Hemp Wars

The Battle of Botanical Cousins.

Daily recap

All eyes are on Florida, but this time as it pertains to the hemp industry instead of the constitutional amendment to legalize adult-use cannabis in the November election.

Senate Bill 1698, which would, among other things, prohibit the sale of synthetic and intoxicating cannabinoids, was passed by the Senate (39-0) and House (64-48) and is headed for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk for his signature—or maybe it’s not.

DeSantis, who’s a vocal opponent of the upcoming legal cannabis ballot initiative, has threatened to veto the hemp bill, drawing fire for his stunning hypocrisy and exposing an inconvenient truth about the motivations of our elected officials.

Mass Holes

Two Massachusetts agencies have declared that intoxicating hemp-based products cannot be sold outside of licensed dispensaries, and they’ve tasked the local boards of health to enforce what they say is federal law.

The Department of Public Health and Department of Agricultural Resources released a notice to address the influx of hemp-based products such as drinks and gummies that have the same active ingredient as canna products. The notice made explicit that the “addition of CBD and/or THC to food manufactured or sold in Massachusetts is illegal.”

Validation Station

The DEA has only been accepting submissions for two weeks but it has received more than 11,000 submissions thus far, and counting—and if the public comments are any indication, the proposal to reschedule cannabis is well on its way to being approved.

Recent analysis from cannabis data firm Headset found that 97% of the comments submitted through May 29 were in favor of the proposed regulation.

New England Garnish

Lawmakers from New Hampshire’s Senate and House of Representatives have reached a deal on a long-debated piece of legislation that would legalize marijuana for adults, advancing a compromise bill out of a bicameral conference committee Thursday and returning the amended measure to both chambers for final up-or-down votes.

Stocks & Stuff

It was Groundhog’s Day in Cannaland as thin markets and big levels combined for a frustrating session of fits and starts. When the dust settled, the song remained the same and U.S. cannabis ETF MSOS limped to a one percent loss.

Below, we’ll chew through today’s price action, measure the U.S. canna credit scores, check on the technicals, discuss the great hemp debate and posit how this issue will become an electoral prize on both sides of the aisle.

All that and more, just scroll down.

Note: there will be no Cannabis Confidential tomorrow

SPY 0.00%↑ QQQ 0.00%↑ IWM 0.00%↑ MSOS 0.00%↑ ETF Notional: $82M/ $52M

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