The Vibes Are Off

Cannabis News World

Dec 31

The Vibes Are Off
HIghtimes main

I struggled for a minute, thinking about what this end-of-year digest should say. Typically, year-end missives consider what has happened while offering a forward-looking view, one that's hopefully positive. I hate to kick a horse while it's down, which, in this case, is the wider cannabis industry and culture, but the truth is: shit sucks right now. It would be putting lipstick on a pig to pretend otherwise. So, basically, I'm here to commiserate with everyone. Even the Wall Street guys are pissed, so you know it's bad. Usually, when the culture is upset, it's because of dynamics that have big business grinning while the little guys get crushed. In this current climate, everyone is hurting. Jesse Redmond, a former hedge fund manager who writes the Green Giants newsletter, which details retail cannabis stocks investing, tweeted yesterday, "New all-time low on $MSOS. The ETF has dropped 88% over the past 686 days and is down 46% MTD. It will take an 830% return to get back to the all-time high." MSOS is a fund that includes some of the most recognizable publicly traded multi-state operators, like Curaleaf, Trulieve, Green Thumb, and Verano. The main reason they're so pissed (this time) is because of repeated stalling on legislative action at the federal level, the most recent of which was SAFE banking's demise. The Republican blocking of that legislation, while harmful to some actors in the cannabis space, is indicative of a much larger problem, one that affects everyone who touches cannabis in any way: weed is still politically radioactive for some factions of power, despite remaining overwhelmingly popular with voters. Because of this, a common refrain among advocates of all stripes is that federal legalization won't come anytime soon unless Biden decides to truly go "Dank Brandon" beyond his half-assed pardon…