00:00 Good morning, good morning my friends, what's up, happy tasty Tuesday, Elliot Lane here
00:07 with Benzinga's Cannabis Daily, bringing you daily dose of cannabis news and insights.
00:11 Hope everybody's having a great, great week so far.
00:15 If you're watching live, please say what's up in the chat, I always love seeing from
00:18 you guys.
00:19 Uh, if you are watching or listening after the fact on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube, um,
00:24 please tell us what you think.
00:25 We'd love to hear from you, cannabishour@benzinga.com, uh, if you wanna shoot us a quick email.
00:29 That being said, let's dive into what's happening today.
00:32 A good bit, um, per Pablo Zwanich, the Canadian cannabis market grew 12% year over year, outpacing
00:41 the US market's growth.
00:44 Canada's growth is driven by markets that have been legal for years, whereas the US
00:48 market's growth is driven by newer states coming online.
00:51 Very interesting context there.
00:53 Per capita consumption lags behind the US, even less, um, mature states, uh, actually
01:00 have more consumption per capita than mature markets in Canada.
01:04 Pre-rolls in Canada are 30% of sales and saw robust growth, while flower, normally a huge
01:10 driver of revenue growth, uh, declined by 1% year over year.
01:15 Tilray is tops in the market with 12.1% market share, followed by Decibel Cannabis at 7.5%.
01:23 That is a nice increase there, um, I would say for, for their market share purposes.
01:29 Uh, third is Village Farms, fourth Organigram, and fifth is Oxley.
01:34 Um, interesting not to see S&DL in the top five, uh, as well as Aurora, but I think they
01:40 are focusing on other things right now.
01:42 Um, S&DL with their, um, distribution side and Alcanna, um, Aurora obviously internationally.
01:49 The US Senate passed the bill that includes language protecting security clearances if
01:53 a person consumes marijuana.
01:56 Fantastic news there.
01:57 Canaccord released a note saying they anticipate modest sector growth in the next quarter as
02:02 companies remain focused on driving profitability.
02:05 Free cash flow targets are likely on track.
02:08 Investors will continue to prioritize overall balance sheet health over short-term operational
02:14 performance and stock price actions will still be driven by federal legislative headlines.
02:20 Last but not least, Maryland will be a nice tailwind overall to the MSOs that they are
02:25 covering.
02:26 14 MSOs that they're covering in their recent note, uh, including Planet 13, um, Forefront
02:32 Ventures, probably all your tier ones and several others, but they're not covering every
02:36 single MSO.
02:37 Uh, so take a look at benzinga.com/cannabis, uh, for more details into that.
02:42 Of course, after our show yesterday, Cresco Labs and Columbia Care call off their merger
02:48 mutually.
02:49 Uh, they did call it off mutually.
02:51 I do believe some of this is because Cresco Labs could not divest their assets, uh, within
02:55 the given timelines and, uh, really for enough profitability.
02:59 So all in all, it just wasn't going to work right now.
03:03 I don't know what this means, uh, for the future of Columbia Care.
03:06 They were always one of my favorite stocks to watch.
03:08 I love what Nik Vita and team do and are doing over there.
03:12 Some of their C-suites are some of my favorites.
03:13 Jesse Chanin, Chief Growth Officer.
03:15 I love their, uh, surveying before, uh, consumers get into the, the, the buying process and
03:22 their dispensaries.
03:23 I think they have a wonderful dispensary experience.
03:26 So all in all, I'm a bit happy that I can still invest in Columbia Care, but no financial
03:31 advice here.
03:32 Um, they may still look for acquisitions from other sources.
03:35 Uh, but that being said, Cresco Labs and Columbia Care are parting ways.
03:41 Meta Farms, M-E-D-I-F on the OTC announced the first delivery of pharmaceutical cannabis
03:45 products for NIH, NIH funded clinical trials following the DEA approved import permit and
03:53 Health Canada export permit.
03:54 This is the first US FDA audit of a purpose built commercial cannabis facility in Canada.
04:01 Um, pretty large, honestly, Meta Farms, nice bounce back.
04:04 I feel like they had a terrible 2022, um, just all in all, but 2023, they, uh, acquired
04:10 Vivo Cannabis, really extending their access to the Canadian market.
04:14 Uh, and they continue to impress.
04:17 State House SDHZ on the OTC revised their debt obligations and has entered into an agreement
04:22 with Polaris Equity.
04:23 Polaris providing an additional 7.5 to 1 million, very specific there, bringing the total of
04:29 their obligation to 15 million with State House.
04:33 Last but not least, check Benzinga for Christina Lake's earnings.
04:35 A nice, uh, Canadian player there.
04:38 Tony, always good to hear from you, my friend.
04:41 Really appreciate you, sir.
04:42 Uh, thanks to everybody else for listening as well.
04:45 Really hope you continue to tune in, share with your friends, tell people about us, let
04:48 us know what you want to hear.
04:50 Uh, spread the good word.
04:51 Hopefully we'll get more cannabis news into more homes, into more headphones.
04:55 Uh, but until tomorrow, y'all have a great, great day.
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