*By Carlo Versano*
As Canadians celebrated Wednesday's cannabis legalization, one California-based dispensary completed the largest acquisition in the industry to date in America, becoming the most valuable U.S. pot company in the process.
MedMen's purchase of medical marijuana vendor PharmaCann for $682 million in stock marks a turning point in the push toward federal legalization, said the company's SVP of corporate communication, Daniel Yi.
Speaking to Cheddar from the floor of MedMen's original retail outpost in West Hollywood, Calif., on an "historic day" for cannabis users, Yi said the deal would not have been possible when the company opened its first store in 2015.
Changing consumers' attitudes toward the drug ー reflected first by investors and then some politicians ー has allowed MedMen to scale its operation, which now includes 14 retail locations in four states. Yi said the plan is to expand to 66 locations in two years.
Yi also said he hopes the legalization efforts in Canada will exert pressure on the "crazy federal laws" for marijuana in the U.S., where it's still classified as a Schedule I narcotic by the DEA ー a category that also includes heroin and cocaine.
Canada's entire legal weed market is estimated to be worth around $6.5 billion ー far less than the established $11 billion market in just the state of California. The potential national cannabis market in the U.S. is $75 billion, Yi said.
"From an economic standpoint, I don't think Canada is going to be a huge game changer."
But what it does politically will be priceless, he said, by "expanding a global conversation" over the potential for cannabis ー whether it's as an opioid replacement or just as a cure for a stressful week.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/medmen-watches-canadas-cannabis-legalization-roll-out).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
