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Weedmaps agrees on $1.5 billion deal to go public

by The Real Dirt | Dec 12, 2020 | 420 News, Blog, Business

Weedmaps goes public with $1.4 Billion dollar deal

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–WM Holding Company, LLC (“WMH” or the “Company”) and Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SSPK) (“Silver Spike”), a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, announced today a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in WMH becoming a public company. The combined company will be led by Chris Beals, Chief Executive Officer of WMH, and is expected to remain listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Company Overview

Founded in 2008, WMH operates Weedmaps, the leading online listings marketplace for cannabis consumers and businesses, and WM Business, the most comprehensive SaaS subscription offering sold to cannabis retailers and brands. The Company solely provides software and other technology solutions and is non-plant touching. WMH has grown revenue at a CAGR of 40% over the last five years and is on track to deliver $160 million in revenue and $35 million in EBITDA for 2020.

The cannabis market in the U.S. is expected to double over the next five years as the majority of U.S. adults support having legal access to cannabis. Despite these expectations of growth, cannabis users in the U.S. are still a small sub-segment of the population today, and retail density is still low across the majority of states with regulated legal cannabis markets. The regulations related to these markets are often complex and disparate across states as well as cities and counties within regulated states. Cannabis itself is a highly complex and non-shelf stable consumer product. These dynamics present a challenging and sometimes uncertain environment for consumers seeking legal cannabis products and for businesses selling to cannabis users while operating in a compliant fashion.

WMH addresses these challenges with its Weedmaps marketplace and WM Business SaaS subscription offering. Over the past 12 years, Weedmaps has grown to become the premier destination for cannabis consumers, with over 10 million monthly active users and over 18,000 business listings across every U.S. state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico with a legal cannabis market. Clients of the Company maintain listings in 9 international countries outside of the U.S. Through the Weedmaps website and mobile apps, WMH provides consumers with information regarding cannabis retailers and brands, as well as the availability of cannabis products, facilitating product discovery and online order-ahead for pickup or delivery by participating retailers.

The Company’s cloud-based WM Business SaaS subscription offering provides cannabis retailers with an end-to-end operating system to access valuable users, grow sales and scale their businesses at a compelling return-on-spend. This “business-in-a-box” functionality ranges from integrations supporting product menus that have online order-ahead, delivery order fulfillment software, data & analytics, a point-of-sale solution and a wholesale marketplace. WMH has been investing in and optimizing its WM Business software solution to also facilitate compliance for businesses amidst the complex, disparate and constantly evolving regulations governing the cannabis industry. Underlying this compliance functionality is a proprietary and sophisticated rules engine that is a core underpinning of the WM Business SaaS platform.

Chris Beals, WMH’s Chief Executive Officer, will continue to lead the Company along with the existing management team. Silver Spike’s CEO and Chairman, Scott Gordon, will join the merged company’s Board of Directors upon completion of the transaction.

Management Comments

“We are thrilled to partner with Silver Spike to transition WMH to our next phase of growth as a public company,” said Chris Beals, CEO of WMH. “We passionately believe in the power of cannabis and the importance of enabling safe, legal access to cannabis for consumers worldwide. With this merger, we will be able to continue scaling the Weedmaps marketplace in the U.S. and internationally in service of our users while expanding the functionality of our WM Business SaaS offerings in service of our clients.

Our partnership with Silver Spike will provide us a stronger platform to advance our mission to advocate for legalization, social equity and licensing in many jurisdictions while providing cannabis businesses with the tools needed to succeed in a highly complex world of regulations. I am grateful for the continued support from my teammates and investors and most thankful for the thousands – and what I expect over time to be hundreds of thousands – of business clients on our platform. We are energized by the opportunities to continue helping our business clients thrive as regulated cannabis markets expand and grow.”

