
Fire chars local cannabis landscape
The Rogue Valley’s cannabis industry took a huge blow from the fast-moving Almeda fire Sept. 8, which wiped out five dispensaries and burned up expensive, uninsurable inventories between (but not in) Medford and Ashland. In Talent, fire leveled the Talent Health Club and Grateful Meds. In Phoenix, Fireside, Hijinx and Pharm to Table were lost. The blaze started on the northwest edge of Ashland during extremely hot, dry and windy conditions, and burned up through the Highway 99/Interstate 5 corridor, taking out huge sections of Talent and Phoenix. A few weed farms were singed. It was Southern Oregon’s greatest catastrophe