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MariMed Adds Key Executives to Its Team to Drive Revenue and Build Brand Value

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What started as a tour to celebrate summer and highlight a new line of cannabis edibles transformed into an effort to bring the COVID-19 vaccine to the people of Colorado during a series of pop-up vaccination clinics this past weekend.

Wana Brands, a cannabis edibles manufacturer, and The Green Solution, a Colorado-based dispensary chain, partnered with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to provide COVID-19 vaccines to the local community during Denver-area stops along Wana’s Summer of Quick Tour.

The tour, which launched in early July to kick off the summer, initially aimed to highlight Wana’s Quick Fast-Acting Gummies. The company set up a van at dispensary locations along the tour to celebrate the new product line.

“It was basically a pop-up in the parking lot, and that was inspired more or less from the post-COVID summer that everybody was really looking forward to,” Kim Gibson, a territory account manager for Wana Brands, told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary. “They had the vaccinations, and there was this real sense of getting out and everybody being social again.”

As the summer progressed and more information surfaced about the Delta variant of COVID-19, Wana and The Green Solution wanted to encourage more people to get vaccinated.

“With the pandemic last year, we saw a lot of folks suffering from different levels of the pandemic, from financial [impacts] to folks who were passing away from COVID,” said Steve Lopez, CEO of The Green Solution. “We always want to help out all the communities that we serve. … We’re trying to increase vaccination rates and trying to make sure we’re doing our part to combat this pandemic.”

Wana approached The Green Solution with the idea to turn some stops along the Summer of Quick Tour into pop-up vaccination clinics.

“We wanted to basically look for other opportunities to make vaccinations available for people in Colorado,” Gibson said. “The consensus was to do it with a dispensary because we could target people where it would be very convenient for them [because] maybe it just wasn’t available to them until now.”

“A lot of things we’ve been hearing out in the news is that a lot of people are not getting vaccinated because of convenience—it’s too far away,” Lopez added. “This gives us the opportunity to take advantage of the traffic that’s coming to our stores to help get us to our level of vaccination rates that are known to make an impact on safety.”

Wana is a fully vaccinated company, Gibson said, and the leadership team is passionate about not only providing a safe working environment for the company’s employees, but also providing support to the local communities it serves.

“For Wana, it was important for us to support our community in offering opportunities for vaccination,” Gibson said. “We value our communities. We want our communities to be safe, and we want them to stay out of harm’s way. In our minds, becoming vaccinated not only serves our local community, but also our state as a whole. It was a unique opportunity that we felt that we should definitely step into and serve as well as we could.”

Photo courtesy of Wana Brands

The vaccines were administered in a separate tent in the parking lot during what Wana called the “Vaccine Edition” of the Summer of Quick Tour.

Since Wana and The Green Solution were already working together on events to showcase Wana’s Quick product line—and since The Green Solution is one of Wana’s largest dispensary partners with 23 locations across Colorado—Gibson said the dispensary chain was a good fit to host the vaccination clinics.

“They definitely had the bandwidth and the structure internally to help support this initiative because there are a lot of moving parts that are involved with putting on one of these events,” she said. “A lot of moving parts had to be connected, and it really takes a strong partnership between the dispensary and the brand to put this into place and make this go off without a hitch.”

The vaccination clinics were held Saturday, Aug. 7 through Monday, Aug. 9 at The Green Solution’s dispensaries in Edgewater, Aurora and Northglenn. The vaccines were administered in a separate tent in the parking lot during what Wana called the “Vaccine Edition” of the Summer of Quick Tour.

“We made a little special edition to highlight these particular stops to emphasize that there were going to be the vaccination clinics available,” Gibson said.

The clinics were generally well-received by the public, she added, with people pre-registering for the vaccinations and walk-ins who saw the tent on-site and were interested in receiving the vaccine.

“It’s really turned into a political thing, which is unfortunate,” Lopez said. “But we’re not political about this. This is not a red or blue state thing for us. … All we’re doing is trying to help out the community. … It just goes back to taking care of our communities and our employees.”

The Green Solution launched its dispensary locations with online ordering and express windows, which Lopez said helped the company comply with the coronavirus-related restrictions that went into effect last year. The dispensary had much of the infrastructure needed for curbside pickup already in place, for example, and is currently looking at ways to offer delivery services.

After seeing the success of the vaccination clinics, other dispensary groups in Colorado have reached out to the Wana team to ask if they can participate in similar events. Gibson said that although Wana has not scheduled any additional clinics at this time, the company is evaluating other opportunities.

“I think it’s even more important that we make these opportunities available for people just as a sign that we’re all in this together,” she said.

“We just are trying to get the word out so that people know, even if you don’t shop with us, you don’t even have to come in or any of that,” Lopez added. “Just come by, and we’ll get you vaccinated.”

Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Conference Announce Inaugural Cannabis Leadership Awards Recipients

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What started as a tour to celebrate summer and highlight a new line of cannabis edibles transformed into an effort to bring the COVID-19 vaccine to the people of Colorado during a series of pop-up vaccination clinics this past weekend.

Wana Brands, a cannabis edibles manufacturer, and The Green Solution, a Colorado-based dispensary chain, partnered with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to provide COVID-19 vaccines to the local community during Denver-area stops along Wana’s Summer of Quick Tour.

The tour, which launched in early July to kick off the summer, initially aimed to highlight Wana’s Quick Fast-Acting Gummies. The company set up a van at dispensary locations along the tour to celebrate the new product line.

“It was basically a pop-up in the parking lot, and that was inspired more or less from the post-COVID summer that everybody was really looking forward to,” Kim Gibson, a territory account manager for Wana Brands, told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary. “They had the vaccinations, and there was this real sense of getting out and everybody being social again.”

As the summer progressed and more information surfaced about the Delta variant of COVID-19, Wana and The Green Solution wanted to encourage more people to get vaccinated.

“With the pandemic last year, we saw a lot of folks suffering from different levels of the pandemic, from financial [impacts] to folks who were passing away from COVID,” said Steve Lopez, CEO of The Green Solution. “We always want to help out all the communities that we serve. … We’re trying to increase vaccination rates and trying to make sure we’re doing our part to combat this pandemic.”

Wana approached The Green Solution with the idea to turn some stops along the Summer of Quick Tour into pop-up vaccination clinics.

