to more than double its outstanding shares to raise $224 million

The regulatory filings also provided a glimpse into the inner workings of the company.

Read more here.

Minnesota cannabis regulators scrap lottery for standard licensing

The state will maintain its 50-50 split of licenses between social equity and general applicants.

Read more here.

FBI raids office of Michigan cannabis businesses’ minority owner

The legal troubles will pose a test for Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency.

Read more here.

In Other News

Cannabis advertising

A Vermont cannabis company is suing the state over advertising restrictions that it claims are free speech violations.

Read more here.

CBD Life Sciences

CBD Life Sciences announced its intent to acquire a cannabis growth license in North Las Vegas, a move that positions CBDL at the forefront of Nevada’s thriving cannabis cultivation market, which is projected to surpass $1.3 billion by 2025.

Read more here.

Let’s put a punishing election month behind us and get back in that joyful warrior pose. 

Leafly Buzz—our hit West Coast fire flower roundup is back for Turkey Day and the holiday season. We’re talking rip-rorious, indoorious beasts. Plus, some truly stunning sungrown.

Here’s what we’d bring to a fancy feast all winter long. 

Here’s Leafly Buzz for November 2024.

Data grinder

We broke out our calculators, plugged into the Leafly strain database, and ran a scan for zaza. Here’s what the stats tell us.

Durban Poison

Short, cold, wet days got you down? Some Durban and coffee will help you get the house ready for visitors. The classic sativa comes in flower, vape, and sometimes single-source edible format. We could all use a pick-me-up. Durban moved into the No. 12 spot from 16 across the Western US.

Glitter Bomb

We said that the strain Glitter Bomb would blow up in 2024 and yeah, it’s at No. 30, up from 33rd in October. Glitter Bomb is among the blingiest tree from breeder Compound Genetics. This relaxing herb has a loud, grape-fuel taste. It’s a cross of Grape Gas #10 to OGKB Blueberry Headband.

Piescream

This is that ‘impress your hometown friends’ weed. Piescream’s a mix of Wedding Pie x (Gelato #33 x Cherry Limeade F5) for a candied cherry lime pastry dessert flavor. Piescream has been organically climbing the charts for the past two years. It’s now a top 500 strain on the West Coast and one of our favorite Thanksgiving smokes. We just saw a phenomenal cut of it from Sense cannabis in SF. Piescream also won six medals at the California State Fair Cannabis Awards 2024. You can’t have Thanksgiving without Piescream.

Dante’s Inferno

Oreoz x Devil Driver is the Budtenders’ Choice of Maine 2024 and it has cracked the top 100 across the western US, landing at 84; for when you need that crazy bag appeal, crazy potency, with a dessert and melon note.

Other chart news:

New in the Leafly strain database

Tropical Juice Box

Award-winning Southern California indoor growers Team Elite Genetics has come out of their lab with a grip of new crosses. Smoking up quick at our house—Tropical Juice Box, a cross of Orange Juice and Pearadise #4. Expect a delicious, tropical fruit smoothie layered with flavors of citrus, sugar, mangos, & pear.  A nice, mood-enhancing sativa high also includes mellow vibes and body relaxation.

Dulce Con Gas

Fresh in the Leafly database, the Terphogz seeds catalog—popularizers of the Original Z. Notable this month—their new collaboration with Kounter Kulture—Dulce Con Gas. It’s a savvy mix of Lemon Cherry Gelato x Crop Duster and the packs run a stiff $300. LCG remains a top 5 national best-seller, and Crop Duster is a reported Daily Driver x Chem D cross that’s extra-pungent. Take 10% off with code LEAFLY (Leafly gets an affiliate fee for purchases). 

Detroit Diamonds

Compound Genetics releases 26 new crosses to its hit, blingy weed Eye Candy. We’re eying Detroit Diamonds for a strain that drills down into pure aesthetics. Detroit Diamonds is (Pure Michigan x Baby Shark) crossed with Eye Candy and should be a killer.

Sour Peaches

Sour Peaches is yielding some of the best hash the folks at Purple City Genetics are smoking this winter. It’s a cross of their hit hash dumper Moroccan Peaches and the classic New York strains AJ’s Sour Diesel. Sour Peaches grows into huge plants with a 6 to 7% hash yield—so keep an eye out for it. It should hit hybrid and strong with a sour caramelized sour peach note. 

Picks of the dispensaries

New on shelves

Mandarin Cherry Tree by Sticky Fields

Impress your sesh with arguably the most lip-smacking strain around—Mandarin Cherry Tree grown by industry icon Sticky Fields, Mendocino County, CA, and sold by Solful across Northern California. It’s a Mandarin Tart crossed to a volunteer Sticky Fields calls Cherry Tree, with thick mandarin, cherry, and lavender notes. The rare linalool-dominant strain comes hand-picked from the full-sun run at 26% THC. Limited batches.

Burning up the charts

Nova Cane by Team Elite Genetics

Need to get comfortably numb? This Novacane strain from more-than-living soil growers Team Elite Genetics in California went fast at our house in November. It’s Squirt x Kush x Grandma’s Cookies, bred by T.E.G, with a smell like blue raspberry sour gummies and a 50-50 hybrid effect on mind and body. A three-time Cannabis Cup-winner.

Best-sellers

Ballin out

Empanadas Diez by A Golden State

A Golden State grows large-scale indoor buds up in Shasta County, CA. Leading off their holiday lineup is Empanadas Diez—a Purple Churro x Cinnamon Horchata cross. When you want to chill after dinner and pre-game for dessert, hit this dessert strain with notes of banana bread, elote, berries & cream.