Read the full press release on LA Cannabis News

How Long Edibles Take to Kick In

by Travis C | Dec 11, 2020 | 420, 420 Culture & Travel, Blog, Broscience Mythbusters, Culture, Science & Technology

Recreational and medical marijuana has come a long way since Colorado first legalized adult use in 2012.

The saying, “not your father’s weed,” has become truer than ever, as new testing and growing methods has led to great advances in potency and knowledge of marijuana’s many effects. One such delivery method comes in the form of edibles, or marijuana-infused products.

We have long-surpassed the day of brick-weed brownies and random dosages that could do nothing to one person and completely level another, and a new world of options has started to grow in its place. Brownies may still be one of the most popular edible options, but with the addition of candies, drinks, tinctures, and more there is a plethora of new choices that patients and adults can test out themselves.

The difference between eating and smoking cannabis

One of the major issues people face when it comes to edibles is knowing the difference between edible effects and normal smoking or vaporizing effects. The other question many have before they try edibles their first time is, “how long do edibles take to kick in?”, and rightfully so. While many edibles nowadays may come with a measurement on the label of how many milligrams of THC the product has, this can lead to confusion for those who don’t know the recommended amount to take.

The recommended average dose for an edible in places such as Colorado and Washington is 10mg of THC per dose. For example, if a brownie has 100mg of THC in the whole thing, only one small piece of that brownie is equal to a normal dose. This can lead to serious problems when someone who does not know the recommended dose eats half the brownie or even the whole thing, because let’s be real, who just eats half a brownie?

When it comes to feeling the actual effects of an edible after ingestion, results vary for everyone. While one may indulge in marijuana recreationally or medicinally on a daily or chronic basis through smoking or vaporizing, edibles act within the body – from ingestion to digestion – in a very different way.

Compared to smoking or vaporizing in which THC is absorbed through the lungs, ingesting an edible takes and entirely different route through the body. Since it is technically food, the body treats it like anything else you might eat; it passes through the digestive system, which can take a while. While the effects of smoking or vaporizing are near instantaneous, edibles take much longer to take effect due to the digestive process which can vary from person to person.

How long edibles take to kick in

In the case of regular marijuana-infused food products such as brownies, cookies, candies, etc., the average onset time can range from thirty minutes to well over an hour, in some cases even taking as long as two hours to kick in. Inexperienced users many times make the mistake of assuming the edible did not work because it has been longer than what they were told at the dispensary and eat more, only to be hit a short time later with increased effects that last much longer.

When purchasing an edible, always look for labeling and dosage. Some edibles come in one single 10mg dose, while others come in a package with many pieces, each equal to 10mg but accumulate to a higher dose when taken in greater quantities (i.e. gummies that come in a package of five or ten). Always ask your budtender what they recommend for first time edible users, and make an informed decision.

The main thing to keep in mind after ingesting an edible is patience. If on an empty stomach, one can expect an edible to hit much faster, no matter the dosage. However much faster in the case of edibles still ranges between thirty to forty-five minutes for how long it takes for edibles to kick in. Many dispensaries and professionals recommend eating a small amount of normal food prior to ingesting an edible so the effects do not come on too strong and too quickly.

Eating food after ingesting the edible, if on an empty stomach, can increase the speed at which the effects come on, as putting more food on top of the edible can push it down more quickly through the digestive system. So, if you’re looking to feel the effects as quickly as possible, eat or consume the edible on an empty stomach and eat something small afterward to help speed up the digestive process.

It is important to keep in mind that how long edibles take to kick in can also vary depending how they are made. The main methods for infusing food with marijuana consist of cannabis butter, cannabis concentrates and oils. While the former of the three usually involves using marijuana flower itself, the latter two are an already concentrated form of marijuana that can be much stronger. Cannabis butter can also be made more efficiently with concentrates to increase potency.

Shop for edibles with confidence

Asking your budtender if they know how a certain edible was made, what the dosage is, and the average onset time that other consumers have reported can greatly increase confidence when it comes to figuring out how long edibles take to kick in, and how long the effects might last.

