Hi there, and welcome to The Dealers Diary - my musings on the cannabis industry, California, and building Halara.
If you missed past emails, I recommend checking out the Dealers page where you can see the past emails I sent.
In today's entry: last call to find us at SF Pride | what the DEA hearing actually fixes (not much) | Nick on Gas Nana | watch the lab team guess the $1,000 strain
The Dealers Desk
Hey Dealers,
This is the last call. SF Pride is this weekend, June 27 and 28, and Jackie and Xochitl will be out there hand-to-hand with 100 Pride carts. No booth, no production, just two of us putting product in people's hands at the parade. If you'll be anywhere near it, come find them, say you read the Diary, and a cart is yours.
You'll remember the why from last week: this is the Pride that you can't see online, the part that actually costs something. Flipping a logo rainbow is free. Standing in the crowd and handing someone a cart is the part that means anything, and it's the only part we care about.
So that's the ask, and it's a simple one. Find us. Tell us whether we're getting it right.
Onwards and upwards,
-Malcolm
PS - I expect one of y’all to get this Mystery Strain prize so I got a video from the lab as the hint this week.
What We're Seeing
The feds are arguing about cannabis in a room that won't even hear from cannabis, while the real work happens at the parade: The DEA's federal rescheduling hearing kicks off June 29, the same weekend as SF Pride, and here's the part that should stop you. The DEA invited only cannabis opponents to testify. No industry reps, no reform advocates, no patients (MJBizDaily has it). And even if the "historic" Schedule III move everyone's cheering (the April 23 DOJ order) sails all the way through, it does almost nothing for an adult-use brand like us. The 280E tax math barely moves for a California rec operator, because that order is about medical cannabis, not the carts on a dispensary shelf. So the federal "win" is mostly happening in a closed room, decided by people who don't sell this stuff, won't change our tax bill much, and won't take a single question from the industry it governs. Meanwhile the thing that actually builds a brand people trust, a smooth anti-clog AIO that hits on cart number two and the founder who hands it to you himself, is happening this weekend at a parade. I know which room I'd rather be in.
Strain Spotlight
Here's Nick on it:
Gas Nana is a 100% solventless rosin all-in-one, indica, 78% THC, so the tagline holds: Taste the Flower. The thing that gets me about it is the order it hits you in. Overripe banana floods the inhale, sweet and almost fermented, like the fruit's a day past ready, and just when you've decided it's dessert the diesel creeps in on the exhale and reminds you it absolutely is not. The effects do the same slow build. You settle in euphoric, then it goes deeply calm, and a little while later you're thoroughly couch-locked and fine about it. Rosin sits at the very top of the solventless pyramid, which is exactly what 710 celebrates, so if you're a concentrate person this is the one I'd reach for to ring in the holiday.
Gas Nana, 100% solventless rosin, 78% THC.
If a heavy, fruit-then-fuel indica is your lane, this is the one to ask for by name. Find a shop carrying it.
Dealers Choice
Remember Lychee Goji Berry Tea from a couple weeks back, the Pride strain whose initials spell LGBT? A verified customer summed it up better than any of our copy ever could: "Got the LGBT and this shit fucking rocks." We left it exactly how they sent it.
Straight from a customer.
Quick Hits
The DEA rescheduling hearing begins June 29, and only cannabis opponents were invited to testify. That's the news peg behind the take up top, and it's worth a read in full. MJBizDaily has the list.
The week's notable corporate move: Glass House Brands applied to list on the NYSE after deconsolidating its adult-use business so the listed parent is medical-cannabis-only, a big-operator bet on where the federal winds are blowing. More at MJBizDaily.
Mystery strain, $1,000 still unclaimed, hint #7 (we filmed this one): we put the people who pack it every day on the spot. Nick caught the whole lab team trying to guess the mystery strain on camera, and not one of them nails it, but Nick lets a real clue slip: it's a strain we've run in live resin before. That's your hint #7. Watch them sweat it in the short below. The QR code on the bag is still the only way to enter, and hint #5 still stands: it is NOT a mixture of any of our High THC strains. Find the disposable on Weedmaps.
Munchies, but make it breakfast: the thing I've had five mornings straight is espresso-soaked dates over plain yogurt. Soak the dates overnight in a shot of espresso, spoon them over the yogurt in the morning, and it eats like dessert but runs on real food. Found it on a recipe app I'm hooked on, Aldenté. If this turns into a weekly thing, blame yourselves. Let me know if you want more recipe inspiration
Refer a Friend
If you take one thing from this issue, take this: the federal future is being argued in a room nobody invited us to, so the part that's actually in our hands is the parade. If you know someone who'll be at SF Pride this weekend, or anyone holding a Halara cart, forward them this and tell them to come find Jackie and Xochitl. That's worth more than anything the DEA decides on Monday.
Know a budtender who'd dig this? Forward it. They subscribe, you get a Dealers hat.
Already got 1 referral? You've got a hat coming. DM me your address if you haven't yet.
Halara · Emerald Triangle, CA
P.S - My Weekly Bops
P.S. What I'm listening to (just the one this week, and yes, that's the hint):
