After over a year of negotiations rocked by turmoil and crisis, this week Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. completed the purchase of GR Companies, Inc. to become the world's largest cannabis company. As a result, Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. will own over 135 licenses in 23 different states, including 2 of the 5 medical cannabis dispensary licenses in Vermont.

When the deal was first announced in July 2019 GR Companies, Inc. was initially valued at $875 million, yet the deal closed at $700 million. In light of this downsizing, GR Companies, Inc. shareholders sued the company claiming leadership intentionally lowered the price of it's planned sale to Curaleaf Holding, Inc. after they were promised millions in bonuses and compensation. "While the amended merger agreement eliminates cash payments for Grassroots’ outside stockholders and locks up the stock compensation they will receive for a period of over three years, the Grassroots insiders tasked with renegotiating the deal made sure they will get paid” the Delaware Court complaint states.

Legal cannabis is a multi-billion dollar industry, and just like any other market, business consolidation has real consequences for the economy and people, especially BIPOC and economically disadvantaged. When market concentration rises in an industry we often find small businesses, workers, and con`sumers are the ones who receive the short end of the stick: the market becomes more difficult for small businesses to compete, the demand for jobs and labor declines, and options decrease for consumers while prices increase. Multistate operators, including Curaleaf Holdings, Inc., also have an egregious track record for social equity and BIPOC market inclusion, business consolidation amongst these companies will likely compound and reinforce the status quo.

What does this mean for Vermont? There are now 3 cannabis companies operating in Vermont, and 2 of them are out-of-state businesses. We already see the consequences of market consolidation in our medical cannabis market, where, because of unhealthy market concentration, sick Vermonter's are left with little-to-no options to obtain clean, quality medicine and local small businesses cannot participate. The market is so concentrated that dispensaries, and their parent companies, have gained substantial political influence in Montpelier allowing them to protect their concentrated medical market and attempt to develop our recreational market similarly.

Should s.54 pass into law, Vermont can expect to see the same issues afflicting its medical cannabis market move into its recreational market. There are now 3 cannabis companies in Vermont, and 2 of them are out-of-state businesses. Right now, Champlain Valley Dispensary, Inc. owns Southern Vermont Wellness and Champlain Valley Dispensary; Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. owns Vermont Patients Alliance and Phytocare Vermont; and iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. owns Grassroots Vermont – 66% of Vermont's recreational market will be owned by out-of-state companies, and if the rumors are correct and Champlain Valley Dispensary puts themselves on the auction block when recreational sales begin, Vermont will have no local businesses operating in its legal cannabis marketplace.