WeedWorthy News Network

Canopy Growth Corporation (TSX: WEED) (NYSE: CGC) reported first-quarter fiscal 2021 net revenue increased 22% to $110 million.

For years, cannabis stocks were the greatest thing since sliced bread on Wall Street. The expectation of ongoing state-level legalization in the U.S., coupled with Canada becoming the first industrialized country in the modern era to give marijuana the green light, was forecast to send pot stock valuations into the heavens -- and for a period of time this is precisely what happened.

However, marijuana stock investors have received a dose of reality since the end of March 2019. Supply issues have been persistent throughout Canada, whereas exorbitant tax rates on legal weed remain problematic in the United States. Though the long-term outlook for the legal pot industry is still very compelling, the near-term appears challenging.

This is especially true for the Canadian marijuana industry.

Canadian pot stocks appeared to have a clear path to outperform in Q2

Canada was expected to be a cannabis leader, but it completely blew its chance to be the industry's blueprint due to regulatory-based miscues and overzealous capacity expansion.

Then again, Canada looked to be turning the corner during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. According to Statistics Canada, revenue from licensed cannabis stores has been hitting record highs. Here are the latest monthly cannabis store sales figures (all figures in Canadian dollars (CA$)):

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has launched a Consumable Hemp Program “to provide clarity for future license and registration holders, as well as adequate safeguards for consumers,” the agency says on its website.

The program will regulate the manufacturing, processing, distribution and sale of consumable hemp products in the state, including those with cannabidiol (CBD), according to a news release. DSHS is currently accepting applications online for manufacturers and retailers.

Texas’ program comes at a time when industry members across the country are calling for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to implement a regulatory framework for CBD products. The state joins a growing number of states across the country, including Florida and Virginia, that have opted to create their own framework for CBD businesses to work within.

"With the passage of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, Texas was seeing an exponential influx of products derived from, or including hemp, from lipsticks to lotions to CBD oils," Sen. Charles Perry, Senate sponsor of H.B. 1325, which legalized hemp in the state, says in a news release. "These products were coming from states and countries that may not require robust testing or labeling. House Bill 1325 added some of the strongest consumer protections in the nation to ensure these products are safe for consumers. I am pleased to see that these safeguards are being implemented by DSHS to help guarantee our fellow Texans will be purchasing safe products."

The program went into effect Aug. 2 and requires a license to manufacture, process and distribute consumable hemp. The fee for an initial license is $258 per facility and valid for a year. 

This August 15, viewers on several major streaming services will have the opportunity to tune in to the premiere of the “first-ever cannabis business competition show” hosted by Advanced Nutrients founder and CEO, BigMike Straumietis. 

Shows involving cannabis have become increasingly popular in the U.S., according to data released earlier this year. Figures show that more than a million American households streamed marijuana content last year, up by 42% compared to 2018. 

The adult-use cannabis market in Illinois is booming. Illinois has sold about $300 million worth of cannabis products since the adult-use market opened in January.  The state hit record-breaking sales once again in July and is expected to continue on an upwards curve as the market grows and stabilizes. 

A lot of Illinois’ sales can be attributed to COVID-19. Dispensaries were declared essential businesses and remained open during America’s closing period over March and April. The Illinois adult-use cannabis market continues to set records, and has since May. The Chicago Tribune reported July’s sales as a 75% increase over February, the lowest reported sales at $34.8 million. Many cannabis brands reported their customers to be using more cannabis products than normal due to their heightened stress levels during the pandemic and other issues happening in the United States during this time. 

Adult-use cannabis went into law in Illinois on June 25th, 2019 when it received Governor Jay Pritzker’s signature. It was the 11th state in the US to legalize cannabis for recreational purposes and the first to do so via legislative action. The bill passed 66-47 after being revised to a slightly more restrictive version. 

Adult-use sales began on January 1st, 2020. The state reported sales to reach $110 million from the sale of 2.6 million cannabis items in the first three months of operation, with $3.6 million of that being on the first day. The data confirms roughly 75% of that spending to be coming from residents of Illinois. The Illinois adult-use market is predicted to experience enormous growth – with sales expected to surpass $1 billion in sales in 2025. According to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, the state sold $60,956,981.41 worth of cannabis products and 1,270,063 cannabis items. 

