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TDR’s Top 7 Cannabis Developments For The Week Of September 18

Welcome to TDR’s review of the Top 7 Cannabis Developments for the week of September 18. Aside from presenting a synopsis of news events, interviews…

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Welcome to TDR’s review of the Top 7 Cannabis Developments for the week of September 18. Aside from presenting a synopsis of news events, interviews and closing market prices for publicly-listed companies.

7. Zuanic & Associates: SAFE Banking Likely Has The 60 Votes Needed In The Senate To Avoid A Filibuster

Zuanic & Associates’ latest report outlines a roadmap for the SAFE Banking Act in the US cannabis industry, emphasizing the significance of rescheduling, US exchange uplisting, and a potential “Cole Memo II” (Garland Memo) as more critical catalysts than the bill itself.

According to Zuanic, delays in the mark-up vote could, potentially, signify positive developments. The SAFE Act filed jointly in both the House and Senate in 2023, has gained bipartisan support, and the delays may be aimed at securing more votes.

6. Congressional Committee Approves Bill To Remove Marijuana As Barrier To Federal Employment Or Security Clearances

A key House committee has approved a bipartisan bill on Wednesday that would prevent the denial of federal employment or security clearances based on a candidate’s past marijuana use.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee passed the Cannabis Users’ Restoration of Eligibility (CURE) Act—sponsored by Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)—in a 30-14 vote. All Democrats backed the measure, along with ten Republicans.

However, prior to passage, members first adopted an amendment from Chairman James Comer (R-KY) to scale back certain provisions.

5. GOP Committee Chairman Seeks To Scale Back Bill On Removing Federal Marijuana Employment Barriers Ahead Of This Week’s Vote

The chairman of a key House committee is proposing to significantly scale back a bipartisan bill on marijuana-related protections for federal workers that’s scheduled for a vote in his panel this week.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee is scheduled to hold a markup of the Cannabis Users’ Restoration of Eligibility (CURE) Act—sponsored by Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)—on Wednesday. But ahead of that meeting, Chairman James Comer (R-KY) filed an amendment in the nature of a substitute (ANS) that would eliminate some of the bill’s central provisions.

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Chart Of The Week:Tier-2/3 Price Increase In Recent Rally Since Aug 29/23

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Interview Of The Week

In our latest The Dales Report Cannabis Exclusive, we talk to the CEO of High Tide, Raj Grover, discussing the remarkable growth and financial performance of High Tide in the thriving US cannabis market.

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What HHS Schedule III Recommendation Could Mean and What Comes Next

Leading legal experts discuss the Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendation to the Drug Enforcement Agency to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III, what its potential implications could be for the industry and the legalization movement, and what still needs to happen before rescheduling becomes a reality.

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Widely Held MSOs & LP Weekly Performance

CompanySymbolPrevious Week CloseEnd Of Week Close% Change On Week
AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETFMSOS9.078.04-11.35
Aurora CannabisACB0.98280.7511-23.57
Ayr WellnessAYRWF3.032.85-5.94
Canopy GrowthCGC1.350.84-37.77
Cresco LabsCRLBF2.462.09-15.04
Curaleaf HoldingsCURLF5.374.30-19.92
Green Thumb IndustriesGTBIF11.9010.72-9.91
High Tide Inc.HITI1.691.9817.15
Marimed Inc.MRMD0.510.46-9.80
TerrAscend Corp.TSNDF2.132.11–0.93
Tilray BrandsTLRY2.932.40-18.08
Trulieve CannabisTCNNF7.456.19-16.91
Verano HoldingsVRNOF5.154.70-8.73

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4. Bipartisan Senators Officially File Revised Marijuana Banking Bill Ahead Of Key Committee Vote

A revised bipartisan marijuana banking bill has officially been filed in the Senate, one week before a key committee is scheduled to vote on the legislation. But its prospects in the GOP-controlled House remain uncertain, with a key committee chairman declining to say whether he’d take up the legislation if it crosses over to his chamber.

The renamed Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, sponsored by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT), was introduced on Wednesday—one day after Marijuana Moment first reported on the finalized language.

In the news…

Aurora Cannabis has received approval to transfer the listing of its common shares from the Nasdaq Global Select Market to the Nasdaq Capital Market . The transfer became effective at the opening of business on September 19, 2023, and is expected to allow the company to seek an additional 180 days to regain compliance with the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(a)(1). 

Banking Chair Sherrod Brown on SAFER Banking Act: “we’ll pass it decisively.”

Biosteel creditors list shows pro teams, leagues and athletes owe millions.

British Columbia court tosses suit over cannabis store enforcement on reserves.

