total us targeted cannabis ma is down 736 from 102b for the trailing twelve months ended 12722 to 27b for the ltm ended 12723 the first four weeks of 2023 are down even more sharply off nearly 98 from the same period in 2022 two opposite trends are pulling on us ma volume   retrenchment and concentration on cash flow rather than growth as shown by ayrs cancellation of its 55m dispensary purchase in chicago this week and curaleafs exit from three western states the cresco columbia care megadeal hangs in the balance with the arb spread saying that the deal will likely be canceled or recut   distressed asset sales record tightness in the cannabis capital markets ongoing pricing compression and inflationary margin pressures are pushing small to midsized companies into liquidity crises driving increased distressed ma opportunities for the right buyers the rugged operating and financing environment will be healthy for the industry clearing away those unable to respond to the challenges and strengthening those that took the opportunity to improve their cashgeneration capability it will present onceinalifetime opportunities for investorscompaniesacquirers who can discern deep value and assemble distressed assets at deeply discounted prices there has also been a significant change in the statebystate composition of transaction volume   no state accounted for  500m of volume in this years ltm period in contrast 4 states had higher totals last year ca 31b co 991m pa 919m and fl 780m   california whose 31b total is cut off from the light green part of the graph had more ma volume in last years ltm than all 50 states combined this year   washington was the top state in total transaction volume this year due to the 444m merida merger corp spac deal for leafly lfly in february 2022   72 of new yorks total was composed of the april 2022 247m acquisition of etain llc by riv capital   nevada had eight transactions in the ltm led by the 181m acquisition of tryke corp by curaleaf the viridian capital chart of the week highlights key investment valuation and ma trends taken from the viridian cannabis deal tracker the viridian cannabis deal tracker provides the market intelligence that cannabis companies investors and acquirers utilize to make informed decisions regarding capital allocation and ma strategy the deal tracker is a proprietary information service that monitors capital raise and ma activity in the legal cannabis cbd and psychedelics industries each week the tracker aggregates and analyzes all closed deals and segments each according to key metrics   deals by industry sector to track the flow of capital and ma deals by one of 12 sectors  from cultivation to brands to software   deal structure equitydebt for capital raises cashstockearnout for ma status of the company announcing the transaction public vs private   principals to the transaction issuerinvestorlenderacquirer key deal terms pricing and valuation   deals by location of issuerbuyerseller to track the flow of capital and ma deals by state and country since its inception in 2015 the viridian cannabis deal tracker has tracked and analyzed more than 2500 capital raises and 1000 ma transactions totaling over 50 billion in aggregate value