MARIJUANA RECEIVERSHIPS SIGNAL AN INDUSTRY IN PERIL

Skymint, other cannabis companies struggle as prices plummet

| BY DUSTIN WALSH

e struggles of Lansing’s Skymint, one of the largest marijuana operators in Michigan, aren’t an anomaly.

ey’re a dank declaration: e state’s cannabis industry is in trouble.

Skymint, the brand name for Green Peak Innovations Inc., owes its investors at least $135 million, owes millions in back taxes and is woefully behind on its rent obligations, lawsuits led by its creditors say.

Its nancial outlook is so bleak, a judge in Ingham County Circuit Court has installed a receiver to run the company, representing either a lifeline or a liquidation.

Skymint isn’t alone.

At least four other marijuana companies are currently under the direction of a court-ordered receiver, according to data obtained by Crain’s from the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency — Uldaman Inc., which does business as dispensary Green Planet Patient Collection in Ann Ar- bor; Rehbel Industries, a grow operation in Lansing; Huron View LLC, doing business as Huron View Provisioning Center in Ann Arbor; and Bay Shore Development Group, a grow operation in Bay City.

“It’s just bad out there right now,” said Doug Mains, principal and co-leader of the cannabis practice for Detroit law rm Honigman LLP. “Everyone is struggling to pay bills and negotiating lending extensions.”

Marijuana remains a Schedule 1 drug at the federal level, which bars cannabis companies from being able to use the federal bankruptcy courts to settle debts, leaving state circuit courts as the only means for financial protection.