Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Time to read: About 4 minutes. Contains 862 words.
Good morning!
I’m joyfully writing from my recently thawed home base of Portland, OR. That ice storm was no joke (neither was watching Society of the Snow during the storm 😳). I was lucky to retain electricity and adequate herbal supplies throughout, but very grateful to be interacting with people other than my pets this week. And to be here catching up with you! Thank you for reading.
This Friday, I’ll be sharing my responses to the wide-ranging questions submitted by paid subscribers. Inquiries covered all kinds of business experiences, insights, and subjective opinions on marketing. If you’re a paid subscriber with a question, weed-related or otherwise, there’s still time to send it in! There’s still time to sign up as a paid subscriber, too.
One-Hitters: Cannabis News at a Glance
Could Wisconsin legalize next? Cannabis Business Times named this unexpected state to be among the most likely to legalize cannabis in 2024, even though Republicans have held majorities in the state Assembly and Senate for over a decade. This is because the Democratic Governor Tony Evers has advocated for adult-use legalization for years, and the people seem open to it. An October 2022 poll found that 64% of Wisconsin voters supported adult use.
My bet: Hawaii. Or maybe Florida, both are also mentioned on CBT’s list of possible states to cross the legalization line in 2024. Culturally and logistically, those just make more sense to me. Medical cannabis markets are well established in both, and people are accustomed to dispensaries as a part of the community. Hawaii’s Senate has already demonstrated their enthusiasm, and Governor DeSantis says Florida voters will likely see it on the ballot this fall.
About Dazed dispensary’s stripper pole. Some of my colleagues in the industry are pretty worked up about this. Honestly, I don’t have a problem with the idea of this pole. I’m even a little charmed by the notion of leaving the pole up where it stood for many decades to pay homage to the location’s past identity since the 1960s. Now, does it look good? No, not at all. The sterile Dispensary 1.0 layout makes it feel twice as unnatural in the middle of the bright, fluorescently-lit space. It does make me wonder how long it’ll be till we see a strip club consumption lounge that offers cannabis instead of alcohol.
AI art needs to get high. Another thing I’m wondering: where is the weed-fueled imagery brought to life with AI? I loved seeing these ‘80s-styled Ghia ads imagined by Snaxshot. I know a lot of these platforms won’t work with prompts that include the word “cannabis,” but we don’t need to be explicit to illustrate our highest thoughts. What about scenes depicting strain identities? It will never be as witty as human-created art, but for brands with tighter budgets, I’m surprised people aren’t playing with it more.
Finding a sweet spot of dispensary numbers. One part of my conversation with Lex Corwin featured in last week’s dispatch that didn’t make it in touched on misguided focus from the state. He mentioned a well-funded campaign to educate consumers about the importance of shopping at local legal shops, but the campaign targeted areas with few to zero legal shops. Do cities understand that low license caps help fuel the presence of illegal cannabis biz? It’s surreal to me that Oregon has around 800 dispensaries and California has about 1000, but Oregon contains about 10% of California's population. We went a bit too far here, though. OR trade groups are calling for another moratorium on licenses until the state’s population grows enough to support more stores.
Turns out stoners don’t buy stoves. After all that hullabaloo with Snoop’s head-turning marketing play for Solo Stoves, the subsequent traffic bump didn’t result in expected sales. As a related result, the company's CEO resigned. The interim CEO said in a statement that since sales did not meet what they had planned, plus the increased marketing investments, the play negatively impacted revenue. It’s an interesting learning moment regarding celebrity marketing, investing heavily in viral approaches, and the right spokespeople for your target audience.
High Finds: Well Lit
Accessories curator Tetra has completed its wind down and rebirth as a stripped-down vendor of cool, modern lighters. I'm happy to see it maintaining a presence in any form!
Ceci n'est pas une cigarette.
I have seen magnifying glass lighters before but didn’t know mirrored ones like this existed. “Parabolic mirror lighters” are a whole thing in the survival kit realm—I’m late to this windproof, non-oil industry-reliant party but very stoked to be here.
No trash can to safely dispose of your butt? No problem.
It’s taken me an embarrassing amount of time to adopt hemp wick into my smoking routine, but it’s finally sticking, thanks to House of Puff’s ergonomic little wick holders. You could DIY this type of holder, too—all you really need is something that fits comfortably in your palm.
Alight but underslept,
Lauren Yoshiko