The cannabis world had an unlikely protagonist: magic mushrooms. After a popular vote, the city of Denver, Colorado, known as a legal cannabis trailblazer, approved a ballot measure to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms at its active ingredient, psilocybin.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries introduced a series of bills that would decriminalize cannabis on the federal level in both houses of Congress. These laws would also remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and create a fund for record expungement programs, among other things.
In the business world, an interesting development related to Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF). The giant retailer and Green Growth Brands Inc (OTC: GGBXF) announced a partnership to sell GGB’s Seventh SenseBotanical Therapy CBD-infused body care products for a trial in 10 of Abercrombie’s stores throughout Massachusetts, California, Colorado and Nevada.
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Nasdaq traded NIC Inc. (NASDAQ: EGOV), a provider of digital government services serving more than 6,000 federal, state and local government agencies, acquired Complia, in a move that will allow it to enter the cannabis industry.
GW Pharmaceuticals PLC-ADR (NASDAQ: GWPH) reported positive results from its Phase 3 Epidiolex trial, while delivering second-quarter earnings beats. Epidiolex sales of $33.5 million came in well above consensus forecasts between $15 million and $16 million. Pipper Jaffray, JPMorgan and Bank of America all came out with bullish reports after.
Marijuana Stocks & ETFs
Over the last five trading days:
• The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (OTC: HMLSF) (TSE:HMMJ) lost 3.3 percent.
• The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSE: MJ) tumbled 3.2 percent.
• The AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF (NYSE: YOLO) lost 0.8 percent.
• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) closed the period down 2.02 percent.
Here are some of the top marijuana stocks (market cap above $500 million) in U.S. exchanges and how the performed over the last five trading days:
• Acreage Holdings (OTC: ACRZF): down 8.55 percent
• Aphria Inc (NYSE: APHA): up 4 percent
• Aurora Cannabis Inc (NYSE: ACB): down 5 percent
• CannTrust Holdings Inc (NYSE: CTST): down 0.8 percent
• Canopy Growth Corp (NYSE: CGC): down 3.3 percent
• Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON): down 7.1 percent
• Curaleaf Holdings Inc (OTC: CURLF): up 4.4 percent
• Green Growth Brands Inc (OTC: GGBXF): down 4.7 percent
• Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd (OTC: TGODF): down 7.8 percent
• Green Thumb Industries Inc (OTC: GTBIF): down 5.3 percent
• GW Pharmaceuticals PLC- ADR (NASDAQ: GWPH): up 1.6 percent
• Hexo Corp (NYSE: HEXO): down 8.15 percent
• Harvest Health & Recreation Inc (OTC: HRVSF): down 2.7 percent
• iAnthus Capital Holdings Inc (OTC: ITHUF): down 6.7 percent
• Marimed Inc (OTC: MRMD): up 3 percent
• MedMen Enterprises Inc. (OTC: MMNFF): down 5.3 percent
• OrganiGram Holdings Inc (OTC: OGRMF): down 2.6 percent
• Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE: SMG): down 3.4 percent
• Tilray Inc (NASDAQ: TLRY): down 0.7 percent
In Other News
Merida Capital Partners appointed former Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) executive Tom Harrison and former Medco Health Solutions, Inc. executive Pam Galassini as senior operating partners. Harrison will join the board of directors of MediaJel, a global creative and multimedia agency while Galassini will join Manna Molecular, a cannabis biotech and product innovation firm, in an operations executive role.
The newly appointed executives are set to broaden their roles at the firm and portfolio companies in the coming months.
Commenting on the fund’s new hires, Merida’s Managing Partner Mitch Baruchowitz said, “Tom and Pam are Fortune 500 executives with experience in health care, strategy, governance and other areas that will help our portfolio in myriad ways. This is another validation of Merida’s institutional approach and the broader industry at large.â€
Last month, Merida announced its $200 million Third Fund, which will focus on high conviction investments in leading companies in the cannabis ecosystem. Since 2016, the fund has deployed $80 million across its first two funds. Current assets under management stand at $125 million.
The Green Organic Dutchman announced a strategic investment into the U.S. beverage space as a co-founding investor and strategic partner in the newly formed Califormulations LLC. TGOD will work with Califormulations to expedite the US launch of TGOD branded organic hemp-based CBD beverages.
“We are thrilled to be working with Califormulations on the development of hemp CBD beverages; the category is expected to grow exponentially as more consumers embrace CBD products,†said Brian Athaide, CEO of TGOD. “Having the opportunity to leverage the expertise and capabilities of a global leader like Symrise facilitates our entry into the US hemp CBD market, providing flexibility and agility as we scale up. With this partnership, TGOD is well positioned to capitalize on the quickly evolving cannabinoid beverage market.â€
Canopy Rivers Inc (OTC: CNPOF), the investment platform for Canopy Growth, announced a major agreement between its joint venture, cannabis greenhouse operator Pharmhouse and Canopy Growth.
Building on an existing agreement that entitled Canopy Growth to 10 percent of Pharmhouse’s flowering space, this announcement ups that agreement by an additional 20 percent, committing Canopy Growth to 30 percent of the supply to be generated by the 1.3 million square foot greenhouse. Pharmhouse now has a full 50 percent of its future supply committed. Deliveries to Canopy Growth from PharmHouse are expected to commence late in the second half of this year when the state of the art greenhouse comes on line.
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Benzinga broke the news of GrowGeneration Corp. (OTC: GRWG) reporting record revenues and an increase in guidance.
HerbForce, the cannabis-specific recruitment division of ForceBrands, released its most recent Talent Market Report, focused exclusively on benefits and compensation in the cannabis industry. HerbForce surveyed more than 500 full-time professionals across the consumer products industry with 10 percent of total respondents coming specifically from the cannabis industry. The findings revealed that cannabis companies offered the highest average raise percentage in 2018 at a staggering 14 percent — more than quadruple the national raise average.
Also, when it comes to benefits, cannabis employers are enticing senior-level candidates with traditional benefits like dental and vision insurance, but are already looking ahead to the future of the workplace, where the demands of younger generations who prefer more flexible work-life balance will usher in new benefits like commuting expense reimbursements and in-office stress relief initiatives. Download the full report here: Cannabis Talent Market Report.
Cronos Group said it’s expanding its research and development program by opening a facility in Israel that will be focused on cannabinoid devices. More importantly, the company reported first-quarter results that included revenue growth of 120 percent on the year driven by legalization of adult-use cannabis and strong CBD oil sales.