The ultimate guide to legalization

Jeremy Berke,Yeji Jesse LeeOct 10, 2020, 01:06 IST

Business Insider

Marijuana plants are seen at Ganja Farms marijuana store in BogotaReuters

Welcome to Insider Cannabis, our weekly newsletter where we're bringing you an inside look at the deals, trends, and personalities driving the multibillion-dollar global cannabis boom.

Sign up here to get it in your inbox every week.

Happy Friday readers,

If you caught the VP debate this Wednesday, you probably heard Sen. Kamala Harris' comment about cannabis decriminalization. This sent stocks soaring the following morning (read Jeremy's coverage here), though we shouldn't be surprised considering Harris co-sponsored the MORE Act, a bill to federally legalize cannabis and expunge criminal records, in the Senate.

It's a strong signal that if Joe Biden wins, the Democratic administration would back cannabis reform.

And cannabis reform is a major subplot of the November 3 election. Here's everything you need to know, in a cool graphic.

-Yeji

Here's what we wrote about this week:

The ultimate guide to marijuana legalization: Here are all the states voting on cannabis reform in November, the probability of success, and which stocks could benefit the most

With less than a month to go until the election, cannabis executives, investors, and activists are focused on five key states.

To put together this ballot tracker, we tapped a variety of sources to explain the nuances of each state's ballot measures and where polling stands. We relied on analysts from the investment bank Cowen, who generated probabilities for how likely each ballot measure is to pass.

Medical cannabis giant Columbia Care just made a major move into recreational pot as it gears up for 'high appetite' in states poised to legalize

The giant medical cannabis company Columbia Care is laying the groundwork to profit from a new wave of cannabis legalization that could be on the horizon. Columbia Care, which operates in 10 states, is building on its medical-roots image by launching a national recreational brand, called Seed & Strain.

The move comes less than a month before four states — New Jersey, Arizona, South Dakota, and Montana — will vote on legalizing cannabis for all adults, and amid a backdrop where cannabis brands are gearing up to build out national footprints.

Kamala Harris just said her administration will decriminalize marijuana if Biden wins, and cannabis stocks are soaring

Cannabis stocks soared after Sen. Kamala Harris said a Biden administration would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. Curaleaf, Harvest Health & Recreation, and Aphria are among the top gainers, though the entire sector seems to have been energized by Harris' statement at the debate.

Deals, launches, and IPOs

Field Trip Health began trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) on Tuesday.
Psychedelics company MindMed partnered with NYU to establish a Center for Psychedelic Medicine at NYU Langone Health.
Subversive Capital, a cannabis real estate SPAC, announced it acquired $182.8 million of industrial cannabis properties in California, Florida, Ohio and other states. The deal converts Subversive from a SPAC (known as de-SPACing) into a publicly-traded cannabis REIT.
Pabst Labs launched the Pabst Blue Ribbon THC-infused seltzer in select dispensaries in California. Pabst Labs was founded by a group from the eponymous beer company, which licensed out its name for the cannabis beverage.
Cannabis company Stem Holdings is merging with Driven Deliveries Inc. The all-stock transaction is expected to close before the end of 2020, giving the newly combined company a value of $54 million.
Guitarist Carlos Santana is launching a cannabis brand in California, Mirayo by Santana, in partnership with Left Coast Ventures.
Canadian cannabis company MediPharm Labs entered into a supply agreement with Bain Capital-backed German pharma company STADA. The deal will eventually allow MediPharm to ship its cannabis in Germany and across all of STADA's markets, where laws allow.

Policy Moves

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who has already pardoned over 11,000 individuals for cannabis-related offenses, said on Tuesday that he plans to pardon more individuals in the coming months as part of a larger effort to create a "more equitable criminal justice system."
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said on Wednesday that the state will finally allow recreational marijuana sales, by allowing a bill passed by Vermont's legislature to take effect without his signature. Vermont legalized cannabis in 2018 for adults over the age of 21 but did not specifically allow commercial sales within the state.
In other Northeast cannabis news, recreational cannabis sales officially began on Friday morning in Maine after the state legalized marijuana in 2016.

Research and reform

Using cannabis before surgery could increase pain, require more anesthesia, and complicate recovery, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists on Monday. The researchers say it's important to let your doctors know if you have used cannabis prior to undergoing a procedure so they can adjust accordingly and that more research is needed.

Chart of the week

In the second quarter of 2020, cannabis prices on Ontario's Cannabis Store (OCS) beat out flower prices on the illicit market for the first time. The drop in prices comes in conjunction with a growing market takeover from the legal market: OCS says that in Q2, legal sales made up 25.1% of the total market, compared to 24.7% in Q1.