Fall Ball

Canna starts Autumn with a Dub.

Daily Recap

With only weeks until the election, the White House is again promoting the Biden-Harris administration’s cannabis policy accomplishments but this time, they’re using less lofty language than during their “Mission Accomplished” moments of the past.

The White House shared an updated webpage that provides an overview of various successes the administration is claiming credit for, including, “Issued a Review to Reschedule Marijuana,” while also mentioning ‘Biden’s mass cannabis pardons.’

Inside-Out

Thanks to a $30 billion state-licensed cannabis economy spanning 38 states—15 of which are Republican states—marijuana legalization is becoming a proxy for classic conservative issues: pro-business, states’ rights and freedom from Big Government.

Jeremiah Mosteller, policy director at AFP, billionaire Charles Koch’s political advocacy group, has been lobbying GOP lawmakers on canna reform since 2018. He says that, after years of perpetuating the war on drugs, the GOP has finally realized that legal cannabis is happening with or without them.

Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) is among the converted. Last December, Joyce introduced the States 2.0 Act, which would formally legalize state markets under federal law. If passed, the state-rights’ approach would mirror how sports betting is now legalized.

Crock Pot

A recent supreme court decision that weakened power at US government regulatory agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has added additional confusion to America’s already chaotic cannabis law.

This month, a federal court was able to overrule the DEA on what qualifies as legal hemp, in part because of a supreme court decision that nullified the Chevron doctrine, which once directed courts to defer to the expertise of federal agencies—but now the reverse will apply and courts may have the final say over highly technical regulations.

“It’s a mess. When you have the DEA saying one thing, you have the farm bill saying another thing, you have the court swinging in one way or the other. It just goes to show that these hemp derived products need to be regulated in a sensible manner.”

Dr. Peter Grinspoon, Harvard Medical School instructor

Raison d'état

A new report by the libertarian nonprofit Reason Foundation blames arbitrary business model structures and their resulting competition for hemp and marijuana on illogical federal laws that conflate the two plants, which are essentially the same with differing cannabinoid profiles.

“The proliferation of intoxicating hemp-derivative products like delta-8 THC stems from the fact that hemp-derivatives are cheaper and more accessible because they are not federally prohibited and not yet burdened by state regulations to the same extent as marijuana.

There is clearly a demand for intoxicating cannabis products, and consumers will continue to seek out such products whether they are defined as marijuana or hemp and whether they are legal or illicit.”

Stocks & Stuff

The Autumn Wind was dank as the first trading session of the Fall season ushered in some green grass. U.S. cannabis ETF MSOS finished the day +5% and swung back to the black YTD—just don’t blink.

Below, we’ll top-line today’s price action, check the charts to see what’s changed, sniff potential reasons for today’s lift, update sector multiples and map some more metrics.

All that and more, just scroll down.

SPY 0.00%↑ QQQ 0.00%↑ IWM 0.00%↑ MSOS 0.00%↑ ETF Notional: $72M

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