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Although the majority of U.S. states and territories have legalized medical and/or recreational cannabis, the drug remains illegal under federal law.

But one Colorado-based group is hoping that will change next year.

Cannabis consumers and industry workers want to increase their political power at the polls in 2020—thanks, in part, to the Cannabis Voter Project.

The project “informs, registers and turns out voters” who have an interest in cannabis and related policy, notes its website, and has the goal of getting “at least one million self-identified Cannabis Voters to the polls” in next year’s federal election.

“I think the marijuana industry is learning that they have political power. And when you have political power, you assert it by turning out your voters on particular issues,” RBI Strategies and Research partner Rick Ridder told CPR.

“You know, seven years ago, it was a single issue driver for many [cannabis users]. For many voters now that it’s legalized, you’re getting into nuances, and when you get into nuances, voters move on to other areas of concern, whether it be the economy, whether it becomes choice.”

Non-profit HeadCount, which describes itself as a “non-partisan organization that works with musicians to promote participation in democracy,” is at the helm of the project. The organization has ties to acts such as Jay-Z, Phish, Dave Matthews Band and Wilco, and has been registering concertgoers—over 600,000 to date—to vote.

However, HeadCount executive director Andy Bernstein says the group does not intend to pressure cannabis voters to cast their ballot one way or another. “We are neutral players, Bernstein said. “We are not Democrat or Republican or climate activists or gun activists,” he added.

“Before, when it was more underground and counter-culture, we didn’t have that voice,” said California-based CannaCraft co-founder Dennis Hunter. The company has donated US$100,000 to the project.

“What we’re really seeing now, and we’re employing tons of people, we’re getting their attention now and it’s just going to make a difference in the coming election that we stay engaged.”

As the legalization of marijuana sweeps across the United States, the issue of driving under the influence presents itself as a major sticking point in states considering fully legal weed.

A Northern California-based company might have the answer. Hound Labs has developed a portable breathalyzer that is able to detect the presence of both alcohol and THC in the blood.

The company also claims its product, the first of its kind, can detect THC levels ingested via edibles.

According to the company’s website, once the breath samples from the driver have been collected, the device’s cartridge is transferred to a portable processor that screens the samples for alcohol and THC.

“Within a few minutes, the results for both alcohol and THC are displayed. If desired, the cartridge can be saved so the second sample can be analyzed in the future,” Hound Labs say.

The chief executive and co-founder of Hound Labs, Mike Lynn, is also an emergency medicine physician and has worked with researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco on the Hound Marijuana Breathalyzer.

“It’s about creating a balance of public safety and fairness. I’ve seen the tragedies resulting from impaired driving up close. And I have a good idea how challenging it is at the roadside to know whether someone smoked pot recently. But I believe if someone is not stoned, they shouldn’t be arrested,” Lynn told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Lynn expects the device to be ready by the second half of next year.

Hound Labs recently raised $30 million in its Series D round of funding led by Intrinsic Capital Partners.

“With commercial production of its marijuana breathalyzer already underway, Hound Labs is optimally positioned to meet the pent-up demand for the only tool that measures recent marijuana use without identifying someone who legally consumed marijuana the prior night or last weekend,” Howard Goodwin, a partner at Intrinsic Capital Partners, stated on the occasion.

The effects of the legalization of recreational marijuana on road safety is an emerging issue as an increasing number of states move to allow it. One survey released earlier this year suggested that half of marijuana users in the US consider driving while high to be safe.

The study conducted by PSB Research and Buzzfeed News found that 48% of cannabis users feel safe behind the wheel while under the influence of weed, while 46% disagreed.

Although research on the dangers of driving while high is limited, federal government researchers at The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) cite several papers on their website that point to the perilous relationship between driving and marijuana use.

“Marijuana significantly impairs judgment, motor coordination, and reaction time, and studies have found a direct relationship between blood THC concentration and impaired driving ability,” according to NIDA.

CannTrust Holdings Inc. is planning to destroy approximately $77 million worth of cannabis as the beleaguered pot producer seeks to restore regulatory compliance.

In a press release issued on Thanksgiving Monday, CannTrust said it will not challenge Health Canada’s Sept. 17 decision to suspend the company’s sales and production licences. Instead, CannTrust said it “remains focused on working collaboratively and transparently with the regulator to address the company’s non-compliance matters.”

