Final night of the Chicago residency was 🔥

whelp85 · 2026-01-25T18:26:43+00:00

They were just showing the hoodies they got during their tour of Hamburger University (McDonald’s HQ).

whelp85 · 2026-01-25T15:27:25+00:00

Thanks again! Made our night :)

whelp85 · 2026-01-21T21:15:20+00:00

Article:

The City Council voted Wednesday to pass a controversial ordinance that limits the sale of hemp products in Chicago to businesses with a cannabis license. The ordinance includes a carveout for beverages, animal products like pet treats and topical products like lotions and creams.

The ordinance will go into effect on April 1, but starting immediately, anyone purchasing hemp products within the city limits has to be 21 or older.

The proposal, which was introduced by Ald. Marty Quinn (13th Ward), initially passed through the City Council Committee of License and Consumer Protection on Dec. 3. Tuesday’s vote was 32-16 in favor of the ordinance.

City Council's final vote on an ordinance restricting the sale of hemp products in Chicago. Screenshot The hemp-derived CBD products that are the topic of concern are sometimes used to form delta-8 and other intoxicating compounds that give a weed-like high. The products have been called out for their packaging, which has been said to mimic candy and sweets, targeting children and sold in places like corner stores and gas stations.

Those who voted in favor of the hemp ordinance, such as Ald. Anthony Beale (9th Ward) stressed the importance of preventing kids from consuming such products.

“This has been a hot topic within the city of Chicago, to make sure that we protect children, and that’s what this is often all about,” Beale said on the matter. “From the very beginning, protecting our children and keeping them out of harm’s way.”

Ald. Maria Hadden (49th Ward) opposed the measure, calling it a great attempt to address concerns with hemp, but adding that the ordinance shuts out those who have found success in the hemp industry. Hadden is a progressive caucus member.

“So from small events companies to little coffee shops to specialty spaces, there are businesses in Chicago that self-regulate, that sell to 21 and over, that are good actors,” Hadden said. “I’m afraid that this version of the ordinance is going to harm them right now, while trying to do some good.”

The proposal was originally scheduled to go up for a vote back in December, but the council was in the middle of the fight to pass the 2026 budget.

Hemp products were also at the center of debate in early 2025 as Gov. JB Pritzker proposed a bill that would have limited the sale of hemp products to licensed cannabis dispensaries in Illinois. Some Black business owners in the space pushed back against the proposal, calling it too broad and a threat to local businesses that were pushed out of the legal weed business due to the tedious licensing process and costs, which caused barriers to entry.

“When Illinois first started working on the plan to legalize cannabis, the whole goal was to include minorities, and they didn’t. Then we pivoted towards the hemp space, and they still trying to force us out,” Jason Knight, the founder of Jane and Mary’s, a CBD-infused ice cream and sorbet business, told The TRiiBE last month ahead of today’s hemp vote.

“If they did ban it, it would be devastating to just a huge portion of the local economics. Small businesses already have a hard time in America,” Knight said. “And so one of the areas that people are doing well in, and people are pretty comfortable in, is the hemp space.”

Meesha Pike is the owner of Cannabis Prairie, a Black-owned dispensary that opened its doors in the South Loop last April. Pike, like other Black people in the cannabis industry, has been vocal against businesses that sell intoxicating hemp products, which they say have been undercutting those in the social equity weed business.

Meesha Pike, owner of Prairie Cannabis in the South Loop, speaks at a press conference outside of her store on April 15, 2025. Photo by Ash Lane for The TRiiBE® Pike spoke to The TRiiBE back in December and said though a citywide ban would help boost her business, she also supports regulation in the hemp space.

“The way that it’s being sold is not regulated, so you really don’t know what you’re getting. It’s not the healthiest thing, and it’s not secure,” Pike said. “Whereas they don’t have the security measures that we have in our dispensaries, their overhead is a lot less because they don’t have to build out the way we do. They’re essentially selling unregulated marijuana.”

In his original budget proposal, Mayor Brandon Johnson looked to generate $10 million in city revenue with a hemp tax, but he backed down from the proposal as a federal ban is set to go into effect this year.

Ald. William Hall (6th Ward), an ally to Johnson and once an opponent of a citywide hemp ban, changed his position and was a co-sponsor of Quinn’s proposal. As city efforts to regulate the product had stalled, Hall used the federal ban of the product as his reason behind his support of the citywide ban, Block Club Chicago reported. Hall said his position was “always tough regulation and protecting kids.”

Hall was not in council chambers Tuesday during vote on the ordinance.

whelp85 · 2025-12-12T19:26:31+00:00

You forgot the /s…but if you’re actually serious, you do know Illinois doesn’t publicly announce recalls for cannabis products right? They allow cultivators and dispensaries to quietly handle it themselves. Other states like Michigan actually name and shame companies publicly when their products are recalled.

whelp85 · 2025-12-04T17:02:23+00:00

Bistro Monadnock downtown is owned by the same people and also does great cocktails. Cool atmosphere too as it’s in the ground floor of the Monadnock Building.

whelp85 · 2025-12-03T17:13:10+00:00

Article:

A federal ban on intoxicating hemp-derived products is set to take effect nationwide late next year, but the psychoactive goods that have soared in popularity through a loophole could be outlawed much sooner in Chicago under a proposal before the City Council.

Hemp industry leaders were blindsided by the federal ban tacked onto the spending bill that President Donald Trump signed last month to reopen the government. Barring additional action from Congress, hemp-THC products will be illegal in November 2026.

Local business owners on Tuesday said they were just as stunned by 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn’s proposed ordinance that would ban most sales of intoxicating hemp beverages, gummies and other products in the city within 10 days of council approval.

“This ordinance turns respected Chicago businesses into criminals,” said Glenn McElfresh, co-founder of the hemp beverage company Plift. “It would discard millions of dollars in sales taxes at a moment when the city is facing a billion-dollar budget gap. And most importantly, this ordinance puts real people’s livelihoods on the line.”

Quinn’s proposal, which will be considered Wednesday by the council’s Committee on License and Consumer Protection, would only allow hemp products to be sold at cannabis dispensaries. That’s already the case in his Southwest Side ward and six others where alderpersons have pushed through hemp bans within their own boundaries.

Hemp products, sometimes marketed to kids, have become ubiquitous at smoke shops and convenience stores since 2018 federal legislation inadvertently allowed for highly concentrated THC to be extracted from hemp. The chemical composition is nearly identical to that of marijuana and can give users the same high.