Overall, the biggest decider when it comes to choosing an edible and figuring out how long edibles take to kick in is you. While researching certain products and asking your local budtenders about what others have experienced can be extremely beneficial, edibles effect everybody differently, and most anecdotes should be taken with a grain of salt.

As a newbie, here are some of the main notes about edibles to know before trying your first edible:

You can’t overdose on edibles, but taking too much can lead to a very bad time
Edibles affect everybody differently, so don’t get upset if someone who took a similar edible feels it before you.
How long edibles take to kick in depends on a variety of factors from metabolism to dosage to how it is made.
Nobody has ever died from a marijuana overdose, you will come back down from the effects, and you will return to normal.
Be patient and have a good time!

Texas Hemp Harvested For First Time in 80 Years

by The Real Dirt | Dec 10, 2020 | 420 News, Blog, Hemp, Hemp Law

farmers are harvesting hemp in Texas for the first time in decades

Hemp is being harvested in Texas for the first time in 80 years.

The state created its own program as part of the Federal Farm Bill and this is the first year farmers in the Lone Star State are able to give it a shot and cultivate Texas hemp.

One of those farmers is Aaron Owens. He’s a first-time Texas hemp farmer but he’s not new to cannabis or tending to land. He spent 15 years ranching in Ozona, Texas, before moving to Central Texas to focus on hemp.

Besides being among the first to harvest in Texas, what makes his company, Tejas Hemp, unique is the type of hemp it’s growing.

“This particular cultivar has never been grown in the United States. No one has ever had it before. It’s the first-ever sativa hemp, meaning that where an indica will slow you down and help you relax and reduce shaking and make you go to sleep, a sativa actually increases awareness and focus and takes you into the other direction. It’s more of a stimulating thing,” explained Owens.

It’s not the type of cannabis that’ll get you high – that’s still illegal in Texas. But Democrats at the Texas State Capitol are again working to change that, saying legalizing and taxing marijuana could help the state’s economy recover from the pandemic. For now Texas hemp will have to suffice for farmers and consumers.

“It’s inevitable at this point, we’re going to federally legalize marijuana, there’s no question. Is it this year, next year, five years? We don’t know. What we do know is that every year that goes by in Texas that we don’t legalize, that’s another year that the other people get ahead of us,” said Owens.

Republicans have been hesitant to loosen restrictions on cannabis. But in the meantime, Tejas Hemp will be farming what is legal and even has plans for a Texas hemp “tasting room” on their land as the state’s laws around the plant also grow.

The Texas Hemp Coalition has been advocating legislators and consumers across the state on the different benefits of the crop. One of the things Hemp farmers would also like to see is for the state’s ban on smokable hemp to be lifted.

Next session they hope lawmakers will make it easier for farmers like Owens to reap the benefits of their crops here in Texas.

Read the original story on Spectrum News 1

The Future of Legal Cannabis in Florida

by The Real Dirt | Dec 9, 2020 | 420 News, Blog, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Culture

The passing of the MORE Act in the House has gotten Floridians talking about their future.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to decriminalize marijuana. Most Democrats supported the bill that would enact that change. Most Republicans did not. The bill is unlikely to gain traction in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.

Was Congress’ historic vote an early sign of momentum to legalize marijuana across the United States? Or is was it a low-stakes move on a splashy issue that’s unlikely to go anywhere?

Florida is home to plenty who are interested in the answer.

“We talk all the time on the right about the need to empower people and empower states,” U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, said in an impassioned speech on the House floor in support of the bill, the MORE Act. “Right now, the federal policy on cannabis constrains our people. It limits our states.”

Gaetz, who helped author Florida’s very first medical marijuana program as a state representative in 2014, was one of just five Republicans to support the bill. Another Florida Republican, Brian Mast, R-Palm City, also voted for the measure. Mast’s office did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

In addition to essentially legalizing marijuana at the federal level, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act establishes a federal tax on cannabis products. That tax money would be set aside in a trust fund for people and businesses that have been affected by the federal war on drugs. A 2020 study by the American Civil Liberties Union showed that Black Americans are nearly four times more likely than white Americans to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite using the drug at a similar rate.