“We wanted to basically look for other opportunities to make vaccinations available for people in Colorado,” Gibson said. “The consensus was to do it with a dispensary because we could target people where it would be very convenient for them [because] maybe it just wasn’t available to them until now.”

“A lot of things we’ve been hearing out in the news is that a lot of people are not getting vaccinated because of convenience—it’s too far away,” Lopez added. “This gives us the opportunity to take advantage of the traffic that’s coming to our stores to help get us to our level of vaccination rates that are known to make an impact on safety.”

Wana is a fully vaccinated company, Gibson said, and the leadership team is passionate about not only providing a safe working environment for the company’s employees, but also providing support to the local communities it serves.

“For Wana, it was important for us to support our community in offering opportunities for vaccination,” Gibson said. “We value our communities. We want our communities to be safe, and we want them to stay out of harm’s way. In our minds, becoming vaccinated not only serves our local community, but also our state as a whole. It was a unique opportunity that we felt that we should definitely step into and serve as well as we could.”

Photo courtesy of Wana Brands

The vaccines were administered in a separate tent in the parking lot during what Wana called the “Vaccine Edition” of the Summer of Quick Tour.

Since Wana and The Green Solution were already working together on events to showcase Wana’s Quick product line—and since The Green Solution is one of Wana’s largest dispensary partners with 23 locations across Colorado—Gibson said the dispensary chain was a good fit to host the vaccination clinics.

“They definitely had the bandwidth and the structure internally to help support this initiative because there are a lot of moving parts that are involved with putting on one of these events,” she said. “A lot of moving parts had to be connected, and it really takes a strong partnership between the dispensary and the brand to put this into place and make this go off without a hitch.”

The vaccination clinics were held Saturday, Aug. 7 through Monday, Aug. 9 at The Green Solution’s dispensaries in Edgewater, Aurora and Northglenn. The vaccines were administered in a separate tent in the parking lot during what Wana called the “Vaccine Edition” of the Summer of Quick Tour.

“We made a little special edition to highlight these particular stops to emphasize that there were going to be the vaccination clinics available,” Gibson said.

The clinics were generally well-received by the public, she added, with people pre-registering for the vaccinations and walk-ins who saw the tent on-site and were interested in receiving the vaccine.

“It’s really turned into a political thing, which is unfortunate,” Lopez said. “But we’re not political about this. This is not a red or blue state thing for us. … All we’re doing is trying to help out the community. … It just goes back to taking care of our communities and our employees.”

The Green Solution launched its dispensary locations with online ordering and express windows, which Lopez said helped the company comply with the coronavirus-related restrictions that went into effect last year. The dispensary had much of the infrastructure needed for curbside pickup already in place, for example, and is currently looking at ways to offer delivery services.

After seeing the success of the vaccination clinics, other dispensary groups in Colorado have reached out to the Wana team to ask if they can participate in similar events. Gibson said that although Wana has not scheduled any additional clinics at this time, the company is evaluating other opportunities.

“I think it’s even more important that we make these opportunities available for people just as a sign that we’re all in this together,” she said.

“We just are trying to get the word out so that people know, even if you don’t shop with us, you don’t even have to come in or any of that,” Lopez added. “Just come by, and we’ll get you vaccinated.”

Tissue Culture and Lighting: 4 Best Practices

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Preventing outbreaks of pests and diseases in growing facilities is a top priority for cannabis cultivators, which is why Harbor Farmz utilizes tissue culture to create the healthiest mother stock plants possible for its nearly 11,000-square-foot canopy.

“The really good thing about having tissue culture in a production facility is that tissue culture is free of any kind of diseases like powdery mildew, botrytis or any kind of viruses, which let’s face it, can make or break a facility,” says Deb Sweeney, tissue culture lab director at Harbor Farmz. “It also reinvigorates the cultivars. When you’ve been cloning plants, you’re cutting them over and over. There’s an open wound there and what’s the plant going to try to do? It’s going to try to heal itself. When there’s an open wound, any kind of systemic disease can go in there.”

Tissue culture plants are incredibly tender and delicate, so Harbor Farmz must provide the best growing environment possible to ensure these plants get a strong start before advancing through its growth stages, Sweeney says. And lighting is one of the most important factors in achieving success throughout the growth cycle.

Here, Sweeney and Allister Malcolm, who also works in the tissue culture lab, share four best practices for lighting in tissue culture.

 

1. Start Slow and Low

Working in tissue culture is akin to trialing all of the time, as each cultivar has different lighting preferences, Sweeney says.

But no matter the plant, starting at a low lighting intensity is key to prevent the young and fragile plants from burning. Harbor Farmz chose the RAZR LED Series from Fluence by OSRAM, which allows the company to grow tissue culture vertically in a modular system and to keep lights a safe 4 to 8 inches from plants.

“What is great with the RAZR II is its lower intensity lighting, so we’re able to gradually increase it and listen to what the plants want,” Sweeney says. “[LEDs] don’t emit as much heat, and we also save energy.”

 

2. Consider Space-Saving Tiers

The plant nursery in the tissue culture lab take up less than 20 by 20 feet of space, but thanks to vertical growing, that relatively tiny corner of Harbor Farmz nearly 36,000-square-foot facility holds the beginnings of nearly 1,500 plants at any given time, Malcolm says.

“It’s almost like a bookshelf,” Sweeney says of the shelving units where tissue culture plants grow. “So, it’s literally a shelving unit about 10 feet high, give or take, and we have between 13 and 14 shelves in each shelving unit. We can grow thousands of vessels of tissue culture plants.” The system is possible thanks to the low heat producing LEDs that allow for stacking and close proximity to plants.

 

3. Gradually Increase Lighting While Watching Plants Closely

Tissue culture plants spend anywhere from four months to a year prepping for the next growth phase in Harbor Farmz’s lab, with the average being six to nine months, Malcolm says.

“When we’re first starting plants out and initiating them, we start them out with a very low level of indirect ambient light,” Malcolm says. “And then after about a month in that very low-level lighting, we’ll bring them into our multiplication stage media, and we’ll increase the light intensity at that point to about 10% of what our lights will let us do. And we use manual controllers on the front of the lighting racks that allow us to adjust that light intensity with just a push of a button.”

The lights allow for small, 1% or 2% adjustments that are ideal for tissue culture plants, he says, so they can slowly dial up the intensity, and they generally do not adjust beyond 5% over the minimum.   

“Sometimes that 1% or 2% can make or break you,” Sweeney adds. “I’ve also put the light up too high, and a couple of days later, plants are not happy.”

