5 steps to close the marijuana industry’s C-suite gender gap

Published

1 year ago

March 20, 2023

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Sarah Bodnar

This column is part of a series during Women’s History Month that offers practical steps toward elevating women in cannabis. The previous installment is available here.

In an industry that once had an unusually high percentage of female CEOs, the marijuana sector now has fewer women in leadership positions than the U.S. average.

According to MJBizDaily’s 2022 report, “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Cannabis Industry,” the percentage of women executives in cannabis fell from 36.8% in 2019 to 23.1% last year.

Meanwhile, the Russell 3000 index of publicly traded companies reports that women now hold 28% of board seats of the 3,000 largest U.S. stocks it tracks.

How did we get here?

Summer Westerbur

In general, power is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Statistically, white men have disproportionate access to capital and connections. And capital opens doors.

More opportunity equals more power. Having more women in leadership positions will, too.

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Michigan is selling more cannabis, but retailers are taking in less money

Published

2 days ago

May 17, 2024

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Michigan marijuana retailers sold about 9.3% more cannabis in April than in March, but they brought in about 3.5% less money.

In April, Michigan retailers sold 573,206 total pounds of cannabis – 569,620 pounds to adult-use customers and 3,586 pounds to medical marijuana patients – for a total of $278,546,444.

Of that April total, $276,685,183 was spent by recreational shoppers and $1,861,261 by MMJ patients, according to monthly statistics from Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA).

In March, Michigan retailers sold 524,285 total pounds of marijuana – 520,469 pounds on the recreational side and 3,816 on the MMJ side – for $288,843,279.

Of that March total, $286,790,258 was spent by adult-use customers and $2,053,021 by MMJ patients, according to CRA data.

The agency reported

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AI is making cannabis cultivation smarter

Published

3 days ago

May 16, 2024

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(This story is part of the cover package in the May-June issue of MJBizMagazine.)

Machine learning is becoming increasingly common in indoor cannabis grows, as cultivators use sophisticated sensors and cameras to maintain optimal growing conditions, sound the alarm about threats such as pests or disease and reduce labor costs associated with both menial and high-level cultivation tasks.

“Cannabis has always been the enabler of some of these bleeding-edge technologies,” Nick Genty, CEO of North Carolina-based AgEye Technologies, said in an interview with MJBizMagazine.

“They’ve had the margins, and they’ve had the budgets to support investing in new technology versus some of the vegetable guys who don’t.”

There are two main reasons why cannabis and other indoor agriculture companies are implementing artificial intelligence or machine-learning

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Marijuana Business Daily

Scapegoat or solution? Ouster of top New York marijuana official raises questions

Published

5 days ago

May 14, 2024

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The exit of Chris Alexander, the top state official overseeing New York’s rollout of adult-use marijuana sales, is seen by many as assigning blame for what has been decried as the country’s worst cannabis market launch to date.

More than three years after New York legalized adult use, only 122 stores were open for business statewide, and the market’s $123 million in 2023 sales was only about one-quarter of projections.

But whether Alexander’s departure as executive director of the state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) will mean a turnaround – or whether his replacement, to be assigned by Gov. Kathy Hochul upon completion of Alexander’s term in September, will be any better – is far from clear, industry observers told MJBizDaily on Monday.

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