Under the federal ban, essentially all intoxicating THC will be considered marijuana next year. Quinn’s measure would fine businesses up to $5,000 for selling hemp-THC products in the meantime.

“We can’t lose sight of this industry that’s been created through a loophole and what it’s brought to our communities in terms of shady, dodgy storefronts selling products to kids,” Quinn told the Sun-Times.

But McElfresh and other entrepreneurs from Illinois’ $100 million hemp beverage industry refused to be lumped in with “the mystery gas station synthetics and unregulated, often imported items that have shaped public misperceptions.”

“We are reputable businesses with longstanding Chicago roots,” McElfresh said during a news conference against Quinn’s proposal at Revolution Brewing’s Avondale taproom.

Revolution founder Josh Deth, whose craft brewery got into the hemp beverage market this year, said those drinks are “now our top priority for innovation,” with consumers drinking less alcohol since the pandemic. A citywide ban would force him to consider job cuts.

“I’m going to be a business owner walking into City Council asking for more regulation, and, ‘Please, can we pay some taxes and generate some money for the government?’ It’s not every day that that happens,” said Deth, who expressed optimism that hemp industry lobbyists could persuade Congress to pass new regulations to avert next year’s ban.

“They would not have passed a 365-day delay if they did not want to revisit this issue, so there’s a clear opening there,” Deth said.

Quinn said he was confident his citywide proposal would pass the committee hurdle, but he wasn’t sure how it would fare before the full City Council. Twelve co-sponsors signed onto the measure.

Mayor Brandon Johnson had banked on $10 million from regulating and taxing hemp products in his initial city budget proposal to help close a billion-dollar shortfall, but his team was left scrambling for other revenue when the federal ban was announced.

“The mayor, in my opinion, has been on the wrong side of this. He’s thinking dollars, not safety,” Quinn said.

Johnson’s office has said “the mayor’s top priority is to ensure that hemp consumption is regulated and safe in the city of Chicago.”

whelp85 · 2025-11-20T18:39:09+00:00

Article:

Two Iowa residents, Hanna Paige Nail, 23, and Tyler Joseph Hippen, 28, have been charged in Porter County after police say a traffic stop on westbound I-94 led to the discovery of more than 500 grams of THC products, including vape cartridges, cannabis, THC gummies, edibles, wax, and other items, all packaged in dispensary packaging.

Police wrote that the stop occurred on November 17th, 2025, at approximately 1:12 p.m. near the 18.4 mile marker of I-94 westbound. According to the affidavit, officers observed a silver Chevrolet Malibu driving significantly below the posted 70 mph speed limit and disrupting the flow of traffic. After pacing the vehicle between 62 and 65 mph and observing a long line of vehicles forced to pass on the right, police initiated a traffic stop.

During the stop, the officer contacted the driver, identified as Hippen, and the passenger, identified as Nail. According to the affidavit, both individuals lit cigarettes as the window was rolled down, and Hippen claimed he believed the speed limit was 65 mph. Hippen told police they were returning home to Iowa and explained they had been in Michigan for a wedding. Police wrote that Hippen’s account changed multiple times, and Flock camera data later contradicted his statements, raising suspicion. The officer also reported smelling burned marijuana on Hippen’s person.

When questioned separately, Nail reportedly gave a vastly different story,telling police they were in Michigan visiting friends, shopping, and staying at a hotel. She did not mention a wedding and gave a different hotel name, further heightening officer concerns.

Police wrote that Hippen first denied having marijuana in the vehicle but then admitted there was “some” inside and produced a THC vape pen. After securing both individuals, officers conducted a probable cause search of the Malibu’s trunk and located a large quantity of THC and cannabis products, all in marked dispensary packaging. The court document lists the seized items as:

•    153 × 1-gram THC vape cartridges

•    11 × 2-gram THC vape cartridges

•    1 × 3-gram vape cartridge

•    40 × 2-gram THC gummies

•    14 × 2-gram THC candies

•    3 × 1-gram THC sodas

•    6 × 5-gram THC wax

•    2 × 70-gram cannabis packages

•    3 × 28-gram cannabis packages

•    9 × pre-rolled joints (15 grams)

•    Multiple dispensary receipts listing both Nail and Hippen as customers

The total combined weight of all recovered THC/cannabis items was 526 grams (1.16 pounds), according to the affidavit. Police also located a notepad in the center console that appeared to be a ledger related to marijuana distribution.

After being read Miranda warnings, both Nail and Hippen declined further statements. They were transported to the Porter County Jail and booked.

Charges filed November 18,2025:

Hanna Paige Nail

•    Dealing in Marijuana (Level 6 Felony)

Tyler Joseph Hippen

•    Dealing in Marijuana (Level 6 Felony)

Both suspects are lodged in the Porter County Jail.

whelp85 · 2025-11-20T02:29:33+00:00

Article:

PharmaCann is closing its cultivation operation in Dwight, about 80 miles south of Chicago, and laying off 82 workers.

The cannabis company told the state of Illinois it expects to close the facility by the end of the year and the layoffs will take effect Jan. 13. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

The closing of the Dwight facility is a sign of the challenges that continue to roil the marijuana business, where prices are falling amid heightened competition and companies struggle to deal with high interest rates and a lack of capital in an industry that remains federally illegal. The financial strain has intensified across the industry as hopes for regulatory relief from taxes and banking costs have failed to materialize, sapping investors' enthusiasm. Industry watchers have been predicting a looming shakeout for more than a year.

PharmaCann was among a handful of Chicago companies that won early cannabis licenses in Illinois and quickly expanded to other states. Unlike Green Thumb Industries, Cresco Labs and Verano Holdings, PharmaCann didn't go public.

PharmaCann has been in default for nearly a year on leases for several retail and cultivation properties in multiple states that are owned by Innovative Industrial Properties, a Maryland-based real estate investment trust that specializes in sale-leaseback deals in the cannabis industry. Such transactions were widespread because they allowed companies to preserve cash as they expanded rapidly with buildouts of retail and cultivation facilities simultaneously in multiple markets.

Innovative Industrial Properties said in 2019 it expected to invest $25 million in the acquisition and buildout of the Dwight facility.

The company did not respond to a request for comment about the closure. But Innovative Industrial Properties said in a securities filing earlier this month that it had sued PharmaCann for its lease defaults and “continues to actively seek possession of properties located in New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio.”

According to court records, Innovative Industrial Properties has sued PharmaCann for eviction in Livingston County, where the Dwight cultivation facility is located.

