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Happy Friday Pre Rollers! Welcome to another edition of The Pre Roll, the cannabis newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on the industry happenings you need to know.

Here’s what we’re rolling up this week:

• Ohio becomes 24th state to legalize recreational cannabis

• 70% of Americans support cannabis legalization

• The FDA reflects on 50 years of cannabis research

…and more. Let’s get to it.

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🚨 Roll Call

Policy

O-High-O. Voters in Ohio comfortably approved a ballot measure Tuesday to legalize recreational cannabis. The passage of Issue 2, backed by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, will make Ohio the 24th state with an adult-use market. The bill will becomes law on December 7th, with licensed dispensaries expected to open in the fall of 2024.

A few key components:

• Adult can buy or possess up to 2.5 ounces of flower and 15 grams of extracts

• Home grow has a limit of 6 plants per person or 12 plants per residence

• Purchases will be subject to a 10% tax

Despite the victory, Governor Mike DeWine is already calling for the new law to be tweaked. It also remains to be seen what impact the new adult-use market in Ohio will have on neighboring states, including Michigan.

Over half of Americans now live in places where recreational cannabis is legal.

Policy

Pot polling. The results of a recent Gallup poll show a record high 70% of U.S. adults are in favor of legalizing cannabis, up from a mere 12% when Americans were first asked about the topic in 1969. This includes majority support across all major subgroups including gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, religion, political party, and ideology.

The was no difference between residents living in states where recreational use is legal and those living in states where it is not.

At a time when Americans struggle to agree on almost anything, the nation seems to have at least reached a broad consensus on the subject of cannabis legalization.

Policy

Reefer research. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received more than 800 applications from academic researchers and commercial developers relating to research of cannabis or cannabis-derived products since the early 1970s.

These applications focus on four major clinical areas:

• Addiction and pain medicine (53%)

• Neurology (19%)

• Immunology and inflammation (14%)

• Psychiatry (9%)

The product types have expanded over the years to include a wide variety of topical, inhalable, injectable, and oral products.

A more extensive breakdown of the applications and products, recommendations for those interested in studying cannabis and cannabis-derived products in human clinical trials, and perspective for the future of cannabis drug development can be found here.

🇺🇸 State of the Industry

Connecticut: The Department of Consumer Protection increased transaction limits for adult-use customers; the limit remains unchanged for medical patients.

Indiana: Lawmakers weighed recreational cannabis legalization last week, but failed to make any specific recommendations.

New York: A state legislator is aiming to ban cannabis-related billboards.

Washington: The Department of Commerce released a plan to invest $200 million to address disparities created by the war on drugs.

📊 Business

Cookies debuts in New York

The international cannabis brand founded by rapper Berner announced its official entrance into New York’s legal cannabis market in partnership with distributor Highline Brands and packaging and co-manufacturer Final Bell.

💻 Tech

Shield Compliance pens open letter on cannabis payments

The cannabis banking compliance platform shared an open letter calling on the leading card brands, including Mastercard, Visa, Discover, American Express, and others, to reverse their policies of prohibiting financial institutions from offering payments services connected to their networks to licensed cannabis businesses.

🏆 Awards & Honors

2023 Technology Fast 500 (Deloitte): Cannabis customer loyalty and marketing platform springbig checked in at #355 on the list of the most innovative and fastest-growing companies across North America; winners are selected based on their fiscal-year revenue growth percentage over a three-year period.

💨 Quick Hitters

• Presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released a campaign ad entitled “Legalize Pot to End Addiction”.

• A Chicago bakery introduced the first-ever chef-driven cannabis-infused take-and-bake cake mixes that include fast-acting THC.

• SXSW nixed the dedicated cannabis track, around since 2018, for the 2024 conference.

📚 What We’re Reading

• A father and son shot, dismembered and burned. This is the dark side of California cannabis (Los Angeles Times)

• Teens are popping cannabis edibles in the middle of their school day. Here's why — and what makes it such risky business. (Yahoo!)

• Germans prep for pot legalization (NPR)

• Traces of cannabis in human bones suggest 17th-century Italians were recreational pot users (CBC)

• The cannabis of the future might not come from plants (New Scientist)

• ‘Help us, we are dying.’ New York’s cannabis farmers are at their breaking point. (NY Cannabis Insider)

📼 Video of the Week

🔎 Job Board

• Director of Customer Acquisition, Retention & Loyalty

  • Schwazze

  • $120,000—$150,000

• Go Engineer

  • Flourish

  • $75,000—$110,000

• Payments Specialist

  • Dutchie

  • $65,000

Stay tuned for more cannabis industry news next week!

💚,

The Pre Roll Team

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