Apple App Store
This week is just full of pro-cannabis catalysts. Earlier this week, Clarence Thomas's comments opened the door for possible action in the supreme court. Just yesterday, Apple announced that it would no longer ban licensed cannabis businesses on the app store. Their previous policy read, "Apps that encourage minors to consume any of these substances will be rejected. Facilitating the sale of controlled substances (except for licensed pharmacies), marijuana, or tobacco is not allowed." Their updated policy reads: "Facilitating the sale of controlled substances (except for licensed pharmacies and licensed or otherwise legal cannabis dispensaries), or tobacco is not allowed...Apps that facilitate the legal sale of cannabis must be geo-restricted to the corresponding legal jurisdiction.” Unfortunately for Google, they are behind the curve. Google's Android app hub updated its policy in 2019 to explicitly ban programs that connect users with cannabis regardless of the user's jurisdiction. According to Statista, as of January of 2021, 52.4% of smartphone users in the US use an Apple device, so the majority of users in the US in legalized regions will be able to download delivery apps. Not only will companies be able to have delivery apps, but they will also be able to have app ordering capabilities which will increase consumer convenience. It will also allow for more robust rewards programs companies can offer driving revenues.
Chris Vaughn, CEO of the California delivery service Emjay stated that he believes Apple’s decision was informed by the continuing legalization movement in states like New York, as well as Amazon’s recent announcement that it will no longer be drug testing workers for cannabis in addition to lobbying for a federal legalization bill. He added that he thinks Google will “follow quickly” to update its own policies. It seems as though the flywheel for marijuana keeps turning and is accelerating with new incremental catalysts each week.
Michigan Tracker
Michigan adult-use sales were fairly flat for May, down just .8% sequentially to $104.4 Million. Medical sales have been trending down in the past year, and this past month fell significantly by 8% sequentially to $44.5 Million. Due to these weak medical sales, total sales were down 3.1% sequentially but are still up over 76.3% YoY. The subcategories in MI that have seen the largest upticks have been shake/trim and flower, seeing 224% and 81% YoY increases, respectively. Michigan has an annual run rate of $1.786 Billion.
Maryland Tracker
For June, medical sales in Maryland have leveled off and have been decelerating slightly in the recent three months. June sales were down 4.24% sequentially to $45 Million. This is a 20% increase year over year. The annual run rate for the state is $554 Million. Curaleaf, Green Thumb, and Harvest Health have the largest footprints in Maryland.