The MORE Act, if signed into law, would also start a formal process for expunging federal marijuana convictions. People serving federal sentences for cannabis-related crimes would get review hearings.

It’s unclear how many Floridians are in federal prison for marijuana-related crimes. But FBI data showed that in 2018, 40 percent of all state and local drug arrests were for marijuana-related offenses. More than 90 percent of those arrests were for possession, according to the Pew Research Center.

Read the full story from Tampa Bay Times

How Oklahoma Became the Nation’s Hottest Weed Market

by The Real Dirt | Dec 8, 2020 | 420, 420 Culture & Travel, 420 News, Blog, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Culture, Politico

How oklahoma became the largest cannabis market in the country

Oklahoma entered the world of legal cannabis late, but its hands-off approach launched a boom and a new nickname: ‘Toke-lahoma.’

WELLSTON, Oklahoma—One day in the early fall of 2018, while scrutinizing the finances of his thriving Colorado garden supply business, Chip Baker noticed a curious development: transportation costs had spiked fivefold. The surge, he quickly determined, was due to huge shipments of cultivation supplies—potting soil, grow lights, dehumidifiers, fertilizer, water filters—to Oklahoma.

Baker, who has been growing weed since he was 13 in Georgia, has cultivated crops in some of the world’s most notorious marijuana hotspots, from the forests of Northern California’s Emerald Triangle to the lake region of Switzerland to the mountains of Colorado. Oklahoma was not exactly on his radar. So one weekend in October, Baker and his wife Jessica decided to take a drive to see where all their products were ending up.

Voters in the staunchly conservative state had just four months earlier authorized a medical marijuana program and sales were just beginning. The Bakers immediately saw the potential for the fledgling market. With no limits on marijuana business licenses, scant restrictions on who can obtain a medical card, and cheap land, energy and building materials, they believed Oklahoma could become a free-market weed utopia and they wanted in.

Within two weeks, they found a house to rent in Broken Bow and by February had secured a lease on an empty Oklahoma City strip mall. Eventually they purchased a 110-acre plot of land down a red dirt road about 40 miles northeast of Oklahoma City that had previously been a breeding ground for fighting cocks and started growing high-grade strains of cannabis with names like Purple Punch, Cookies and Cream and Miracle Alien.“This is exactly like Humboldt County was in the late 90s,” Baker says, as a trio of workers chop down marijuana plants that survived a recent ice storm. “The effect this is going to have on the cannabis nation is going to be incredible.”Oklahoma is now the biggest medical marijuana market in the country on a per capita basis. More than 360,000 Oklahomans—nearly 10 percent of the state’s population—have acquired medical marijuana cards over the last two years. By comparison, New Mexico has the country’s second most popular program, with about 5 percent of state residents obtaining medical cards. Last month, sales since 2018 surpassed $1 billion.

To meet that demand, Oklahoma has more than 9,000 licensed marijuana businesses, including nearly 2,000 dispensaries and almost 6,000 grow operations. In comparison, Colorado—the country’s oldest recreational marijuana market, with a population almost 50 percent larger than Oklahoma—has barely half as many licensed dispensaries and less than 20 percent as many grow operations. In Ardmore, a town of 25,000 in the oil patch near the Texas border, there are 36 licensed dispensaries—roughly one for every 700 residents. In neighboring Wilson (pop. 1,695), state officials have issued 32 cultivation licenses, meaning about one out of 50 residents can legally grow weed.

Read the rest of Chip Baker’s feature in POLITICO here!

How Weed is Measured: A guide to quantities and labels

by Travis C | Dec 7, 2020 | 420, 420 Culture & Travel, Blog, Culture

Understanding the most common weed measurements

Cannabis has come a long way since it was made illegal in the 1930s, with new methods of growing, cultivating, and manufacturing sprouting up over the years.