Sweeney emphasizes that “slow and steady wins the race” when it comes to tissue culture lighting.

“Don’t increase the light too quickly. Listen to what your plants are telling you. If they are not happy, it’s pretty obvious,” Sweeney says, noting that plants will turn yellow or brown.  

 

4. Conduct In-House Research

A light meter is an important tool to measure the exact lighting intensity plants are receiving in order to track that response, Malcolm says.

“We use a light meter to measure light levels to get it dialed in to the point where we want it,” he says.

Sweeney says that the most important key to success in tissue culture is researching as much as possible before starting while continuing to monitor plants’ progress.

“Listen to what other people say but take that with a grain of salt. What works in other people’s facilities may not work in theirs,” she says.  “Don’t be afraid to back the intensity down. A lot of what we do is pure research. Each cultivar is different, and we don’t know what they want until they tell us.”

Confia Brings Technology-Based Cannabis Transaction and Banking Services to East Coast

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SEATTLE and NEW YORK, Aug. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — PRESS RELEASE — Leafly Holdings Inc., an online cannabis discovery marketplace and resource for cannabis consumers, and Merida Merger Corp. I (NASDAQ: MCMJ), a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Merida Capital Holdings, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement with respect to a business combination. Upon completion of the proposed transaction, Merida will adopt the Leafly name and its common stock is expected to be listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol LFLY. The transaction values the combined company at an implied, fully diluted enterprise value of approximately $385 million and equity value of approximately $532 million, subject to any redemptions by Merida stockholders.

Based in Seattle, Wash., Leafly is a content-first, community-driven, three-sided marketplace that attracts the world’s largest cannabis audience. Across its website and mobile app, Leafly empowers a highly engaged audience of more than 125 million annual visitors to understand, select and reserve cannabis products from licensed retailers.

Leafly provides a subscription-based platform for more than 7,800 brands and 4,600 paying retail subscribers. Approximately 55% of North American retail licensees are currently subscribed to its marketplace and advertising services. As a non-plant touching platform with leading brand recognition, a user-friendly experience, and an established position in core growth markets, Leafly is well positioned to capitalize on accelerating legalization trends and e-commerce adoption across North America.

Yoko Miyashita, chief executive officer of Leafly, said, “For the past decade, we have focused on building a unique, legally compliant marketplace with an equal emphasis on educating consumers and enabling them to reserve cannabis products from legal, reputable providers. With this transaction, we are looking forward to entering the next phase of our company’s journey – creating more personalized consumer experiences, driving more value to our retail partners, amplifying brands on our platform, and further scaling our presence in local markets as legalization continues. Our consumers recognize Leafly as one of the most trusted brands in cannabis, and we do not take that trust for granted. We are excited to partner with Merida’s deeply experienced team to create even more value for our consumers, partners and shareholders.”

Peter Lee, president of Merida Merger Corp. I, commented, “Merida Capital is very excited to be involved in this transformative event for Leafly. We have seen firsthand how consumers respond to Leafly’s innovative technology and proprietary insights. Leafly has a proven flywheel and clear and achievable growth plans, and we look forward to leveraging our team’s demonstrated track record with other high growth ancillary cannabis companies to support their transition to the public market.”

Leafly Investment Highlights

Merida believes the proposed transaction with Leafly presents an attractive investment opportunity for shareholders for a number of reasons, including:

Shoppers, retailers, and brands trust Leafly to make cannabis understandable and accessible:

  • Leafly has developed the most extensive content library in the cannabis market, attracting the largest audience in cannabis
  • The cannabis community relies on Leafly’s strain database (5,000+ strains), cannabis coverage (11,000+ articles), and user reviews (1.3MM+ reviews) to navigate the highly complex and evolving world of cannabis

Community-driven, three-sided marketplace with retailers, brands, and high-value shoppers:

  • Leafly’s audience of 10 million monthly unique visitors connects with over 4,600 licensed stores across North America
  • The company generates subscription and advertising revenue from licensed retailers and brands

A flexible platform that scales and sits at the center of the $19 billion rapidly growing legal cannabis market:

  • The cannabis market is large and expanding rapidly with states continuing to legalize as a result of broad support for legalization
  • Consumers use Leafly to learn about cannabis, the cannabis industry, and cannabis politics before their states legalize, giving Leafly a head start

As consumer ordering shifts online, Leafly helps consumers navigate a complicated industry:

  • Markets are evolving to the right supply/demand dynamics to enable the cannabis e-commerce market, a trend which was accelerated by COVID
  • Leafly garners consumer trust through its strong focus on compliance and by helping consumers navigate dynamic regulatory environments

Leafly is at an inflection point to accelerate growth and monetization:

  • Poised to accelerate retailer monetization with retailers seeing 14x Return on Ad Spend and in the early stages of monetizing the more than 7,800 brands on the Leafly platform
  • Projected revenue of approximately $43 million in 2021E and $65 million in 2022E, representing ~52% annual growth with gross margins of ~88% as Leafly further penetrates current markets and capitalizes on its strong position in the newly legalized East Coast

Key Transaction Terms

At closing, the combined company is expected to have an implied, fully diluted enterprise value of approximately $385 million and equity value of approximately $532 million, subject to any redemptions by Merida stockholders. Existing Leafly shareholders will roll 100% of their existing stake in Leafly and, upon closing, are expected to own approximately 72% of the combined company on a pro forma basis, assuming the company receives 100% of the proceeds currently held in trust.

The transaction is expected to generate proceeds of up to $161.5 million, subject to any redemptions by Merida stockholders. This follows and is inclusive of Leafly’s recent $31.5 million capital raise led by leading cannabis-focused investors, including Merida Capital Holdings, Delta Emerald Ventures, SOJE Capital, and Leafly’s existing shareholder base. The proceeds of the capital raise and transaction provide Leafly with substantial capital to enhance its advertising and platform technology, expand its marketplace, and execute customer acquisition initiatives.

The proposed transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Leafly and Merida, and is expected to close in the 4th quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

Additional information about the transaction, including a copy of the investor presentation that will be used by the parties to describe the transaction during the conference call discussed below, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Merida with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and available at www.sec.gov.

Advisors

Oppenheimer & Co. served as exclusive financial advisor to Leafly, while Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP served as Leafly’s legal advisor. EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. served as financial advisor to Merida. Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC, JMP Securities, LLC, and The Benchmark Company, LLC are serving as capital markets advisors to Merida. Graubard Miller acted as Merida’s legal advisor.

