Time to buy US cannabis stocks, analyst says

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.

Hello everyone,

So, before we get into this week, some news: This will be the last edition before our newsletter goes on hiatus. When we started this newsletter just over two years ago, we had zero subscribers and the cannabis beat was just coming into fruition here at Insider.

Today, thousands of you read this newsletter every week. I can sincerely say we have the best audience in the cannabis industry, so thank you all so much for reading, your tips, and your support.

The good news is our incisive reporting won't stop. While we're on hiatus, you can keep up with us on Twitter and LinkedIn. And to get "Insider Exclusives," our email alerts - sign up here by topic. Insider will be in touch soon with some newsletter updates. In the meantime, please take this brief survey to help us improve our newsletters. But until then, let's get right to this week's edition...

- Jeremy Berke (@jfberke) & Yeji Jesse Lee (@jesse_yeji)

If you like what you read, share this newsletter with your colleagues, friends, boss, spouse, strangers on the internet, or whomever else would like a weekly dose of cannabis news.

Here's what we wrote about this week:

A top Wall Street analyst says buy these 3 stocks now to capitalize on the Democrats' push for marijuana reform

Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries, and Trulieve are the top US cannabis stocks to buy now, according to Cantor Fitzgerald's Pablo Zuanic. In an October 12 note, Zuanic said that the fundamentals for publicly traded US cannabis companies have never been better.

An unregulated cannabis dispensary is already open for business in New York City, even though the state is still deciding what legal weed sales will look like. Here's what it's like inside.

In September, a recreational cannabis "club" quietly opened in Manhattan. The store appears to be operating in a legal gray area, as dispensary regulation has yet to be written. New York's office of cannabis management said, "those attempting to sell illegally must stop immediately."

Executive moves

• Cannabis company Red White & Bloom announced on Thursday that alcohol industry veteran Chris Ecken would be joining the company as Chief Financial Officer.
• Blair MacNeil is joining Tilray as the company's President of Canadian operations. MacNeil was previously the general manager for Bacardi.
• Ed Kremer is taking over from Kimberly Bambach as Jushi Holdings CFO.
• HEXO Corp. said on Wednesday that Scott Cooper would be stepping in as the company's new president and CEO. Cooper is the president and CEO of Truss Beverage Co., the joint venture between Hexo Corp. and Molson Coors Canada.
• Rob Bellezza is joining medical cannabis company Curio Wellness as the company's COO. He was formerly at Unilever, where he was head of operations at Ben & Jerry's.
• MediPharm Labs announced on Thursday that healthcare manufacturing veteran ​​Bryan Howcroft would be joining the company as its new chief executive officer.

Deals, launches, and IPOs

• Cannabis accessories and products company Greenlane Holdings announced on Tuesday that it will acquire vaporizer technology company DaVinci. Greenlane's CEO says the deal is worth "up to $20 million in total consideration, comprised of a mix of cash and stock," according to reporting by Forbes.
• German medical cannabis company The Bloomwell Group closed a $10 million seed funding round, led by Curaleaf Executive Chairman Boris Jordan's fund, Measure 8.
• Cannabis gift card program company Birchmount Network said on Tuesday that it had closed a $2.5 million seed round led by Achari Ventures.
• California cannabis brand Claybourne Co. said on Tuesday that it had raised $17.5 million in equity and debt financing.
• Cannabis real estate firm Pelorus Equity Group upsized its offering from $250 million to $1 billion.

Policy moves

• New York's Cannabis Control Board (CCB) voted on Thursday to allow the state's medical cannabis patients to grow their own cannabis plants at home. After a 60-day public comment period, the board will do a final review before the regulations take effect.
• Representative Earl Blumenauer reintroduced the Medical Marijuana Research Act on Thursday.

Research and data

• Johns Hopkins University announced this week that they have received the first federal grant for psychedelic research in 50 years. The National Institute of Health grant will provide $4 million toward a study on the effects of psilocybin on tobacco addiction.
• The Food and Drug Administration announced in its Cannabis-Derived Products Data Acceleration Plan it plans to scan "novel" data sources, like the online forum site Reddit, to develop a better understanding of the health effects of cannabis compounds like CBD and delta-8. Read more at Marijuana Moment.