Cannabis Attorney Jonathan Havens provides insights into the SAFER Banking Act’s revised text, the scheduled markup in the Senate, what will follow, and the bill’s implications for cannabis businesses’ potential to list on U.S. stock exchanges.

Canada is approaching 4,000 regulated cannabis stores spread unevenly across the enormous country, according to data compiled by MJBizDaily.

Canopy Growth announced that it has entered into subscription agreements to raise up to $50 million through the issuance of units via private placement…

Columbia Care selling 22.2 million shares at C$1.52 (US $1.12) to raise US$25 million, with the possibility of another $25 million within 45 days of the closing of the placement tranche…

Columbia Care Inc. announced its change in legal name to The Cannabist Company Holdings Inc. and will rebrand to The Cannabist Company.

Cresco Labs announced the expansion of its brand portfolio in Florida to include the FloraCal and Cresco brands.

Federal agency has released new data showing that a record-high number of banks and credit unions are now working with the cannabis industry.

Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission has issued notice of intent to amend its rules…

GOP senators, including the lead Republican sponsor of a marijuana banking bill, have officially filed new legislation to prevent federal agencies from rescheduling cannabis without tacit approval from Congress.

High Tide: Echelon analyst Andrew Semple remains more than bullish on the name after financial results.

High Tide CEO Raj Grover “itching” to get into the U.S. market

Kent State University: Eighty-five percent of participants using cannabis reported participating in aerobic training. In addition, 85% of participants also reported regular participation in resistance exercise.

Leafly has taken legal action against New York’s cannabis regulators due to the state’s ban on third-party marketing. The ban has been in place since the inception of New York’s cannabis industry but has become a contentious issue as the industry evolves.

Massachusetts: The Cannabis Control Commission has a new acting chair, for now, after their regular Chairwoman was unceremoniously suspended from her position.

Minnesota’s new cannabis regulator sold products illegal under state law at her hemp shop.

Missouri colleges expand cannabis programs to prepare students for ‘green jobs’.

NCAA committee recommends legislation to remove cannabis from banned substances list in all three divisions…

New federal data shows record number of banks working with marijuana businesses as Senate schedules vote on reform bill.

New Jersey marijuana regulators are accepting public comments on a proposal that would create a new permit to allow “clinically focused” dispensaries to enter into partnerships with research institutions to carry out cannabis studies using products that they grow or sell to patients.

Pennsylvania Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill to allow all licensed medical marijuana grower-processors in the state to sell their cannabis products directly to patients—and there’s talk of potentially expanding the legislation in the House to allow for personal home cultivation as well.

Pot stock rally burns short sellers for $105 million in losses…

SAFE Banking Act text.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) works to advance a bipartisan marijuana banking bill, he’s also calling on supporters to join him in demanding that the federal government legalize marijuana.

Senator Cory Booker, a familiar foe SAFE legislation previously, has come on board to support the next iteration of regulated cannabis banking—the SAFER Banking Act.

Square announced a partnership with Jane Technologies, the premier online ordering platform service for cannabis dispensaries, solidifying plans to cater to cannabis sellers in Canada.

Subversive Capital Advisor is launching its sixth exchange-traded fund – Subversive Cannabis ETF (Ticker: LGLZ) on Cboe BZX Exchange. LGLZ is an actively managed ETF that is expected to begin trading on September 19th, 2023. 

Thailand prime minister has said that he is against the recreational use of cannabis. PM Srettha Thavisin has said that within six months his government will “rectify” its cannabis policy and limit its use to medical purposes.

Tilray Brands announced that the Company will release financial results for its first quarter ended August 31, 2023 on October 4, 2023.

Trulieve announces purchase of 8% Senior Secured Notes due 2026.

Wisconsin: Senate Democratic Leader Melissa Agard (D-Madison) and Representative Darrin B. Madison (D-Milwaukee) introduced legislation to legalize cannabis for responsible, adult use in Wisconsin on Friday.

YTD returns of prominent Tier-1/Tier-2 MSOS to start the week…

Verano Holdings announced the launch of the company’s Round Up for Cannabis Reform dispensary donation program benefitting The Weldon Project’s Mission Green and the non-profit organization’s advocacy for cannabis-related criminal justice reform. 

3. House Democrats File Marijuana Legalization And Expungements Bill

A top House Democrat has reintroduced a bill to federally legalize, tax and regulate marijuana, with provisions to expunge prior cannabis convictions. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, refiled the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act on Wednesday. There are 33 initial cosponsors—all Democrats.

