Congress punts Farm Bill to next year

HEMP
Farm Bill gets 1 year extension

Driving the news: The Farm Bill was due to be either revised or renewed during this Congressional session, which ends in a few short days. Yesterday, the current Farm Bill was extended/punted for another year and into the next Congress.

Back up a bit: The 2018 Farm Bill was the bill that launched a thousand hemp-derived THC businesses. That bill left a loophole for hemp-derived THC products to proliferate throughout the US, absent much of the regulatory burden of state-regulated cannabis programs. 

Hemp is having a moment: Hemp-derived products are everywhere. In places like Minnesota, hemp-derived THC beverages are available in mainstream liquor and wine shops and on tap at local breweries. We wrote earlier this week about Texas, where the Baker Institute at Rice University estimates that Texas has over 7,000 registered hemp dispensaries and more than 50,000 Texans are employed in the hemp sector. 

Cannabis jumping in too: Cannabis businesses aren’t waiting around for some regulatory relief or crackdown on the hemp-derived THC. They’re jumping in. Major players like Curaleaf and Green Thumb Industries are making major investments into the hemp space to build brand and compete. 

States cracking down: States have been stepping into the regulatory vacuum, partly to protect consumers from unregulated and untested products and partly to help bolster in-state cannabis businesses. Regulatory moves from California, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas and others have worried hemp businesses that hurdles lie ahead.

What’s next? More of the same. Hemp-derived THC businesses will continue to operate and expand. Cannabis businesses and entrepreneurs looking to build brands without the massive regulatory hurdles often associated with cannabis will continue to invest in hemp-derived operations.

Congress, for their part, will aim to take up the Farm Bill in the next Congress.

-JR

GOOD FENCES
The politics and policy of neighboring state legalization

What’s happening? We’ve all heard the adage that good fences make good neighbors. 

Well, states where cannabis is not yet legal also make good neighbors for those with legal markets. That’s because people want legal, safe, and accessible cannabis. This was true years ago when Colorado legalized and saw an influx of Kansans crossing the border for cannabis and remains true for Ohioans crossing into Michigan for cannabis.

But Ohio legalized: Ohio legalized cannabis this year following a strong ‘yes’ vote on Issue 2 November 2023. But just because voters say yes to legal cannabis and regulators allow for cannabis stores to open up doesn’t mean people stop looking across borders to buy their cannabis. 

Price. Value. Selection. These all matter too.

New market pricing: Those that follow the industry know that new markets often mean higher prices. And this is certainly the case in Ohio. As reported by WCMH in Columbus, the average price of an ounce in Michigan was $92 while in Ohio, the average ounce was $212. That difference has cannabis consumers in Ohio still heading to Michigan to buy cannabis. 

To complicate matters: And if pricing wasn’t putting Ohio operators at a big enough disadvantage, Ohio is looking at even more restrictions on advertising, as we wrote about earlier this week.

An operator’s view: WOSU, the NPR station in Columbus, caught up with Mandy Morton from Locals Cannabis Dispensary in Columbus for some perspective on the proposed advertising regulations. Morton had this to say: “...We've pretty much stuck to the social media side. Everything does have to be reviewed and approved by the Division of Cannabis Control. That can be a little difficult because they do not allow us to pretty much do anything fun…”

What’s next? Ohio will be reviewing its advertising rules and regulations in the coming year, but it looks like they’ll be taking a crackdown approach rather than a free market approach. So, expect Ohio operators to continue to feel the pinch when it comes to competing with nearby operators in Michigan — both on price and on advertising regulations. 

-JR

Pennsylvania will be the state we all watch closest in the first few months of 2025. That’s because Gov. Josh Shapiro is keen to get legalization passed to help fund state priorities. And he’s not alone. This week, the sponsor of the legalization bill in Pennsylvania uttered this gem: 

"The toothpaste is already out of the tube. Weed is everywhere. We need to find a way to make it safe…”

Read the latest from Pennsylvania from Marijuana Moment and KDKA News.

Tough day for cannabis stocks 📈📉

As New Cannabis Ventures points out this week, it’s a tough time for cannabis stocks. But Alan Brochstein and team at New Cannabis Ventures point out that Weedmaps and Vireo were trading up, based on Vireo’s latest announcements about their capital raise and acquisitions and Weedmaps as two founders are looking to take the company private.

Michigan operators fined 💰

Sixty-seven Michigan cannabis operators have been fined for a range of alleged violations, almost half of those fined operate in Detroit and the good folks at the Detroit Metro Times broke down the violations. The most common? “...allegedly failing to file its annual financial statements on time…”

Illinois adds to qualifying medical conditions ➕

This is a good news/bad news story for those that suffer from female orgasm difficulty/disorder (FOD). The condition has been added to the list of qualifying conditions to receive medical cannabis in Illinois. That’s the good news. That bad news? A similar proposal was rejected in Oregon. More from Marijuana Moment. 

FLUENT expands footprint via acquisition 👣

FLUENT cannabis announced they’ve completed their acquisition of RIV Capital allowing them to expand their footprint to include Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Join us here at 10 am Eastern for conversation with FLUENT CEO Robert Beasley about this deal.

California's cannabis supply chain: Hidden pesticides and no public monitoring | LA Times