Chris Furnari
Chris Furnari is an award-winning business writer covering complex and highly-regulated industries. He joined THCnet as editor-in-chief in October 2019. Prior to covering the cannabis sector, he spent nearly a decade as the driving force behind Brewbound, a leading online beer business trade publication. Furnari also writes about the alcohol business for Forbes. He is frequently tapped to provide commentary on the beer and cannabis industries, and his analysis of industry trends has been referenced by The New York Times, CNBC, USA Today, The Boston Globe, and Cincinnati Public Radio, among others. Furnari is a proud graduate of Santa Clara University, where he was a two-sport Division I athlete and served as the sports editor of the university's official weekly newspaper.
Posts by Chris Furnari
Denver-based GrowGeneration (NASDAQ: GRWG) announced Monday the acquisition of Phoenix’s largest indoor and outdoor garden center, Hydroponics Depot, for an undisclosed sum. The purchase adds to GrowGen’s expanding national footprint of Hydroponic gardening stores, which now includes 29 locations across 11 states.
Columbia Care is pushing deeper into the adult-use cannabis market. The New York-based multistate operator announced Thursday the launch of its first “internally developed cannabis lifestyle brand,” called Seed & Strain.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) said Wednesday he would allow a cannabis legalization bill to become law without his signature. The legislation, S. 54, creates a commercial marijuana market in The Green Mountain State and establishes a 14% tax on all cannabis products.
Pabst Blue Ribbon is moving from the dive bars to dispensaries. The 176-year-old brand — which in recent years has expanded into whiskey, hard coffee and hard seltzer — now adorns cans of cannabis-infused seltzer that are sold at a handful of California pot shops.
Illinois cannabis dispensaries continued to break records in September, as adult-use sales increased 5.7% to more than $67.64 million. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) reported Monday that recreational marijuana sales grew to an all-time high for the fifth month in row.
Canopy Growth Corporation will bring its THC-infused beverages to the U.S. in 2021 through a partnership with New York-based cannabis firm Acreage Holdings, the two companies announced Thursday. In a news release, Canopy and Acreage said the products are expected to debut at dispensaries in California and Illinois next summer, and that “sessionable” drinks would be the initial focus.
More VC money is flowing into the cannabis software space. California-based Trym, which sells management software to cannabis growers, has raised a combined $3.1 million in seed funding from friends, family and several venture funds.
Billionaire investor Nelson Peltz is no longer advising Canada’s Aurora Cannabis, the company announced Monday. In a news release, the Edmonton-based cannabis firm said Peltz had resigned to “pursue other commitments.”
Arizona-based cannabis firm 4Front Ventures, which has operations in five adult-use states, has completed the sale of three dispensaries in Maryland. In a news release, 4Front Ventures said the stores were dealt to Philadelphia-based Ethos Cannabis, another multi-state operator, for $5.5 million. The sale of the Maryland assets is part of a previously-announced $18 million transaction.
At long last, Vermont is on the verge of legalizing adult-use cannabis sales. On Tuesday, the Vermont Senate voted 23-6 in favor of legislation (S. 54) that would legalize, regulate and tax commercial cannabis sales.
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