FL monthly puff: multiple deals reshape the market / Sales set record. FL monthly puff: SNDL takes Surterra, Vireo-Planet 13 merges, sales set record. Florida cannabis dispensary consolidation defined the month, with two major ownership shakeups reshaping the top of the state's limited-license market. SNDL closed on 43 Surterra Wellness stores through a Sunstream-led foreclosure, while Vireo Growth and Planet 13 struck a merger that positions Vireo as the second-largest dispensary network in the state. Regulators moved medical rules from emergency status to permanent rulemaking, IIPR prepared to reclaim nearly 600,000 square feet of Parallel space, and July retail sales set a fresh monthly record at $198.2 million. Top headlines this month. * SNDL closes on 43 Surterra Wellness dispensaries * IIPR to reclaim 593,000 sq ft after Parallel default * July medical sales set record at $198.2 million * OMML shifts medical rules to permanent rulemaking * Vireo-Planet 13 merger creates 106-store Florida network Florida: SNDL completes Parallel acquisition, gains indirect control of 43 Surterra Wellness dispensaries. SNDL Inc. announced on July 27, 2026 the completion of its acquisition of certain assets of Surterra Holdings, Inc., a vertically integrated cannabis company with state-licensed operations in Florida, Texas, and Massachusetts. The deal was structured as a consensual secured creditor foreclosure through SNDL's Sunstream Bancorp joint venture, giving SNDL indirect majority economic exposure equivalent to 66.7% of TransactionCo's equity and 69.4% of its debt. In Florida, the acquired assets include 43 dispensaries operating under the Surterra Wellness brand and a single cultivation and production facility of approximately 175,000 square feet. Across all three states, the acquired platform covers 56 retail locations and 3 cultivation and manufacturing facilities generating approximately US$150 million in annualized revenue. The transaction extinguished approximately US$842 million of Parallel's debt obligations and establishes what SNDL described as a more sustainable capital structure for the acquired business. SNDL now supports a 249-store cannabis retail network globally and expects to convert its current indirect exposure into direct, consolidated holdings in the coming months, subject to applicable legal, regulatory, accounting, and Nasdaq requirements. CEO Zach George cited Florida, Texas, and Massachusetts as key U.S. medical cannabis markets and said SNDL's experience navigating Canada's competitive cannabis retail environment will inform its approach to those states. Florida: IIPR expects to reclaim 593,000 square feet of cannabis facilities after Parallel default. Innovative Industrial Properties reported Q2 2026 revenue of $63.3 million and adjusted funds from operations of $53 million, down from $69 million and $53.4 million in Q1. Chief Financial Officer David Smith attributed the declines primarily to reduced payments from certain defaulted tenants, partially offset by contractual rent escalations and additional leasing revenue. On the Florida front, Chief Investment Officer Ben Regin said the company expects to regain possession of two Florida properties totaling 593,000 square feet following Parallel's default on its lease obligations. Management characterized Florida as the country's largest medical cannabis market, citing its patient base, consumer demand, and limited-license structure. IIPR also completed the $88.5 million sale of a 389,000-square-foot New York facility to Vireo Growth, receiving approximately $39 million as a down payment and providing roughly $49 million in seller financing at a 15% interest rate. The company ended the quarter with substantial total liquidity, a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 1.7 times, and net debt to total gross assets of 14%. The two Florida properties represent a substantial block of specialized cannabis properties re-entering the leasing market. Regin said the company is already receiving interest in both facilities, though he noted that lease commencement generally takes more than nine to 12 months after execution because of abatement periods and licensing requirements, meaning any new tenants would not be operational quickly. Florida: Medical Marijuana sales set record at $198.2 million in July. Florida's licensed medical marijuana dispensaries generated $198,209,750 in sales in July 2026, a new monthly record, according to data from research firm Headset. The total surpassed the previous record of $179.7 million set in April by approximately $18.5 million, or 10.3%, and came in nearly $37.8 million above June's $160.4 million. Sales earlier in 2026 followed an uneven path, starting at $162.2 million in January, dipping to $148.4 million in February, rebounding to $168.6 million in March, peaking in April, then sliding to $169.3 million in May and $160.4 million in June before the July surge. The record brings Florida's medical marijuana sales to approximately $1.19 billion through the first seven months of 2026. The milestone comes a decade after Trulieve opened the state's first medical marijuana dispensary in Tallahassee on July 26, 2016, and reflects the sustained growth of a program that began with a narrow low-THC authorization in 2014 and expanded following voter approval of Amendment 2. Florida's medical marijuana products carry a 0% state retail sales tax rate, which keeps out-of-pocket costs lower for qualified patients. Florida: OMMU transitions Medical Marijuana program from emergency rules to permanent rulemaking. Florida's Office of Medical Marijuana Use is replacing the emergency rules that have governed the state's medical marijuana program since 2017 with permanent rulemaking under the standard Florida Administrative Procedure Act. The emergency rule framework traces to the Legislature's 2017 implementation of Amendment 2 through SB 8-A, which gave OMMU a special runway to stand up the program quickly without the usual finding of an immediate public danger required for emergency rulemaking. Chapter 2025-199 extended that exemption for one fiscal year, but the implementation window has now closed. Topics moving into regular rulemaking include MMTC licensure, renewal requirements, financial assurance, trade names and logos, packaging and