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The biggest pot distributor in California has collapsed
SF Gate ^ | November 19, 2023 | By Lester Black

Posted on 11/19/2023 5:27:10 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

This spring, rumors were swirling that HERBL, one of California’s largest cannabis distribution companies, was on the verge of collapse. So Mike Beaudry, the company’s CEO, sent out an email on May 18 declaring that “these rumors are categorically not true. HERBL continues to be fully operational.” Less than a month later, HERBL had completely collapsed.

HERBL’s failure left a trail of damage that hurt small pot brands and shorted the state some $17 million in unpaid taxes. HERBL is only the latest high-flying California pot startup to crumble, following companies like Flow Kana, which raised $175 million in capital only to collapse, and MedMen, the California startup that earned a billion-dollar valuation calling itself the Apple Store of Weed only to find itself this year on the brink of financial ruin.

Observers in the industry say that HERBL’s demise shows how cannabis companies in California are forced to abide by a more difficult set of rules than other industries.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: california; californication; cannabis; cheapskate; donatefreerepublic; doobie; drugs; herbl; jimknowsdonors; kaput; pot; regulations; taxes; tightwad; weed
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1 posted on 11/19/2023 5:27:10 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The pot market only works best between dealer and user.
It becomes unaffordable when you add a middle man.


2 posted on 11/19/2023 5:28:32 PM PST by Jonty30 (It turns out that I did not buy my cell phone for all the calls I might be missing at home.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Without exception government screws up every single thing it touches.

Every
Single
Thing.

L


3 posted on 11/19/2023 5:30:37 PM PST by Lurker ( Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

How is Tegridy Farms working out?


4 posted on 11/19/2023 5:30:42 PM PST by PJ-Comix (Yes, I am the Toxic Troll Terminator)
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To: Jonty30

So, are they going back to the old way, of getting it off the street from gang members?


5 posted on 11/19/2023 5:30:50 PM PST by rovenstinez
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To: Jonty30

The black market is thriving, and has nowhere near the overhead of the capitalist weed Market. Makes it hard to compete.


6 posted on 11/19/2023 5:30:54 PM PST by pingman (It's a Clown World, and we're paying for it.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

My law practice focuses on insolvency - and the pot related businesses I have dealt with remind me of another dreamlike business environment - microbreweries. No realistic brakes are applied in the business formation stages - so the lessons come in the crash and burn phase. Look out below!


7 posted on 11/19/2023 5:33:49 PM PST by Wally_Kalbacken
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To: Jonty30

The prices have never been better.


8 posted on 11/19/2023 5:34:19 PM PST by Lisbon1940 (I don’t see why they would)
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To: pingman

Not really Capitalist weed...fascist weed maybe...


9 posted on 11/19/2023 5:34:28 PM PST by rottndog (What comes after America?)
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To: Jonty30

That’s a blanket statement. Weed is cheaper, or free, in Oregon, post-legalization. You can buy expensive varietals if you want.


10 posted on 11/19/2023 5:35:43 PM PST by gundog (It was a bright cold eday in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

$17 million? who are dopes again? I get confused.


11 posted on 11/19/2023 5:38:41 PM PST by Qwapisking ("IF the Second goes first the First goes second" L.Star )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I’m sure the biggest cartel is doing just fine.


12 posted on 11/19/2023 5:39:32 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is █████ ██ ████ ████████ █ ███████ ████. FJB.)
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To: Wally_Kalbacken

A simple rule for new businesses—never try to compete with free!

;-)


13 posted on 11/19/2023 5:40:11 PM PST by cgbg ("Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." Anna Freud.)
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To: rottndog

Markets will out. Californians can grow six plants, and some of them are the size of apple trees.


14 posted on 11/19/2023 5:40:44 PM PST by gundog (It was a bright cold eday in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: All

Like man they just like forgot to pay their taxes man, lay off


15 posted on 11/19/2023 5:42:11 PM PST by escapefromboston (Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

In the article it states several Marijuana suppliers are owed “hundreds of thousands of dollars that they will probably never get”

The business ‘acumen’ that can trust fellow pot industrialists to make good is amusing. Many of them probably drive EVs.


16 posted on 11/19/2023 5:43:23 PM PST by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

These items from a leading pot distributor are still around
https://www.google.com/search?q=cuisinart+pots&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiWpr25udGCAxWR1ckDHUPUBKIQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=cuisinart+pots&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQDDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIGCAAQCBAeMgYIABAIEB4yBwgAEIAEEBgyBwgAEIAEEBgy


17 posted on 11/19/2023 5:43:50 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging.It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.)
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To: Lurker

My favorite government incomitance story is when the IRS took over a brothel that had been in business for over a hundred years, The Mustang Ranch. They intended to run it to get the several million in unpaid taxes they claimed they were owed. It went belly up in short order. A senator commented, “Only the government could fail running a business that sells p*ssy and beer.”


18 posted on 11/19/2023 5:44:27 PM PST by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Every grifter made a fortune while investors (fools) got burned. When I say grifter I refer to the politicians who got in on the ground floor because they could make a fortune before the collapse. Illegal growers pay off and never get touched...meanwhile a huge list of known weed smokers can now be viewed and used against them somewhere down the line...people are so stupid.


19 posted on 11/19/2023 5:45:06 PM PST by mythenjoseph (Always tired but so grateful American !)
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To: rovenstinez

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/17ab0642-4f9d-4614-ac35-f5511a27fb73


20 posted on 11/19/2023 5:45:49 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging.It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.)
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