Linda Marsicano is the Vice President of Corporate Communications for Green Thumb Industries (OTC:GTBIF). Green Thumb Industries has eight cannabis retail stores in Illinois. She told Green Market Report, “After record-breaking sales in June of $47.6 million, Illinois adult-use cannabis sales increased by more than 25% month-over-month to $60.9 million in July. Throughout the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the cannabis industry has successfully pivoted and continued to safely operate as an essential service. We continue to see strong demand for adult-use cannabis, an increase in supply as operators ramp up capacity and new store openings throughout the state.  We look forward to the next chapter for Illinois’ cannabis industry with the award of social equity licenses in the near future.” 

Legal marijuana products contain extraordinary levels of THC, which could cause dependence and mental health issues with habitual use.

The marijuana you see in stores today isn’t like what the hippies rolled in the 70s. If you follow cannabis news, you have likely heard some version of that sentiment by a public health official. Last year, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams claimed that today’s cannabis “ain’t your mother’s marijuana” but was three times stronger than weed in the 1990s.

Marijuana advocate and Canadian author Dana Larsen actually calculated how strong today’s cannabis would be if you accepted similar lawmaker sentiments throughout history. That includes claims by 2002 White House Drug Czar John Walters, who said that cannabis at the time was 30 times stronger than what baby boomers smoked, and current Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden, who once argued that comparing 1990s weed to cannabis in the 60s was like “comparing buckshot in a shotgun shell to a laser-guided missile.”

Using all of these historical statements would mean that today’s cannabis is 12,600 times stronger than it was in the 60s, according to Larsen’s calculations. And while that is highly unlikely, we shouldn’t discount how and why cannabis potency has changed in the past decade or so.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) released a study last week that examined THC concentrations of weed products sold in legal dispensaries. The report was requested by the Colorado General Assembly. Longitudinal reports like this that are focused on markets in Colorado and Washington provide great insight into the state of legal weed and its effects on consumers, as the two states were the first to legalize recreational cannabis.

A review of published literature has found that chronic pain patients who use cannabis in addition to pharmaceutical medications showed a reduction in their use of opioids and required fewer visits to the emergency room. The study, “Medical cannabis for the reduction of opioid dosage in the treatment of non-cancer chronic pain: A systematic review,” was published last week in the journal Systematic Reviews.

To conduct the meta-analysis, researchers associated with the Mel and Enid Zuckerman School of Public Health at the University of Arizona searched online databases to identify original research conducted to study the effects of medical cannabis use as an adjunct therapy for patients using opioids to treat non-cancer chronic pain. A total of 2,440 unique studies were screened by the authors, who chose the full text of nine studies that qualified for inclusion in the review. The nine selected studies involved 7,222 participants with chronic pain not related to cancer, many of whom were able to reduce or eliminate their use of opioids with medical cannabis. 

The investigators documented “a much higher reduction in opioid dosage, reduced emergency room visits, and hospital admissions for chronic non-cancer pain by MC [medical cannabis] users, compared to people with no additional use of MC. There was 64 to 75 percent reduction in opioid dosage for MC users and complete stoppage of opioid use for chronic non-cancer pain by 32 to 59 percent of MC users, when compared to patients without additional use of MC.”

50 Million Americans Suffer Chronic Pain

The study noted that one in five Americans, or 50 million people, suffer from chronic pain not associated with cancer, the magnitude of which “has led to the proliferation of opioid prescriptions and addiction which is currently a public health concern in the USA.” The use of opioids carries significant risks, including the development of tolerance which can lead to the use of even higher doses and result in addiction.

“Given the current opioid epidemic in the USA and medical cannabis’s recognized analgesic properties, MC could serve as a viable option to achieve opioid dosage reduction in managing non-cancer chronic pain,” the authors of the study wrote in their conclusion.

So long as it is extremely difficult and expensive to start and run a licensed cannabis business, there will be people who opt for the illicit market.

It seems like every week, there’s a new announcement of state or local enforcement actions or raids of allegedly unlicensed cannabis operators in California. Some time ago, this would have been welcome news to many licensed cannabis businesses in the Golden State that pay large sums of money to get licensed while illicit market operators can offer cheaper, tax-free products to consumers at a huge competitive (though not legal) advantage. Nevertheless, it’s becoming clearer that nothing the state is doing is really changing the illicit market, and this offers little solace to the participants in the regulated market.

To date, legislative efforts to ratchet up penalties haven’t really disincentivized unlicensed activity. For example, AB-97, a bill that passed in mid-2019 that authorized penalties of up to $30,000 per day for unlicensed activities, didn’t end California’s illicit market. In fact, a few months after that law passed, I wrote a post citing a then-recent audit that showed that there were nearly 3,000 unlicensed cannabis businesses in the state.