Wana Brands and The Green Solution Host Pop-Up Vaccination Clinics in Colorado

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What started as a tour to celebrate summer and highlight a new line of cannabis edibles transformed into an effort to bring the COVID-19 vaccine to the people of Colorado during a series of pop-up vaccination clinics this past weekend.

Wana Brands, a cannabis edibles manufacturer, and The Green Solution, a Colorado-based dispensary chain, partnered with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to provide COVID-19 vaccines to the local community during Denver-area stops along Wana’s Summer of Quick Tour.

The tour, which launched in early July to kick off the summer, initially aimed to highlight Wana’s Quick Fast-Acting Gummies. The company set up a van at dispensary locations along the tour to celebrate the new product line.

“It was basically a pop-up in the parking lot, and that was inspired more or less from the post-COVID summer that everybody was really looking forward to,” Kim Gibson, a territory account manager for Wana Brands, told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary. “They had the vaccinations, and there was this real sense of getting out and everybody being social again.”

As the summer progressed and more information surfaced about the Delta variant of COVID-19, Wana and The Green Solution wanted to encourage more people to get vaccinated.

“With the pandemic last year, we saw a lot of folks suffering from different levels of the pandemic, from financial [impacts] to folks who were passing away from COVID,” said Steve Lopez, CEO of The Green Solution. “We always want to help out all the communities that we serve. … We’re trying to increase vaccination rates and trying to make sure we’re doing our part to combat this pandemic.”

Wana approached The Green Solution with the idea to turn some stops along the Summer of Quick Tour into pop-up vaccination clinics.

“We wanted to basically look for other opportunities to make vaccinations available for people in Colorado,” Gibson said. “The consensus was to do it with a dispensary because we could target people where it would be very convenient for them [because] maybe it just wasn’t available to them until now.”

“A lot of things we’ve been hearing out in the news is that a lot of people are not getting vaccinated because of convenience—it’s too far away,” Lopez added. “This gives us the opportunity to take advantage of the traffic that’s coming to our stores to help get us to our level of vaccination rates that are known to make an impact on safety.”

Wana is a fully vaccinated company, Gibson said, and the leadership team is passionate about not only providing a safe working environment for the company’s employees, but also providing support to the local communities it serves.

“For Wana, it was important for us to support our community in offering opportunities for vaccination,” Gibson said. “We value our communities. We want our communities to be safe, and we want them to stay out of harm’s way. In our minds, becoming vaccinated not only serves our local community, but also our state as a whole. It was a unique opportunity that we felt that we should definitely step into and serve as well as we could.”

Photo courtesy of Wana Brands

The vaccines were administered in a separate tent in the parking lot during what Wana called the “Vaccine Edition” of the Summer of Quick Tour.

Since Wana and The Green Solution were already working together on events to showcase Wana’s Quick product line—and since The Green Solution is one of Wana’s largest dispensary partners with 23 locations across Colorado—Gibson said the dispensary chain was a good fit to host the vaccination clinics.

“They definitely had the bandwidth and the structure internally to help support this initiative because there are a lot of moving parts that are involved with putting on one of these events,” she said. “A lot of moving parts had to be connected, and it really takes a strong partnership between the dispensary and the brand to put this into place and make this go off without a hitch.”

The vaccination clinics were held Saturday, Aug. 7 through Monday, Aug. 9 at The Green Solution’s dispensaries in Edgewater, Aurora and Northglenn. The vaccines were administered in a separate tent in the parking lot during what Wana called the “Vaccine Edition” of the Summer of Quick Tour.

“We made a little special edition to highlight these particular stops to emphasize that there were going to be the vaccination clinics available,” Gibson said.

The clinics were generally well-received by the public, she added, with people pre-registering for the vaccinations and walk-ins who saw the tent on-site and were interested in receiving the vaccine.

“It’s really turned into a political thing, which is unfortunate,” Lopez said. “But we’re not political about this. This is not a red or blue state thing for us. … All we’re doing is trying to help out the community. … It just goes back to taking care of our communities and our employees.”

The Green Solution launched its dispensary locations with online ordering and express windows, which Lopez said helped the company comply with the coronavirus-related restrictions that went into effect last year. The dispensary had much of the infrastructure needed for curbside pickup already in place, for example, and is currently looking at ways to offer delivery services.

After seeing the success of the vaccination clinics, other dispensary groups in Colorado have reached out to the Wana team to ask if they can participate in similar events. Gibson said that although Wana has not scheduled any additional clinics at this time, the company is evaluating other opportunities.

“I think it’s even more important that we make these opportunities available for people just as a sign that we’re all in this together,” she said.

“We just are trying to get the word out so that people know, even if you don’t shop with us, you don’t even have to come in or any of that,” Lopez added. “Just come by, and we’ll get you vaccinated.”

Maine’s Adult-Use Cannabis Sales Topped $9 Million in July

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SEATTLE and NEW YORK, Aug. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — PRESS RELEASE — Leafly Holdings Inc., an online cannabis discovery marketplace and resource for cannabis consumers, and Merida Merger Corp. I (NASDAQ: MCMJ), a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Merida Capital Holdings, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement with respect to a business combination. Upon completion of the proposed transaction, Merida will adopt the Leafly name and its common stock is expected to be listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol LFLY. The transaction values the combined company at an implied, fully diluted enterprise value of approximately $385 million and equity value of approximately $532 million, subject to any redemptions by Merida stockholders.

Based in Seattle, Wash., Leafly is a content-first, community-driven, three-sided marketplace that attracts the world’s largest cannabis audience. Across its website and mobile app, Leafly empowers a highly engaged audience of more than 125 million annual visitors to understand, select and reserve cannabis products from licensed retailers.

Leafly provides a subscription-based platform for more than 7,800 brands and 4,600 paying retail subscribers. Approximately 55% of North American retail licensees are currently subscribed to its marketplace and advertising services. As a non-plant touching platform with leading brand recognition, a user-friendly experience, and an established position in core growth markets, Leafly is well positioned to capitalize on accelerating legalization trends and e-commerce adoption across North America.

