The introduction is short today. Enjoy the holidays, be safe when participating and exhale the BS. Below are things that are really worth keeping a eye on, missed opportunities and sticky situations will continue.
1. The specialty flower market – I have called this the “T-Free” flower market, but I figured it wasn’t as fitting since we could have THCV hemp as we continue to see more and more minor cannabinoid dominant flower hitting shelves. We could see a flower market flourish because of the ability to engineer genetics to produce more of the minor cannabinoids found in cannabis such as CBG, CBN, THCV etc… Each crop breeders are working towards producing more of the lesser known cannabinoids, not only to extract and isolate for various end products, but also for smokable flower. Each season or every year, we may swing from current cannabinoid to new cannabinoid taking the spotlight in the industry’s newest line of products. I will be eager to see how this plays out, especially when we have some states like Texas aiming to ban smokable flower. I don’t think this will happen though. But I do hope we see more and more craft flower being produced. I just love the look of buds.
2. Movement at the federal level – Me, personally, I have said since 2017 that Trump would make a move on cannabis at the federal level in 2020 for a couple of reasons that still stand to be the case today. One, I believed and still do, that there is tremendous pressure on congress from the topic, and with the farm bill legalizing hemp, and so much state confusion over differentiating weed or hemp, something is bound to shake out. I mean, look at what we did with the MORE Act and SAFE banking act, we made history. The limits are being pushed and the pipes only take so much pressure before they burst and cannabis is one of many things they have to deal with, but it could be a quick alleviation for them. And two, Trump will not pass up the opportunity to be the first president in history to make a move on cannabis at the federal level. Some predicted that he would use it as a leveraging tool during reelection, but I think he would just do it and then play the “look at me” game. Can’t you just see him doing that to then demand praise and support for his 2020 reelection run? Like “I legalized cannabis for you, vote for me”. That would be a hell of a campaign slogan.
3. Look to Oklahoma and New Mexico to pass recreational cannabis in 2020 – Oklahoma has over 4400 cannabis licenses given out through the state. Can you say deploying infrastructure? If they turn recreational next year it could save a lot of the license holders that otherwise would fall victim to the competitive landscape especially with a potential plateau in new patient counts. If rec went Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas would be storming over to the green rush sprouting in Bible belt Oklahoma. Texas is big, so if New Mexico passes the much anticipated adult use in 2020, Texans on the west side of Texas will have that temptation as well. A lot of pressure is building from this, additionally look for more articles in the future of implications this has on the black market here.
4. Thriving black market – This one can speak to two audiences. Consumers, well, in states like Texas, where we happen to live, we have a thriving black market. The longer Texas delays more patients access to QUALITY medicine here, the longer we run the risk of patients being negatively impacted by the unregulated black market. Do I need to bring up the recent “vape crises” for an example? We are all just trying to end the suffering, and safe access to our medicine should be a very least, so just please be safe and have resources you can trust when doing “what you go to do”. The other audience is the damn State of Texas officials. If Oklahoma and New Mexico both legalize adult use, what do you predict that will do to consumer behavior here in Texas? If that happens in 2020, they will go live in 2021, especially Oklahoma with the enormous amount of dispensaries they have. That means we go majority of 2021, our next legislative session, with Texans burning rubber up 75 and 35 just for Johnny Law to post up like a sticky note at every mile marker waiting for a chance at additional revenue. We need a better solution if we ever want the legal market to be the dominant of the two.
5. More Psychoactive/Psychedelic medicines decriminalized/legalized – I have been saying this for a couple of years. Cannabis is wedging the door open to legalizing more of these types of misinterpreted medicines. As these efforts happen all over the country, keep an eye out for states like Oregon that are attempting to pass Psilocybin programs to permit licensed service providers to administer a psilocybin product to prescreened individuals following an entire after process. Kinda sounds similar to the roll out of medical cannabis programs minus the thorough follow up. Wait for this move by Oregon to spread like wildfire, just like the cannabis movement did, State by State. Is there an entrepreneur opportunity lurking in this emerging market? The biggest difference with this one, is the FDA is behind it. They have already granted breakthrough status on two trials. Something that has never come close to happening in the cannabis industry.