Penn Station

The Commonwealth needs common sense.

Daily Recap

A GOP Pennsylvania senator is pushing to legalize cannabis at a critical inflection point as a reform proposal has moved through the House and heads to the Senate.

Sen. Gene Yaw (R) said that, historically, prohibition “has not turned out well,” pointing to the country’s experience with alcohol criminalization.

“It makes sense that we regulate it the way we have done with alcohol and gambling, and tax it… for us to bury our head in the sand and say that just because we have not legalized it we are preventing things like that happening… just makes no sense.”

Meanwhile, PA’s Republican AG Dave Sunday said that while he doesn’t support the cannabis legalization bill that passed the House last week—the one we told you was DOA with the state-owned stores—he’s open to changing his mind on the policy.

This marks a meaningful shift for Attorney General, who has previously voiced public safety concerns about enacting adult-use legalization despite the fact that a safe and regulated solution is the only viable long-term solution for his and other states.

Liquid Green Shoots

As more Americans embrace a California sober lifestyle—drinking less alcohol, which they see as harmful to health—the time is ripe for a THC boom. A recent study found a higher number of Americans reported using cannabis every day vs. drinking alcohol.

In 2020, the US market for hemp-derived THC drinks amounted to roughly $400,000, per Brightfield. By 2024, the market had grown ~10X, reaching $382M dollars—and this year and it is expected to expand to $571M.

Bait-and-Switch

A pioneer of New York’s legal medical cannabis market has accused Governor Kathy Hochul and state regulators of being “un-American” for allegedly thwarting his and other legitimate businesses that have invested millions of dollars into the state.

Boris Jordan, a Long Island native, is the founder and CEO of Curaleaf, one of the first companies to open “seed-to-sale” cannabis stores for medical patients in New York a decade ago.

“New York is directly targeting and hurting our business. They asked us to invest in the market, and now they’re trying to bring us down. It’s very un-American, to be honest—it’s not the country I grew up in..” Boris Jordan, Curaleaf CEO

Attention Pam Bondi and Sara Carter 👇

Stocks & Stuff

World peace broke out over the weekend, as evidenced by the sharp rally across Wall Street. While it remains to be seen if the rally holds—we’ll take a look below—it was a circle smirk across most asset classes, excluding canna, where the ETF lost two pennies.

Below, we’ll top-line today and the potential implications, review U.S canna particulars after last week’s earnings, preview the remaining reports—including a potential green shoot—and lend perspective on select valuations.

All that and more, just scroll down.

SPY 0.00%↑ QQQ 0.00%↑ IWM 0.00%↑ MSOS 0.00%↑ ETF Notional: $15M

Top Stories