Waiting to Exhale

U.S. canna awaits it's fate.

Daily Recap

The U.S. cannabis industry is set for a hiring boom in 2024 after a long and painful contraction that was driven in part by normalized post-COVID consumer behavior as investment capital dried up and the industry waited in vain for federal reform.

Vangst predicts that up to 100,000 new jobs could emerge if cannabis is reclassified to Schedule III. Such a move would reduce tax burdens + immediately drive valuations and investor interest higher, according to an analysis by Viridian Capital Advisors.

The World According to AARP

Approximately one in six middle-aged adults consumed cannabis within the past year, according to survey data. These findings are consistent with other studies that found that cannabis use among older Americans continues to outpace all other age groups. 

“We expect cannabis use among late middle age and older Americans will at least double in the decade ahead. As many as one of every five persons over 50 may be using cannabis in the year 2030, and mostly for a medical condition.”

Garden Sparty

Michigan officials announced they are distributing a new batch of more than $290M in marijuana tax revenue to localities, public schools and a transportation fund. 269 municipalities will be receiving $87M, while education + transportation efforts will each get $102M.

“This week, many Michigan municipalities and counties will begin seeing their share of adult-use marijuana payments appear in their banking accounts.”

Quaker State

California’s legal canna market continues to descend into financial turmoil, according to the latest annual tax figures released this week. The total market has skunk shrunk in size, according to state data, and additional tax information shows hundreds of pot stores are at risk of going out of business.

Stocks & Stuff

Cannaland sat out The Everything* Rally that dominated risk assets for the better part of the day until some late day optimism and an intriguing option bet shook up the mojo. U.S. cannabis ETF MSOS finished +3% but was still -8% for the week.

Below, we’ll unpack the action, chew through a few analyst notes after this week’s trio of earnings, finger that late-day option flow—and why it might matter—and we tie a bow around February as we turn our Ides eyes to March.

All that and more, just scroll down.

SPY 0.00%↑ QQQ 0.00%↑ IWM 0.00%↑ MSOS 0.00%↑ PT Notional: $104M ($48M)

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