Yoko Miyashita, chief executive officer of Leafly, said, “For the past decade, we have focused on building a unique, legally compliant marketplace with an equal emphasis on educating consumers and enabling them to reserve cannabis products from legal, reputable providers. With this transaction, we are looking forward to entering the next phase of our company’s journey – creating more personalized consumer experiences, driving more value to our retail partners, amplifying brands on our platform, and further scaling our presence in local markets as legalization continues. Our consumers recognize Leafly as one of the most trusted brands in cannabis, and we do not take that trust for granted. We are excited to partner with Merida’s deeply experienced team to create even more value for our consumers, partners and shareholders.”

Peter Lee, president of Merida Merger Corp. I, commented, “Merida Capital is very excited to be involved in this transformative event for Leafly. We have seen firsthand how consumers respond to Leafly’s innovative technology and proprietary insights. Leafly has a proven flywheel and clear and achievable growth plans, and we look forward to leveraging our team’s demonstrated track record with other high growth ancillary cannabis companies to support their transition to the public market.”

Leafly Investment Highlights

Merida believes the proposed transaction with Leafly presents an attractive investment opportunity for shareholders for a number of reasons, including:

Shoppers, retailers, and brands trust Leafly to make cannabis understandable and accessible:

  • Leafly has developed the most extensive content library in the cannabis market, attracting the largest audience in cannabis
  • The cannabis community relies on Leafly’s strain database (5,000+ strains), cannabis coverage (11,000+ articles), and user reviews (1.3MM+ reviews) to navigate the highly complex and evolving world of cannabis

Community-driven, three-sided marketplace with retailers, brands, and high-value shoppers:

  • Leafly’s audience of 10 million monthly unique visitors connects with over 4,600 licensed stores across North America
  • The company generates subscription and advertising revenue from licensed retailers and brands

A flexible platform that scales and sits at the center of the $19 billion rapidly growing legal cannabis market:

  • The cannabis market is large and expanding rapidly with states continuing to legalize as a result of broad support for legalization
  • Consumers use Leafly to learn about cannabis, the cannabis industry, and cannabis politics before their states legalize, giving Leafly a head start

As consumer ordering shifts online, Leafly helps consumers navigate a complicated industry:

  • Markets are evolving to the right supply/demand dynamics to enable the cannabis e-commerce market, a trend which was accelerated by COVID
  • Leafly garners consumer trust through its strong focus on compliance and by helping consumers navigate dynamic regulatory environments

Leafly is at an inflection point to accelerate growth and monetization:

  • Poised to accelerate retailer monetization with retailers seeing 14x Return on Ad Spend and in the early stages of monetizing the more than 7,800 brands on the Leafly platform
  • Projected revenue of approximately $43 million in 2021E and $65 million in 2022E, representing ~52% annual growth with gross margins of ~88% as Leafly further penetrates current markets and capitalizes on its strong position in the newly legalized East Coast

Key Transaction Terms

At closing, the combined company is expected to have an implied, fully diluted enterprise value of approximately $385 million and equity value of approximately $532 million, subject to any redemptions by Merida stockholders. Existing Leafly shareholders will roll 100% of their existing stake in Leafly and, upon closing, are expected to own approximately 72% of the combined company on a pro forma basis, assuming the company receives 100% of the proceeds currently held in trust.

The transaction is expected to generate proceeds of up to $161.5 million, subject to any redemptions by Merida stockholders. This follows and is inclusive of Leafly’s recent $31.5 million capital raise led by leading cannabis-focused investors, including Merida Capital Holdings, Delta Emerald Ventures, SOJE Capital, and Leafly’s existing shareholder base. The proceeds of the capital raise and transaction provide Leafly with substantial capital to enhance its advertising and platform technology, expand its marketplace, and execute customer acquisition initiatives.

The proposed transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Leafly and Merida, and is expected to close in the 4th quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

Additional information about the transaction, including a copy of the investor presentation that will be used by the parties to describe the transaction during the conference call discussed below, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Merida with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and available at www.sec.gov.

Advisors

Oppenheimer & Co. served as exclusive financial advisor to Leafly, while Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP served as Leafly’s legal advisor. EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. served as financial advisor to Merida. Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC, JMP Securities, LLC, and The Benchmark Company, LLC are serving as capital markets advisors to Merida. Graubard Miller acted as Merida’s legal advisor.

Leafly to Go Public Through Business Combination with Merida Merger Corp. I

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BOCA RATON, Florida, August 5, 2021—PRESS RELEASE–Jushi Holdings Inc., a vertically integrated, multi-state cannabis operator, announced a series of upcoming launches of branded cannabis products in the Commonwealth of Virginia, beginning with the debut of its brand, The Lab, in the form of .5g and .3g vaporizable cartridges. The company is expected to launch the brand, Tasteology, beginning with its chewables line in the coming weeks. With Virginia set to start flower sales in late Q3 or early Q4, Jushi also plans to launch two of its flower brands, The Bank and Sèche, to help meet growing patient demands. Jushi’s brands will be available for purchase at BEYOND / HELLO Manassas, additional BEYOND / HELLO locations once opened, as well as at partner dispensaries across Virginia.

“In December 2020, we completed the initial build-out of the vertically integrated facility operated by Dalitso LLC, our 100% owned pharmaceutical processor permit holder, and officially began serving patients in-store at our BEYOND / HELLO Manassas dispensary, the first of six BEYOND / HELLO locations to be opened in Virginia,” said Jim Cacioppo, Jushi chief executive officer, chairman and founder.

“After completing the initial build-out of the facility, our focus shifted to cultivation, manufacturing and processing to improve product availability and diversity of products for medical cannabis patients in Virginia,” Cacioppo added. “As we begin to roll out our full suite of products and brands in the commonwealth, we mark the moment when Virginia—’the sleeping giant’ of cannabis markets—has awoken.”

Vapes & Concentrates: The Lab

Famous for high-quality, precision vaporization products, Jushi’s award-winning brand, The Lab, brings a wide selection of vaporization cartridges and disposables to Virginia, and will be available for purchase at BEYOND / HELLO Manassas, partner dispensaries across Virginia and at additional BEYOND / HELLO locations once opened. Through cutting-edge technology and equipment, The Lab continues to lead the way in bringing the unique experience of flower to new, modern mediums. The Lab is also available at dispensaries across Nevada and Pennsylvania, including Pennsylvania’s BEYOND / HELLO locations.