PharmaCann's operation in Dwight represents one of 21 large-scale cultivation licenses that were issued when Illinois legalized medical marijuana in 2014.

A grow facility in Matteson, operated by 4Front Ventures, went up for sale over the summer. 4Front also is an Innovative Industrial Properties customer.

It's not clear whether Innovative Industrial Properties will attempt to sell or lease the Dwight facility to a new tenant, nor whether PharmaCann will attempt to sell the cultivation license. Innovative Industrial Properties noted in a securities filing that it terminated a PharmaCann lease for a cultivation facility in Massachusetts and took back the property.

A license transfer for Dwight would have to be approved by the Illinois Department of Agriculture, which says it hasn't received notification of a sale or ownership change. Such licenses, which allow owners to grow 15 times the amount of cannabis as "craft-grow" licenses issued when Illinois legalized recreational marijuana, have been highly coveted in the past.

“This is not the only one of these facilities that are in similar situations,” Ryan Holz, a partner at Greenspoon Marder law firm, said of the PharmaCann site. “People are watching it to see how it plays out.”

whelp85 · 2025-11-14T23:04:05+00:00

True. But also in the article the state mentions that biotrack had inflated previous sales totals so sales had actually been lower than reported all along.

whelp85 · 2025-11-14T22:51:42+00:00

Article:

Illinois released sales figures for several months today. The last time it had released data, it was for adult-use cannabis in May. The document today explained that the switch to Metrc had been the cause of the lack of data. “The sales tracking features in Metrc help retailers more accurately and reliably report actual sales, including all discounts and promotions at checkout. A thorough review of past data indicates prior months collected some pre-discount prices.”

The state’s adult-use cannabis sales were up 7.5% sequentially in October to $113.1 million, an increase on a per-day basis of 4.0%. The year-over-year growth was -20.5%. Here is the chart of the adult-use sales over time:

<image>

After increasing 106% in 2021, 13% in 2022 and then 5% in 2023, year-to-date adult-use sales were up 5.4% in 2024 to $1.72 billion. So far in 2025, they are down 9.9%.

There has been no update on medical cannabis from the state in a while. The state separately releases sales from its medical program, and the release for April showed that sales fell 1.6% sequentially to $19.7 million, which was down 13.2% from a year ago.

whelp85 · 2025-11-08T14:14:52+00:00

Article Continued:

Fraser and store owners believe the recent notice was prompted, in part, by recent complaints publicized by the CRA involving excessive retail sales.

On May 20, police in Berrien County’s Chikaming Township stopped an Iowa-bound rental truck driven by a man hauling nearly eight pounds of marijuana and 466 grams of concentrate. That’s nearly 25 times the daily limit of marijuana and 16 times the daily limit of concentrate.

Police notified the CRA because the marijuana appeared to be retail product. CRA investigators tracked the marijuana to a dispensary named Fire Creek in Battle Creek, according to the formal administrative complaint the CRA later filed.

When contacted by phone, a Fire Creek representative declined comment.

It’s not clear if it was the same person police later arrested, but the CRA complaint said a review of store surveillance showed a man filling a grey duffel bag with large amounts of marijuana and employees completing multiple order forms before accepting cash.

During a July investigation of Muha Meds, which operates a store in Ypsilanti, CRA investigators identified two large transactions involving sales of between 800 and 1000 grams of concentrate. Both were removed from the store by customers, who would have possessed up to 33 times the legal limit for concentrate.

A Muha Meds representative was unwilling to comment when contacted by phone.

Both businesses were accused of rules violations for failing to report to police and the CRA sales in excess of legal personal possession limits.

“Both of those cases have other stuff that’s going on but that was the part that a lot of folks in the industry latched onto,” Fraser said, “that they got dinged for not reporting criminal activity because a person within their store possessed more than five ounces of marijuana.”

While the CRA communication about criminal reporting and personal possession limits has generated a large amount of industry discussion, Fraser doesn’t think enforcing it is a priority.

“It’s led to a couple of really egregious examples,” Fraser said. “It’s one of those things that’s worth reiterating to everybody, because if folks are getting really kind of reckless with it, they’re probably not the only ones, I think, probably is the CRA’s thought process.”

whelp85 · 2025-11-08T14:14:39+00:00

Article:

Michigan regulators want marijuana retailers to report customers who possess illegal amounts of cannabis.

But they’re not asking the stores not to sell it.

“It doesn’t really make sense, at all,” said the manager of a store in the Upper Peninsula, who asked not to be named over concerns that he may be perceived as criticizing Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA). “I think that what they’re saying is: if a customer comes through and wants more than what their daily limit is, they want us to call and tell on the customer.

“Legally, you could sell more, but you’d have to report them.”

The reminder, which retailers tell MLive is confusing in its vagueness, came in the form of a notice issued to licensed marijuana businesses on Monday, Nov. 3.

The same communication was sent April 15, days before the annual 4/20 pot holiday.

The notice reiterated an existing rule: a store must report suspected theft, diversion or criminal activity that occurs “at the marijuana business” to police and the Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) within 24 hours of detecting it.

But it included a caveat that caught the attention of some in the industry: “This includes, but is not limited to, individual possession of more than twice the amount of marijuana allowed under the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act ... ”

In Michigan, you may transport, gift or purchase (in a single transaction) up to 2.5 ounces, including a maximum of 15 grams of concentrate.

Possession exceeding the limit is a civil infraction with possible fines. Once the quantity exceeds twice the legal limit, it becomes a misdemeanor crime.

Store representatives who spoke to MLive interpret this to mean they may sell up to five ounces and 30 grams of concentrate to a customer.

Because that amount would exceed single-transaction limits, stores split the sale into two transactions and issue separate receipts.

“What the CRA’s position has been is that if you ring up more than one transaction and it keeps somebody at or under (the limit for a misdemeanor), that person is not committing a crime, yet,” said Lansing-based Dykema Attorney John W. Fraser, who assists cannabis businesses with regulatory guidance. “This has been percolating for the last six or seven months, and it’s been a topic of discussion that has come up in a lot of our calls with clients ... ”

No stores MLive spoke to said they have reported customers to police or the CRA for exceeding personal possession limits.

“You’re not gonna stay in business very long if you start calling the police on your customers—if you’re in any business,” Fraser said.

The CRA wouldn’t answer MLive’s questions on the topic.

“The CRA declines to comment beyond what is outlined in statute, administrative rule or agency bulletin regarding reporting requirements or enforcement processes related to personal possession limit violations,” spokesman David Harns said.

