Happy new year all!

Some housekeeping news: Late last year we were dealing with a tech issue that disrupted our subscription management, including the delivery of some free and pro newsletters.

Happily, the situation is resolved. We’ll be running at full steam in a week or two. I’ll reach out to some of you whose subscriptions may have been affected. But if you have had any problems drop a line and we’ll get those resolved. 

The coming year promises to be tumultuous for the cannabiz, but WeedWeek has never been better prepared to support our readers with timely, credible news and information that matters to your business.

We’ve also got some exciting things coming. Here’s to a good one.

In the newsletter:

• Only one way for pot stocks to go

Alex

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Will this finally be the year for pot stocks? In their favor, it would be difficult for them to get much lower. New Cannabis Ventures‘ global index hit a new all time low in December. NCV founder Alan Brochstein notes that the index fell 70% last year.

He writes:

After such a massive decline, the worst in the history of the index, the market could offer high returns to investors in 2023 and beyond. If the index were to triple, it would still be down since the end of 2021. To get to the level it reached at the end of 2020, it would need to increase more than 4.5 times.

Just because a stock or a sector declines doesn’t mean that it will rally. We believe, though, that the market is very oversold and offers great valuations for good companies.

• The site also interviewed Tim Seymour, co-host of CNBC’s Fast Money and portfolio manager of the Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF CNBS. 

However, the Wall Street Journal notes that prevailing conditions haven’t given much reason for optimism. In addition to bank reform’s failure to pass the House of Representatives in December, the industry is carrying more debt than ever before. “U.S. cannabis companies have borrowed around $4.2 billion since the start of 2021 through Dec. 16, according to data from Viridian Capital Advisors. This will be painful to refinance as the average cost of debt for cannabis companies has jumped from 9% in the second quarter of this year to 13% to 16% today depending on the borrower, Viridian estimates.”

Read the whole thing

(Disclosure: I have a long position in a cannabis ETF and am not happy about it either.)

Federal:

• FDA officials say long-awaited hemp and CBD regulatory plans are months away.
  Marijuana Moment 

Business: 

• Snoop Dogg is launching Death Row Cannabis. He acquired the legendary hip-hop label — which launched him 30 years ago — last February.
  Forbes
• MJBiz shared 10 trends to watch in 2023.
• Uncle Arnie’s, California’s best selling high-dose infused beverage, has launched a crowdfunding campaign at a pre-money valuation of $20M.

State and local:

• REC sales began in New York City. Here’s the experience of an entrepreneur who braved the hours-long line at Housing Works Cannabis Co., 750 Broadway, near the Astor Place subway stop. Curbed says the “weed bodega was beautiful while it lasted.“
  N.Y. Times, HoneySuckle Mag
• REC’s about to go on sale in Connecticut. Here’s the basics.
• REC sales launched in Detroit.
  MJBiz
• Taxes and regulations are “killing” small, legal farms in the Emerald Triangle, the L.A. Times reports.

Health and science:

• Nationwide, the number of kids under six sickened after accidentally eating edibles increased from 207 in 2017 to 3,014 in 2021, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics.

Fun and interesting:

• Arizona Republic columnist Phil Boas weighs in on the stigma.
• “The vibes are off,” Jackie Bryant writes in High Times. 
• “No, I don’t want to smoke weed with you.”
  The Bluntness
• “Wait, is my dog stoned?”
  N.Y.Times