Opening Day in Minnesota.... Kinda
Today, August 1st, marks the first day that the people of Minnesota can legally buy adult-use cannabis. This marks the 23rd state in the country that has legalized and begun sales of cannabis for recreational use. Minnesota legalized non-smokable medical-use cannabis back in 2014 with the first sales beginning in 2015. In 2021, the state expanded that program to allow flower sales to medical patients. This May, Governor Tum Walz signed a bill into law that expanded this program further allowing the use of adult-use cannabis throughout the state. Technically the state will not make any additional revenue in 2023 from adult-use cannabis because the states will probably need until 2024 to iron out their licensing program. However, tribal governments don’t have to wait for the state’s licensing system to open dispensaries. The Red Lake Nation will be the first adult-use cannabis dispensary to open up, and they are opening up today.
Columbia Car delists from the CSE
Columbia Care (CCHW) announced today that it will voluntarily delist its common shares from the facilities of the Canadian Securities Exchange (“CSE”), effective as of market close on August 2, 2023. Columbia Care will continue trading on the Cboe Canada, the new business name of the NEO Exchange. Cboe Canada will remain the Company’s primary securities exchange, as it has been since the Company’s initial public listing. As one of two U.S. multistate cannabis operators listed on a senior securities exchange, the company remains committed to maintaining its unique access to institutional investors, including inclusion in MSCI1equity index benchmarks and their corresponding investors.
cannabis in the defense Bill
Last week a number of amendments were made to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included adding the entire Intelligence Authorization Act. Additionally, last month Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, amended the Intelligence Authorization Act to include a cannabis provision. “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the head of an element of the intelligence community may not make a determination to deny eligibility for access to classified information to an individual based solely on the use of cannabis by the individual prior to the submission of the application for a security clearance by the individual,” the approved provision says. Senator Wyden commented that, "As more states legalize cannabis, it becomes less and less tenable to deny security clearances to those who have used it. The amendment…will help the Intelligence Community recruit the qualified personnel needed to protect the country.”