There is one thing about cannabis that has changed very little over the years, however, and that is weed measurements.

While the different names for different weed measurements may have been upgraded since the 20th century, the actual amounts and measurements of weed sold in dispensaries today are very similar to those once found on the prohibition-laden streets of America. But what are the most common weed measurements and what are the terms to know before you go asking your local budtender for “hella weed”?

Let’s start with how weed is measured before we jump into all the different names.

Fun fact; measurements of cannabis start low in grams from the metric system, but move into ounces from the US or imperial system as weight increases. Confusing, right? Just how we like it here in the states!

Basic Weed Measurements

The lowest amount you can purchase (although most dispensaries don’t go this low anymore) is what is commonly called a “dime bag”. A dime bag almost always equals a half of a gram and costs on average $10, hence the “dime” in the name. However nowadays most dispensaries will sell one whole gram for around $10, reaching up to $20 for top shelf cannabis.

So, a gram is the most common small amount of cannabis that you can purchase at most places in a variety of ways, whether in flower form or pre-rolled joints. Simple enough, right? Well, this is where weed measurements can get confusing.

From a gram or two, we jump up to an eighth, or one-eighth of an ounce. This comes out to roughly 3.5 grams, and prices range from $15 on the low end to $60 for top shelf quality cannabis. Most people who don’t want to run to the dispensary every day for a gram will pick up an eighth at a time to last them through the week. For those that want more, we move up to a quarter in the weed measurements scale.

Commonly known as a “Q”, a quarter is self-explanatory. It equals a quarter of an ounce or seven grams. Prices vary on quarters anywhere from $20 for very low-end shake up to around $90 for the highest quality bud. When you want a larger quantity that will last a while longer than a quarter, you can purchase a half ounce or an ounce.

Twenty-eight grams make up one ounce, so fourteen makes up a half. Most people won’t go above this range as 28 grams is plenty to last one person quite some time, ranging between $80 for low end product to over $200, though some places may charge more for their top shelf ounces. Common names for an ounce are “O” or “zip”, which comes from the old days when an ounce would usually take up a whole zip-lock bag. Luckily in recreational places like Denver, just asking for an ounce is perfectly acceptable.

There is always more that can be purchased, although the most one can buy in Colorado is an ounce per visit. This isn’t to say you can’t just go to three different dispensaries and pick up three separate ounces, but a single person won’t need much more.

Quantity vs Quality

So, we’ve covered the amounts and names for the most common cannabis purchases, but what about how weed measurements regarding actual THC content? There is a plethora of different chemicals that make up the cannabis plant, but THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the main psychoactive ingredient that gives users the euphoric and relaxed feeling that is commonly associated with cannabis.

The measurement of THC content in any given cannabis plant is taken as a percentage that the compound makes up of the plant’s flower compared to the other lesser known compounds. Average THC content in Colorado varies between 15% and 30%, with more potent strains being created every year.

When it comes to concentrated forms of cannabis like wax, shatter, hash and edibles, the weed measurements switch from a percentage to milligrams. A gram of concentrate such as shatter may be 80% THC, but it is labelled as 80mg of THC per dose. Similarly, edibles are given a THC per mg dose, with the average dose for edibles begin 10mg. Suffice to say, concentrates are much stronger and work much faster than an edible, but the effects of an edible can last much longer.

Now you’re ready to stomp into the dispensary and ask for whatever amount you want to match your desired price point, whether its flower or concentrates.

Street Measurement	Metric Equivalent	About the size of a/an…
1g	1 gram	Grape
1/8 ounce	3.5 grams	Kiwi
¼ ounce	7 grams	Apple
½ ounce	14 grams	Grapefruit
1 ounce	28 grams	Coconut
1 pound	16 ounces or 448 grams	Watermelon