Insider Cannabis: Law firms eyeing psychedelics — Flowhub scoops a senior Glassdoor exec — Cannabis in the COVID relief bill
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Jeremy Berke,Yeji Jesse Lee
Oct 2, 2020, 22:56 IST
Crystal Cox/Business Insider
Welcome to Insider Cannabis, our weekly newsletter where we're bringing you an inside look at the deals, trends, and personalities driving the multibillion-dollar global cannabis boom.
Lawyers who specialize in the cannabis industry say they're getting inquiries from a new kind of client: psychedelics companies.
The calls started coming in around a year to a year and a half ago, as the psychedelics industry began to ramp up and garner more investor dollars, half a dozen cannabis lawyers told Business Insider. Some firms say they're diving headfirst into the psychedelics industry. Others say they're watching the industry closely from the sidelines, waiting for more regulatory changes before they take on the new client base.
Stephanie Jenkins, formerly an exec at the job-hunting site Glassdoor, made the jump into the cannabis industry recently as Flowhub's senior vice president of sales. Flowhub is a cannabis tech company that helps dispensaries track inventory and process sales. The startup — backed by $27 million in funding so far — was named to Business Insider's list of the 15 buzziest startups in cannabis.
The move sends a strong signal that investors and executives from inside and outside of cannabis think that the tech side of the industry has a lot of growth potential.
Ontario Cannabis Store appointed Thomas Haig as its new interim president on Monday. Haig previously served as an exec at Hudson's Bay Company and Giant Tiger Stores, a discount chain.
Cannabis accessories company Greenlane Holdings hired a pair of former tobacco execs, Michael Cellucci and Michael Ouwendijk, to head up sales in North America and Europe respectively.
Deals, launches, and IPOs
Canopy Growth is launching THC-infused beverages in Illinois and California through its partnership with Acreage Holdings next summer.
Ayr Strategies enters the Ohio market, expanding the cannabis company's presence to the Midwest.
House Democrats passed a sweeping stimulus bill that included the SAFE Banking Act, a piece of legislation that would allow state-legal cannabis businesses to access banking services much like any other business. It's not likely to pass the Senate, however. My colleague Kimberly Leonard has what you need to know.
Research and reform
A University of Montana study found that legalizing and taxing cannabis in the state could generate $236 million in tax revenue by 2026.
Pot-for-potholes is not a panacea, says the Tax Foundation in a new blog post. Excise taxes from legalizing cannabis will not likely fill budget gaps, though the taxes from new businesses and job creation will still be a boon for states that do choose to legalize.
43% of 19-to-22-year-olds in the US used marijuana in the past year, according to a NIDA study. Prescription opioid and amphetamine abuse among the same age bracket continues to decline.
Chart of the week
Wholesale cannabis sales skyrocketed in states like California, Arizona, and Colorado this August, compared to the same month last year, according to data from LeafLink Insights. The cannabis software company told Business Insider that year-over-year, between Aug 2019 to Aug 2020, gross merchandise value (GMV), the total value of merchandise sold, increased 132%.
Michigan, with a 112% increase, saw the biggest uptick, though that's in large part to recreational sales coming online last December. Nevada — with a market heavily dependent on cannabis tourism — was the only state of the six surveyed to see a decline in sales year-over-year.
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