phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES FEB 3RD– FEB 9TH, 2022 State Licensed Dispensaries & Doctor Certifications | CANNABIS | Grand Cannabis Co. recently relaunched Arizona cannabis brand Good Things Coming. Neko Catazero/Proven Medi Branding Big Pot Copperstate expands as the cannabis industry consolidates and thinks about its image. BY DAVID ABBOTT I n a bid to capture more of the ballooning Arizona cannabis market, Copperstate Farms, LLC recently announced a partnership with a marketing business to push the healthy lifestyle message. Copperstate called its new partner, the Phoenix-based marketing company, Healthy Lifestyle Brands LLC, a “celebrity health and wellness brand incubation firm.” Copperstate hopes to expand its product line and tap into the “global wellness economy.” The new venture, dubbed Grand Cannabis Co., will roll out several new products over the course of the year in an attempt to capture a larger share in an industry that generated more than $1.23 billion in 2021. “Our initial focus is on our home state of Arizona, a population that has exhibited strong consumer demand since adult-use cannabis sales commenced last year,” Rolf Sannes, general manager at Grand Cannabis, said in an email. “We think it’s a great first step on our way to creating a portfolio of multi-state distributed lifestyle brands.” Copperstate Farms is headquartered in Snowflake, Arizona, and is one of the largest growers in the state. It has a 40-acre grow facility, one of the largest greenhouses in the United States. Last March, the city of Snowflake gave the company the nod to double the size of its greenhouse. Initially, the Good Things Coming brand of pre-rolls, cartridges, and edibles will be distributed through Copperstate’s Sol Flower dispensaries in Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, and Sun City. The company expects to expand quickly to other dispensaries throughout the state and eventually across the country. The announcement comes at a time when large marijuana companies nationwide are rushing to get in on the bonanza of legalized cannabis. Since cannabis is still illegal on a federal level, the actual business of producing and distributing marijuana is “vertically integrated” from state to state. That means operators in each state must grow, produce, package, and sell their products within their own state. Unless federal law changes, it remains a felony to move cannabis products across state lines. No such restrictions exist for ownership though, as big national players swoop into Arizona to gain control of the limited number of licenses to distribute both medical and adult-recreational marijuana. To get around U.S. law, the deals are usually done through Canadian courts in accordance with its Business Corporations Act. Late last year, there was a flurry of activity for some of the biggest >> p 39 37
