Call Tomorrow | Cannabis Industry Trends + Q&A
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August U.S. cannabis sales came in at $1.66B which is a MoM decline of 2.3% from July and a YoY decline of 3%. This compared to July which saw the U.S cannabis market bring in $1.7B in sales growing 5.2% MoM and growing $4.4% YoY. Tomorrow at 10am ET we will be hosting our monthly cannabis Q&A and industry trends call where we will update all of you on industry sales, unit growth, and much more as we showcase our new data sources. We will also go through the key aspects of interstate commerce and how to play it in the equity markets. Send us your questions ahead of time to .
Nobody cares
The vast majority of congressional candidates aren’t taking a stance on cannabis legalization, according to a new report published by the Brookings Institution.
Among all the candidates running in 2022 primary contests for House and Senate, 81.4% didn’t mention cannabis reform on their websites or on social media, according to the analysis. That's despite broad support for marijuana legalization, a 2021 Gallup poll showed that 68% of the population broadly supports it, including 50% of Republicans. “Most candidates for federal office do not see cannabis as an issue prominent enough to discuss,” wrote Brookings' John Hudak, the report's author, “and deep partisan differences remain among elected officials.” Of those primary candidates who set a position on cannabis, 2.6% opposed legalization, while 13.6% supported legalization. Winning candidates were more likely to address cannabis (either positively or negatively) though many more supported cannabis legalization than opposed it. Hudak argues this shows that cannabis is not a fringe issue or something for candidates to be afraid to talk about. It also dispels a notion among progressives and cannabis advocates that being anti-cannabis hurts candidates. However, just 6% of election winners opposed legalization or decriminalization. The party-line breakdown on support for cannabis reform was unsurprising. Republicans were much more likely to hold an anti-cannabis position (4.1%) than Democrats (0.3%), while Democrats were more likely to support legalization (30.5%) than Republicans (2.0%). The biggest takeaway, however, is just how few candidates discuss cannabis in their primary campaigns because it isn’t a top issue for most voters. “The true motivator for a member of Congress to take or change a position — whether voters hold their feet to the fire over an issue — has not yet become a reality in the vast majority of Congressional races across the United States,” Hudak explained.
Canopy Leaving Canada.
Canopy Growth (CGC) announced yesterday that it entered into agreements to divest its retail business across Canada which includes the stores operating under the Tweed and Tokyo Smoke retail banners. The company said it is focused on "advancing its path to profitability," according to a statement late Tuesday. Operational savings realized in the deal are expected to result in Canopy's projected selling, general, and administrative cost savings being closer to the high end of the annualized target range set out on April 26. Back then, the company had said management expects to generate cost-of-goods-sold savings of $30 million to $50 million and reduce SG&A expenses by $70 million to $100 million within 12 months to 18 months. Canopy Growth reached an agreement with OEG Retail Cannabis, an existing Canopy Growth licensee partner, to acquire all of its corporate stores outside Alberta as well as all Tokyo smoke-related intellectual property. The company has also reached an agreement with 420 Investments to acquire five retail locations in Alberta.