Ballin’ on a budget

Sour Diesel by Alpenglow

Plenty of great Sour Diesels have come in with the harvest. But the standout is a Sour Diesel Bx4 bred by Garden of Grease Seeds in Oregon, and organically grown by Alpenglow as outdoor, living-soil, full-term. Half-ounces of it sell out the door at Solful for $100, making it a killer, best-selling, budget option that won’t stick around. Just make sure you have the right mindset and place for taking it. It’s 31% THC. “It’s freaking strong, you got to be careful. It’s just zippy.”

High Note

Storz and Bickel Venty

Get your flu and COVID shots, even if you’re strong like bull. You can save yourself a secondary infection, and a second week in bed. If you already got bit by this year’s bug, consider giving your sinuses and lungs a smoke break with a flower vape. Flower vapes heat, instead of burn bud for the same effects. The makers of the famed Volcano vaporizer have a new, portable ripper called the Venty. You can pack it thick and full, it heats up in seconds and it rips pretty substantial clouds with big effects. The battery life is outsized as well. Another medical-grade best-seller from German leaders Storz and Bickel.

OK—that’s Leafly Buzz for November 2024, full of trees we’d personally pack during our ‘cousin’s walk’ before dinner. You bring the breath mints.

Growers, breeders, brands, stores—got buzz for Leafly? We’re all ears. Email us at david.downs@leafly.com

The California cannabis industry is increasingly underwater with its tax bills to the state, and it appears that the primary tax authority wants to ensure more effective collections.

According to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the state industry’s total outstanding tax tab neared $1.3 billion as of Oct. 31. The figure represents “the total accounts receivable for cannabis excise tax and sales and use tax accounts for known cannabis sellers,” including all unpaid taxes, penalties and interest, the agency wrote in an email to Green Market Report.

Taxes, interest and penalties from audits alone make up $727.7 million of that, the agency wrote, dating back to 2018. Another $354.4 million in reported but unpaid excise, sales and use taxes are also part of the total.

That’s up from an outstanding balance of roughly $287 million in February. It’s also up from the estimated $732 million calculated by GreenWave Advisors in April, of which 72% was owed by  companies that were already out of business.

No easy answers

The ballooning tax bill could explain why scores of licensed California cannabis dispensaries in the Los Angeles area recently received notices from the CDTFA stating that their mandatory tax payment schedule will change from quarterly to monthly, which has caused some alarm, according to industry sources.

However, operators can contact the CDTFA by Dec. 1 to request their payment plans stay the same, the agency said.

Dispensary owners began receiving the “Notice of Change in Reporting Basis” letters around Nov. 1, according to Jerred Kiloh, owner of The Higher Path in L.A. and president of the United Cannabis Business Association.

One such notice, shared with Green Market Report, states, “The average tax liability you report is at a level that will change your reporting basis. As a result, your reporting basis is changing from quarterly to monthly, effective January 1, 2025.”

CDTFA Notice of change 11.7.24_Redacted

“My members are worried that they have to pay this new reporting requirement,” Kiloh said. “We’re using that to buy products and sell them to float our debt.”

One member’s reaction was to simply declare that he’d close up shop in January if he was going to be required to remit taxes every month.

“That is how slim the margins are in this industry, that we’re utilizing floated tax dollars to buy products to put on our shelves to sell so we can afford to pay the taxes,” Kiloh said.

Kiloh said he tried calling the CDTFA to request that The Higher Path remain with quarterly payments, but the staffer he spoke to was unaware of the notices.

“I had to go through three different departments to finally get to an adjuster, and that adjuster still didn’t know what they were doing. So this is a problem. So even if you call, there’s still no clear path to an answer,” Kiloh said.

Kiloh said Thursday that he’s still awaiting clarification from the agency that he can share with UCBA members to put their minds at ease.

Business as usual?

CDTFA clarified to Green Market Report that there’s been no change in policy as far as marijuana tax collections from retailers and said notices were only sent to “affected taxpayers.”

“CDTFA’s general guidelines for changes to filing frequency can be found in our Compliance Policy and Procedures Manual,” the agency wrote in an emailed statement. “If taxpayers have questions about their accounts or a letter they received from us, they can contact our customer service center at 1-800-400-7115 or their local CDTFA office.”

Cannabis tax attorney Regina Unegovsky said she can’t say that’s an industry-wide issue, but she’s helped several clients through the process to maintain their quarterly payments.

“In the past, whenever any given business reaches certain reporting volume (i.e. sales) then they get switched from quarterly to monthly,” she said. “It used to mean a good thing – that the business has grown. These days, I get it – it’s so much tougher on compliance time.”

“Long story short, I have been able in the past to have the CDTFA back off on the change for a bit to give the taxpayer time to adjust or back off completely as well,” she wrote.

Kiloh said that he thinks it’s a trigger within the state tax code that led to the confusion. CDTFA has the option to such a switch payment schedules from quarterly to monthly if a business owes the state more than $20,000 a month, and he said The Higher Path and many other dispensaries typically pay far more than that to the state.

But Kiloh faulted the agency for not being clearer in its communication with marijuana companies that are struggling to survive. He said many of UCBA’s members were thankful when he reached out this past week to inform them the switch is apparently something they can opt out of.

“Of those almost 200 emails, 70 of them came back and went, ‘Oh my God, thank you, Jerred. I thought this was going to be like the death blow of us,’” Kiloh said. “So when you look at the amount of people who either didn’t read it, didn’t understand, it felt like this was going to happen.”