Cape Fear

U.S canna retests the lows.

Daily Recap

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers called on on the DEA to pursue a “full descheduling” of marijuana, according to a letter obtained by Punchbowl News.

Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Brian Mast (R-Fla.) wrote the letter to Anne Milgram, administrator of the DEA, and asked the agency to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III substance while not losing sight of the need to deschedule the plant.

“The decision to schedule marijuana was rooted in stigma rather than an evidence-based process, and it is time to fully remedy this wrong. Moving marijuana to Schedule III would be an important step in the right direction, but it is not sufficient to correct the wrongs of federal prohibition or to meaningfully address the federal-state gap on cannabis policy.”

Law & Order

In an interview on Higher Exchanges last night, Joshua Schiller said the plaintiffs’ strategy in the lawsuit that was filed yesterday is to get their challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court within the next two years.

“Since I started working with cannabis businesses maybe as long as seven years ago, the next big thing has been right around the corner: ‘Congress is about to’—fill in the blank,” Schiller said. “Our clients have decided we can still look around the corner and hope there’s a legislative solution, but let’s decide whether we can create a permanent change by getting to the courts.”

The dynamic of the Supreme Court—and across society—has changed since a similar case was heard in 2005 and the plaintiffs argue that “the facts today compel a different outcome.” In particular, the federal government intended then to eradicate the market for cannabis nationwide; now, quite obviously, there are robust state-level programs.

There’s another twist: In 2021, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the most conservative justices on the bench, denounced the federal government’s inconsistent approach to marijuana policy and even suggested that outright national prohibition may be unconstitutional. Speaking about the 2005 case, he opined,

“the Federal Government’s current approach to marijuana bears little resemblance to the watertight nationwide prohibition that a closely divided Court found necessary to justify the Government’s blanket prohibition [in the previous case]. If the Government is now content to allow States to act ‘as laboratories’ ‘and try novel social and economic experiments,’ then it might no longer have authority to intrude [and] a prohibition on intrastate use or cultivation of marijuana may no longer be necessary.”

State of Play

Alabama’s Medical Cannabis Commission wants to issue MMJ licenses in December; Marijuana cultivators in Vermont tapped into an opportunity for tourism and events; We look at what Ohio's push for recreational cannabis might mean for Michigan; and the Nebraska AG is suing shops that sell Delta 8 THC products, saying, “It's a game of Russian Roulette that Nebraskans are losing.”

This and That.

65% of Americans said they would use medical marijuana through a clinician to treat anxiety, pain and sleep issues, while 88% of medical marijuana users said it reduced their use of prescription drugs, alcohol or both—which would help explain why big pharma hates this category killer and big alcohol is anxiously waiting in the wings.

A federal health agency awarded a $3.2 million grant to study the impact of marijuana on cancer immunotherapy treatment; and federal agencies funded a new marijuana research center to overcome study barriers that remain imposed by prohibition.

Market of Stocks

It was Groundhog Day in Cannaland as we closed lower anew and began retesting levels last seen when the HHS first shocked the world. Is this shit-show yet another miserable fail or just a lower volume retest before a November to remember? We will attempt to figure some of that out below.

We’ll also game-theory a few scenarios, get to the bottom of the most recent why, sift for signs in the spheres of influence surrounding our new Speaker, eyeball a possible shortage in shorts and chew through some analyst feedback on the latest lawsuit.

All that and more, just scroll down…

SPY 0.00%↑ QQQ 0.00%↑ IWM 0.00%↑ MSOS 0.00%↑ PT Notional: $96M

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