Black Market Archives - Cannabis Business Executive - Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

California’s frustrating fight to end illegal weed

More than six years after recreational sales launched, the state is still struggling to eradicate the unlicensed market. ARCADIA, California — Law enforcement officers from the California Department of Cannabis Control converged on a shabby off-white storefront in the Los…

NYC cracked down on illegal weed bodegas, left behind hundreds of shuttered storefronts

A candy-colored “Exotic Clouds” sign that once beckoned customers into a smoke shop at Stanton and Ludlow streets now hangs over a darkened storefront with windows covered in graffiti. Blocks away, on Allen Street, the gate is down on another…

The New Mexico cannabis cowboys: Modern day desperados

It was something once relegated to the shadows in back alleys and dimly lit street corners. But all that changed two years ago after lawmakers legalized recreational marijuana. In New Mexico today there are 13 times more cannabis stores than…

Raid finds an illegal weed grow in home owned by Oakland police officer

September 4, 2024
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Black Market, California, News & Insights
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When officers of the state Department of Cannabis Control swooped in on a neighborhood in the Bay Area city of Antioch this spring, they found what they were looking for — about $1 million in illegal marijuana — and one…

Utility company’s proposal to rat out hidden marijuana operations to police raises privacy concerns

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Operators of illegal marijuana grow enterprises hidden inside rural homes in Maine don’t have to worry much about prying neighbors. But their staggering electric bills may give rise to a new snitch. An electric utility made…

Maryland’s illicit cannabis market still ‘alive and well’ after legalization

It’s been more than a year since Maryland flipped a switch, turning the state’s string of medical cannabis stores into retailers open to anyone 21 and older. Ahead of the rollout made possible by a ballot referendum, lawmakers deftly set regulations…

California Gives Up on the Illegal Cannabis Market: More of the Same

By Griffen Thorne, Attorney at Harris Sliwoski Last week, California’s Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) released illegal market enforcement data for quarter 1 of 2024. It’s become a new tradition of mine to compare this quarterly data and see whether the state…

The Battle Over Zaza Waza: A Lifelong Liberal Joins New York’s Weed War

When an illegal smoke shop opened across the street, Gale Brewer, a local councilwoman, vowed to close it. What happened next was “like a Fellini movie.” The informal walking tour came to a pause on Amsterdam Avenue, outside a brick…

New York’s Marijuana Scorecard: 85 Legal Shops, 2,000 Illegal Ones

The lack of legal dispensaries and the overwhelming proliferation of illegal ones are the biggest concerns of the rollout three years after legalization. After three years of fits and starts, the rollout of New York’s recreational cannabis market gained speed…

Hochul Pushes for Cannabis Crackdown to Get ‘Some Teeth’

Legal retailers are struggling to get their footing in the face of a much larger illicit market. Gov. Kathy Hochul visited New York City on Wednesday to drum up support for her latest proposals for shutting down the unlicensed marijuana…

California Cities: Prohibition Doesn’t Work

By Griffen Thorne, Attorney at Harris Sliwoski California has a population of nearly 40 million, six years of cannabis licensing, but only has about 1,200 licensed dispensaries. These stores are mostly spread out in highly populated areas like Los Angeles,…

Grown in Oklahoma, Smoked in New York: Illicit Marijuana’s Legal Roots

In the dead of night last April, state drug agents in Oklahoma intercepted an 18-wheeler rumbling east toward the Arkansas border smuggling 7,000 pounds of marijuana hidden in security camera boxes. The weed was from licensed farms in Oklahoma, according…

California Gives Up on the Illegal Cannabis Market: Another Update

By Griffen Thorne, Attorney at Harris Sliwoski, California publishes quarterly data concerning its “enforcement” efforts against the illegal cannabis market. Over the last couple of quarters, I’ve gotten in the habit of analyzing this data (see here for Q3 2023, and here for…

In Southern Oregon, Illegal Cannabis Has Overwhelmed the Legal Industry

To residents of Cave Junction, the legacy of legal weed is a pattern of extraction and exploitation that recalls the boom years of the timber industry. But this time, the exploiters are criminal enterprises. The nerve center of Oregon’s largest…

Stiiizy tries to silence explosive LA Times investigation

December 13, 2023
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Black Market, California, News & Insights, Retail
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One of the largest cannabis retail chains in California threatened to sue the Los Angeles Times for defamation for publishing a story regarding alleged ties between the company and illegal cannabis sales. The story, published Tuesday, found that holding companies owned by Tony Huang,…