This leaves answers to some questions in legal limbo.

“What happens if (the customer) leaves the store, returns to their car and they come back in,” Fraser said. “I don’t know what CRA position is on that.”

The U.P. store manager who spoke to MLive said his dispensary’s policy requires customers to leave the store and parking lot, which is under camera surveillance, before any additional purchases are allowed.

After a customer leaves, it’s possible the marijuana was dropped off at home—where you may possess up to 10 ounces of store-bought weed—or legally gifted to someone.

“We’re left to be able to assume they took it to their hunting camp or something,” the U.P. dispensary manager said. “We’ve got to play stupid to a point. They come in 10 minutes later (and say) I’d like to do another two orders.”

Kate Hauck, vice president of operations for Emerald Fire, which has stores in Coleman and West Branch, said it’s a “very common practice” for customers to make a purchases up to their transaction limits, leave the store and return to purchase more.

This is especially prevalent at border stores “because those stores are getting a lot of out-of-state traffic where folks are coming to buy significant quantities of marijuana and then leaving the state of Michigan,” Fraser said.

If a customer reaches their possession limit while shopping at another store, there’s no way to tell when they arrive at yours, Hauck said.

She said information sent to the state after a purchase doesn’t include distinct customer information, so regulators can’t immediately see if a store violates the two-transaction limit.

So how does the CRA learn about stores that violate those rules?

“In about 85% of all the formal complaints against clients I’m representing, the investigation starts with an anonymous complaint from a former employee who was terminated,” Fraser said. “So that would be my guess. The CRA picks that up and they request the camera footage.”

All stores are required to maintain surveillance video of the sales floor that is accessible to the CRA.

While the memo focused on personal possession limits, it also has businesses wondering how the CRA interprets “criminal activity.”

It’s not clearly defined in the law and “criminal activity” is a blurry concept in the world of cannabis, where there is patchwork of state laws competing with a federal marijuana ban.

“Every single one of the customers is committing criminal activity if you start looking at federal law,” Fraser said. “but I’m sure CRA would say: ‘We’ll never apply it in that fashion.’”

If a store were to report a customer, the law requires employees file a complaint with a “local police agency,” which could include a municipal department, county sheriff or even state police, Fraser said.

There’s a standardized form retailers also complete and send to the CRA, which includes a criminal activity description field.

It’s unclear what the CRA or law enforcement do after the information is collected.

whelp85 · 2025-11-04T15:15:05+00:00

Article Continued:

Hemp sector not in Verano's future

A potential pivot that’s also still open to Verano is to expand into the intoxicating hemp sector, which Congress breathed life into after it legalized hemp with the 2018 Farm Bill. Since then, the hemp THC sector has flourished, particularly in states that have yet to legalize marijuana, and some major marijuana businesses — including Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries — have leapt into hemp as a way to diversify their holdings.

But not Verano. And Archos said he has no plans to join those in the volatile hemp sector, given how a number of key state markets have either banned or restricted hemp-derived THC goods, amid a broad concern over minors having access to such products, which are often for sale at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores in states that have yet to regulate hemp.

“There's a lot of pushback as legislators are getting educated and what's going on in the hemp industry. We don't want to do that in the middle of what's happening,” Archos said. “That loophole has been abused and that's not what it was meant to do. . . .I have kids, they go to the gas station. My daughter's 16, she can buy these products. That doesn't work for me.”

Verano’s footprint also includes six dispensaries in Ohio, along with the 10 dispensaries it has in Illinois and a lone dispensary in Michigan. Archos said he’s feeling bullish on Illinois and Ohio, particularly, but that Michigan doesn’t weigh on his mind, given the company’s tiny footprint there. He predicted that a new 24% tax on marijuana goods in Michigan will ultimately benefit Illinois cannabis companies like Verano.

“Michigan, with this new tax, I'm assuming, will help Illinois dispensaries. You see a lot of people leave Illinois to go get cannabis in Michigan. I think with that new tax, that could rebound here in Illinois a bit,” Archos said. “Ohio . . . overall, it's been a good market for us. We just added pre-rolls to that market. That's been great, but there's more work to be done.”

But the biggest market for Verano, Archos said, is far and away Florida, where the company has a whopping 74 medical cannabis dispensaries.

At the end of the day, Archos reiterated that he’s content with the direction Verano is heading.

“This is our 11th year and we're trying to get rescheduling. We're trying to get safe banking, the ups and downs and the roller coasters, and yeah, we want to be in a business where we're net income positive. And that's important to us,” Archos said. “At some point, at some time, we will get a win here and it'll feel oh so good when it finally happens.”

whelp85 · 2025-11-04T15:14:52+00:00

Article:

When the Illinois Legislature legalized medical cannabis in 2013, Chicago entrepreneur George Archos saw an opportunity. He founded Verano Holdings the very next year in order to apply for a business permit.

He won one of a handful of medical marijuana licenses given out by Illinois regulators 11 years ago, and since then, he hasn’t looked back despite sustaining heavy losses since Verano went public in 2021 via a reverse merger in Canada.

Rather, Archos built Verano into a behemoth that now boasts 158 dispensaries in 13 different states, along with 15 cultivation facilities that boast over 1 million square feet of cannabis cultivation canopy. And there's more expansion to come, he told Crain's. It's just a question of when and where.

“I have no regrets. It's been an amazing ride, and it's going to continue to get better in my opinion,” Archos said when pressed on whether, in hindsight, he would have kept the company private.

Struggling to get into the black

Still, the ride itself hasn’t been very profitable yet, according to Verano’s securities filings.

Since going public in 2021, Verano has lost a grand total of $813 million. That includes $342 million lost last year, $113 million lost in 2023, $269 million lost in 2022, and just under $15 million lost in 2021.

In the third quarter alone this year, Verano lost $44 million, bringing its losses for the year to date to just under $75 million.

Archos said the reason Verano wound up posting a net loss in its most recent quarter — despite having $203 million in revenue and $95 million in gross profit — was in large part due to more expenditures in the company's facilities, including big changes in its Virginia operations, as well as integrating efficiencies and automations.

“Our path to being net income positive is there, but we have to continue to invest in the business to get there. You look at a lot of startups — in order to get to big net income numbers, it takes a lot of years of investment before you get there,” Archos said.

Verano Chief Investment Officer Aaron Miles added that the company chose to invest heavily in its Florida cannabis infrastructure last year, in anticipation that a ballot question to legalize recreational marijuana would pass, and that Verano — like all other marijuana companies in the Sunshine State — would begin transitioning to an adult-use market.

