Welcome to my latest Weekly Weed Report. Below is a condensed transcript of my video presentation.

Let’s examine the latest news of significance for the marijuana industry and its publicly traded companies. The most successful marijuana investors are informed and proactive. To pick the cannabis companies best positioned for profits, you need to stay on top of fast-moving legal and regulatory trends.

Congress

The House sponsor of legislation to protect banks that provide financial services to state-legal marijuana businesses is taking a sideways route, due to stubborn opposition in the Senate.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), sponsor of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, is seeking to attach an amendment containing the reform to a broader bill dealing with research and innovation in the technology and manufacturing sectors.

The congressman’s legislation has cleared the House in five versions, only to stall in the Senate.

Perlmutter’s latest attempt to get the reform enacted is by filing an amendment with the SAFE Banking language to the America COMPETES Act, which does not deal specifically with cannabis issues as drafted but was recently introduced in the House.

SAFE is designed to protect banks that accept marijuana business clients from being penalized by federal regulators.

Arkansas

A campaign spearheaded by a former Arkansas lawmaker has filed a constitutional amendment to put cannabis legalization on the state’s 2022 ballot.

The Arkansas Adult-Use Cannabis Amendment would allow adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to one ounce of marijuana. Existing medical cannabis dispensaries would be permitted to sell in the recreational market starting March 8, 2023.

Oregon

As Oregon gets ready to implement a first-of-its-kind, regulated legal psilocybin services program, state lawmakers have introduced a measure to ensure that social equity is embedded within the policy change.

The bicameral measure would create a 15-member “Task Force on Psilocybin Health Equity” comprised of lawmakers, therapists with experience in psychedelics treatment, and various public health professionals.

The group would be responsible for ensuring “equity and accessibility in Oregon’s developing psilocybin services,” the bill’s text asserts.

Read This Story: Psychedelic Mushrooms: A Real Trip (to the Bank)

Psilocybin fungi, aka “magic mushrooms,” are increasingly legal in the U.S., representing an exciting investment theme. Marijuana companies are jumping aboard the psychedelics bandwagon, by launching new products or subsidiary companies that cater to growing consumer demand for psilocybin, LSD, and similar psychotropic drugs.

There are several varieties of psychedelic mushrooms, with different potency levels. According to the research group Global Drug Survey, mushrooms are the safest recreational drug.

Measure 109, the Psilocybin Program Initiative, was on the ballot in Oregon as an initiated state statute on November 3, 2020. It was approved, with nearly 56% of the vote. The move made Oregon the first state in the nation to allow the use of psilocybin in therapy.

A second, separate ballot measure in Oregon also was approved that decriminalizes possession of small amounts of LSD, heroin, cocaine, oxycodone, mescaline, and other drugs. Oregon now has the most liberal drug laws in the nation.

South Carolina

South Carolina’s Senate began debate on a medical marijuana bill, representing the first time in the Republican sponsor’s eight-year legalization effort that his legislation has actually made it to the chamber floor for consideration

The Senate in this “deep red” state is scheduled to conduct several legislative days’ worth of discussion on the marijuana measure before taking a vote on it.

The Compassionate Care Act passed out of the Senate Medical Affairs Committee last March, but it was blocked from reaching the chamber floor. Since then, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Tom Davis (R), has stepped up his efforts to get the bill passed, by reaching out to achieve consensus with his GOP colleagues.

Tennessee

To grease the skids for marijuana legalization in this conservative state, Rep. Bruce Griffey, a right-wing Republican, and Sen. Sara Kyle, a liberal Democrat, are sponsoring legislation allowing voters to express their views on cannabis with a state-sponsored public opinion poll.

The bipartisan measure would require county election commissions to include three non-binding questions related to the legalization of marijuana on the 2022 ballot. The secretary of state would then compile the results and advance them to the state legislature.

Editor’s Note: The developments I’ve just described underscore the appeal of marijuana companies as investments. Every portfolio deserves exposure to the exploding profits in cannabis.

But don’t make the mistake of indiscriminately jumping into the sector. You need to be selective and conduct careful due diligence.

The good news is, we’ve done the homework for you. For our latest report on the best investment opportunities in cannabis, click here.

John Persinos is the editor-in-chief of Marijuana Investing Daily. You can reach him at: mailbag@investingdaily.com.

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