FIRST OUT THE GATE
First cannabis bill heads to the new 118th Congress
Seeking Alpha reports that a group of GOP lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives has put forward the first cannabis bill for the newly formed 118th Congress.
The bill is seeking to amend federal law related to firearm sales to medical cannabis users. AS the law stands currently, users of either recreational or medical cannabis are prohibited from purchasing or possessing guns.
It is being sponsored by Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV) and co-sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), who serves as a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. Further details on the bill have not been published.
AURORA VS. TRULIEVE
Where to spend your money for a growth investment?
Aurora Cannabis and Trulieve Cannabis are both unprofitable cannabis companies that are facing stiff downward pressure on their top lines. Which is a better option as a growth investment? asks the Motley Fool.
The publication highlights that Wall Street analysts expect Aurora to make USD$150.7 million in sales for 2023 – less than its trailing-12-month total revenue of $164.8 million. However, it notes that if the company can continue cutting costs long enough to break even, it might be able to leverage its favorable positioning in lucrative international medical markets like Germany and the UK.
However, the Motley Fool highlights Trulieve Cannabis as a better growth stock than Aurora because it plans to keep growing aggressively while consolidating its position within its markets.
BATHTUB BUDS
Delta-8 is ‘bathtub gin of the cannabis space,’ says New Jersey state senator
Hemp Today reports that a New Jersey state senator has introduced a bill to regulate delta-8 THC, calling the synthetic compound “the bathtub gin of the cannabis space” as he warned many of the products might not be safe.
To date, Congress has not clarified the status of CBD and delta-8 in legal and regulatory frameworks.
The publication reports that O’Scanlon told SenateNJ, a state Republican party website: “There are unregulated, psychoactive hemp-derived products being sold with zero product safety or marketing standards in our communities. Ideally, the Feds would resolve this in the 2023 Farm Bill. But I am not holding my breath.”
EUROPEAN CANNABIS
To remove the stigma around hemp ‘you need a better understanding and knowledge of what you’re stigmatising, that’s exactly what’s happening now’
BusinessCann caught up with UNCTAD’s Economic Affairs Officer Marco Fugazza, who will be speaking at Cannabis Europa London 2023 on May 2-3, to discuss the opportunities associated with industrial hemp and why they’re so important to capitalise on.
Fugazza told the publication that recent significant development with industrial hemp are encouraging steps towards the rehabilitation of the plant, noting that “There is a long road to rediscover the knowledge that has been around for thousands of years, which has been lost to some extent due to the bad stigma that we imposed on the plant less than a century ago.”
He said that if countries are willing to exploit the potential of the plant, they would first need to think in terms of regulations.