Chewables: Tasteology

Pending imminent Virginia Board of Pharmacy (“BOP”) approval, Jushi is expected to launch Tasteology, a brand of premium, real fruit, cannabis-infused chewables, in the coming weeks. Tasteology will be available at BEYOND / HELLO Manassas, partner dispensaries across Virginia, as well as at additional BEYOND / HELLO locations once opened. Jushi has refined Tasteology products for years based on extensive patient and clinical feedback in states where Jushi holds a license and where chewables are an approved administration form. The unique combination of flavor, texture, and effect of Tasteology products makes them especially well-suited to several patient populations. These products will be available in Blueberry Calm, Balanced Peach and Mango-Pineapple Boost varieties. Today, Tasteology products can be purchased at partner dispensaries across Nevada and are also expected to launch at additional BEYOND / HELLO locations once opened.

Premium Flower: The Bank

Later this fall, pending BOP approval, Jushi will bring The Bank — the company’s award-winning flower brand known for its superior plant genetics—to Virginia. The brand has been entirely reimagined and designed and offers pre-packaged flower comprised of three-tiered lines: Gold Standard, Cache and Vault. The Bank is currently available at dispensaries across Nevada and Pennsylvania, including Pennsylvania’s BEYOND / HELLO locations.

Fine Grind, Fine Flower and Single Pre-Rolls: Sèche

Later this fall, pending BOP approval, Sèche brings fine grind, fine flower and singles pre-rolls to patients and is expected to launch in Virginia. Currently, Sèche is available at dispensaries across Nevada and Pennsylvania, including at Pennsylvania’s BEYOND / HELLO locations.

Medicinal: Nira + Medicinals

Pending BOP approval, Nira + Medicinals (“Nira +”) is expected to launch in Virginia later this year at BEYOND / HELLO Manassas, partner dispensaries across Virginia, as well as at additional BEYOND / HELLO™locations once opened, bringing high-quality, THC and CBD-rich medical products to patients. With deep roots in science and medicine, Nira + is the evolution of Jushi’s original Nira CBD line, formulated by Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, director of the DENT Cannabis Clinic and Neuroscience Research Center at the DENT Neurologic Institute located in Buffalo, New York. Nira +’s entire product suite includes tinctures, capsules, soft gels and topicals, and is currently available at dispensaries across Nevada and Pennsylvania, including at Pennsylvania’s BEYOND / HELLO locations.

Cherokee Land in Western NC Legalizes Medical Cannabis

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BOCA RATON, Florida, August 5, 2021—PRESS RELEASE–Jushi Holdings Inc., a vertically integrated, multi-state cannabis operator, announced a series of upcoming launches of branded cannabis products in the Commonwealth of Virginia, beginning with the debut of its brand, The Lab, in the form of .5g and .3g vaporizable cartridges. The company is expected to launch the brand, Tasteology, beginning with its chewables line in the coming weeks. With Virginia set to start flower sales in late Q3 or early Q4, Jushi also plans to launch two of its flower brands, The Bank and Sèche, to help meet growing patient demands. Jushi’s brands will be available for purchase at BEYOND / HELLO Manassas, additional BEYOND / HELLO locations once opened, as well as at partner dispensaries across Virginia.

“In December 2020, we completed the initial build-out of the vertically integrated facility operated by Dalitso LLC, our 100% owned pharmaceutical processor permit holder, and officially began serving patients in-store at our BEYOND / HELLO Manassas dispensary, the first of six BEYOND / HELLO locations to be opened in Virginia,” said Jim Cacioppo, Jushi chief executive officer, chairman and founder.

“After completing the initial build-out of the facility, our focus shifted to cultivation, manufacturing and processing to improve product availability and diversity of products for medical cannabis patients in Virginia,” Cacioppo added. “As we begin to roll out our full suite of products and brands in the commonwealth, we mark the moment when Virginia—’the sleeping giant’ of cannabis markets—has awoken.”

Vapes & Concentrates: The Lab

Famous for high-quality, precision vaporization products, Jushi’s award-winning brand, The Lab, brings a wide selection of vaporization cartridges and disposables to Virginia, and will be available for purchase at BEYOND / HELLO Manassas, partner dispensaries across Virginia and at additional BEYOND / HELLO locations once opened. Through cutting-edge technology and equipment, The Lab continues to lead the way in bringing the unique experience of flower to new, modern mediums. The Lab is also available at dispensaries across Nevada and Pennsylvania, including Pennsylvania’s BEYOND / HELLO locations.

Chewables: Tasteology

Pending imminent Virginia Board of Pharmacy (“BOP”) approval, Jushi is expected to launch Tasteology, a brand of premium, real fruit, cannabis-infused chewables, in the coming weeks. Tasteology will be available at BEYOND / HELLO Manassas, partner dispensaries across Virginia, as well as at additional BEYOND / HELLO locations once opened. Jushi has refined Tasteology products for years based on extensive patient and clinical feedback in states where Jushi holds a license and where chewables are an approved administration form. The unique combination of flavor, texture, and effect of Tasteology products makes them especially well-suited to several patient populations. These products will be available in Blueberry Calm, Balanced Peach and Mango-Pineapple Boost varieties. Today, Tasteology products can be purchased at partner dispensaries across Nevada and are also expected to launch at additional BEYOND / HELLO locations once opened.

Premium Flower: The Bank

Later this fall, pending BOP approval, Jushi will bring The Bank — the company’s award-winning flower brand known for its superior plant genetics—to Virginia. The brand has been entirely reimagined and designed and offers pre-packaged flower comprised of three-tiered lines: Gold Standard, Cache and Vault. The Bank is currently available at dispensaries across Nevada and Pennsylvania, including Pennsylvania’s BEYOND / HELLO locations.

Fine Grind, Fine Flower and Single Pre-Rolls: Sèche

Later this fall, pending BOP approval, Sèche brings fine grind, fine flower and singles pre-rolls to patients and is expected to launch in Virginia. Currently, Sèche is available at dispensaries across Nevada and Pennsylvania, including at Pennsylvania’s BEYOND / HELLO locations.

Medicinal: Nira + Medicinals

Pending BOP approval, Nira + Medicinals (“Nira +”) is expected to launch in Virginia later this year at BEYOND / HELLO Manassas, partner dispensaries across Virginia, as well as at additional BEYOND / HELLO™locations once opened, bringing high-quality, THC and CBD-rich medical products to patients. With deep roots in science and medicine, Nira + is the evolution of Jushi’s original Nira CBD line, formulated by Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, director of the DENT Cannabis Clinic and Neuroscience Research Center at the DENT Neurologic Institute located in Buffalo, New York. Nira +’s entire product suite includes tinctures, capsules, soft gels and topicals, and is currently available at dispensaries across Nevada and Pennsylvania, including at Pennsylvania’s BEYOND / HELLO locations.