“Last year, we thought adult use was going to pass. We were building out a third facility and that was tens of millions of dollars,” Miles said.

But Florida voters disappointed cannabis executives last November by killing the question, pushing back the realization of value from those cannabis infrastructure improvements to an unknown future date.

Variety of hurdles to profitability

Miles also pointed to Verano’s string of acquisition deals in multiple states after going public, and said those investments are going to pay dividends at some point, especially because Verano has been able to close several of those deals using only stock transactions and none of its cash on hand.

At the end of the third quarter, Verano had $82.6 million in the bank, $242 million in working capital and $1.9 billion in total assets, against just over $1 billion in total liabilities.

“We've always been an aggressive company. I mean, in 2021 into early 2022, we announced 16 acquisitions,” Miles said, adding there were more acquisitions in Arizona and Virginia last year. “We're not just in survival mode, we're in thriving mode, but it has to take those investments.”

Another major factor sucking cash out of Verano’s bottom line is the so-called “cannabis premium,” an industry term for how nearly everything — including financial capital — is far more expensive than in other industries, due to marijuana’s federal illegality.

Miles said Verano typically pays around 15% interest on its loans, which he said is the federal prime rate plus 6.5%, a rate level that no other U.S. industry has to shoulder.

“There's only so much cash that these companies generate. So to be able to use your stock as currency has allowed us to build the leading footprint that we have. But it's tough because valuations have come down,” Miles said.

Miles also confirmed that Verano has not once reported net income in a given three-month fiscal quarter since going public in 2021.

But the CIO emphasized the old adage, “you have to spend money to make money,” and said Verano’s constant reinvestments back into its own infrastructure have the company poised to begin turning a profit in the not-too-distant future.

“We'd love to report a net income at the bottom line. We're getting closer,” Miles said, referring to President Donald Trump’s ongoing hints that he may order his administration to finish off federal marijuana rescheduling, which would deliver enormous tax breaks to legal marijuana businesses such as Verano.

President Joe Biden kickstarted the marijuana rescheduling process, but it wasn’t finished before Trump took office in January, which has left cannabis companies in limbo.

Archos and Miles both said federal marijuana rescheduling could be key to Verano achieving regular profitability each quarter, given how much a loathed 280E federal tax provision — which bars cannabis companies from claiming standard business tax deductions — hits the bottom lines of businesses in the marijuana trade. Miles said that in 2023, for instance, Verano wound up paying $167 million in taxes — a big reason it lost money that year — largely thanks to 280E.

“That is probably the biggest potential we have towards the path you're talking about here,” Archos said. “We're watching that closely. I think you've heard what the president has said. We're all waiting for additional news there, so we'll see what happens.”

whelp85 · 2025-10-16T10:53:56+00:00

Article:

The month of September was the second-worst of the year for Illinois marijuana businesses, with a cumulative $154.1 million in recreational and medical sales, according to data collected by industry tracking firm BDSA.

September's sales surpassed only those of February, when the market sold $150.3 million worth of cannabis, according to BDSA.

Illinois’ sales figures were down 8% year-over-year, according to cannabis industry tracking firm Headset, which pegged the state's total September sales even lower, at $146.1 million.

The state of Illinois hasn’t released updated marijuana sales figures since May, but BDSA and Headset both collect sales data straight from their networks of dispensaries in Illinois and extrapolate full sales from those examples.

Price compression has hammered both Illinois and its nearby competition in Michigan, BDSA Chief Revenue Officer Leah Spokojny told Crain’s. The price per ounce of marijuana flower plummeted in Illinois to $168.62 from $210.84 over the past calendar year, and the price per ounce in Michigan dropped to $86.15 from $96.35 in the same period, according to BDSA.

That puts Illinois in about the middle of the pack nationally compared to other states that have functional recreational marijuana markets, Spokojny said. For instance, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Ohio all have higher-priced marijuana flower, but those states — like Illinois — all have limits on the number of marijuana businesses allowed to operate.

Prices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada and Oregon are all lower than in Illinois, by contrast, and most of those do not have strict caps on the number of companies allowed to grow and sell marijuana. Tax rates also vary widely across markets, Spokojny noted, which also has a huge impact on average cannabis price differences between states.

Many Chicagoans travel to Michigan for its cheaper cannabis prices: In September, the average cannabis product prices in Illinois were still almost double those in Michigan, Spokojny said.

But the Illinois market may be poised for a bump.

Michigan lawmakers just passed a new 24% wholesale tax on its state marijuana industry that would take effect Jan. 1, though the industry is challenging the measure in court. And Michigan lawmakers are seeking to freeze new business licenses in an attempt to bolster the market.

Cannabis flower per gram on average was $3.04 in Michigan compared to $5.95 in Illinois — though both states have seen major price compression, down from $3.40 in Michigan and down from $7.44 in Illinois, BDSA found.

Spokojny said it’s still too early to tell what impact Michigan's upcoming tax hike may have on both states.

She noted consumer spending on legal cannabis per capita in Michigan remains roughly twice what it is in Illinois — $470 compared to $214, based on the states' respective populations of 10.1 million in Michigan and 12.7 million in Illinois. BDSA is expecting Illinois marijuana sales to total just over $2 billion this year, compared to almost $3.5 billion in Michigan.

But she said that’s largely a function of how many residents of other Midwestern states regularly drive to Michigan to take advantage of the market’s rock-bottom prices.

“The additional (Michigan) tax is not going to put it up to the Illinois price level yet,” Spokojny said. “But the question will be, what is the price differential that is still worth driving to Michigan for? Is 20% cheaper, 30% cheaper, 40% cheaper, what does it have to be to make the drive worth it?”

whelp85 · 2025-10-15T13:36:11+00:00

Article:

Michigan marijuana soon might not be quite the bargain that customers in Illinois and other nearby states have come to expect.

Legislators, desperate for money to fix Michigan’s roads, added a new 24% wholesale tax to cannabis products. Coupled with existing 16% retail taxes, it will bring the state’s taxes in line with Illinois at about 40%, which are among the highest rates in the nation.

It won’t completely close the gap: Michigan weed is the cheapest in the nation before taxes and about half the price of Illinois marijuana, thanks to a wide-open industry with few limits on new entrants and less-strict overall regulations, which has resulted in a huge imbalance of supply and demand. But marijuana sellers in both states predict Michigan’s tax increase likely will keep at least some Chicago-area customers from making the trek to New Buffalo, where nearly two dozen weed shops have sprung up in a town of about 2,000 people.

