Welcome to
Sign up here to get it in your inbox every week.
If you want a discount to BI Prime to read our stories, sign up here!
Happy Friday readers,
We're back after a two-week hiatus. The East Coast saw a nice run of summer swell, so my vacation was perfectly timed to take in some (surf)board meetings.
Prior to my vacation, I spent a few weeks talking to former employees and investors about what happened at Civilized, a cannabis media and events company that quietly laid off all of its employees after a takeover offer fell through.
In the span of a little more than a year, the company's CEO, Derek Riedle, went from flying on private jets with celebrities to laying off employees without severance pay. Civilized's rise and fall is perhaps emblematic of what happened in the past two years in the cannabis industry, where the promise of a new multibillion-dollar industry met a more subdued reality, and greed got in the way of responsible decisionmaking.
I hope you'll read the story, and let me know what you think.
I also spoke with cannabis activists and entrepreneurs about why — in light of the protests over the police's killing of George Floyd that continue to rock major cities in the US and around the world — legalizing marijuana is key to reforming the police.
Despite the clear need, creating an equitable industry has been an uphill battle from the jump. Kassandra Frederique, from the Drug Policy Alliance, put it this way in a call to bake social justice measures into cannabis legislation from the outset: "A lot of people that are making money right now did not build the road that they are driving on."
Wise words indeed.
-Jeremy
Here's what we wrote about this week:
The inside story of the downfall of Civilized, a cannabis media startup that raised $7 million, then had to shut down after a takeover offer fell through
Civilized Worldwide, a cannabis media startup, raised $7 million to create the "premium lifestyle and media brand" for cannabis consumers around the globe.
With investments from high-profile backers like the comedian and author Chelsea Handler and Canopy Rivers, the venture arm of Canopy Growth, Civilized and its husband-and-wife founders were soaring as cannabis legalization looked poised to sweep the US a few years ago.
But after a series of layoffs and business pivots, as well as a failed takeover attempt, Civilized has let go of all of its staff and suspended operations. This is the story of what happened.
Cannabis activists say legalization is the first step in reforming the police. But creating an equitable industry for Black entrepreneurs has been an uphill battle.
As protests over police violence continue to erupt around the US after George Floyd's killing, cannabis activists say legalization is the first step to reducing police violence.
Black people are 3.6 times more likely to be arrested for
Despite activist's efforts, creating an equitable cannabis industry has proven to be an uphill battle due to the conflict between state and federal law.
Opinion: We should legalize pot to fight the coronavirus
This is from Business Insider's
It's time (well, past the time, really) to just legalize it already, he says.
Executive moves
- Miguel Martin, a former senior exec at Altria and the CEO of CBD company Reliva will become the chief commercial officer of Aurora, two months after Aurora acquired Reliva.
- Former Aphria CEO Vic Neufeld is joining Vancouver-based psychedelics firm Havn Life as a director. Neufeld served as Aphria's CEO for five years.
- Aurora Cannabis cofounder Terry Booth has stepped down from the company's board of directors. He left the CEO role in February.
- Medical cannabis company MediPharm Labs has appointed Bank of Montreal COO Chris Taves to its board of directors.
- Paul Bozoki, the former CFO of Desert Lion Energy, is joining 14th Round, a company that helps design technology and brands for cannabis clients. Bozoki will help the company prepare for an upcoming IPO.
Deals, and other news
- CannaGlobal Wellness launched, from a three-way merger between CannaGlobal, Sansero Life Sciences, and Rise Wellness. The company is looking to enter the increasingly competitive market for psilocybin-based drugs.
- A pair of drug reform bills will be on the ballot in Oregon in 2020. IP44 would decriminalize possession for personal use of all drugs while expanding treatment. The other, IP34, would legalize psilocybin mushrooms for therapeutic uses in the state.
- The SEC has halted High Times' upcoming "mini" IPO until the marijuana magazine files its audited financials, after failing to meet an extended deadline.
- Cannabis company ManifestSeven has received conditional approval to list on the Canadian Securities Exchange.
What we're reading
Bongs, blunts and balms — The secret to surviving the NBA bubble (The Athletic)
Fare thee well, High Times? (Columbia Journalism Review)
The marijuana superweapon Biden refuses to use (The Atlantic)
Dan Bilzerian's company lost $50 million last year, will likely fail: auditor (Forbes)
Cannabis firms see jump in insurance costs to protect leaders as investors sue (Reuters)
Marijuana or cannabis? How racism, immigration shaped history of drug war in NY, US. (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)