New Mexico’s Cannabis Control Division Names Members of Advisory Committee

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There is one cannabis question that is regularly searched across a variety of Internet platforms: How many states have legalized adult recreational use of cannabis as of today? As a cannabis law professor and a legal analyst for emerging cannabis businesses, I often am asked that very question. My response is always the same, no matter the date or the year: “It depends on how legalization is defined.”

State-based cannabis legalization can happen in two ways.

One way is evidenced by those states which permit voters to place topics on the ballot for a vote. The other way is through the legislature, when a state’s assembly writes and passes legalization legislation which is ultimately signed off by that state’s chief executive.

When defined like that, Connecticut became the 19th U.S. state to legalize adult recreational use when, on June 22, 2021, Connecticut governor Ned Lamont signed into law a bill passed by the Connecticut legislature.

This does not mean, however, that Connecticut’s already existing medical cannabis program morphed or expanded into an adult recreational system overnight. Rather, by the terms of the 184 pages of legislative analysis for the law entitled “AN ACT CONCERNING RESPONSIBLE AND EQUITABLE REGULATION OF ADULT-USE CANNABIS,” as of July 1, 2021, possession of small amounts of cannabis would be decriminalized. Also placed in motion, and announced by Connecticut’s administration, regulated adult recreational sales by dispensaries would begin the following year. Connecticut’s new law also has social justice and equity components to include an automatic expungement of drug conviction provision which will commence in the near future.

Six weeks before Connecticut, New Mexico legalized adult recreational use on April 12, when New Mexico’s governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law previously passed recreational legislation. New Mexico’s legislation authorized adult-use retail sales to begin no later than April 1, 2022.

New Mexico’s recreational cannabis legalization occurred five days after Virginia’s successful adoption of adult recreational legalization legislation. Under a law specific to Virginia, when the Virginia legislature adopted their governor’s revisions to their previously passed adult recreational cannabis legislation on April 7, the state effectively “legalized” adult recreational cannabis. Virginia’s governor’s revisions to the legislation also advanced the date when adult-use would begin in the state from January 2024 to July 2021.

Virginia’s legalization was preceded by New York (adult-use state number 16) which legalized on March 31, 2021, when New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation (submitted to him by the New York legislature) legalizing adult recreational use.

The South Dakota Issue

But these numbers will fall like dominos and change with those passed this year each reverting back one number depending on what happens in the highest court of South Dakota. That state was one of five that had cannabis initiatives on the ballot in the November 2020 election (the others were Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, and New Jersey).

Every cannabis ballot measure in those states prevailed with gusto. Voters overwhelmingly supported legalizing adult recreational usage in Arizona, New Jersey, and Montana; medical cannabis usage in Mississippi; and both medical and adult recreational use in South Dakota.

But, once the voters made their wishes known, in two of the states, South Dakota and Mississippi, there was a backlash by government officials and the courts.

Some of South Dakota’s elected representatives (including that state’s governor) started a campaign to undermine the will of the voters and invalidate both the medical and adult recreational initiatives passed by a significant majority of South Dakota’s voters. The same thing played out in Mississippi where government officials challenged, in court, the enactment and enforcement of that state’s voters’ legalization plans.

Initially, South Dakota’s governor attempted to block the implementation of the medical program, Measure 26, approved by two-thirds of South Dakota voters. Gov. Kristi Noem issued a statement against cannabis legalization of either sort in South Dakota, asserting that legalization was “the wrong choice” for South Dakota.

But given factors like the brevity of South Dakota’s legislative session, the medical cannabis initiative stuck, and it looks as if medical cannabis in South Dakota will make its debut by year’s end. However, South Dakota officials were more successful in halting adult recreational use.

On February 8, 2021, a South Dakota state court judge ruled against the voters and invalidated South Dakota voters’ passage of an adult recreational cannabis ballot initiative. Recreational legalization proponents appealed the decision to the South Dakota Supreme Court. The highest state court in South Dakota heard oral arguments (for and against) on April 28, 2021.

The parties’ presentations and the justices’ commentary did not give a clear indication of what the high court decision will be. As of publication time, it is not clear how the South Dakota justices will decide.

So, how many states have legalized adult-use cannabis?

Adult Recreational Cannabis Order-of Legalization* in the U.S.

  1. Colorado (2012)
  2. Washington (2012)
  3. Alaska (2014)
  4. Oregon (2014)
  5. California (2016)
  6. Maine (2016)
  7. Massachusetts (2016)
  8. Nevada (2016)
  9. Vermont (2018)
  10. Michigan (2018)
  11. Illinois (2019)
  12. New Jersey (2020)
  13. Montana (2020)
  14. Arizona (2020)
  15. South Dakota (2020)
  16. New York (March 31, 2021)
  17. Virginia (April 7, 2021)
  18. New Mexico (April 12, 2021)
  19. Connecticut (June 22, 2021)

*Note: Legalization is defined here as happening the day the voters succeed with a majority of votes on an adult recreational legalization ballot initiative, or the day the legislation passes in a state’s legislature or assembly and/or is signed by or adopted (if the time has expired for an executive veto) by a state’s governor. This list of states includes South Dakota, where the issue of adult legalization is being litigated and a decision is expected soon by the South Dakota Supreme Court.

Under the definition of legalization in this article, since South Dakota’s adult recreational program is on appeal but voters in South Dakota approved the initiative, it is more than appropriate that South Dakota remains (precariously) on our voters-have-legalized-adult-rec list.

The “how many states have legalized adult recreational use” question will be decided by the five justices who comprise the South Dakota Supreme Court. It is expected to happen soon as their summer break ends with the beginning of the South Dakota Supreme Court’s September term. If that court tosses the recreational use legalization measure, and South Dakota comes off the adult recreational legalization list, Connecticut will no longer be the 19th adult-use state, it will become the 18th. New Mexico then would follow suit and revert to number 17, Virginia to number 16, and New York to number 15.

To paraphrase British-born poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, much of the answer to how we should count the number of legalized adult recreational cannabis states depends on the ways in which legalization is defined and what the state courts have to say about the voters’ wishes.

For now, our count is paused.

