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Wednesday, August 1, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O Canna-bis! US pot companies go public in Canada
By Gillian Flaccus
Associated Press
PORTLAND (AP) —
Green Thumb Industries had
a business plan, expertise and
plenty of ambition to grow
its marijuana business. What
the Chicago-based company
didn’t have was access to
enough capital to make it all
happen.
So last month, the com-
pany with $20 million in rev-
enue from pot shops in seven
states turned its gaze north
and went public in Canada,
where marijuana soon will be
broadly legalized nationwide.
The Canadian Securities
Exchange is quickly becom-
ing the go-to place for
U.S. cannabis companies
orphaned by their own stock
exchanges because the U.S.
government still considers
marijuana an illegal drug.
Green Thumb took over
a publicly traded Canadian
company, added an “Inc.”
to its name and went public.
The company raised $67 mil-
lion U.S. dollars, money that
will allow Green Thumb to
get licenses in new states and
open more retail stores across
America.
“The phone rings more,
we’re talking to more people,
and business has expanded,”
company founder Ben Kovler
said. “We’re just excited
about what’s happening.”
In recent months, prom-
inent U.S. pot compa-
nies including MedMen,
Liberty Health Care and
Chalice Farms have listed
on the Canadian Securities
Exchange, raising capital
and drawing attention from
wealthy investors in Asia,
Europe and Australia who
want to make a play in the
cannabis industry but are
spooked by the U.S. federal
prohibition.
Many more U.S. mari-
juana companies are lined
up to join them as the U.S.
industry quickly expands.
Acreage Holdings, one of
the United States’ largest
vertically integrated canna-
bis companies, announced
Monday it will list on
the Canadian Securities
Exchange this fall because
it’s become the “exchange
of choice for U.S. companies
like ours.”
Two-thirds of U.S. states
now allow medical mari-
juana, and nine of them
and Washington, D.C.,
have legalized recreational
use. Last month, voters in
Oklahoma approved medical
marijuana, further evidence
of the eroding opposition
even in conservative states.
U.S. companies need
quick access to money to
snap up limited production
and retail licenses so they can
quickly establish themselves
in new markets.
“If you don’t get in and
get on, you’re out,” said
William Simpson, founder
of Chalice Farms, an Oregon
company that was acquired
last year by a publicly traded
Canadian company called
Golden Leaf Holdings.
“Time is of the essence. You
need money now, and you
need it yesterday.”
Last week provided evi-
dence of American investors’
willingness to jump into the
marijuana market if given the
chance. U.S. stock exchanges
will not list companies that
do business where mari-
juana is illegal, but several
Canadian companies trade in
the U.S. because their busi-
ness is legal in the country
where they are based.
Tilray Inc., a British
Columbia-based medical
marijuana company, became
the first cannabis business
to complete an initial pub-
lic offering on a major U.S.
stock exchange when it began
trading on Nasdaq. It raised
$153 million and the stock
jumped nearly 33 percent on
Deschutes County Fair & Rodeo
August 1-5
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Chris Barry, a partner
at the Dorsey and Whitney
law firm in Seattle, handles
marijuana investment deals
and mergers in the U.S.
and Canada. He noted that
major institutional investors,
including the century-old
New York investment bank
Cowen, were involved in
Tilray’s IPO.
“The lesson is that the
institutions will be there if
you have a good business
plan and your business is 100
percent legal in the jurisdic-
tion you’re in,” he said.
That’s the problem in
the U.S. While more states
approve legal marijuana, the
federal government — and
especially U.S. Attorney
General Jeff Sessions —
remain opposed, creating
uncertainty for banks and
investors.
“There’s pent-up demand
all over the world, and all
over in the U.S., and it’s all
getting forced into Canada,”
said Troy Dayton, chief exec-
utive of The Arcview Group,
an Oakland, California-based
cannabis investment and
market research firm. “Every
large investor and every large
company is salivating over
this market now, but they’re
held back because of the
uncertainty.”
Meantime, U.S. consumer
spending on marijuana is
exploding. It was $8.5 bil-
lion in 2017 — the year
before California became
the world’s largest legal
marijuana market — and is
projected to reach nearly $24
billion in the next four years,
according to Arcview.
U.S. companies that list in
Canada are seeing eyebrow-
raising valuations because
investors hungry to get a
piece of the cannabis action
have nowhere else to go,
Dayton said.
Some of those companies
will implode, but the ones
that are well-positioned will
be able to use the new cash
flow to prepare to compete
with the multinational alco-
hol and cigarette conglomer-
ates positioning themselves
to swoop in, he said.
“You look at California by
itself, Florida by itself, they
are both larger alone than
the entire Canadian cannabis
marketplace,” said Simpson,
founder of Oregon’s Chalice
Farms. “It is a massive
opportunity.”
Chalice was acquired
last year by Canadian-based
Golden Leaf Holdings.
Almost all of the compa-
ny’s business remains in
the American West, and it’s
using the $19.5 million from
its public listing to pursue
cultivation deals in Nevada
and California.
Simpson said it’s frustrat-
ing he couldn’t go public as
an American company.
“The people have spoken.
We voted for this,” Simpson
said. “Allow the banks
and the investors to get on
board.”
Associated Press Writer
Gene Johnson in Seattle con-
tributed to this report.
FOUND: Two-hour
search found woman
and dog safe
Continued from page 1
able to canvas the area and
find a general direction of
travel which was eastbound
toward the FivePine campus.
The sheriff’s office called in
the Sisters fire department
volunteer fire corps and other
deputies to start searching the
area.
“We wanted to get as
many resources as possible
so we could blanket the area
with search and rescue so
we could find her as quickly
as possible,” said Sheriff’s
Deputy Nathan Garibay.
The search and rescue
team first on scene hap-
pened to both be advanced
life support medics. They
were canvassing the FivePine
area and later were going
to assess the trail system.
Around 8 p.m., the search
and rescue team found the
75-year-old woman sitting in
a shady spot in the bushes by
Sisters Movie House with her
dog, Bo.
She was found in good
shape and was evaluated by
the search and rescue medics,
and deemed OK to return to
camp. She was released into
the care of her husband.
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NOTICE OF RECEIPT OF A BALLOT TITLE
Notice is hereby given that a ballot title for a City-referred measure for inclu-
sion in the November 6, 2018 general election has been fi led with the City Re-
corder of the City of Sisters on Friday, July 27, 2018. Th e ballot title is as follows:
CAPTION: Imposes city tax on retail sale of recreational marijuana.
QUESTION: Shall Sisters impose a three percent tax on the sale of
marijuana items by a licensed marijuana retailer?
SUMMARY: State law provides that a city council may adopt an ordinance to
be referred to the voters of the city imposing up to a three percent tax or fee on
the sale of certain marijuana items by a licensed marijuana retailer. Th e Sisters
City Council referred this measure to the voters as provided under state law.
Approval of this measure will impose a three percent tax on the sale of
marijuana items by marijuana retailers in the city. Th e tax will be collected at
the point of sale and remitted by the marijuana seller.
Th e Sisters City Council adopted an ordinance referring the question to the
voters whether to allow (permit) recreational and medical marijuana businesses
within the city. Th is measure will become operative upon passage only if the
measure proposing to allow (permit) the establishment and operation of
recreational and medical marijuana businesses is approved by voters.
ANY ELECTOR WHO IS DISSATISFIED WITH
THE BALLOT TITLE MAY PETITION THE
CIRCUIT COURT OF DESCHUTES COUNTY
TO REVIEW THE BALLOT TITLE NO LATER
THAN 5 PM ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2018.