Mississippi Legalizes Medical Cannabis
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed legislation last week that makes medical cannabis legal in the state of Mississippi for people with debilitating conditions such as cancer, AIDS and sickle cell disease. Mississippi represents the 39thstate that has legalized cannabis for medical. The new bill allows patients to buy up to 3.5 grams of cannabis per day, up to six days a week. Under the new law, there is a potency cap of 30% THC for flower and 60% for concentrates, oils and tinctures.
There are a few interesting observations from this move. First, this is another Republican that is supporting cannabis even if it’s just for medical for now (this is the first step). Second, Mississippi joins Alabama and Louisiana in legalizing medical cannabis and all three are often coined as part of the deep south which is conservative. Overall, the barriers to legalization keep coming down even in the most conservative parts of the country and in the Republican party. See below for an updated map of the US with states that have legalized for medical/recreational or both.
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Schumer Keeps Pushing for Full Federal Legalization
Senate Majority Leader and Democrat Chuck Schumer announced last week that he is aiming to formally file a bill to federally legalize cannabis in April 2022. Schumer and his democratic colleagues had unveiled a draft bill last July but wasn’t able to commit to a timeframe for filing a formal bill which is now set for April.
Schumer made this announcement to let the public know that this is a priority for him and his party as well to reach out to fellow lawmakers (including Republicans) to weigh in on changes to give the bill a higher chance of passing. Pressure is building for the Democrats to make a move given last November, Republican Nancy Mace introduced her party’s version of the legalization bill so to some extent, neither party wants to be left behind in this potential historical change in policy.
Conclusion
As we have written on several occasions, we don’t know whether federal legalization will happen or not this year but so far the experts we have spoken with continue to tell us that they don’t think there are enough votes yet in the Senate to get this passed. Never say never but our portfolio companies continue to grow rapidly and benefit from state by state legalization like the recent move in Mississippi. Any move at the Federal level would be great news for us as it would just give us significant upside to our investments faster than expected.
