High Times Announces Acquisition of 13 California Cannabis Dispensaries

High Times is already one of the biggest names in cannabis. Now it’s about to become one of the biggest cannabis retailers in California.

On Tuesday, the owner of the storied magazine announced the acquisition of more than a dozen dispensaries in the Golden State. Hightimes Holding Corp. said it had reached a “definitive agreement to acquire certain equity and assets with respect to 13 planned and operational California dispensaries from Harvest Health & Recreation Inc.” in what is mostly a stock-based transaction. 

Founded in 2011, Harvest Health is a vertically integrated cannabis company with a presence in multiple states in the U.S.

The acquisition will give this publication’s parent company a major foothold into the retail sector, as it will make Hightimes Holding Corp. one of the largest branded cannabis retailers in California.

“We’ve long supported Harvest and the other cannabis-retail-trailblazers as they pushed forward despite changing legislation, insurmountable licensing fees, political stigma and, frankly, through a process that was designed to be difficult,” Hightimes Holding Corp.’s Executive Chairman Adam Levin said in a statement on Tuesday. “We have enormous respect for the Harvest brand and look forward to ushering in the next generation of retail experience with Harvest as a significant shareholder in our company. We look forward to finding a myriad of ways to work with Steve and the team at Harvest.”

Harvest CEO Steve White said the move enables his company to “to invest in one of the most iconic brands in the industry.” 

“As one of the pioneers of the regulated cannabis ecosystem, we have always admired the work of High Times and are excited to watch the High Times brand flourish, as they poise themselves to enter the cannabis distribution and retail spaces,” White said.

The acquisition arrives at a time when Hightimes Holding Corp.’s Regulation A+ IPO campaign is winding down. It also comes a month after the company announced a major expansion into the cannabis growing and processing industry with its acquisition of Humboldt Heritage Inc., a cannabis holding company in California, and its subsidiaries Humboldt Sun Growers Guild and Grateful Eight LLC.