labeling, website purchasing, seed-to-sale tracking, caregiver background screening, dosing and supply limits, edibles, and solvent-based extraction. OMMU held a June 2026 workshop covering several of these areas, including edibles, packaging and labeling, and financial assurance. The shift from emergency to permanent rules changes the compliance environment in concrete ways. Regular rulemaking under Florida's Administrative Procedure Act creates more opportunities for stakeholder comments, more developed administrative records, and more formalized grounds for challenging agency decisions. Packaging and labeling carry particular compliance weight because Florida law prohibits marketing practices attractive to children, and the existing emergency rule on delivery devices already imposes detailed appearance restrictions on colors, text, and logos, requirements that will carry forward into the permanent framework. Florida: Vireo Growth and Planet 13 merger to create second-largest dispensary network in state. Vireo Growth Inc. and Planet 13 Holdings Inc. announced a definitive merger agreement under which Vireo will acquire all issued and outstanding equity interests of Planet 13. Each Planet 13 share will convert into 0.015383618 Vireo subordinate voting shares, representing a 16.6% premium over Planet 13's 20-day volume weighted average price as of July 24, 2026, and a 24% premium over its closing price on that date. In Florida, the transaction adds approximately 33 Planet 13 dispensaries and two cultivation and production facilities totaling more than 76,000 square feet. On a pro forma basis, Vireo is expected to operate approximately 106 dispensaries and approximately 329,000 square feet of cultivation and production capacity in the state, positioning it as the second-largest dispensary network in Florida. Following all previously announced and pending acquisitions, Vireo expects to operate approximately 265 dispensaries across 15 states. Both companies' boards unanimously approved the deal, and the merger agreement includes a termination fee of US$1,800,000 payable by Planet 13 to Vireo in certain specified circumstances. The transaction is still subject to Planet 13 stockholder approval, effectiveness of a registration statement on Form S-4 to be filed with the SEC, Canadian Securities Exchange listing approval for the new Vireo shares, and cannabis regulatory approvals across relevant states. For Florida's dispensary market, the deal represents a significant ownership consolidation at the top of the state's limited-license structure, where scale in cultivation capacity and retail footprint carries particular weight. For more about Florida's limited-license structure and retail networks, visit the Florida cannabis market page. The bottom line. Florida cannabis dispensary consolidation reached a new peak in July 2026, with SNDL and Vireo both absorbing large retail footprints inside the state's limited-license structure. Regulatory rulemaking is formalizing at the same time record medical sales and IIPR's reclaimed square footage reset the competitive picture heading into the back half of the year. 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Zach George CEO SNDL - We're the mostest biggest in the whole wide world. Former lenders to Parallel, the struggling cannabis multistate operator once led by chewing-gum heir William "Beau" Wrigley, finalized their takeover of company assets this week, according to a Monday announcement. And after acquiring "certain" Parallel assets in Florida, Massachusetts and Texas, Canadian cannabis and liquor giant SNDL now claims a retail footprint of 249 licensed locations - "the largest in the world by store count," CEO Zach George claimed in a press release Monday. As part of the acquisition, SNDL, which has been acquiring properties across Canada for the past few years, now operates: * Surterra Wellness and 43 medical marijuana dispensaries and a 175,000-square-foot cultivation facility in Florida * Goodbled and its 10 retail and pickup locations in Texas, which last year greatly expanded its medical cannabis program * Massachusetts-based NETA and its three retail locations and single cultivation and production facility What happened to cannabis company Parallel and Surterra Wellness? It's the latest development in a long-running saga for Parallel and its subsidiaries, which defaulted on a $150 million loan amid overall debt obligations in excess of $842 million, SNDL said in its release Monday. And it's the latest example of a cannabis company taken over by its former lenders. Earlier this year, an affiliate of Boston-based Millstreet Capital Management, which loaned cash to Ayr Wellness, took over that company's vertically integrated medical cannabis permit in Virginia. In Parallel's case, SNDL took over the company after "an extensive marketing process... did not result in an acceptable third-party transaction," according to Monday's press release. The finalization of SNDL's takeover of Parallel, first announced in April, also follows the closure of two Surterra Wellness cultivation facilities in Florida, according to a July 21 missive from Parallel Florida to state officials. Sometime this past month, Parallel shuttered cultivation operations in Wimauma and Lakeland, where it had formerly employed 211 people, the company said in a federally mandated Worker Adjustment and Retraining (WARN) Act notice. Wrigley took over as CEO of Surterra Wellness in 2018. The company rebranded to Parallel and quickly embarked on an ambitious expansion plan. However, Wrigley stepped down as CEO in 2021 after a plan to take the company public at a $1.9 billion valuation via a special acquisition company (SPAC) fell apart. Wrigley was later sued by his former investors. And landlords across the country began filing suits for unpaid rent. What's the largest cannabis company in the world? For now, SNDL has indirect majority control of the former Parallel assets through its affiliate SunStream Bancorp, which also took over troubled Michigan operator Skymint. It plans to keep the adult-use cannabis operations in Michigan "deconsolidated" to comply with Nasdaq requirements, according to Monday's announcement. That still makes SNDL "one of the first" companies listed on Nasdaq to have U.S.-based cannabis operations. Get connected.