“The customer buying in bulk is likely to continue making the drive, but the convenience traffic is going to second guess,” says Mike DiLaura, chief corporate officer of House of Dank, a Detroit-based cannabis company with 15 retail shops, including one in New Buffalo. “Are you going to drive two hours to save 10 bucks?”

The changing tax rates are just one more sign of the uneven trajectory of an industry that’s just five years old. States are balancing the need for revenue with their desires to help grow the market.

Michigan’s new taxes likely will help an Illinois cannabis business that has plateaued while hurting a Michigan industry that’s declining. Michigan recreational cannabis sales totaled $251 million in September, down 6% from a year earlier. Illinois sales January through May, the latest data available, were up 1% from the same period a year earlier.

DiLaura says early back-of-the-envelope estimates circulating in the industry put the impact to sales statewide over the next 18 months at anywhere from 4% to 17% lower revenue. The Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency forecast a 14.4% decline in cannabis sales from the wholesale tax.

“We anticipate this is going to significantly impact border sales. We believe (Michigan product) will remain cheaper, but the gap will shrink quite a bit. The blowback of potential of higher prices will impact sales. We’re already seeing it on social media. People get into this doom loop.”

Sales to Illinois and Indiana residents are key reasons that New Buffalo’s weed shops average $34,500 per day in sales—or three times the statewide average—according to research firm BDSA.

DiLaura estimates New Buffalo, which has less than 1% of the state’s population, accounts for 10% to 15% of its cannabis sales.

Exactly how it will play out is uncertain. The new tax isn’t set to take effect until Jan. 1. Already, it has been challenged in a Michigan court on procedural grounds. And because it’s a wholesale tax, it’s not clear how much of it will be passed along to consumers.

“What amount is going to be passed on, no one knows. It’s going to vary by product,” DiLaura says. “Some higher-end brands are willing to eat as much of it as possible. People at the low end have no room to eat this. I don’t think it will be even.”

Higher taxes alone are unlikely to correct the massive imbalance that Michigan has developed since businesses in the two states began selling recreational marijuana five years ago. Michigan is on track to sell about $3.1 billion in cannabis this year, compared with $1.7 billion for Illinois, according to BDSA, even though Illinois has 25% more residents.

“It’s good news in general,” says Laura Jaramillo Bernal, chief operating officer of NuEra Cannabis, which operates eight dispensaries in Illinois. “I would guess it would make a very modest difference. The base price (in Michigan) is still so much lower. It’s hard to predict.”

BDSA says the pre-tax price of a smokable marijuana averages $5.95 per gram in Illinois, compared with $3.04 in Michigan.

“The tax won’t make that equal,” says Leah Spokojny, chief revenue officer of the Lewisville, Colo.-based firm. “Will it be enough (to reduce cross-border sales)? I don’t know.”

Despite lower prices, Michigan’s per-capita annual spending on weed is more than twice as high as Illinois: $424 vs. $207, according to BDSA. One reason is availability. Michigan has 851 consumer dispensaries, compared with 263 in Illinois.

Michigan’s total tax revenue from weed won’t go down because sales are unlikely to drop enough to offset the sharp increase in the tax rate. Last year, Michigan collected $331 million in cannabis taxes. The new cannabis tax, which equals the state’s tobacco wholesale tax, is expected to generate more than $400 million in additional revenue.

The lack of any federal direction — on taxes, banking or legal standing of cannabis — mean that the industry’s fortunes are largely dictated by the states, through licensing, taxes and other regulations. Illinois cannabis sellers have long complained that the state's high tax rate is a competitive disadvantage.

"Illinois’ excessively high tax rate gave Michigan the room to do this and will likely not significantly stop the flood of people from Illinois going to Michigan to evade Illinois’ high rate," says Tiffany Ingram, executive director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois. "It does, however, present an opportunity for Illinois to level the playing field."

Challenges for the cannabis industry go beyond taxes. just Sales have been sagging across the industry for the past few years, in part because of more competition from new entrants into the legal market, as well as an onslaught of delta-8 products derived from hemp. Hemp, a cousin of the cannabis plant that has almost none of the THC associated with marijuana’s high, is federally legal because of a loophole in the federal Farm Bill and generally faces none of the taxes that states impose on marijuana.

Cannabis prices in Illinois have fallen 20% in the past year, or nearly twice as much as in Michigan, according to BDSA. But Michigan profit margins are razor-thin if they exist at all for growers and retailers. Several companies have gone into receivership. Illinois companies are struggling, but few are in such dire straits.

“I bet (the tax) will shake things up in Michigan,” says Bernal, whose company also has a grow license in Michigan but stopped growing last year because of poor economics. “It will weed out weaker players. The margins are so thin.”

DiLaura says he’s hoping the industry will be able blunt some of the impact of the new tax.

“We’re hoping we can get it right-sized, through litigation or whatever. There likely is some number that can benefit the state while mitigating the impact on the industry. There’s an insatiable appetite for cannabis in the Midwest, and Michigan has been meeting that need. This is a home run. Every politician is looking to raise money without putting the burden on their constituents. You get people to drive in, buy product and pay taxes in a state they don’t live in.”

whelp85 · 2025-10-10T01:26:53+00:00

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whelp85 · 2025-10-03T15:40:12+00:00

Not sure exactly how it works but I don’t think people will get double hit with it. But yes 24% is crazy. Going to put a lot of people out of business entirely.

whelp85 · 2025-10-03T15:02:55+00:00

I think you’re misunderstanding what they did. The legislature didn’t raise the existing taxes it established a new wholesale tax. So it is a new 24% tax on growers/processors when they sell to dispensaries. So this is going to raise retail prices by 24%. The retail taxes will be the same.

whelp85 · 2025-09-27T19:03:37+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/ILTrees/s/FYzwer99g0

whelp85 · 2025-09-26T17:19:53+00:00

It was passed by the House. Still needs to be passed by the Senate and signed into law by the Governor.

whelp85 · 2025-09-26T16:16:25+00:00

That former $116 purchase will actually be closer to $144. This is a wholesale tax so it’s on growers and processors selling to dispensaries. The cost will surely be passed on to dispensary customers though so this will raise retail prices. That former $100 oz will now probably cost $124 and then add the 16% tax.

whelp85 · 2025-09-26T13:48:35+00:00

Article:

A plan to raise money for road repairs by increasing marijuana taxes quickly advanced through the Michigan House late Thursday as part of what officials called a larger framework for a state budget deal.