As I write this post, California continues to struggle with its illicit market. The state is considering adopting another bill (AB-2122) that would authorize similar, $30,000/day penalties against landlords and other third parties that aid and abet unlicensed operators, and the state indicated it would like to expand its police enforcement team. This is on top of the seemingly weekly news of raids and other enforcement activities.

Will these enforcement efforts really end or even significantly hamper California’s illicit market? In my opinion, the answer is a clear “no”–at least without a lot more help. As I wrote in 2019:

Penn State College of Medicine researchers have found products containing cannabinoids may have impacts on the effects of some conventional prescription drugs.

The researchers have put together a list of 57 medications that may not function as intended when used with cannabis products including medical cannabinoids, CBD oil and medical or recreational marijuana. This could involve prescription drugs not being as effective, or their effects boosted. All the prescription drugs listed have a narrow therapeutic index – meaning the doses are usually prescribed at levels high enough to be effective, but not at a level that could cause harm.

There are some widely used medications on the list including warfarin, which is an anti-coagulant that prevents blood clots from forming.  Warfarin is commonly used to prevent stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation, valvular heart disease or artificial heart valves. Other classes of drugs include, but are not limited to, antibiotics, anti-convulsants and pain medications.

The researchers, Professor Kent Vrana and pharmacist Paul Kocis, have also published a list of 139 medications that could have a potential drug-drug interaction with a cannabinoid.

This is important research that demonstrates why it’s important for doctors to brush up on cannabis and for patients to be honest with their doctors about their cannabis use, whether its medicinal or recreational.

Late Friday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge James Smith ruled that the Smart and Safe Act ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in Arizona did not mislead voters about key provisions in its 100-word summary, as a frivolous lawsuit by a local anti-marijuana group claimed.

Overcoming the lawsuit and getting the initiative’s signatures certified by the Arizona Secretary of State are the last hurdles for the initiative to get onto the ballots this November, Arizona Capitol Times reported. In early July, the initiative submitted 420,000 signatures to the Secretary of State, which was about 180,000 more than the state required.

“At 100 words, the summary also cannot include everything,” Smith wrote. “That is why the full initiative must accompany the petition.” He continued, “This initiative is plain: It wants to legalize recreational marijuana. That is the principal provision. It is unlikely electors signing these petitions would be surprised by cascading effects of legalizing a formerly illegal substance.”

The lawsuit also claimed that marijuana legalization would lead to minors being exposed to marijuana-related advertising.

In his response, Smith said, “Voters will not be surprised that sellers (dispensaries) may advertise a now-legal product if the initiative passes.” He said it’d be no different than other adult products that are already advertised, from medical marijuana products to “condom commercials to ubiquitous beer advertisements.”

Thailand’s ailing economy, particularly its tourism and agriculture sectors, is poised to get a boost from new rules that ease the private cultivation and sale of medical marijuana.

The Cabinet amended the Narcotics Act on Aug. 4, pending Parliament’s approval, to allow private medical operators -- a category including some traditional medicine practitioners and farmers -- to grow and trade the crop including for both export and import. The move expands a cornerstone policy of Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who bet that the controlled legalization of marijuana would boost the wellness, travel and agriculture sectors.

The latest plan will lift limits imposed when the country in 2018 became the first in Southeast Asia to legalize medicinal use of the herb. It also follows the opening in January of a medical-marijuana clinic in the Health Ministry facilities that offer free medicine to its patients. This does not include the 147 authorized clinics in the country that are currently able to prescribe it.

Since the beginning of the year, the marijuana sector has underperformed dramatically. The effects of COVID-19, oversupply in Canada, and falling consumer spending are all leading investors to get out of weed stocks en masse, with little regard for long-term outlook.

However, the market has changed dramatically from even just a quarter ago. There are now 1,000 marijuana stores open in Canada, and a federal bill to legalize weed in the U.S. was proposed by Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) on July 31. When an entire sector becomes battered, it often creates opportunities for investors to buy top-performing businesses at a bargain price. Today, let's take a look at two companies that fit this category.

These Marijuana Stocks are Growing at an Incredible Rate
 

Marijuana stocks have seen a massive amount of growth in the past few years. While this growth has been much greater in the last few months, the overall momentum of pot stocks has remained positive. But as always, some marijuana stocks to watch are growing at a faster rate than others. The cannabis industry is a fast-paced market and one that can push some companies up quicker than it does for other cannabis businesses. With that, there are several ways to identify a winning marijuana stock.

