In the latest Trade To Black podcast, presented by Flowhub, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell work through a heavy Monday news flow. Global cannabis industry expert and consultant Deepak Anand also joins to demystify the DEA-application and cannabis export question.
In the headlines: SNDL (NASDAQ: SNDL, CSE: SNDL) completed its acquisition of Parallel’s Surterra assets across Florida, Texas and Massachusetts, a move that positions it to become one of the first Nasdaq-listed companies with direct, consolidated exposure to U.S. medical cannabis operations and adds to a 249-store retail network. The company expects to convert its indirect Sunstream exposure into direct holdings in the coming months.
Glass House Brands (NYSE: GLAS, Cboe CA: GLAS.A.U) retained former DEA compliance executive Matt Murphy to advise on interstate commerce and export opportunities, leaning on his background building Colombia’s first DEA-comparable compliance program at Khiron Life Sciences — a preparation move the hosts said doesn’t move the needle but adds valuable expertise. Vireo Growth (CSE: VREO, OTCQX: VREOF) agreed to acquire distressed Planet 13 Holdings, a deal that pushes its Nevada and Florida footprint higher and its total dispensary count to around 265 across 15 states, positioning it as the largest U.S. cannabis operator by store count once all pending deals close. The hosts see Planet 13 paying off most in Nevada while flagging execution risk against Trulieve, Verano, Curaleaf and Ayr in Florida, and revisited GTI’s experiential branding push in Illinois.
In segment two, Anand made the central point that the DEA inspections underway are focused on registration and appear centered on retail, not B2B or export — and that there’s no such thing as an “export license,” only DEA-issued import/export permits, with cannabis exportable solely for medical and scientific purposes under UN treaties. He explained that FDA involvement and CGMP standards remain the key stateside bottleneck, with EU-GMP certification typically taking 18 to 24 months, and that would-be exporters should first ask what their “right to win” actually is in a given market rather than assuming certification unlocks everything. He walked through supply-chain realities — Canada’s dominance, Portugal’s InfraMed crackdowns and permit bottlenecks, and Germany’s flower-heavy medical market — and shared his read on why Germany is likelier to follow a Swiss-style pilot approach than full adult-use legalization.
Hear what else they had to say.