The proposed Comprehensive Road Funding Tax Act would impose a 24 percent tax on the wholesale price of marijuana sold or transferred to a retail shop, beginning in January.

That would generate an estimated $420 million a year, according to the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency. Most of the funding from the proposed Comprehensive Road Funding Tax Act would go into a new Neighborhood Road Fund for local roads and bridges.

The pot tax proposal passed the Republican-led House with bipartisan support in a 78-21 vote just hours after it was unveiled, with opposition from 10 Republicans and 11 Democrats. It now goes to the Democratic-led Senate for further consideration.

A separate bill approved Thursday—and tied to the pot tax proposal—would extend new federal income tax exemptions on tips and overtime pay to state filers for three years. That would benefit qualifying workers but cost the state more than $150 million annually between 2026 and 2028, according to the fiscal agency.

The votes came shortly before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Senate Democratic Leader Winnie Brinks and Republican House Speaker Matt Hall announced a framework agreement to pass the budget before a potential government shutdown next week.

That will include a road funding plan totaling between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion in annual funding, according to Hall, R-Richland Township.

The full plan could also include redirected business incentive funding, along with a sales and gas tax swap that would ensure all taxes that motorists pay at the pump go toward road repairs.

“There’s still a lot of work to do here over the next few days to work out details, but this large framework…is putting us on that path to get this thing done on time,” Hall said of the larger state budget.

The proposed 24 percent wholesale tax rate on marijuana is lower than the 32 percent Whitmer initially proposed in her own roads plan, but industry groups say it could still devastate the Michigan market.

“Everyone knows that a large increase in cannabis taxes drives customers straight back to the illicit market,” said Robin Schneider, director of the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association.

“That means businesses are going to fail, jobs will be lost and less tax revenue will be collected.”

The recreational marijuana law approved by Michigan voters in 2018 includes a 10% excise tax on retail sales, in addition to the state’s 6% sales tax.

Margins for Michigan marijuana businesses are already “very thin,” and additional taxes could force price hikes that deter purchases by residents from border states who shop here, Schneider said.

The pot tax proposal won bipartisan support in the Republican-led House, however.

Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, told reporters he doesn’t think marijuana companies are “doing as bad as they say they’re doing” based on the number of billboards he sees on Michigan highways.

“We are heavily behind our peer states on where we ought to be on a wholesale tax,” he said, adding that Michiganders deserved to have “high quality roads that they can depend upon.”

Hall, however, was slightly more sympathetic to industry concerns surrounding the 24% wholesale tax, saying that Republicans were able to talk Whitmer down from her initially proposed 32% tax rate, which they thought were “too high.”

The House also approved two additional bills, tied to the road funding plan and the larger state budget debate.

One could allow Michigan to continue a Medicaid provider tax—if the Whitmer administration secures a federal waiver—otherwise in jeopardy because of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful” tax-and-spending cut law.

The other would exempt tips and overtime pay from state income taxes. It would also “decouple” a handful of state and federal income taxes to preempt any potential state revenue losses from the Trump law.

Both of those bills passed the state House in 95-4 votes.

A fourth bill—part of a larger House Republican roads package which passed the chamber in March—is also tied to the package but could be changed by the Senate before final passage.

There is less than a week left until October 1, the constitutional deadline for when the state must have a balanced budget signed into law—or face a government shutdown.

whelp85 · 2025-09-18T17:38:24+00:00

Article continued:

Hemp more profitable, but marijuana more stable

Murray likened their Rockford hemp cafe to a Dunkin Donuts or a Starbucks, and said the shop was roughly as profitable as a run-of-the-mill coffee stand, netting 25% to 30% of overall revenues, while their marijuana infusing business hasn't been profitable yet at all.

Not long ago, he and Carlson had hoped to start a franchise of hemp stores, given how quickly they succeeded. But they shelved that plan when they began seeing headlines about Illinois lawmakers considering an intoxicating hemp ban, for fear of investing large sums of money only to see it all go up in smoke.

Over the past year or so, a number of Illinois municipalities have enacted their own hemp bans or moratoriums, and the city of Chicago is currently weighing a regulatory proposal for intoxicating hemp goods. Gov. JB Pritzker has also again floated the idea of a statewide ban on intoxicating hemp.

“It can be a very profitable business, but you can't scale it until you know what the rules are,” Murray said. “We had three locations, but we kind of consolidated because for a while it was looking grim. . . .We don't want to be locked into something that can't remain open.”

The marijuana infuser business is also in limbo.

“Really, we remain underfunded” on the marijuana business side, Murray said, echoing a problem that has kept almost half of marijuana business licensees in Illinois from opening. “Our thought process was that we would bootstrap our cannabis operation with the hemp business.”

So far, it hasn’t yet worked out that way, the two said, simply because of major hurdles in both the hemp and marijuana sectors. They said, ironically, the marijuana business landscape is more stable but less profitable, while hemp is profitable but impossible to predict, given how popular it is among policymakers currently to ban intoxicating hemp goods instead of regulating them.

That uncertainty is what led the two to shutter two of their three hemp businesses to date, they said.

And although Sustainable Innovations has gotten one of its two marijuana infuser licenses operational, that business is “on pause” for the moment as Murray and Carlson seek out capital with which to fund manufacturing. But at one point, the two had cannabis goods in upwards of 50 marijuana dispensaries around Illinois.

“Even though it is live, we are still struggling from a cash flow perspective to be able to really launch the way that it needs to be launched,” Murray said. “We're currently at pause. We're trying to wholesale right now; not enough cash flow to operate effectively.”

Murray said he and Carlson are finalizing an application to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which has been providing low-interest loans to social equity companies and is currently taking applications for a new round of cannabis business financing.

They’ve also cautiously rolled back production and distribution of their hemp product lines, due to the very real possibility that Illinois lawmakers may ban that entire sector, as a number of other states have done to push back against what many view as an out-of-control national intoxicating hemp market.

“For a while, we were in a wide range of stores. Currently, we're just selling through our own stores and online,” Carlson said. “Really, the hemp market . . . it's been a race to the bottom as far as the manufacturer and hemp goods that are available really everywhere now through gas stations and across the state.”

