As April’s 420 month stubs out, what’s the latest deal? In New Zealand, while gardeners weeded out growth on parliament lawns, Southland farmers have been hitting new highs in their cannabis trials, and the East Coast’s Rua Bioscience launched their first prescription medicinal marijuana product. 🧪There’s been smoke signals across the Pacific, too. US lawmakers in the House of Representatives have been stoking the fires and heating up marijuana lobbyists’ belief that full law reform is a matter of ‘not if, but when’. 

Yet despite 37 US states having medical marijuana laws and 18 with recreational cannabis laws, the wait for growers’ continues to drag as the federal prohibition rolls on. The blocker? Seems legal reform needs to blaze a trail through the Senate before sweeping federal government law changes can be made. And with just three Republicans backing decriminalisation, there’s a damper on expectations. 🚭 

It’s a problem, why? Barclays strategists last year predicted cannabis could blunt budget pain by bringing in up to US$12 billion in tax revenue. 💰 And according to cannabis trade publication MJBiz, the budding marijuana industry, which increased sales by 35% from 2020 to an estimated US$27 billion, is predicted to double in value by 2025. Meaning, relaxing weed laws could bump up the fed’s tax revenue. Perhaps a joint effort to rally the Senate needs to be on the cards? With nearly half a million people in the US having jobs connected to the cannabis industry, rallying them could be lobbyists’ next power move. 

It might be a while before investors see returns light up, however. Marijuana ETFs, including Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ), and the biggest cannabis companies, Tilray (TLRY), Aurora Cannabis (ACB), Canopy Growth Company (CGC) and Cronos (CRON), have failed to deliver for investors, instead focussing on buying new equipment to supercharge revenue growth. Looks like not even Snoop Dogg’s 14-year friendship with Martha Stewart, Canopy’s official strategic advisor, can deliver the highs. 💧