NY Canna Arrives
Revelry NYC captures the moment.
Daily Recap
Only licensed medical doctors or doctors of osteopathic medicine can currently certify patients for Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis program but if a new proposal passes, nurses and podiatrists would also be able to register patients for a PA MMJ card.
If approved by the state’s health secretary, it would expand a program that already boasts hundreds of thousands of active patients, and give them more options in the process. This is separate and apart from the legislative push to pass adult-use.
Nug in the Oven
A new report from a reproductive rights organization finds that pregnancy-related prosecutions are at an all-time high in the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court decision that ended the nationwide right to abortion and by far the most common criminal allegation facing pregnant people is that they used marijuana during pregnancies
The report identified 210 criminal cases filed against people for conduct associated with pregnancy, pregnancy loss or birth during the first year after high court’s Dobbs ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade. Of those, 203 cases—nearly 97%—involved allegations of substance use during pregnancy.
Texas Tease
An updated version of the U.S. Farm Bill likely won’t arrive for another year, which will leave states to formulate their own hemp regulations. The list of stateside disputes is growing, with California and New Jersey having imposed sweeping bans, and Georgia rolling out a set of restrictions on Tuesday.
The Texas hemp industry faces a different challenge as it awaits a state Supreme Court decision that could reshape the market for hemp-derived products. “The way that ban’s language was written, it includes anything that could contain a trace of delta-8, which would be all cannabinoids,” a Texas hemp rep told Green Market Report.
Raising Arizona
The state of Arizona can’t suspend someone’s driver’s license because they have THC in their bloodstream unless they are actually impaired while behind the wheel, the AZ Court of Appeals ruled, upholding a provision in a marijuana legalization law.
Stocks & Stuff
It was another nothingburger in Cannaland as the specter of change wrestles with the notion of tax-loss selling. U.S. cannabis ETF MSOS finished the session flat, which also happens to be where it’s sitting YTD, on still-anemic volume.
Below, we’ll top-line the landscape and showcase the opening session of Revelry NYC, which highlighted how New York State has officially entered the U.S. cannabis chat.
All that and more, just scroll down.
SPY 0.00%↑ QQQ 0.00%↑ IWM 0.00%↑ MSOS 0.00%↑ ETF Notional: $35M
Top Stories
Thousands more Pennsylvania medical professionals could approve cannabis patients under proposals
Texas hemp sellers rally as statewide ban case heads to high court
Arizona Court Says Marijuana Users Must Be Impaired To Be Punished For DUI
NYS Office Of Cannabis Management Publishes Three-year Study Report
Missouri Attorney General to help crack down on intoxicating hemp products
Michigan marijuana sales boom fueled by low flower prices
14 licenses for cannabis social clubs granted in 4 German federal states
Cayman Islands to ask voters whether to ease marijuana laws
Industry Headlines
Curaleaf Continues Florida Expansion with Opening of Port St. Lucie Dispensary
Green Thumb cannabis workers in New Jersey seek right to exit union
Trulieve sues Florida GOP over ‘deceptive’ anti-cannabis ads
Cannabis Company Stiiizy Pays Below Minimum Wage, Suit Says
Cannabist lender fed up with being ghosted
Pregame (written in real-time at 8AM ET)
We fire up our systems for the final frame of the week to find our space doing what our space has done a lot of: meandering aimlessly in an attempt to join the broader market party.
MSOS has done the dookie dance between $6 and $8 since the end of May and the ETF opens this morning in the middle of that road. Volumes, or lack thereof, are the bigger story here, and these names remain a public reflection of private equity.
There are 32 days until the election, which may also be a hallmark moment for U.S. cannabis if the great state of Florida can indeed flip green. While this should be an exciting time for the space, the mood has been far from festive.
In fact, some are concerned that Florida, as big as it'd be for industry revenues and red state normalization, may not matter for the stocks until the custody and capital market fuckery is addressed.
We've discussed this already—Florida would matter, perhaps more for the companies than the stocks, at least initially, but we also know that moods and minds would shift right quick if and when MSOS can punch through $8.20
From here to there, we'll control what we can control and navigate the rest.
On a housekeeping note, I'll be attending a NYC canna event today before traveling to Chicago on Monday for Benzinga and Nevada to sit with Sonny and C21 after that—not that anything ever happens when I step away from the babysitter screens.
New York State of Mind
If there was ever a Hair Club for Men moment, it was March 30, 2021.
That’s when New York state finally legalized adult-use cannabis. I, like so many others who chose to pursue this professional path, had a story, and I, like everyone else that was anywhere close to the New York rollout, was let down.
Unlike other states that leveraged successful medical frameworks—which makes sense if you want to scale and service a large-scale market—New York, well-intentioned as they might have been, rolled out our market ass-backwards.
It’s hard enough to launch a new industry that has to compete with an illicit market and/ or a legal hemp market, its another thing to try to do that and legislate wealth.
I wasn’t planning on attending the Revelry NYC event. I didn’t even know about it until my buddy Brett extended an invite earlier this week and, after another friend brought it up the next day, I figured it must have been a sign from the Cosmos.
The first thing that jumped out was the mood. If you’re new here, the canna space has been pretty dark for some time, ex-a few outliers. Four years into the malaise, after all the D.C delays, state-level disappointments, uneven retail distribution, onerous tax rates and that whole hemp thing, we’ve missed a helluva bull market.
But the energy in the room today was palpable as I walked in and gravitated toward the first familiar faces I found at Green Thumb. As a flower purist, I’m a brand stan and I smoothly glad-handed some Rhythm as Lincoln and his team held court.
Feeling an excitement that one can only feel after someone shares kindness like that, I stumbled into the Curaleaf den, which was spearheaded by Kylie Davis.
I didn’t introduce myself immediately, choosing instead to observe as I Facetimed CIO Camilo Lyon. Camilo is a pal from his BTIG days, and I thought of him because of a story that I shared with Kylie after Camilo was too busy to answer his phone.
“You know, Camilo used to ask me why I never mentioned Cura flower and I told him, honestly, that it tasted like the McDonald french fries of the weed—fun in a fix but not something you wanna eat every day.”
I knew what I was doing, as Camilo had been all over me to retry their flower after they focused on their grow ops, and I could tell immediately Kylie was the type of person who’d take my statement in the manner intended—as a thrown gauntlet.
She proceeded to hand me a jar of Singapore Sling diamond infused flower and all I can say is that after I returned home today and had some sush w my kid, I fired that puppy up and… I won’t be handing off Grassroots anytime soon.
[^ also why this column is hours late]
Speaking of delicious flower, my guys at PharmaCann were there. Well, not Brett, but his team, which, from what the cool kids tell me, are crushing it with their P3s. I’m at the age where our (older) kids are in college and I spy a lot of love for those blunts.
It wasn’t just Big Dogs enjoying the atmosphere; the energy was infectious...
The brands were unique and innovative…
And, while the due diligence will be rigorous—top down and bottoms-up research is on tap this weekend—someone has to do it and that someone is me.
New York is on pace for more than a billion dollars in top-line sales this year and from the look, feel and smell of it, there will be a lot more where that came from.
Stems & Seeds
The Feds Are Hiring Contractors To Roll Hundreds Of Thousands Of ‘Marijuana Cigarettes’ For Research
Navigating the Uncertain Waters of Marijuana Research in the U.S.
Cannabis Has Become Upscale Chic. I Miss the Old Red-Eyed Stoners.
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.