Daily Recap
As federal agencies work to complete a marijuana scheduling review, President Joe Biden is touting his role in directing that process, as well as cannabis pardons he’s issued, as part of his proclamation declaring April to be “Second Chance Month.”
The mention of scheduling in his proclamation is notable as Biden has stuck to promoting his clemency actions when discussing cannabis reform in the past.
People over Politics
Florida’s Supreme Court ruled against the state attorney general and will allow a cannabis legalization initiative to appear before voters on the November ballot.
While AG Ashley Moodier (R) asked the court to invalidate the measure, the justices sided with advocates and affirmed its constitutionality after the market close today.
Politics Over People
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) formally vetoed legal cannabis sales legislation that was sent to him by lawmakers about a month ago, saying “the proposed legalization of retail marijuana in the Commonwealth endangers Virginians’ health and safety.”
What he should have said, but was too much of a wuss to say, was:
“I won’t let politics take priority over the good people of the Commonwealth. As U.S. government health agencies have told us, cannabis is less harmful than alcohol and as we’ve seen in 24 other states, a legal, regulated framework is not only good for our citizens, it’s great for our economy.”
Chef’s Kiss!
France launched a nationwide experiment to test medical cannabis for patients with serious illnesses three years ago. The first results arrived in 2023, when patients said that their symptoms improved significantly with no unexpected side effects and no reported cases of substance abuse or addiction.
Preparations to make prescribed cannabis-based medicines more readily available, including a plan to offer it in pharmacies, is now under way for 2025.
“Cannabis-based medicines are currently dispensed in hospitals or in hospital pharmacies but in the long-run, most of them will become available in regular pharmacies much like any other drug.” -Dr. Nicolas Authier
Stocks & Stuff
It was a muted session for most of the day ahead of that 4PM ET Florida Supreme Ct. decision as structural influences pulled MSOS toward outsized open interest at $10.
For it’s part, the Canadian kind was a mixed bag, weighed down by Canopy Growth and helped along, once again, by Village Farms.
Below, we’ll chew through today’s price action, dig into the recent news, update SAFE Banking backers, weigh the Florida horses, update our weekly comps, and put all this volatility into the proper perspective.
All that and more, just scroll down.
SPY 0.00%↑ QQQ 0.00%↑ IWM 0.00%↑ MSOS 0.00%↑ PT Notional: $175M ($102M)
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.