Curaleaf Fires Back at Aurora Again
In our latest Trade to Black podcast, presented by Flowhub, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell kick off a fresh week as fall arrives — always an interesting stretch for the cannabis industry — starting with ATACH president Michael Bronstein for the weekly Insider’s Edge segment, then the NuggMD poll of the week and the latest on the business front. They also break down the newest development in Curaleaf’s (TSX: CURA) hostile bid for Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ: ACB), with Curaleaf releasing a fact sheet this morning pushing back hard on Aurora’s characterization of the offer, pointing to Aurora’s own dilutive share issuances and declining forward guidance.
Bronstein joins to break down two stories from Marijuana Moment. New FBI data analyzed by NORML shows that in six states — Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska and Wisconsin — more than half of all drug arrests last year were for marijuana, with Louisiana topping the list at 62%. A separate NORML breakdown found ten states, led by Texas with more than 29,000 arrests, accounted for roughly 60% of the national total, part of some 218,152 marijuana arrests in all, 92% for simple possession. Bronstein also weighs in on House Majority Leader Steve Scalise telling Marijuana Moment he still believes marijuana is a “gateway drug,” even as the Trump administration keeps moving forward on federal rescheduling — a comment that underscores a real divide within the Republican party. We also get into why the numbers ticked up year over year, the fallout from Florida’s Amendment 3, and encouraging remarks from Iowa Senate candidate Josh Turek.
For this week’s Check-In Poll of the Week, presented by NuggMD, 596 respondents were asked whether receiving medical cannabis by mail — as Georgia officials have suggested could happen through USPS — would change how they shop. A combined 55% said yes, split between those with no dispensary nearby (31%) and those whose health or mobility makes getting to one difficult (24%), while just 7% cited privacy or security concerns and 21% wanted more detail first. We tie the results to broader convenience trends and NuggMD content director Tyler Elson’s point that legal access isn’t the same as practical access.
On the business side, we break down the newest development in Curaleaf’s hostile bid for Aurora, with Curaleaf releasing a fact sheet this morning pushing back hard on Aurora’s characterization of the offer — pointing to Aurora’s own dilutive share issuances and declining forward guidance, including why Aurora keeps selling shares through its ATM below the $4-per-share offer while urging holders not to tender. We also cover Grown Rogue, which has officially started cultivation at its Minnesota facility, entering a fast-growing but supply-starved market where flower prices run roughly triple mature states like Michigan due to a structural gap between licensed retail doors and available canopy.
There’s more where that came from — give it a listen.
