Miracle Whip
The horse is on course.
Daily Recap
Former DEA Administrator Derek Maltz Sr. joined TDR today to inform and educate the American public about the poisonous cannabis being peddled by the Chinese crime rings and Mexican cartels. He touched on a number of topics, including this:
'If you’re a leader, you have to eliminate confusion, not create it… cannabis is illegal federally and legal in states. causing massive confusion. I'm confident that President Trump will dig into this from top to bottom and left to right and figure out what the best way forward is… but what I don’t like is this confusion and disinformation.’
Let’s F*cking Gro
The owner of the major gardening supply company Scotts Miracle-Gro says President Donald Trump has told him directly “multiple times” since taking office that he intends to see through the marijuana rescheduling process.
CEO James Hagedorn told Fox Business in an interview on Thursday that Trump has privately assured him and others that he still plans to facilitate the cannabis reform.
No More Hangovers
While the cannabis and alcohol industries have frequently been at odds, a surge in popularity of THC-infused drinks has ushered in a new era for companies that make alcoholic beverages.
Over the past year, alcohol sales have experienced declines. Beer sales dropped 6%, while wine and spirits sales fell 5.6% and 9%, respectively, but THC-infused drinks have proven to be profitable, with sales expected to reach $1 billion this year alone.
LA LA Land
The passage of adult-use marijuana legalization in Cali is associated with sustained decreases in alcohol consumption, according to data in the journal Addiction.
Researchers identified sustained declines in participants’ weekly drinking patterns, as well as in how often they engaged in heavy episodic drinking, following legalization. Declines were most pronounced among those ages 35 to 49.
“This suggests that cannabis policy changes contributed to a meaningful shift away from higher risk drinking behaviors, potentially reflecting greater substitution effects as compared to younger groups.”
Stocks & Stuff
Stocks fell and treasuries rallied, with short-term yields posting their biggest decline in a year, after softer US jobs data prompted traders to boost bets that the Fed will lower interest rates, perhaps as soon as next month.
It was a relatively quiet session in cannabis—at least until 11:30 AM when Marijuana Moment rehashed the comments from SMG CEO James Hagedorn that were out last night and amplified this morning.
That was enough to trigger a 29% blink-and-you-missed-it spike in U.S. cannabis ETF MSOS, before that faded into the early August sun…which was when “Pops,” sporting 10 D1 lacrosse championship games in his lineage, joined TDR to talk truth.
MSOS started August with a 9% gain, gnawing at its YTD loss (-19%) in its continued bid to earn the comeback ETF of the year which, if that should happen, promises to make for an interesting acceptance speech given all the negative online reviews.
Below, we’ll piece together the croutons, hear the full monty from former DEA Admin Derek “Pops” Maltz Sr., monitor the recent creations and option flows, share the chart and quote of the day, and touch on the players across canna real estate.
All that and more, just scroll down.
SPY 0.00%↑ QQQ 0.00%↑ IWM 0.00%↑ MSOS 0.00%↑ ETF Notional: $43M
Top Stories
Trump Privately Committed To Reschedule Marijuana ‘Multiple Times’ Since Taking Office, CEO Says
ScottsMiracle-Gro CEO speaks to Trump about marijuana legalization 📺
THC drinks' sales to reach $1 billion
Cannabis Legalization in California Associated with Lower Alcohol Consumption
Delaware launches first wave of recreational marijuana retail dispensaries
Delaware Gov. Tours Cannabis Cultivation Facility Ahead of Adult-Use Launch
Police destroy 48,000 pounds of illegal marijuana in California
‘Patients Die’: Critics Slam Australia’s Medical Cannabis Crackdown as Misleading
Industry Headlines
Nevada’s First Dispensary Opened a Decade Ago 👀
Curaleaf Expands Florida Footprint with New St. Augustine, Florida Dispensary
Pregame (written in real-time at 9AM ET)
I contemplated a personal day today but knowing thyself, that’s not in the cards.
Per Java, the ETF had a sixth consecutive creation yesterday—along with those $3-strike fliers that expire today—and of course, the CEO of SMG said he has spoken to President Trump “multiple times” about the looming rescheduling.
“$22,448,000 in the last 6 days and $35,567,000 starting on July 10th” Java
The ETF creations/ recent option flow (Oct/ Jan) are simply croutons and whether that means anything remains to be seen as we walk into fresh Freaky Friday slippage after a soft jobs report with echoes of “I told you so!” (Fed should have lowered rates).
^ I think POTUS wants lower rates to roll trillions of dollars of government paper, but it could be a combination of factors, all of which are above my pay grade.
We’ve seen some solid earnings in our space, thus far—Cannara, Sundial, C21—as we ready for the U.S. Murderer’s Row, which will commence next week (GTI, Cura, Trulieve, Verano, TerrAscend) and continue from there (Village Farms reports on Mon. Aug 11).
Again, we’re not expecting good news from U.S. operators given the continued status quo, but the U.S. side is singularly positioned to scream higher if and when we get the Mott’s as we’ve been old, even if the timing is… elusive.
The technical song remains the same—respect, but don’t defer—as we kick off the last month of Summer and cast our eyes toward what we hope and expect will be a more active autumn season. Good luck today and remember to think positive.
Chart of the Day: Village Farms
Rule of thumb: “the longer the base, the harder the chase.”
Quote of the Day
“Hey Governor Shapiro, it’s time to make history through your leadership. Get a deal done with Senate Republicans & House Democrats on adult-use cannabis. Bipartisan bills are in both chambers. Let’s right the wrongs of the drug war & make PA safer with a legal, regulated market.” Iron Mike Tyson
More Maltzy
Even More Maltzy (IYKYK 👀😄)
Viridian on canna real estate
This week's Viridian Valuation Tracker focuses on valuations for the four public companies that are the most vital members of the Viridian Real Estate Sector -- the top two U.S. Cannabis specialty lenders, Chicago Atlantic and AFC, and the top two sales-leaseback providers, NewLake Capital and Innovative Industrial Properties.
Stems & Seeds
Study finds no increased cardiovascular risk from canna in older heart patients
Have a safe journey and please enjoy responsibly.
If you’d like to help Mission [Green] change federal cannabis policies, please click here.
CB1 has positions in / advises some of the companies mentioned and nothing contained herein should be considered advice.