Those “non-compliance matters” first came to light in early July when CannTrust disclosed that it had run afoul of Health Canada due to unlicensed production at its Pelham, Ont. facility. 

That was the spark for a devastating  production scandal — replete with a whistleblower’s allegations of fake walls that were installed to shield illegal production from regulators, and internal documents obtained by BNN Bloomberg that suggested some CannTrust employees attempted to conceal black market cannabis seeds that were apparently brought into one of the company’s facilities last year. 

Along the way, former CEO Peter Aceto was fired, Chairman Eric Paul was ousted, CannTrust hired a financial advisor for its review of strategic alternatives, and disclosed that “matters and parties” related to the company were under investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission’s Joint Serious Offences Team. 

On Monday, CannTrust said it sent Health Canada an outline of its proposed remediation plan, which includes steps such as unspecified measures to recover unauthorized cannabis, a pledge to “improve key personnel’s knowledge of, and compliance with” regulations, and improvements to internal record-keeping. 

The company said it expects to provide a detailed remediation plan to Health Canada by Oct. 21.

In conjunction with its remediation proposal, CannTrust said it is necessary to destroy approximately $12 million worth of biological assets and $65 million worth of inventory that wasn’t authorized under the company’s licence, including material that was returned by patients, distributors and retailers. 

“CannTrust is confident that its detailed remediation plan will not only address all of the compliance issues identified by Health Canada, but it will also build a best-in-class compliance environment for the future. … Our goal is to meet and exceed Health Canada’s regulatory standard, and to rebuild the trust and confidence of our primary regulator, investors, patients, and customers,” said CannTrust interim Chief Executive Officer Robert Marcovitch in the press release. 

CannTrust’s New York-listed shares rose 13 per cent to close at $1.04 Monday. 

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) announced late last week it has submitted rules and regulations for the state’s industrial hemp program with the State Register’s office.

Louisiana was among a handful of remaining hemp holdout states until Governor John Bel Edwards signed off on HB491 in June this year, which became Act No. 164. Since that time, progress towards seeing the first crops sown legally in the state for decades has been swift.

“Our staff worked diligently to complete and file the industrial hemp administrative rules and regulations,” said LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain. “Our goal is to have everything in place and licenses issued in time for the 2020 planting season.”

Mr. Strain says while additional steps need to be completed before the production of industrial hemp in Louisiana can proceed, he’s confident his department is on track to meet the goal. However, the Department notes issues beyond its control could cause delays. One of those delays may come via the USDA, as Louisiana’s state plan for hemp will need to be approved.

LDAF has been charged with the task of adopting, administering and enforcing hemp rules and regulations. It will also be responsible for testing all industrial hemp crops prior to harvest to ensure THC levels do not exceed 0.3%. Testing will cost growers $250 per sample. LDAF is also the regulatory authority for the processing and transportation of industrial hemp.

The LDAF Industrial Hemp Program will start accepting license applications once the USDA gives its blessing and state rules have been adopted. There won’t be any limit on the number of hemp licenses issued –  all applicants meeting licensing requirements will be able to grow the crop and there won’t be any minimum acreage.

Even Louisiana residents will be able to grow the plant in their backyards if they wish – assuming they have a license. That mightn’t be particularly attractive given licenses will cost $500 and various hurdles need to be cleared.

The $500 and process will be chump change to commercial growers though, in particular those looking to tap into the CBD (cannabidiol) market. However, it’s not as lucrative as it once was. With so many states now permitting hemp cultivation and CBD production, prices for the cannabinoid have dropped significantly in recent months.

Louisiana’s proposed hemp rules and regulations can be viewed here.

Voters in Nevada made their state one of the four to approve adult-use legalization in November 2016. The efforts there may not have gotten the media attention that California (because of its size) or Massachusetts and Maine (first victories for recreational legalization on the East Coast) did, but events in the state continue to show just how critical the vote was. With Nevada’s growing population, it means more people every year will have access to cannabis without needing a specific reason or special permission.