The comprehensive legalization legislation has passed the House twice in recent sessions—but this marks the first time it’s being introduced with Republicans in control of the chamber, raising serious questions about whether it will move. The Judiciary Committee, which is the primary panel of jurisdiction, is chaired by anti-cannabis Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

2. Senators Scrutinize Changes To Crucial Section Of Cannabis Bill Ahead Of Markup

Senators are circulating revised cannabis banking legislation that includes new protections for bank regulators in a controversial provision that would restrict them from closing certain customer accounts.

A section by section summary of the SAFE Banking Act — renamed the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act — obtained by POLITICO indicates that new language in Section 10 has four additional provisions.

The future of the SAFE Banking Act could hinge on the section — it’s this text that Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) raised concerns about during a hearing in May. That pushed back a markup on the bill, which is now scheduled for Sept. 27.

1. Schumer Aims To Bring Newly Revised Marijuana Banking Bill To The Floor ‘With All Due Speed’ After Next Week’s Committee Vote

A marijuana banking bill that’s set for a Senate committee markup next week has an updated title and several new provisions related to federal financial regulations, guidance and reporting requirements, according to a summary that is circulating. And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on Tuesday he intends to “bring this legislation to the floor with all due speed.”

Importantly, the summary, first reported by Politico, offers a first look at the types of compromises senators appear to have made in order to bolster bipartisan buy-in. Several new provisions are described under Section 10—a component of the reform that Republicans have strongly favored and certain Democrats opposed over concerns it could undermine broader banking regulations.

The post TDR’s Top 7 Cannabis Developments For The Week Of September 18 appeared first on The Dales Report.

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Fighting the Surveillance State Begins with the Individual

It’s a well-known fact at this point that in the United States and most of the so-called free countries that there is a robust surveillance state in…

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October 23, 2023

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It’s a well-known fact at this point that in the United States and most of the so-called free countries that there is a robust surveillance state in place, collecting data on the entire populace. This has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt by people like Edward Snowden, a National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower who exposed that the NSA was conducting mass surveillance on US citizens and the world as a whole. The NSA used applications like those from Prism Systems to piggyback on corporations and the data collection their users had agreed to in the terms of service. Google would scan all emails sent to a Gmail address to use for personalized advertising. The government then went to these companies and demanded the data, and this is what makes the surveillance state so interesting. Neo-Marxists like Shoshana Zuboff have dubbed this “surveillance capitalism.” In China, the mass surveillance is conducted at a loss. Setting up closed-circuit television cameras and hiring government workers to be a mandatory editorial staff for blogs and social media can get quite expensive. But if you parasitically leech off a profitable business practice it means that the surveillance state will turn a profit, which is a great asset and an even greater weakness for the system. You see, when that is what your surveillance state is predicated on you’ve effectively given your subjects an opt-out button. They stop using services that spy on them. There is software and online services that are called “open source,” which refers to software whose code is publicly available and can be viewed by anyone so that you can see exactly what that software does. The opposite of this, and what you’re likely already familiar with, is proprietary software. Open-source software generally markets itself as privacy respecting and doesn’t participate in data collection. Services like that can really undo the tricky situation we’ve found ourselves in. It’s a simple fact of life that when the government is given a power—whether that be to regulate, surveil, tax, or plunder—it is nigh impossible to wrestle it away from the state outside somehow disposing of the state entirely. This is why the issue of undoing mass surveillance is of the utmost importance. If the government has the power to spy on its populace, it will. There are people, like the creators of The Social Dilemma, who think that the solution to these privacy invasions isn’t less government but more government, arguing that data collection should be taxed to dissuade the practice or that regulation needs to be put into place to actively prevent abuses. This is silly to anyone who understands the effect regulations have and how the internet really works. You see, data collection is necessary. You can’t have email without some elements of data collection because it’s simply how the protocol functions. The issue is how that data is stored and used. A tax on data collection itself will simply become another cost of doing business. A large company like Google can afford to pay a tax. But a company like Proton Mail, a smaller, more privacy-respecting business, likely couldn’t. Proton Mail’s business model is based on paid subscriptions. If there were additional taxes imposed on them, it’s possible that they would not be able to afford the cost and would be forced out of the market. To reiterate, if one really cares about the destruction of the surveillance state, the first step is to personally make changes to how you interact with online services and to whom you choose to give your data.

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Stock Market Today: Stocks turn higher as Treasury yields retreat; big tech earnings up next

A pullback in Treasury yields has stocks moving higher Monday heading into a busy earnings week and a key 2-year bond auction later on Tuesday.

