Red on the Head
Daily Recap
Cannabis will be legal in over half the United States if several ballot measures pass next week, and lobbyists are confident that at least a few will succeed.
Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota residents will vote on initiatives calling to legalize adult-use marijuana, while Nebraska will look to legalize medical use.
NORML Political Director Morgan Fox told Newsweek the group remains confident that the efforts are "winnable" if close, citing recent polling in each state, although conservative outlets are less sanguine, with one warning of an impending “red wall.”
In for a Dime
Trulieve, a major player in Florida's cannabis industry, added another $28M to support a political committee working to pass a constitutional amendment allowing adult-use marijuana in the state, which brings the company's total contributions to $141M.
Meanwhile, the opposition, led by Governor Ron DeSantis (R), has also made a push as allies, including Sen. Byron Donalds (R-FL), have come out against the measure.
Fashionably Late
New York State now has a total of 165 legal adult-use dispensaries and according to the OCM, the demand for legal cannabis continues to trend in the right direction.
“In Q124, we sold $100M dollars of cannabis. In Q224, we sold over $160M dollars of cannabis, so almost $60M of growth between the first and second quarters, and the third quarter looks on pace to surpass the second quarter.”
Blue Grass
Kentucky awarded its first 26 medical cannabis licenses through a lottery held Monday in Louisville. The first round of licenses went to 16 cultivators and 10 processors and Gov. Andy Beshear (D) called the drawing a “big step forward.”
Stocks & Stuff
It was another soft session in Cannaland as the election trade seemingly continued, with perceived winners of a red regime, such as DJT 0.00%↑ higher, and industries traditionally aligned with Dems, such as solar( TAN 0.00%↑ ) and cannabis, lower.
MSOS finished the session down 7% and has given back all of last Tuesday’s rally and then some, and the U.S. canna ETF is now -3% YTD.
Below, we’ll top-line the landscape, map catalysts for the next several weeks, preview the upcoming state-level votes, unpack the current themes driving the sector, take a deeper dive on Verano and offer some random thoughts.
All that and more, just scroll down.
SPY 0.00%↑ QQQ 0.00%↑ IWM 0.00%↑ MSOS 0.00%↑ ETF Notional: $85M
Top Stories
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Cannabis Confidential to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.