And while Nevada continues to fly under the radar somewhat when it comes to news compared to other states, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With states like California making news due to shortages and weak supply and missing tax projections, and Maine being known for its relative lack of progress when it comes to getting adult-use sales off the ground at all, Nevada has made progress on many fronts. But that doesn’t mean all is well and that there is not still a lot more to accomplish.

“Nevada hit the ground running in 2017 with adult use and nothing has slowed down since,” Madisen Saglibene, the Executive Director for both the Las Vegas and Nevada chapters of NORML, told The Marijuana Times. “We rolled out the program extremely quickly, adopted amazing testing standards, and have great product availability overall. For consumers, there have been challenges though. The cost of product in Las Vegas is some of the highest in the nation and is then subject to a high tax rate also. For patients this has been a real problem, leading many back to the street market. Many great things have transpired since legalization, especially when it comes to tax revenue and business development, but Nevada consumers want to make sure that integrity is maintained by these cannabis businesses.”

Nevada is also somewhat unique in the U.S. due to the fact that tens of millions of tourists visit the state each year. When I asked Madisen about the impact legalization would have there over the next 5 years, she said it would likely be huge, especially after social use areas are allowed. “Casinos aren’t doing as well as they used to, nightclubs are also losing momentum, so I think Vegas is going to have to make that switch from an economic perspective,” she told us. “Unfortunately our laws don’t allow for any public consumption, so theoretically unless you live in Nevada, there’s nowhere you can legally smoke. This creates friction for tourists that need to be addressed. Social use lounges, other than those on Native American reservations, will not be permitted until at least 2021 per Nevada statute.”

Once people have the ability to travel to a place like Las Vegas, buy marijuana, and have multiple choices for where to consume said marijuana, there is no telling how many more tourists will pick Nevada as their destination. And if Nevada is still one of the very few places that offer this set of circumstances, they could have an advantage over other tourist spots for many years to come.

 Marijuana stocks are shifting on the daily due to the massive innovation going on throughout the industry. With so many investors in the pot stock market, it seems as though some companies are appearing as interesting investments over others. This is due to the amount of forward-thinking that they are employing and their commitment to the future. Within the pot stock market comes a large amount of options in terms of which companies to take a closer look at.

These companies range all over the place from the growers of the substance all the way to money transport services. The benefits also range from volatility to the amount of need for a given business in the industry. The most important factor to consider when looking for a pot stock to watch is that all of the research is in place. With all the information at hand, it seems as though investors can become much more informed about a given business. All in all, marijuana stocks continue to look bright for the near future.

An Alternative Product Producer

1933 Industries Inc. (TGIFF Stock Report) (TGIF Stock Report) is one of the leading vertically integrated producers of various cannabis products for sale in the market. The company has a large number of operations within the U.S. as well as Canada which gives them a very diverse consumer base. Additionally, they operate through two subsidiary companies that are wholly owned. Through their subsidiaries, they are able to partake in cannabis cultivation, extraction, processing and the manufacturing of assets.

The company recently announced that they have commenced upon sales to the retailer Zumiez. The sales of the product known as Canna Hemp X is meant to help active individuals with topical recovery.  As one of the leaders of hemp-based

wellness, the company is able to produce extremely high quality CBD-infused product. Paul Kobriger, the Brand Manager for Canna Hemp X stated that “our focus on supporting the skate, snow, and other action and adventure sports industries is the background of the Canna Hemp X brand and Zumiez’s unequal approach to marketing, branding and merchandising, integrating their brands with their customers’ activities and interest makes it an ideal retailer for our products.” 1933 Industries remains a key pot stock to watch.

A Pot Grower Making Big Waves

Village Farms International (VFF Stock Report) is one of the largest growers of marijuana in the industry. The company recently formed a joint venture with Emerald Health Therapeutics which they titled Pure Sunfarms.

This venture has been working with two 1.1 million square foot growing facilities that had been previously used for the growth of vegetables. The goal is to be producing 75,000 kilograms of cannabis per year. With this large grow, they can hopefully produce a high-quality product as well as a large amount of CBD produced from hemp. As they continue on their journey to becoming one of the leading producers of high-quality cannabis in the industry, they remain a key marijuana stock to watch moving forward.