Julie A. Werner-Simon is a law professor adjunct at Drexel University’s Kline School of Law and an emerging business legal analyst at the LeBow School of Business.

Ballot Initiatives Won and Lost: Week in Review

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There is one cannabis question that is regularly searched across a variety of Internet platforms: How many states have legalized adult recreational use of cannabis as of today? As a cannabis law professor and a legal analyst for emerging cannabis businesses, I often am asked that very question. My response is always the same, no matter the date or the year: “It depends on how legalization is defined.”

State-based cannabis legalization can happen in two ways.

One way is evidenced by those states which permit voters to place topics on the ballot for a vote. The other way is through the legislature, when a state’s assembly writes and passes legalization legislation which is ultimately signed off by that state’s chief executive.

When defined like that, Connecticut became the 19th U.S. state to legalize adult recreational use when, on June 22, 2021, Connecticut governor Ned Lamont signed into law a bill passed by the Connecticut legislature.

This does not mean, however, that Connecticut’s already existing medical cannabis program morphed or expanded into an adult recreational system overnight. Rather, by the terms of the 184 pages of legislative analysis for the law entitled “AN ACT CONCERNING RESPONSIBLE AND EQUITABLE REGULATION OF ADULT-USE CANNABIS,” as of July 1, 2021, possession of small amounts of cannabis would be decriminalized. Also placed in motion, and announced by Connecticut’s administration, regulated adult recreational sales by dispensaries would begin the following year. Connecticut’s new law also has social justice and equity components to include an automatic expungement of drug conviction provision which will commence in the near future.

Six weeks before Connecticut, New Mexico legalized adult recreational use on April 12, when New Mexico’s governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law previously passed recreational legislation. New Mexico’s legislation authorized adult-use retail sales to begin no later than April 1, 2022.

New Mexico’s recreational cannabis legalization occurred five days after Virginia’s successful adoption of adult recreational legalization legislation. Under a law specific to Virginia, when the Virginia legislature adopted their governor’s revisions to their previously passed adult recreational cannabis legislation on April 7, the state effectively “legalized” adult recreational cannabis. Virginia’s governor’s revisions to the legislation also advanced the date when adult-use would begin in the state from January 2024 to July 2021.

Virginia’s legalization was preceded by New York (adult-use state number 16) which legalized on March 31, 2021, when New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation (submitted to him by the New York legislature) legalizing adult recreational use.

The South Dakota Issue

But these numbers will fall like dominos and change with those passed this year each reverting back one number depending on what happens in the highest court of South Dakota. That state was one of five that had cannabis initiatives on the ballot in the November 2020 election (the others were Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, and New Jersey).

Every cannabis ballot measure in those states prevailed with gusto. Voters overwhelmingly supported legalizing adult recreational usage in Arizona, New Jersey, and Montana; medical cannabis usage in Mississippi; and both medical and adult recreational use in South Dakota.

But, once the voters made their wishes known, in two of the states, South Dakota and Mississippi, there was a backlash by government officials and the courts.

Some of South Dakota’s elected representatives (including that state’s governor) started a campaign to undermine the will of the voters and invalidate both the medical and adult recreational initiatives passed by a significant majority of South Dakota’s voters. The same thing played out in Mississippi where government officials challenged, in court, the enactment and enforcement of that state’s voters’ legalization plans.

Initially, South Dakota’s governor attempted to block the implementation of the medical program, Measure 26, approved by two-thirds of South Dakota voters. Gov. Kristi Noem issued a statement against cannabis legalization of either sort in South Dakota, asserting that legalization was “the wrong choice” for South Dakota.

But given factors like the brevity of South Dakota’s legislative session, the medical cannabis initiative stuck, and it looks as if medical cannabis in South Dakota will make its debut by year’s end. However, South Dakota officials were more successful in halting adult recreational use.

On February 8, 2021, a South Dakota state court judge ruled against the voters and invalidated South Dakota voters’ passage of an adult recreational cannabis ballot initiative. Recreational legalization proponents appealed the decision to the South Dakota Supreme Court. The highest state court in South Dakota heard oral arguments (for and against) on April 28, 2021.

The parties’ presentations and the justices’ commentary did not give a clear indication of what the high court decision will be. As of publication time, it is not clear how the South Dakota justices will decide.

So, how many states have legalized adult-use cannabis?

Adult Recreational Cannabis Order-of Legalization* in the U.S.

  1. Colorado (2012)
  2. Washington (2012)
  3. Alaska (2014)
  4. Oregon (2014)
  5. California (2016)
  6. Maine (2016)
  7. Massachusetts (2016)
  8. Nevada (2016)
  9. Vermont (2018)
  10. Michigan (2018)
  11. Illinois (2019)
  12. New Jersey (2020)
  13. Montana (2020)
  14. Arizona (2020)
  15. South Dakota (2020)
  16. New York (March 31, 2021)
  17. Virginia (April 7, 2021)
  18. New Mexico (April 12, 2021)
  19. Connecticut (June 22, 2021)

*Note: Legalization is defined here as happening the day the voters succeed with a majority of votes on an adult recreational legalization ballot initiative, or the day the legislation passes in a state’s legislature or assembly and/or is signed by or adopted (if the time has expired for an executive veto) by a state’s governor. This list of states includes South Dakota, where the issue of adult legalization is being litigated and a decision is expected soon by the South Dakota Supreme Court.

Under the definition of legalization in this article, since South Dakota’s adult recreational program is on appeal but voters in South Dakota approved the initiative, it is more than appropriate that South Dakota remains (precariously) on our voters-have-legalized-adult-rec list.

The “how many states have legalized adult recreational use” question will be decided by the five justices who comprise the South Dakota Supreme Court. It is expected to happen soon as their summer break ends with the beginning of the South Dakota Supreme Court’s September term. If that court tosses the recreational use legalization measure, and South Dakota comes off the adult recreational legalization list, Connecticut will no longer be the 19th adult-use state, it will become the 18th. New Mexico then would follow suit and revert to number 17, Virginia to number 16, and New York to number 15.

To paraphrase British-born poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, much of the answer to how we should count the number of legalized adult recreational cannabis states depends on the ways in which legalization is defined and what the state courts have to say about the voters’ wishes.

For now, our count is paused.

Julie A. Werner-Simon is a law professor adjunct at Drexel University’s Kline School of Law and an emerging business legal analyst at the LeBow School of Business.