The cannabis market enters 2020 with plenty of catalysts for higher sales and profits. A lot of companies have made changes in executive leadership to handle the next phase of growth as legalization in cannabis markets slowly progresses and public market veterans are more apt to join the sector.
2020 started with legislation siding entirely in favor of Cannabis throughout twelve states US (and the District of Columbia). Aside from full legalization, more than 75% of the United States of America have legalized (and decriminalized) Cannabis use. Whether that use is in the form of CBD, restricted to medicinal use, or completely without consequence, America’s legislation is changing rapidly.
When the Florida Legislature lifted the ban on smoking medical cannabis in 2019, the whole industry changed.
For the first time, patients were able to smoke whole-flower cannabis to get what industry experts call the “entourage effect,” or the effect of smoking mostly unprocessed marijuana bud with all its natural compounds intact. Medical marijuana treatment centers were excited about new product opportunities, and activists cheered for expanded access to the medicine.
Aurora Cannabis Inc. late Thursday said that Chief Executive Terry Booth is retiring amid “sweeping changes” for the Canadian licensed producer, the latest pot company to cut costs amid a cash crunch in the sector.
Marijuana legalization is heating up in the US and globally. Many countries like Thailand, Mexico, and New Zealand support marijuana legalization. To learn more, read Cannabis Legalization: The World Waits for the US. Meanwhile, US states are also stepping up.
The state of Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services has published a list of the first six companies it is awarding medical cannabis "seed-to-sale" licenses to operate in the state.
The winners are MJ Freeway, Bio-Tech Medical Software, Swin, Artemis Agtech, Validated Housing, and Retail Innovation. There were also two companies turned down for permits: Leaf Logix Technologies and Canna Botanicals. All eight are privately held.
Massachusetts House lawmakers approved a bill Wednesday that would tighten oversight of payments made by marijuana companies to the cities and towns that host them.
The bill, which passed by a 121-33 vote, would give the state’s Cannabis Control Commission the power to review, regulate and enforce host community agreements following criticism that some local officials have used the contracts to demand more money from companies than is allowed under state law.
As sustainability missions crop up on every corporate radar across a diverse range of industries, the legal cannabis sector is no different.
In a previous CSO Magazine article, we discussed that, at a time when competition has never been higher, businesses are finding that taking superior measures to combat climate change can often be a decisive and enticing factor with consumers:
With federal banking still out of reach, Gov. Jared Polis unveiled new strategies Monday to entice Colorado banks, credit unions and money transmitters to work with cannabis companies and become leaders in providing financial services to marijuana and hemp businesses.
If you were a marijuana stock investor in 2019, chances are you couldn't wait for the year to end. Despite galloping to incredible gains during the first quarter, pot stocks spent the remaining nine months of the year in a precipitous downtrend. When the curtain closed on 2019, most cannabis stock were at or near their yearly, or multiyear, lows.
