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Jeff Smith

Jeff is an award-winning business journalist who has worked as a reporter and editor for daily newspapers in Colorado, Maine, New Mexico and Alabama. He also has worked as a journalist overseas in Asia and West Africa. His stories have appeared in National Geographic online and The New York Times, among other publications.

Judge stops Detroit adult-use cannabis licensing over residency dispute

Published 18 hours ago

A federal judge has temporarily halted Detroit regulators from processing adult-use cannabis license applications in response to a suit challenging the constitutionality of a city ordinance giving preference to longtime residents. A city official confirmed Detroit is temporarily halting the licensing process. The city, which started taking applications earlier this year, intends to issue as […]

Marijuana Business Factbook projects nearly $45B US market by 2025

Published April 8, 2021

The U.S. recreational and medical marijuana markets are on a trajectory to reach up to $45.9 billion in annual sales by 2025, or as much as twice the level of sales projected for this year, according to the newly released 2021 Marijuana Business Factbook. U.S. adult-use and medical cannabis sales in 2021 are expected to […]

A chart showing the amount of investment capital for cannabis M&A.

SPACs help push funding for marijuana M&As to highest quarterly level since 2019

Published April 8, 2021

Capital raised for marijuana mergers and acquisitions totaled a whopping $600 million in the first three months of this year, reflecting the booming popularity of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and more bullish investor sentiment about federal marijuana reform. Last quarter’s funding for marijuana M&A amounted to the highest level since the third quarter of […]

Virginia lawmakers bump up some adult-use marijuana timelines

Published April 8, 2021

Legislators in Virginia approved measures that will allow the personal possession, cultivation and use of small amounts of marijuana beginning July 1, but a commercial market still isn’t permitted to begin until 2024. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam proposed the amendments to accelerate the timeline of a bill lawmakers passed in February to legalize adult-use marijuana. […]

Green Thumb poised to build out $50 million cannabis facility in New York

Published April 7, 2021

Cannabis multistate operator Green Thumb Industries has won local financial incentives to build out a $50 million cultivation and processing facility in New York. The Orange County Industrial Development Agency indicated in a news release Wednesday that the incentives were approved in March before New York lawmakers legalized a projected $2.5 billion-a-year recreational marijuana market. […]

Arkansas medical marijuana regulators sued over license sale

Published April 7, 2021

An Arkansas mayor and several other entities are suing state medical marijuana regulators and an MMJ company in connection with the sale and transfer of a license in November 2020. The suit, filed this week in Jackson County Circuit Court, alleges fraud, conspiracy and breach of contract related to the sale of Natural State Wellness […]

Vice president: White House hasn’t yet ‘taken on’ federal marijuana reform

Published April 6, 2021

Marijuana reform advocates hope Vice President Kamala Harris eventually helps influence President Joe Biden to warm up to potential federal legalization. But apparently those discussions haven’t yet taken place, even as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York gets closer to introducing a comprehensive marijuana reform bill. “We haven’t yet taken that on,” Harris […]

Workers at Rhode Island medical cannabis dispensary vote to unionize

Published April 6, 2021

Employees at Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, became the first cannabis dispensary workers in the state to unionize, approving the move by an overwhelming vote of 21 to 1. The employees, which include budtenders, delivery associates and online team members, voted to join United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 328. The […]

Key Democrat: US Senate will consider comprehensive marijuana reform

Published April 5, 2021

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will move forward with comprehensive marijuana reform regardless of whether President Joe Biden embraces the idea. “He said he’s studying the issue, so (I) obviously want to give him a little time to study it,” Schumer said in an interview with Politico. “I want to make my arguments […]

Closely watched Colorado cannabis patent lawsuit dropped

Published April 2, 2021

Colorado-based United Cannabis (UCANN) dropped a landmark CBD-related patent lawsuit against Pure Hemp Collective, leaving the legal issue unresolved. The end of the lawsuit, first reported by Law360, follows an unsuccessful attempt by UCANN to reorganize its finances under federal bankruptcy laws. The filing in US District Court in Colorado on March 31 ends the […]

New Mexico lawmakers approve potential $350 million recreational marijuana market

Published April 1, 2021

New Mexico lawmakers on Wednesday night passed a recreational marijuana bill that provides licensing opportunities for small businesses and individuals from communities disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs. Retail sales are to start no later than April 1, 2022. Marijuana Business Daily projects that an adult-use market in New Mexico will generate $125 million […]

Why adult-use cannabis legalization in New York, the nation’s financial hub, is a big deal

Published April 1, 2021

Adult-use cannabis legalization in New York will produce powerful impacts well beyond the sales generated within the state’s borders, industry experts say. Lawmakers passed the measure late Tuesday night, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo quickly signed the bill into law the next morning. Sales are expected to start within 12 to 18 months. Marijuana Business Daily […]