Pot stock short sellers collected profits of $993.3M in 2019, according to a new analysis by S3 Partners. (Short sellers bet on stocks to fall.)

Last year was abysmal for pot stocks. Two big cannabis ETFs fell 43% and 36% respectively, as the mainstream S&P 500 index gained 32%.
MarketWatch

Separately, investors filed a class action suit against Trulieve, Florida’s largest MED company. The suit alleges Trulieve overstated corporate profits and misled defendants about cultivation practices.
Miami Herald

Following California-based MSO MedMen‘s dismal stock performance, the Equity Guru mocked the company’s plan to partner with yoga classes.

San Francisco Chronicle wine critic Esther Mobley tries three THC-infused, non-alcoholic rosé products available in California. “Do they taste like bong water? No — though they don’t much taste like wine, either.”

“The nose on the Saka is a dead ringer for strawberry Laffy Taffy, the palate reminiscent of Sweet Tarts. It’s candied-tasting, but there’s enough sourness to keep it from cloying. Viv & Oak is carbonated, which was a genius move; the bubbles help make up for some of the texture lost in the alcohol removal. It’s ultra-cloudy, the color of worn ballet slippers, and tastes like a melted cherry Popsicle, with just the slightest suggestion of a fresh cannabis aroma on the nose — like a subtle, winking warning.”

A third brand, Rebel Coast, tasted most like weed, she wrote.

A group called Carts for the Arts is taking on the waste generated by single use vapes, batteries and cannabis packaging. It argues:

“Legislation must change to enable closing the loop with a zero waste mindset; Manufactures must start considering how they can begin to redesign their products and brands must find a better way to introduce their products other than disposables.” 

For more see Cannabis Business Times.

I’m a bit late to this but in Forbes Javier Hasse tells the story of Lara Parker, a cannabis and endometriosis activist who writes for Buzzfeed. Endo is a painful condition which can impair women’s sex lives.

Parker, whose book Vagina Problems, comes out later this year, writes:

“Marijuana is my medicine, full stop. I really can’t imagine my life without it, and I don’t want to…I wouldn’t be able to have much of a sex life without it as orgasms can be painful for me because of my conditions — cannabis-infused lube helps this. I wouldn’t be able to eat without the aid of CBD or straight THC, because I am always nauseous.”

In an extensive report, MJBiz assembles case studies and cautionary tales of partnerships between cannabis and mainstream companies.

The cannabinoid cannabigerol (CBG) seemed to all the buzz at MJBiz Con. Now Canna Law Blog takes a look at what CBG it is and what it might be worth to business.

Meanwhile, scientists discovered a new phytocannabinoid Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabiphorol (THCP), which has an “affinity for the CB1 receptor” 30x stronger than THC. ????WW Canada has more.
NatureResearch

In the Orange County Register, reporter Brooke Staggs looks at six key California trends for 2020.

Among them:

Separately, by mid-January, Decriminalize California, the initiative to decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms in California, expects to start collecting signatures to get the initiative on the 2020 ballot. It’ll need to collect more than 623,000 signatures. ????WW California has more.
Marijuana Moment

The Trump administration banned e-cigarettes in fruit and other flavors seen as appealing to children. Trump had initially called for a total ban on flavored vapes but walked it back amid fears of a backlash in an election year. The move was criticized by both public health and vaping advocates.
TIME

Trump initially proposed the ban in response to the VAPI crisis generally agreed to have been caused by vitamin E oil added to unlicensed THC vapes. The change does little to address that issue, though the worst of it seems to be over.
Cannabis Wire

Pollster Gallup says the 2010s saw a “revolutionary change” in the American public’s views on marijuana. In 2010, 46% of adults favored legal REC, today the number is about two thirds.

An appendix to Chief Justice John Roberts’ annual report on the judiciary notes the number of defendants accused of marijuana-related offenses dropped 28% in 2019. The total number of drug defendants climbed 5% overall and accounted for 28% of criminal defendants.

Supporters of Florida REC initiative Make It Legal Florida, which has raised money from MedMen and other MSOs, filed a lawsuit claiming new restrictions on paid signature collectors effectively impose a “stealth deadline” of Jan. 2 to collect 766,000 signatures, 30-days before the actual deadline of Feb. 1. If they lose, it could be a further impediment to getting REC on the ballot.
Tampa Bay Business Journal

Meanwhile, MedMen, is backing out of Arizona where it has also supported a 2020 REC ballot initiative. In recent months the California company has laid off hundreds as its stock has tanked. “We are no longer in the land-grab growth phase of this industry,” CEO Adam Bierman said. ????WW California has more.
CNN, AZCentral

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