Last year, we saw marijuana history made many times over. Canada became the first industrialized country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana nearly one year ago, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its very first cannabis-derived drug. The latter is a pretty big deal, considering that marijuana remains a Schedule I (i.e., illicit) substance at the federal level in the United States.

The activity this year has been no different, with the many of the largest acquisitions in cannabis history being announced, and derivative pot products officially being legalized in our neighbor to the north as of this coming Thursday, Oct. 17.

But maybe the biggest story of all in 2019 is yet to come.

Recreational cannabis legalization may happen very soon in Mexico

According to online publication Marijuana Moment, Mexico's Senate appears to be mere weeks away from officially legalizing recreational cannabis. In doing so, it would become only the third country globally to have waved the green flag on adult-use weed, after Uruguay and Canada.

On Halloween of 2018, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that an absolute ban on the recreational use and possession of marijuana was unconstitutional. What makes this ruling so meaningful is that it was the fifth time in a couple of years that the country's highest court had reached a similar verdict. In Mexico, when the Supreme Court reaches a similar verdict five times, it becomes the standard set throughout the country.

Putting this verdict into another context, Mexico's Supreme Court effectively put Mexico on the path to legalization, with the requirement that lawmakers craft and pass legislation by no later than one year from its ruling (i.e., the end of October 2019). According to Marijuana Moment, Sen. Ricardo Monreal of the Morena Party noted that a reform bill should be voted on, and hopefully approved, by the end of this month. 

Then again, cannabis legalization in Mexico won't be a cut-and-dried issue.

Here's why giving the green light to adult-use weed in Mexico could be tricky

One of the nuances about the Supreme Court ruling in October 2018 is that it concerned the possession and use of recreational cannabis, and not the retail sale of the drug. Not everyone in Mexico's Senate is necessarily in favor of the idea of a broad-based bill that would not only grant Mexicans adults the right to possess and use certain amounts of cannabis without the fear of prosecution but also allow businesses to produce and sell marijuana.

There have also been objections to the idea of privately run marijuana businesses infiltrating the Mexican cannabis market. Last week, Mario Delgado Carrillo, the coordinator of the Morena Party's bench in the Chamber of Deputies, Mexico's lower house of Congress, filed a bill that would have placed the recreational cannabis market under state control. Neither Mexico's President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, nor Senate leader Monreal, favor a state-run approach.

There's also, arguably, an even more pervasive black market presence that would need to be contended with in Mexico than there is in Canada or the United States. Drug cartels in Mexico control a significant chunk of illicit production in the country, and it's going to be a far tougher task to, pardon the pun, weed them out than it is to halt illicit production from small-time operators in the U.S. or Canada.

Lastly, the hard timeline that Mexico's Supreme Court placed on Congress to come up with rules and regulations concerning adult-use weed may actually make things more difficult. Rather than producing legislation that's best for consumers and businesses, Mexico's lawmakers, now under a time crunch, may, in my view, pass non-optimal legislation.

A potential billion-dollar opportunity awaits

But if everything goes well -- and that's a big "if" -- Mexico could become a $1 billion annual market by 2024, according to the State of the Legal Cannabis Markets report from Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics. That would be particularly welcome news for a handful of pot stocks that've navigated their way into Mexico in recent years.

For example, in December, Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB) agreed to acquire Farmacias Magistrales, the only company given a license to import raw materials containing greater than 1% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the cannabinoid that gets users high. Farmacias owns a 12,000-square-foot pharmaceutical processing and production facility in Mexico City that can process THC and cannabidiol (CBD), as well as produce cosmetics and nutraceuticals. When Aurora made its purchase, Farmacias had a network reach of about 80,000 retail doors for its CBD products, and roughly 500 pharmacies and hospitals for its THC products. 

Although Aurora Cannabis has made clear that its focus is on higher-margin medical marijuana patients, its purchase of Farmacias may give the company a first-mover advantage in a recreationally legalized environment.

Opportunities for added revenue should also be available to Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC:MJNA), the very first publicly traded cannabis stock. Medical Marijuana holds the distinction of being the first company to import CBD-rich oils into Mexico in 2016. The company has had early success with its RSHO-X hemp oil product line with medical patients, and Medical Marijuana would more than likely see an acceleration of sales if Mexico further loosens restrictions on cannabis products.