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October 23, 2023

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Updated at 11:52 am EDT U.S. stocks turned higher Monday, heading into the busiest earnings week of the year on Wall Street, amid a pullback in Treasury bond yields that followed the first breach of 5% for 10-year notes since 2007. Investors, however, continue to track developments in Israel's war with Hamas, which launched its deadly attack from Gaza three weeks ago, as leaders around the region, and the wider world, work to contain the fighting and broker at least a form of cease-fire. Humanitarian aid is also making its way into Gaza, through the territory's border with Egypt, as officials continue to work for the release of more than 200 Israelis taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 attack. Those diplomatic efforts eased some of the market's concern in overnight trading, but the lingering risk that regional adversaries such as Iran, or even Saudi Arabia, could be drawn into the conflict continues to blunt risk appetite. Still, the U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies and acts as the safe-haven benchmark in times of market turmoil, fell 0.37% in early New York trading 105.773, suggesting some modest moves into riskier assets. The Japanese yen, however, eased past the 150 mark in overnight dealing, a level that has some traders awaiting intervention from the Bank of Japan and which may have triggered small amounts of dollar sales and yen purchases. In the bond market, benchmark 10-year note yields breached the 5% mark in overnight trading, after briefly surpassing that level late last week for the first time since 2007, but were last seen trading at 4.867% ahead of $141 billion in 2-year, 5-year and 7-year note auctions later this week. Global oil prices were also lower, following two consecutive weekly gains that has take Brent crude, the global pricing benchmark, firmly past $90 a barrel amid supply disruption concerns tied to the middle east conflict. Brent contracts for December delivery were last seen $1.06 lower on the session at $91.07 per barrel while WTI futures contract for the same month fell $1.36 to $86.72 per barrel. Market volatility gauges were also active, with the CBOE Group's VIX index hitting a fresh seven-month high of $23.08 before easing to $20.18 later in the session. That level suggests traders are expecting ranges on the S&P 500 of around 1.26%, or 53 points, over the next month. A busy earnings week also indicates the likelihood of elevated trading volatility, with 158 S&P 500 companies reporting third quarter earnings over the next five days, including mega cap tech names such as Google parent Alphabet  (GOOGL) - Get Free Report, Microsoft  (MSFT) - Get Free Report, retail and cloud computing giant Amazon  (AMZN) - Get Free Report and Facebook owner Meta Platforms  (META) - Get Free Report. "It’s shaping up to be a big week for the market and it comes as the S&P 500 is testing a key level—the four-month low it set earlier this month," said Chris Larkin, managing director for trading and investing at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley. "How the market responds to that test may hinge on sentiment, which often plays a larger-than-average role around this time of year," he added. "And right now, concerns about rising interest rates and geopolitical turmoil have the potential to exacerbate the market’s swings." Heading into the middle of the trading day on Wall Street, the S&P 500, which is down 8% from its early July peak, the highest of the year, was up 10 points, or 0.25%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which slumped into negative territory for the year last week, was marked 10 points lower while the Nasdaq, which fell 4.31% last week, was up 66 points, or 0.51%. In overseas markets, Europe's Stoxx 600 was marked 0.11% lower by the close of Frankfurt trading, with markets largely tracking U.S. stocks as well as the broader conflict in Israel. In Asia, a  slump in China stocks took the benchmark CSI 300 to a fresh 2019 low and pulled the region-wide MSCI ex-Japan 0.72% lower into the close of trading.
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iPhone Maker Foxconn Investigated By Chinese Authorities

Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that manufactures iPhones on behalf of Apple (AAPL), is being investigated by Chinese authorities, according to multiple…

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October 23, 2023

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Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that manufactures iPhones on behalf of Apple (AAPL), is being investigated by Chinese authorities, according to multiple media reports. Foxconn’s business has been searched by Chinese authorities and China’s main tax authority has conducted inspections of Foxconn’s manufacturing operations in the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu. At the same time, China’s natural-resources department has begun onsite investigations into Foxconn’s land use in Henan and Hubei provinces within China. Foxconn has manufacturing facilities focused on Apple products in three of the Chinese provinces where authorities are carrying out searches. While headquartered in Taiwan, Foxconn has a huge manufacturing presence in China and is a large employer in the nation of 1.4 billion people. The investigations suggest that China is ramping up pressure on the company as Foxconn considers major investments in India, and as presidential elections approach in Taiwan. Foxconn founder Terry Gou said in August of this year that he intends to run for the Taiwanese presidency. He has resigned from the company’s board of directors but continues to hold a 12.5% stake in the company. Gou is currently in fourth place in the polls ahead of the election that is scheduled to be held in January 2024. The potential impact on Apple and its iPhone manufacturing comes amid rising political tensions between politicians in Washington, D.C. and Beijing. Apple’s stock has risen 16% over the last 12 months and currently trades at $172.88 U.S. per share.  

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