NDAA Tracker | in rides aoc
The MSOS was up 3.8% yesterday as volume slowed slightly day-over-day and as the Political winds look to be turning against Senator Schumer and his efforts to stall Cannabis Legalization.
Yesterday Reps. Dave Joyce and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a bipartisan bill to incentivize states to scrap nonviolent cannabis-related records. The Harnessing Opportunities by Pursuing Expungement Act would “reduce the financial and administrative burden” of expunging nonviolent cannabis offenses. Funding for states that want to expunge records would come from a DOJ grant program, the State Expungement Opportunity Grant Program. The bill would also require the attorney general to study the impact of cannabis offenses on personal criminal records as well as the financial impact that incarcerating people for nonviolent cannabis offenses has on states. The bill would not, however, eliminate federal criminal penalties for cannabis. There are a number of other decriminalization bills in the House, including the MORE Act and another bill Joyce (R-Ohio) sponsors. This new bill is right on top of Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and her new bill.
The twist for @SenSchumer is the @AOC sponsorship of the new bill, as she has been a supporter of cannabis legalization and voted in favor of the MORE Act. From our perspective, the majority leader is playing politics with SAFE and the NDAA process claiming he has a "broader bill that he's holding out for," and says SAFE banking by itself would undermine that. At this point, there are only two people in DC that believe that and the other is Senator Booker. Schumer's inactions on the legalization issue for the better part of three years suggest there has been no real pressure for him to move any legislation on Cannabis.
AOC may have just upended that strategy. There is a clear momentum shift in DC toward some form of incremental legalization.
SF Suspends Cannabis Tax
To combat illicit sales in California, which have ravaged the industry, the city of San Francisco has suspended its cannabis tax. The tax imposed a 1 to 5 percent citywide rate on cannabis businesses. This tax is now set to go into effect on Jan.1, 2022. "Cannabis businesses create good jobs for San Franciscans and provide safe, regulated products to their customers," Mandelman, the legislation's author, said in a statement. "Sadly, the illegal market is flourishing by undercutting the prices of legal businesses, which is bad for our economy as illegal businesses pay no taxes while subjecting workers to dangerous conditions and consumers to dangerous products. Now is not the time to impose a new tax on small businesses that are just getting established and trying to compete with illicit operators." In addition to illegal sales, increased theft also creates problems for retailers. Similar trends throughout California are seen, with the illicit market more significant than the legal market.
Verano PA Expansion
Verano opened its 13th dispensary in Pennsylvania. This dispensary will be Zen Leaf Dispensary, located in West Chester, PA. This is the second location in the state to offer drive-thru services to its patrons. According to the PA Department of Transportation, the location will be conveniently accessible by US Route 1 and 202, seeing the average daily traffic of 14,000 vehicles. The Pennsylvania market has been strong, with average sales per dispensary of $8.5 Million, the highest among medical-only states.
Cannabis Credit Card
SuperNet is the world's first credit card for cannabis. The company will issue and process credit cards that will work in dispensaries. The service will launch in January 2022 and be accepted at 100 California retail locations. The upsides of a credit card are abundant. These cards allow for safer cash-less transactions. Retailers can also collect more data about customers to serve them better. "A lot of people think Square and Stripe are payment processors, but they're not," explained Tsang, the CEO. "They still rely on a processor, so we had to become a processor. Our first bank sponsor didn't let us use their technology, so we had to build that, too. "Today, we own our platform, back-end, and front-end, and we are a full processor," Tsang said. The company is looking for more retailers to expand to after its 100 dispensary rollout in California.
