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MedMen was once the hottest name in cannabis—a billion-dollar juggernaut that promised to redefine legal weed. It became so culturally significant that South Park parodied its sleek, corporate image, a sign that cannabis had truly gone mainstream. But just like the fictional “Tegridy Weed,” MedMen’s story was about more than branding: It embodied the tension between corporate ambition and cannabis culture, the promise of legitimacy clashing with the industry’s still-uncertain foundation.
That promise didn’t last. Within five years, MedMen had collapsed under the weight of lawsuits, financial struggles and a dramatic boardroom coup.
Now, the company’s controversial co-founder Adam Bierman is telling his side of the story in “Weed Empire: How I Battled Gangsters, Investment Banks, and the Department of Justice to Build the Cannabis Industry in America,” set for release in April 2025 via Simon & Schuster.
Bierman’s team provided early access to the book, which lays out a dramatic account of MedMen’s meteoric rise, internal power struggles and eventual collapse. But was the company’s downfall driven by federal interference, corporate betrayal or its own unsustainable ambitions? The reality, Bierman argues, is more complicated.
“It was all a smoke and mirrors show, a stage set for my greatest performance,” Bierman writes, reflecting on the high-stakes game that was MedMen.
More than just a tell-all, “Weed Empire” is an insider’s account of a cannabis industry torn between Wall Street hype, regulatory chaos and old-school outlaw culture. Bierman paints himself as both a pioneer and a survivor, but MedMen’s story isn’t just about him—it’s about the brutal realities of building a billion-dollar brand in a market that still operates in legal gray zones.
A Vision, A Hustle And A Warzone
Bierman’s story reads like a high-octane drama, mixing entrepreneurial grit with moments that feel straight out of a crime thriller. From negotiating with union leaders to brushing shoulders with political powerhouses, the book dives deep into the relentless hustle required to take cannabis from dispensary counters to Wall Street.
One of the most striking narratives? MedMen’s meteoric rise to a $2 billion valuation, a milestone that cemented its place as the first American cannabis unicorn. The company was everywhere: prime real estate locations, high-end branding and a cultural shift that made walking into a dispensary feel more like shopping at a designer boutique than scoring weed from a local dealer.
However, while Bierman describes MedMen as an industry trailblazer, many insiders argue that the company’s ambitions outpaced its financial foundation. Reports from former employees and industry analysts paint a picture of a company that burned through cash at an unsustainable rate, making big bets on branding and expansion while struggling with liquidity and operational inefficiencies. By the time MedMen filed for bankruptcy in April 2024, it reported $411 million in liabilities—a stark contrast to its once-high valuation.
Bierman acknowledges the financial pressures but insists that MedMen had the funding to back its bold vision—at least for a while. “We had just raised over $100 million in the largest roadshow in the history of American weed, and it was definitely all safe in our company account,” he writes.
But fundraising alone couldn’t offset MedMen’s unsustainable spending. The company’s aggressive expansion strategy—including high-end retail spaces and executive perks—drove its burn rate to unsustainable levels, with financial filings showing operating expenses consistently outpacing revenue.
Lawsuits from former executives and employees alleged mismanagement, a toxic workplace culture and financial irregularities. In 2019, former CFO James Parker sued MedMen for wrongful termination and breach of contract, seeking over $20 million. However, in 2021, a jury ruled in favor of MedMen on all claims, awarding Parker no damages.
Meanwhile, in 2023, Bierman won a $3.1 million arbitration settlement against MedMen, stemming from a dispute over his severance package and the valuation of his super voting shares following his departure as CEO in 2020. According to arbitration filings, Bierman alleged that MedMen and its former executive chairman, Ben Rose, failed to honor an oral agreement for 18 million shares as part of his exit package. The settlement confirmed that MedMen owed Bierman compensation tied to his separation from the company, though it did not address broader allegations of fraud or mismanagement.
The failed $682 million PharmaCann acquisition in 2019 further accelerated MedMen’s downfall. Originally touted as a game-changing merger, the deal collapsed due to regulatory hurdles and MedMen’s own financial instability. The failure left the company with sunk costs, legal complications and lost strategic momentum. As cash reserves dwindled and liabilities mounted, MedMen’s final years became a desperate attempt to restructure debt and salvage operations—efforts that ultimately ended in bankruptcy.
Clashing With The DOJ And The Political Machine
“Weed Empire” also sheds light on the legal roadblocks that shaped MedMen’s fate, particularly Bierman’s claim that the Department of Justice under Attorney General Bill Barr deliberately stalled regulatory approvals for cannabis mergers and acquisitions. He describes MedMen as a target of politically motivated interference, writing:
“I was target numero uno for Barr and his crusade and it had been Barr behind the scenes all along taking shots at ending me and my big red machine.”
While DOJ scrutiny of cannabis industry M&A was real, whether MedMen was uniquely singled out remains disputed. In 2020, a whistleblower testified before Congress that Barr had directed unwarranted antitrust investigations into cannabis deals, but multiple companies—not just MedMen—faced similar obstacles. Some legal analysts argue that regulatory delays were a broader issue within the industry, affecting competitors as well.
Beyond the DOJ, the book captures the complicated dance between cannabis executives and politicians. Bierman describes meeting with Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson at his West Adams office—a neighborhood deeply impacted by the War on Drugs. The community, as Bierman notes, had been “a place where weed had been both a means of survival and a ticket to incarceration and despair.”
