What Happened To Cannabis Analyst Michael Berger?

On May 11, 2024, Michael Berger passed away. His obituary did not say much about his end, though it did say enough to know exactly who he was.

I knew Michael, who started Technical420 in 2014:

I actually was close to Michael in 2014 and hoped that he might work with me at 420 Investor, then hosted at Benzinga. We had a falling out, though, and I wasn't close to him when he died. When I left Benzinga, he was later named the head of its product targeting cannabis investors, ironically.

The obituary talked mainly about things I already knew, though it did mention his girlfriend at the time. I can't find much information about her, though I think she lives in Denver and did send her a message earlier today.

I feel very badly for his parents and his sister. Berger died the day before Mother's Day. The obituary did not say cause of death, and the mention of the place suggested for donations, the congregation of his parents in Florida, did not reveal what might have been the cause.

I have tried hard to find out what happened to Berger, dying at a young age of 35, using the internet. I have read some comments by his partner at Technical420, Anthony Varrell, who appeared to be very sad about Berger's death but never did say exactly what happened.

As I said above, I had been out of touch with Michael, so I had no inside shot of solving this mystery. I have asked a lot of people, and some believed that it may have been suicide. Again, I do not know. The world that he focused on, the cannabis space, was melting down for a few years at the time. At the end of April, just ahead of his death, the cannabis market peaked and was selling off on the "good news" about the DEA moving in the direction to reschedule cannabis. The New Cannabis Ventures Global Cannabis Stock Index spiked on 4/30 to close at 11.71, and on May 10, 2024 it closed at 10.31, down 12% from that peak in 2024 just 10 days earlier.

I regret never being able to repair my broken relationship with Michael. His death, nearly 2 years after I almost died, got in the way of any sort of reconciliation. I left Benzinga at the end of 2022, and he became a competitor of mine in early 2023. I had nothing against him for being in that role. I don't remember exactly why I became so disappointed by him or when exactly that was, but I never really cared for StoneBridge Partners at all. As far as Technical420, he did sell that to a penny stock company in August 2022, PSYC Corp (PSYC). He sold for $2.25 million (partially in stock, which has plunged subsequently), and he became their Chief Operating Officer. The website no longer works, though Technical420 does.

The Michael that I liked commanded respect, and I do like that he exited Wall Street to try to help people better understand cannabis stocks. I am not sure what killed him, but it may have been suicide. Again, I don't know. If he did kill himself, a big question might be why he did so, but I think a better thing to understand is why his family didn't discuss this. I am posting this here to pay my respect for Michael Berger and to perhaps learn more. If you have something you would like to share, you can post a comment below or email me at alan@thc-shopping.com.