Welcome to my Weed Report for Tuesday, December 19. Below is a condensed transcript; for charts and additional details, watch my video.

There’s more to the cannabis industry than state-wide legalization in the United States. Considerable news occurs regarding cannabis on the federal and international levels as well.

Here’s my latest look at the political, legislative, and regulatory trends affecting the global cannabis industry, including the ancillary segment of psychedelics.

National

Congress. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) recently accelerated his efforts to get the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act through the Senate.

The SAFER Banking Act would prevent federal banking regulators from prohibiting, penalizing or discouraging a bank from providing financial services to a legitimate state-sanctioned and regulated cannabis business, or an associated business, such as a lawyer or landlord providing services to a legal cannabis business. Schumer recently vowed to make passage of SAFER a top priority in 2024.

The DEA. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is again attempting to ban two psychedelic substances after abandoning its original scheduling proposal last year, setting up another fight with researchers and advocates who say the hallucinogenic compounds are safe and convey therapeutic benefits.

In a notice published in the Federal Register last week, DEA again proposed placing 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI) and 2,5-dimethoxy-4-chloroamphetamine (DOC) in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

The States

Delaware. As the state gets ready for the implementation of its adult-use cannabis legalization bill, lawmakers are seeking to expand its existing medical marijuana program.

A bill introduced in the Delaware legislature last week would remove the requirement that patients have one of a designated set of qualifying conditions, instead allowing doctors to recommend marijuana for any condition that they see fit. Additionally, patients 65 or older could self-certify their need for medical cannabis, without a recommendation from a health care provider. The legislation stands a good chance of passing.

Nebraska. Activists in the Cornhusker State assert they’ve collected enough signatures for a pair of 2024 medical marijuana legalization initiatives from 16 counties, with plans to close the gap on four more by the end of the year as they make a final push for the ballot.

The lobbying group Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) has worked to put medical cannabis on the ballot for two prior election cycles, only to come short due to various setbacks, including a shortage of funding. But NMM started early (and well-funded) this year and political observers are predicting they’ll get the initiatives onto the ballot. Polls show that a majority of voters in the state approve of legalizing medical marijuana.

Pennsylvania. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) has signed a bill to allow all licensed medical marijuana grower-processors in the state to serve as retailers and sell their cannabis products directly to patients.

Under the measure, the state Department of Health will create a process to allow the state’s 10 independent marijuana grower-processors to apply to obtain a dispensary permit to engage in direct commerce with patients.

International

Germany. Lawmakers in Europe’s biggest economy recently postponed a final vote on legislation to legalize recreational marijuana that was scheduled for the latter part of 2023, a move that will delay the proposed nationwide reform from taking effect until at least early 2024. Medical marijuana already is legal in Germany.

The proposed marijuana policy would allow limited marijuana sales in certain regional areas for a period of four years. That would enable officials to see the impact of reform both in big cities and more rural locations. If the program is considered successful, it would be implemented throughout the country.

Secondly, the plan allows Germans in all regions to grow their own cannabis for personal use, separately from the regional plan.

Germany already is leading the European cannabis market in terms of size and growth. The research firm New Frontier Data recently examined the growth of illicit marijuana sales in Germany as a case study of the world’s growing black market for the substance. If federal legalization doesn’t occur, illicit sales in Germany will grow from $14.9 billion in 2023 to $16.6 billion in 2025 (USD).

Italy. It appears that marijuana is about to make La Dolce Vita even sweeter. Two years after a top Italian court blocked a referendum on marijuana legalization and psychedelics reform from appearing before Italy’s voters, support in the country is growing for a narrower, cannabis-only measure that would allow the home cultivation of four plants, the eventual creation of social clubs and the elimination of penalties for use and possession.

Supporters of marijuana reform in Italy have six months to gather 50,000 signatures, a process they began this month. If the campaign reaches that threshold, lawmakers in Italy’s parliament would be compelled to consider the proposal. The legalization campaign recently reported that more than 20,000 certified signatures had already been collected.

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John Persinos is the editorial director of Investing Daily. He’s also the chief investment strategist of Marijuana Profit Alert.

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