Inside Wesson’s office, adorned with photos of President Obama and Magic Johnson, Bierman made his pitch: cannabis legalization wasn’t just about business; it was about “turning the tide, offering opportunities where there were once only dead ends.” He argued that regulated dispensaries could replace the illicit market, bringing jobs to communities that had suffered under prohibition.
Wesson, who had long been a power player in LA’s political system, acknowledged the potential for cannabis to transform the city’s economy and social landscape. “Listen, I want to see nothing more than for weed to be legal and people in our communities to stop being locked up for selling and smoking it,” he reportedly told Bierman. “I really dig what you’re doing, you and I are good.”
For Bierman, this meeting was more than just another political handshake—it was a critical step toward securing MedMen’s role in shaping LA’s cannabis regulations.
The Price Of A High-Stakes Game
MedMen’s rapid expansion and aggressive branding made it a standout name in cannabis, but its lavish spending, operational missteps and leadership controversies fueled its downfall. Critics argue that the company’s rise was driven more by hype than sustainable business fundamentals.
In 2017, Marijuana Business Daily reported that some industry veterans viewed co-founder Adam Bierman as a “greedy, hype-over-substance opportunist” who prioritized flashy marketing over sound business strategy. By 2019, Politico noted that MedMen’s high-profile decline had “exposed the gap between ‘green rush’ hype and the realities” of running a profitable cannabis company. When the company ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2024, MarketWatch summarized its fate by stating that MedMen’s “fortunes went up in smoke,” citing $411 million in liabilities and years of unsustainable financial decisions.
But perhaps the most gripping chapter of “Weed Empire” is a boardroom coup straight out of a Hollywood script. MedMen’s largest investors, including figures from Wicklow Capital, a Chicago-based investment firm and key backer of the company, orchestrated Bierman’s removal in a calculated power play that underscored the cutthroat nature of corporate cannabis. In the book, Bierman describes how Wicklow’s legal counsel told him, “Adam, you’ve lost all credibility, not only with investors on the street but inside of the company itself.” While the book focuses on internal investor frustrations, external reports have also pointed to MedMen’s financial instability and stock decline leading up to Bierman’s departure.
Inside The Boardroom Coup
To give readers a taste of what’s inside “Weed Empire,” below is a full excerpt from the book. This passage details the climactic moment Bierman is forced out of MedMen, a stark reminder of how quickly fortunes change in the cannabis business:
Sneak Attack In The Boardroom
As I arrived at the office early on Monday morning, my trusty purple lunch box in tow, I passed by the conference room and saw Ben Rose and John McCarthy, the attorney from Wicklow, lingering there with their laptops open. This was a bizarre sight indeed, given that Rose and McCarthy were based halfway across the country in Chicago and must have flown in on the sly to be here.
“What’s up, guys?” I greeted them, cautiously joining them at the table, my mind racing to make sense of the situation.
They looked at each other, and Ben mustered up the courage to speak. His words hit me like a right cross to the chin.
“Adam, you’ve lost all credibility, not only with investors on the street but inside of the company itself,” he said.
The speech felt overly rehearsed.
“You’ve lost complete control,” he went on. “Today’s your last day. Get the fuck out,” he said. John leaned in with a more sympathetic tone, attempting to soften the blow of Ben’s harsh words.
“Ben, I think you need to leave the room,” he said, assuming the good cop role in the routine. “Adam, he shouldn’t have been so personal,” John said. “You’ve done so much for all of us, and nobody’s questioning your commitment. You built this fucking industry. But he is right, so let’s work on a transition. I know that you already have an idea, and this has got to be your last week.”
“I have to go work,” I said, and shuffled down the hall and disappeared into my office.
I closed the door, trying to gather my thoughts. I emptied the contents of my lunchbox and placed the cold items in my mini-fridge. The Post-it Laura snuck in saying “We love you, have the best day!” hit me like the perfect liver punch, squeezing every cell in my body. My mind now raced between reality, Laura and the kids, and my video game waiting for me in the conference room. All the thoughts were flying, with no room to breathe. I turned and put on my best stoic warrior face to find Dan Edwards, one of our attorneys, standing in my office.
“Adam, I don’t know what’s happening, but these guys are running around in the legal office saying you’re leaving?”
I glanced across the office and saw Esther seated in her office with McCarthy and Ben Rose. It was clear they were up to no good, conspiring to sabotage my position.
The Industry Reckons With The MedMen Legacy
With “Weed Empire,” Bierman aims to reshape the narrative around his controversial reign at MedMen. However, the broader industry context suggests that MedMen’s fall was not simply a story of personal betrayal or political persecution—it was also a reflection of the cannabis sector’s volatile nature, financial missteps and the growing pains of an industry still fighting for legitimacy.
Whether readers see him as a visionary, a villain or a victim, one thing is certain: the cannabis industry will be talking about this book for a long time.
But MedMen’s fate isn’t just a story of one company’s collapse; it’s a case study of what happens when capital markets, legalization hurdles and corporate ambition collide. As cannabis legalization advances, the industry faces a new era of consolidation, regulation and financial scrutiny. The real question isn’t just whether MedMen was ahead of its time, but whether today’s cannabis giants have learned from its mistakes.
“}]] An early look at “Weed Empire,” Adam Bierman’s upcoming memoir on MedMen’s rise, collapse, legal battles and dramatic boardroom showdown. Read More
