EXCLUSIVE: Cannabis CEO Accuses Legal Marijuana Companies Of Funneling Millions Of Pounds Of Weed Into Illicit Market
Elliot Lewis, CEO of retail chain Catalyst Cannabis Co., told the crowd at the Benzinga Cannabis Market Spotlight: California in a stormy speech Thursday that legit cannabis companies are diverting enormous amounts of weed product to the illicit market and says he has the numbers to prove it.
“Look at quarter earnings. So they sell millions of dollars in consumer-packaged goods. That means the sh– that they actually package up goes to retail, right?”
Wrong.
“This company produces 210,000 pounds of flower…so where’s the other 190,000 pounds going? But on the [earnings] report, they’re calling it ‘biomass.’”
Lewis questioned the legitimacy of classifying cannabis trim as “biomass” and argued for more transparency regarding the sale of lower-grade products.
“Where I come from, maybe they redefined what the word biomass is trim. That’s gonna get f—— blasted. Because nobody’s asking the question and the question is OK. ‘Are you really white labeling it all?’ Nah, because I know what the f— is on our shelf, right?, Lewis …