Walz picks Harris: Supporting cannabis

HARRIS/WALZ
How does Tim Walz feel about cannabis?

What happened: Democratic nominee Kamala Harris officially selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 presidential election. 

Why it matters: Both Harris and Walz support cannabis reform, marking a historic first for a US presidential ticket. 

Walz has long supported cannabis reform. He backed numerous measures both as Congressmen and as Minnesota’s governor, including signing a bill that legalized cannabis in Minnesota in 2023. Walz also pushed for the expungement of cannabis-related criminal charges.

What Walz says: “Criminalizing cannabis hasn’t worked. By legalizing it for adult use, we’re expanding our economy, creating jobs, and regulating the industry to keep Minnesotans safe” he said on Twitter/X. 

Compare and contrast: Former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, has in the past supported states’ rights to legalize cannabis but opposed related banking legislation and criticized the implementation of legalization in some states.

What’s next: Vice presidents don’t do much to set policy. But their political priorities do have some bearing on what they’ll campaign on — and the Democrats are certainly pushing their work on cannabis reform. 

At the end of the day, go vote. The choice is yours. 

-CB

“Prohibition has not worked,” Gov. Walz said after he signed Minnesota’s legalization bill into law:

OHIO
How Ohio is doing on its big day

What happened: Ohio kicked off recreational cannabis sales yesterday, a much-awaited move by the cannabis industry and cannabis-consuming Ohioans alike. 

On the first day, many dispensaries experienced varied customer traffic with some witnessing long lines and others starting slow.

At Zen Leaf in Cincinnati, a line started around 7:20 AM for the doors to open at 9. 

What to know: Those older than 21 may possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and 15 grams of extracts or edibles. But like other states, recreational customers have purchasing limits for a singular transaction.

As of now, these are the caps: 

• 1oz of flower

• 10 units of oil, each containing 590mg of THC

• 10 packages of edibles that total no more than 1,100mg of THC

What they’re saying: “Yeah, I slept in my car. This is pretty epic to me. I wanted to be the first one here,” Jeff Riede, the first customer in Cincinnati, said. 

“Hopefully in the next few months stuff will go down. With sales tax as of now and product availability, you see what happens,” Gavin McKenney, the general manager of Bloom Medicinals, told The Dispatch explaining why Ohio prices are higher than neighboring Michigan. 

Big cannabis companies also cheered Ohio’s starting gun. 

“We’ve always been strong advocates for safe, regulated adult-use markets where customers can obtain trusted products. We commend lawmakers and regulators for their swift action and ability to get a program implemented less than a year after receiving the mandate from voters,” The Cannabist CEO David Hart said. 

Why it matters: Ohio has charted a different path than states like New York by allowing big, publicly traded cannabis companies to have the first crack at the market. 

It’s also a purple — if leaning red — state, so opening up a cannabis market a few months ahead of what's set to be a contested election is an important signal. And experts, including Morgan Paxhia, the managing partner of Poseidon Asset Management, expect the market will eventually reach $3 billion once it matures

“Several of our industry's publicly traded companies have solid footprints in the state, so we expect a lot of positive coverage of this market, and yet another historic moment in legal cannabis,” he said. 

-CB

Still work to do in Ohio 🛑

While cannabis consumers, and the cannabis industry, celebrated the opening of Ohio’s adult-use market yesterday, not everyone was so psyched. There are still municipalities opting out of adult-use. Take the City of Euclid, for example. More from WKYC. 

Investors sue High Times 🧑‍⚖️

High Times, the defining cannabis magazine of the late twentieth century, is getting sued by investors for $5 million as part of a class action lawsuit, per Green Market Report.

Another day, another crop of cannabis earnings: 

• Florida cannabis giant Trulieve reported its second-quarter results, a $12 million loss on $303 million of revenue, up 2% sequentially. The Florida-based cannabis company also reported an industry leading 60% gross margin — essentially meaning that the company keeps 60 cents of every dollar it makes — and $45 million of free cash flow.

• Minnesota-based Vireo Growth reported a $668,000 net loss on $25 million of revenue — a huge improvement from losing $6.7 million during the first quarter of this year. 

• Tomorrow, we have Curaleaf and Verano on deck. We’ll have the key takeaways for you then. 

The first thing Walz gets asked about on CNN when discussing his record? Legalizing cannabis.

Oversupply, marketing rules and tax revenues: An in-depth conversation with OCM’s John Kagia | New York Cannabis Insider

LIST: Here’s where you can buy recreational marijuana in Ohio Tuesday | Ohio Capital Journal

Outside Lands partners with controversial cannabis company | SF Gate