News Updates 6/23 -FDA Warns Stores Selling Elf Bar Disposables

E-cigarette Usage Soars During Pandemic, Especially Among Teens and Young Adults

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that e-cigarette usage has significantly increased during the pandemic, particularly among teens and young adults. The report shows that e-cigarette sales climbed 46.6% from January 2020 to December 2022, driven by non-tobacco flavored e-cigarette sales, such as menthol, fruit, and candy flavors. In 2022, just over 14% of high schoolers, or 2.14 million students, used e-cigarettes. The most popular e-cigarette brands have also shifted, with Vuse, known for its fruity e-liquid flavors, overtaking JUUL as the most popular e-cigarette brand as of December 2022. Meanwhile, Elf Bar disposables, a popular vaping device manufactured in China, has become a particular favorite among Gen Z smokers.

[Source: Quartz]

Colorado Gov. Plans to Issue Pardons for Psychedelic Drug Convictions

In a significant move, Colorado Governor Jared Polis has announced plans to issue pardons for all criminal convictions in the state related to psychedelic drugs. The announcement was made during the Psychedelic Conference in Denver. This comes after Polis signed a bill last month to implement medical psilocybin legalization and decriminalize the personal use and cultivation of other natural psychedelics. The Governor also expressed his desire for insurance companies, including Medicare and Medicaid, to cover the cost of psychedelic therapies. The pardons are aimed at preventing individuals from being held back from employment opportunities due to past convictions.

[Source: Ganjapreneur]

US House Committee Approves Research for Medical Cannabis, Psychedelics

The House Armed Services Committee, led by Republicans, has approved amendments in a massive defense bill to fund research and a pilot program to study the effects of medical cannabis and psychedelics. The amendments were proposed by GOP Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Morgan Luttrell of Texas. The legislation was included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets the annual budget and expenditures of the U.S. Department of Defense. The medical marijuana-related amendments require the program to cover individuals who receive services from the Veterans Affairs Department and the pilot program to be conducted in one or more states with an approved marijuana regulatory program. A clinical study assessing psychedelic treatments would enroll service members only with post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

[Source: MJBizDaily]

Colorado Cannabis Market Shows First Price Rise Since 2021, Ducking Deflation

After nearly a two-year stretch of deflation, marijuana prices in Colorado are showing the first signs of life since October 2021, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue. The retail price for a pound, which had plummeted from a peak of $1,731 in January 2021 to a historic low of $649 by April 2023, has risen to $703 in June 2023. This price hike breaks the two-year trend of slumping cannabis prices, which hovered around half of the rates seen before 2022. However, total marijuana sales in Colorado hit a five-year low, with monthly figures consistently falling between $125 million and $140 million since last winter. The challenging market conditions have forced smaller operators into consolidation due to a lack of capital-raise activity across the industry. Despite the sobering reality, the firm had anticipated that year-over-year comparisons should sting less by 2023 as the market continues to adjust.

[Source: Green Market Report]

Canadian Recreational Cannabis Sales Grow 1.3% to CA$411.7 Million in April

Canadian consumers spent 1.3% more on legal recreational cannabis in April compared to March, with total monthly sales reaching CA$411.7 million ($313 million). When adjusted for the number of days per month, cannabis sales increased by 4.7% from March to April. On a year-over-year basis, cannabis sales grew 10.3% compared to April 2022. The increase in consumer cannabis spending was led by the westernmost province of British Columbia, Canada’s third-most valuable marijuana market after Ontario and Alberta. B.C. cannabis sales increased 8.7% on a month-over-month basis to CA$68.5 million. Cannabis sales in Yukon territory were flat at CA$925,000. Sales for the Northwest Territories and Nunavut were not reported by Statistics Canada. Canadian recreational cannabis sales have totaled nearly CA$1.6 billion from January through April of this year.

[Source: MJBizDaily]

Canopy Growth Sees More Than $3 Billion in Losses

Canopy Growth Corporation, a leading player in the cannabis industry based in Canada, has reported a staggering loss of more than C$3 billion. The company’s revenue for the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2023, was C$87.54 million, a decline of 14% from the previous year. The net loss in the fourth quarter was a significant C$648 million, primarily driven by an increase in asset impairment and restructuring costs. For the full fiscal year, Canopy reported a 21% decrease in revenue, from 2022’s C$510 million to 2023’s revenue of C$402 million. The company attributes the fall in revenue to increased competition in the Canadian adult-use cannabis market, divestitures, and softer performance from certain brands. Despite the financial setbacks, Canopy Growth remains optimistic about its future, with plans to achieve breakeven to positive adjusted EBITDA in all businesses, except BioSteel, by the end of 2024.

[Source: Green Market Report]

Funding a Major Hurdle for Global Psychedelics Industry, Experts Warn

The global psychedelics industry is facing a significant financial hurdle as public psychedelics companies have spent almost all of the nearly $3 billion they have raised on drug development, with most still awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to bring their services to market. This was the consensus among several financial experts at the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Denver. They noted that the companies require more funding to complete the drug approval process, a major challenge at a time when investor enthusiasm has cooled significantly. Some experts suggested that large pharmaceutical companies could be enlisted to help, despite the traditional tension between natural medicine activists and “Big Pharma”.

[Source: Green Market Report]

Twitch Bans Cannabis Product Advertising Despite Allowing Alcohol Ads

Online streaming platform Twitch, owned by Amazon, has updated its branding policies to prohibit cannabis companies from buying advertising or sponsoring streamers. Interestingly, the new policy allows for the promotion of alcohol products, provided they are marked as “mature content”. Twitch users are permitted to consume cannabis on-stream, as long as they are of legal age and located in a place where cannabis is legal. However, the platform’s tolerance for cannabis content appears to stop there. The updated policies also ban advertisements for tobacco products, weapons, adult-oriented products or services, certain financial services, and political content. Despite Twitch’s stance on cannabis, its parent company Amazon has recently shown support for national cannabis policy reforms, endorsing the 2021 MORE Act and the States Reform Act, and announcing it would stop drug testing its employees for cannabis.

[Source: Ganjapreneur]