Michigan Cannabis trends.
Michigan cannabis sales for the month of October came in at ~$202M which was down 4.6% sequentially. Nearly a $10M loss in the month for Michigan, but not surprisingly enough, unit volumes for the state were flat to slightly up in the month meaning that we saw a decrease in the price of 4.6% sequentially. On a YoY basis, pricing is down 32.9%, unit volumes are up 84.4%, and total sales are up 23.7%. I guess the good news is that it would be very hard to how pricing pressure could get any worse than the trends that we are currently seeing, and the ROC is getting less bad.
Ascend In New Jersey.
Ascend Wellness is set to appear before the Fort Lee Planning Board on Monday for final municipal approvals. The company said conversations with township officials have indicated that Ascend Fort Lee could launch adult weed sales as early as this week. “We have been working closely with the town and they have advised us that we can begin selling to recreational customers,” Ascend Co-Chief Executive Officer Frank Perullo said during his company’s earnings call on Nov. 10. “The team has been preparing and gearing up for the highly anticipated start of adult-use operations at New Jersey’s closest dispensary to New York City.” That’s significant for New Jersey since New York is still on track to open its first recreational marijuana dispensaries by the end of the year, so we are told but we are not holding our breath on that. The two states are expected to compete for adult weed buyers, especially along the northernmost New Jersey counties, like Bergen.
Things are getting psychedelic in IL.
In Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago, Councilmember Devon Reid has put together a proposal for decriminalizing psychedelics in his community where individuals cultivating and/or delivering these substances would get a $100 fine with no threat of jail time. The bill further says that the “investigation or arrest of anyone for planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing, or engaging in practices with or possessing entheogenic plants or plant compounds shall be the city’s lowest law enforcement priority.” Reid commented, “We need to change our approach to drug laws. We need to stop criminalizing folks, and I think particularly with controlled substances such as cannabis, psilocybin, and other naturally derived substances, I think it’s our approach is just too heavy-handed,” Reid said. “It doesn’t really help us get to the root of what we’re really trying to solve.” I cant wait to see where this movement goes from here.