The industry doesn't have the political clout or voter passion behind them to push weed over the finish line, but you can help.

Despite evidence that two-thirds of Americans support legalizing cannabis, federal moves towards legalization have been small and halting. Even simple measures, such as regulating banking in states where cannabis is legal, have a tough time getting support in Washington. Think about that.  How many issues in today’s polarized society have a two-thirds consensus? You’d think politicians could unite to present a rare bipartisan win and get on with it. You’d also think that presidential candidates scrambling for votes in a close election would want to tap into that 66 percent.

But unfortunately, you'd think wrong. What is going on?

Powerful opponents, little passion 

It’s true that some of the most influential people in politics oppose cannabis legalization. Mike Crapo, the chair of the Senate Banking Committee, comes to mind. Joe Biden has some personal opposition to legalization, as he was complicit in the War On Drugs back in the day. Recently, Biden successfully avoided supporting full legalization of marijuana in his unity message with former rival Bernie Sanders and in the Democratic Party platform. President Trump has been hot and cold on the subject, honoring an agreement with Colorado Senator Cory Gardner to hold back federal raids on state-legal cannabis operations but also appointing two consecutive anti-legalization Attorneys General. The second one, Bill Barr, has abused the antitrust laws to frustrate the industry.

But despite this opposition, individual actors, no matter how powerful, could not stop a large bi-partisan move towards legalization. The reason legalization is not moving forward is that its support is wide but not deep. A solid majority of Americans want legal cannabis, but it’s not a particularly important issue. 

But first, we need to do these 5 things.

Billions of dollars are sitting at the doorstep of Capitol Hill, begging to participate in the economy. But with some wise moves by the Federal government and regulatory agencies, cannabis-generated revenue could be a significant answer to our financial crisis stemming from the pandemic. 

For proof, look at the numbers. In 2019, the cannabis industry generated $629.3 million in tax revenue. Thirty-three thousand jobs were added in the United States, bringing the total to 250,000 jobs. The federal legalization of marijuana would create more jobs, provide potential breakthrough medical advancements, and possibly help reverse social injustice.

Some doctors in Western Australian and their patients should have easier and faster access to medical cannabis resulting from a deal signed between Jupiter Health Clinics and Montu.

Founded in 2011, Jupiter Health and Medical Services is a network of more than 300 doctors in 30 medical practices across the state, and is one of the largest networks of GPs in Western Australia.

Montu works with doctors in Australia to support them in developing pathways to medical cannabis access for their patients. It also has a brand of medical cannabis products called “Circle” that are produced as part of a white label agreement with Canadian licensed producer, Aleafia Health Inc.

Montu will be working with Jupiter’s GP’s to educate and provide guidance on how medical cannabis can be prescribed to treat more than 30 conditions.

“Despite significant patient growth in Australia, medical cannabis is still seen as a niche treatment option and this partnership is a significant step to integrate cannabis into medical practice more broadly.” said Montu Managing Director Christopher Strauch.

CBD could prove to be an effective treatment for people suffering from marijuana use disorder, the results of a new study published this week have shown. 

Inspired by a “substantial and unmet clinical need” for the treatment of cannabis use disorders, researchers from the University of Bath in the UK conducted a double-blind randomized controlled trial that uncovered the potential of cannabidiol in helping people addicted to weed quit the habit. 

Eighty-two people identified as being addicted to marijuana participated in the study. During the first study, participants were given either a placebo or prescription-grade CBD twice a day for a period of four weeks. Those given CBD received a daily dose of either 200 mg, 400 mg or 800 mg. 

Although those given 200 mg of the non-psychoactive compound found in marijuana saw no improvement in their condition, study participants on the higher doses of CBD significantly cut back on their marijuana use. Moreover, no adverse effects were reported among participants. 

“There are currently no safe and effective treatments available for prescription to help people with cannabis use problems. This is a large and unmet clinical need and could help people to quit in an acceptable treatment format,” Tom Freeman, who co-authored the study published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, told Inverse. 

Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON) (TSX: CRON) stock fell over 13% to lately trade at $6.03 after the company reported a net loss for the second quarter of $107 million versus last year’s earnings of $185 million for the same time period. The loss of $0.31 cents per share was worse than the FactSet estimate for a loss of $0.07 per share.