Needless to say, the next couple of weeks are going to be pivotal to the future of Mexico's cannabis industry.

Nine months ago, the Danish pharma specialist NNE sowed a seed – a team providing strategic business consulting on growing, producing and distributing medical cannabis.

Now NNE reaps the harvest; The team has 25 projects in the basket and is currently counsellors for Canadian Atlas’ major cannabis investment in Denmark. The NNE CEO describes the team as a ‘disruption from within’.

While greenhouses with tomatoes and mushrooms are transforming into growth centres for cannabis in the Danish countryside, disruption is taking place in the Copenhagen Metropolitan Area, where pharma specialist NNE is located.

The connecting thread is medical cannabis – the pharma industry’s engine of growth.

Successful knowledge-sharing from Canada to Europe and back again

A year ago, a small group of NNE employees gathered to identify new business opportunities. Just three months later, NNE made a strategic choice and established an agile cannabis team that advises businesses in the development and investment phase ahead of the decision to build a facility for growing, producing and distributing cannabis.

According to Jesper Kløve, CEO of NNE, it was a ‘disruption from within’: “Our cannabis team operates with a new approach in relation to our classical modus operandi. With this new team, NNE provides consulting from cradle to grave.

“We identify the client’s commercial basis and participate in investor meetings as advisors. If a company then decides to invest in a cannabis project, we can help establish the business.”

The NNE cannabis team already has experience from more than 25 medical cannabis projects – and NNE is very successful when it comes to sharing knowledge from Canada to Europe and back again.

Business Director Christian Carlsen said: “Instead of focusing on NNE’s highly specialised engineering services and our 70 years of pharma know-how, we offer advice on companies’ commercial onset. We provide feasibility studies, forecasts and advice on locations.”

A current example is the investment from Atlas in the region of Funen, Denmark, where NNE has advised from the first phases of the project, including Atlas’ choice of geo-location. Now NNE continues its consulting, and the investment is expected to result in hundreds of new jobs.

Attractive structural competitive advantages

When international companies choose Denmark as their tip of the spear for investments in the European market, it is no coincidence. According to Invest in Denmark in Toronto, the regulatory framework and a strong pharma sector are key factors.

Michael Prytz, Investment Manager at Invest in Denmark, part of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained: “Denmark has several structural competitive advantages. A unique and clear legislative framework for medical cannabis, low energy prices, competent workforce and a great know-how within pharma.

“The Danish business eco-system consist of competent partners that foreign investor can seamlessly cooperate with – for instance companies with extensive expertise in establishing facilities for producing cannabis and obtaining the necessary official approvals, with patient safety as the ultimate goal.”

The market potential in Europe is enormous. Atlas grew up in the Canadian market with approximately 35 million citizens. In the European Union, the market is just over DKK 510m (~€ 68.28m), markedly larger than the US market.

High legal and patient safety requirement

The market for medical cannabis is characterised by both small companies with an investment maximum of DKK 250,000, and big companies from e.g. Canada with investments of around DKK 250m in Europe, Asia and Denmark. NNE’s cannabis team delivers advice for both types.

Carlsen said that NNE’s experience with Danish and international regulatory framework for medical cannabis and GMP is key to its business partners: “We have established relationships with Canadian companies primarily through their need for a credible advisor in meetings with investors and shareholders. We can validate the business model and – when it comes to engineering, compliance and technology – we are experts that strengthens the potential and suggest changes.

“The players in this market foresee that companies living up to the high but clear regulatory requirements in Denmark also live up to 85-90 percent of the possible European requirements. Thus, Danish NNE is an attractive partner for companies with European expansion plans. We are trusted advisors to several of the major players. Our customers work with us in Denmark as well as internationally.”

Asia is also interesting. NNE, which has a department in India, is already embarking on a cannabis project in the more than one billion-person market.

On that basis, Christian Carlsen works diligently on harvesting even more value with NNE’s ‘disruption from within’ – the fruitful cannabis team.

The past year, the European cannabis industry has grown more than the previous six years combined. More than 500 million Euros have been invested in the industry.

The European Cannabis Report expects that the European market for medical cannabis will grow to reach a value of 123 billion Euros in 2028. This means it will become the World’s largest market within the next five years.