A $3.4B cannabis mega-deal, marijuana firms prep for huge 4/20 sales, Alaska trade group helps keep MJ critic off state board & more of the week’s top news (SLIDESHOW)

Marijuana firms prepare for potentially huge 4/20

This year marks the first time since state legalization that April 20 - the unofficial marijuana

holiday dubbed 4/20

- falls on a Saturday, so retailers in markets with legal adult-use cannabis are

gearing up

for what could prove a record-setting weekend.

MJBizDaily takeaway:

4/20 sales set a high bar last year at $26.6 million in California, Colorado, Nevada and Washington state, according to Headset, a Seattle-based data analytics firm that specializes in cannabis.

Colorado's sales growth on 4/20 outpaced others, with a whopping 128% spike.

By contrast, California - where consumers have griped about high prices for retail cannabis - had lower sales growth at 103%, which some industry analysts blame in large part on the thriving illicit market. But

statewide delivery

, which regulators now allow, could be a game changer that causes sales growth in the Golden State to surpass other adult-use markets.

http://bit.ly/2I68Fi3 April 19, 2019 at 07:45AM, 420GrowLife, KahliBuds