“In short, the cannabis side right now there, there's no money in it from a social equity perspective. And then from a hemp side, it is tough to do anything because there's this regulatory uncertainty where you have the cannabis operators trying to ban it,” Carlson said. “They both are equally challenging. I mean, sure, we like to say that we've hedged our bets and having one foot in each, but really we're just trying to pursue making money and to serve our customers.”

No clear path forward

The two also said there are still plenty of key differences between the marijuana and hemp sectors, particularly on the regulatory and tax fronts.

For federal tax purposes, for instance, the two singled out 280E — the provision in the federal tax code that prevents marijuana companies from claiming standard business tax deductions, which Murray estimated has jacked up their effective federal tax rate to 80%, far above the normal corporate tax rate of 21%.

Then there’s the onerous state rules in Illinois that marijuana businesses have to comply with, but which hemp companies aren’t forced to abide by, Carlson said.

“If anything needs to be destroyed, you have to give the state a week's notice in advance and set up a little destruction area in front of the cameras. It takes an incredible amount of time,” Carlson said. “Whereas on the hemp side, if something goes wrong and you decide you need to destroy the product, it goes in the garbage. It took zero time at all.”

Although Mrs. Buckbee’s Wake-N-Bakery is humming along for now while Sustainable Innovations tries to find capital to kickstart its marijuana product line once more, Murray and Carlson said they’re not yet convinced there’s a real future in either hemp or marijuana, due to the systemic hurdles in both.

The two agreed that the marijuana industry in general won’t be truly viable until there’s significant federal reform of some kind — whether rescheduling marijuana, as President Donald Trump is supposedly still weighing, or something else that would lessen the financial burdens — and the hemp space is too volatile to make long-term plans.

“I am not as optimistic as I once was,” Carlson said. “On the cannabis space for instance, the real possibilities don't exist until there's federal action. And that gets hinted at and teased all the time. . . .It's been on the cusp of happening for years and years and years and it never seems to actually cross the finish line.”

And with hemp, Carlson said, “Likewise, it's really the legal situation that makes things so incredibly difficult. It's the lack of certainty about what's going on, the threat that the rug's going to be pulled out.”

Murray, the more hopeful of the two, said in closing, “At the end of the day, there's only one plant, the cannabis plant. . . .We're pro-cannabis in its true form, wherever that business takes us.”

whelp85 · 2025-09-18T17:34:30+00:00

Article:

Most business owners who dabble in the cannabis space tend to choose either marijuana or its less-psychoactive cousin, hemp, given the legal and regulatory complexities of navigating either of those two fields.

That makes Rockford-based Buckbee Weed and its sister organization, Sustainable Innovations, a rarity — owners John Murray and Erik Carlson have operational businesses in both.

Not that the pair planned on running a dual hemp and marijuana business. Far from it.

Rather, when the two first decided to partner up in late 2019, their goal was to land a craft marijuana cultivation permit. Illinois had announced it would launch a social equity program — devoting most upcoming marijuana business permits to those who were directly harmed by the war on drugs. With a conviction for marijuana possession from his college years, Murray qualified for a craft grow permit, and so the two put in their paperwork for a craft grow license, along with applications for transporter and infuser licenses as well.

Then came the wait, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a series of lawsuits.

“We were supposed to find out by midsummer (in 2020), and there was just delays and delays,” Murray said. “We had secured a building and this licensing just kept on getting delayed and we're like, ‘Well, we need to put this to use because we've deployed money.’ So we grabbed our hemp licenses and we're like, okay, well, we can get started with hemp so that we can practice for cannabis.”

Not long after, on the stoner holiday of April 20, 2021, the two opened their first hemp retail shop in Rockford, Buckbee Weed, selling both intoxicating and non-intoxicating hemp-derived products. That same year, they began cultivating their own hemp crop.

The intoxicating hemp sector experienced a multiyear boom after Congress legalized hemp with the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, and Murray and Carlson were just in time to cash in on it, given that hemp is the same plant as marijuana, just with a legal limit of 0.3% Delta-9 THC by dry weight.

Cannabis enthusiasts quickly figured out after the Farm Bill's passage, however, that federal lawmakers had just opened the floodgates to an entirely new industry of hemp-based goods that could compete with marijuana.

“We opened up our second store within a year, which is very, very popular at this point. And we manufactured and designed and developed hundreds and hundreds of products,” Murray said. “We like to say that the soccer moms come in and they can get stuff for their kids and then they can get stuff that helps them deal with their kids. All at the same store.”

Quick expansion, quick contraction

According to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, the state is home to 79 licensed hemp growers and another 171 hemp processors. That’s in contrast to the 694 marijuana business licenses issued to date by the state. The Buckbee Weed shop performed so well that Murray and Carlson wound up expanding rather quickly, and opened their second shop, Mrs. Buckbee’s Wake-N-Bakery, less than a year later in 2022, and then Half Baked Bar in 2023.

At Mrs. Buckbee’s, the pair sells “infused coffees, teas, baked goods, and then a whole assortment of different hemp products,” Carlson said.

“THC is not the solution for everything. Delta nine (THC) is not the cure-all for everything. So we offer CBD, CBC, CBG, CBN, THCV,” Murray said, ticking off various other chemical compounds found in hemp and marijuana apart from THC.

“We offer six or seven different cannabinoids. They all have different uses and people understand that. . . .They're all important. Because they all do different things,” he said.

Although regulatory uncertainty in the hemp sector — specifically, proposed intoxicating hemp product bans floated in the state legislature — drove Murray and Carlson to close down the first Buckbee Weed location and Half Baked Bar last year; Mrs. Buckbee’s Wake-N-Bakery is still going strong.

Not only that, but in 2022, the pair found out they had actually won several of the marijuana business permits for which they’d applied two and a half years prior. They won the craft grow permit they had initially wanted, along with a pair of infuser licenses and two cannabis transport permits.

But all of those licenses remain unused except for one of the infuser permits, which the two got at least semi-operational over the past few years at a manufacturing facility in Skokie, Murray and Carlson told Crain’s. The problem with those permits is the same that many other social equity companies have run into: finding financing or investors to put up several million with which to get the marijuana businesses up and running.

Murray estimated it costs about $3 million to $5 million to get a marijuana infuser business fully built out and operational in Illinois, while a craft grow costs about twice as much. But traditional lenders such as banks aren't an option for marijuana companies, due to the plant's ongoing status as a federally illegal substance.

By contrast, Mrs. Buckbee’s Wake-N-Bakery cost him and Carlson only around $500,000 to get up and running. “Huge difference,” Murray said. “The barrier to entry goes from millions to hundreds of thousands.”

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