Doobage now delivered in Missouri; Lantern in Grand Rapids
Licensed cannabis consumers in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia must no longer take it to the streets to procure their weed as multiple dispensaries in Missouri now offer delivery services for the state’s 125,000-plus medical marijuana card holders.
Last week California-based cannabis delivery company Doobie announced plans to serve the metro St. Louis market via a partnership with JANE Dispensary located in the city’s Delmar Loop neighborhood. Meanwhile, dispensary chain BesaMe along with the independent Riverside Wellness dispensary are beginning to serve Kansas City area residents while the Columbia location of 3Fifteen Primo also recently received state commencement approval for delivery services.
Missouri’s medical program, less than one year old, authorized cannabis delivery ahead of Illinois, which began its medical program in 2014 and went recreational last year.
Meanwhile, cannabis delivery service Lantern, a spin-off of alcohol delivery service Drizly, announced last week that it expanded delivery services to Grand Rapids. It has been operating delivery services in Detroit since October 2020.
Medical marijuana delivery in Michigan was approved in March 2019. Recreational delivery sales in the state were approved via executive order in March 2020 as a response to newly established stay-at-home orders related to Covid-19.
While Illinois industry observers believe licensed cannabis delivery in the state is inevitable, it is unlikely legislation will advance this year.
4Front co-founder Chris Krane steps down as Mission Dispensaries president
Phoenix-based multistate cannabis operator 4Front, which is vertically integrated in Illinois and has one retail center in Michigan, announced July 30 that co-founder Chris Krane is stepping down as its Mission Dispensaries president effective immediately.
Prior to co-founding 4Front in 2010, Krane was an industry activist serving as associate director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and later as Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
“I am proud of the way we have conducted our business, always staying conscious of the role we play in the broader movement to end cannabis prohibition,” said Krane in a prepared statement.
4Front operates two Mission Dispensaries in Illinois, an Om of Medicine dispensary in Ann Arbor, and a cultivation site in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. In May, 4Front announced plans to replace the Illinois cultivation facility with a new site with 65,000 square feet of canopy and 70,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Grown In visited the current cultivation facility earlier this year.
The press release did not mention plans to fill the position of Mission Dispensaries president.
Leaf.Trade and Illinois Women in Cannabis to host industry leadership panel
Vice president and director-level employees from Verano, Ascend Wellness Holdings, Windy City Cannabis, Green Thumb Industries, and Leaf.Trade will share their perspectives on women advancement in the cannabis industry tomorrow night during a LADIES first event and panel conversation hosted at the Leaf.Trade headquarters in Chicago’s West Loop.
Proceeds from the event, co-hosted by Illinois Women in Cannabis, will be used to promote workplace diversity and professional networking opportunities for an industry where corporate C-Suites and director boards are mostly occupied by men.
