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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.

This week we cover the Oklahoma special election vote on recreational cannabis, surveys signaling Americans preference for cannabis over tobacco, New York State doubling down on cannabis, and more.

Let’s get to it.

Roll Call

Policy

Adult-use market coming later for Sooners. Voters in Oklahoma overwhelming rejected a ballot measure for recreational cannabis legalization during a special election on Tuesday. Despite supporters outspending opponents greater than 20-1, some predicted the possibility of this outcome. Many point to troubles in the state’s medical cannabis market, which has been legal since 2018, as a contributing reason for the result. Loose regulations and low barriers to entry have led to an oversaturated and often chaotic market, with more dispensaries than any other state including those with robust recreational programs. This has earned it the nickname “Tokelahoma” and been a cause for concern in conversations around an adult-use cannabis market.

News

Survey says: cannabis over tobacco. Americans now favor legal cannabis over legal tobacco, according to surveys. More than 57% of adults in the U.S. aged 18 years or older supported “a policy prohibiting the sale of all tobacco products,” a 2021 survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found. A 2022 survey of U.S. adults conducted by the Pew Research Center indicates that 59% believe cannabis should be legal for medical and recreational use. Another 30% think it should be legal for medical use only. This is further evidence of the growing support for cannabis legalization among voters in the United States.

Business

New York doubles down. The New York State Office of Cannabis Management announced it is doubling the number of licenses from 150 to 300. The news comes after it was reported that cultivators in the state had grown almost 300,000 pounds of cannabis valued at nearly a billion dollars, with only a few legal dispensaries to sell the product to. The question remains how quickly new stores will open as worry lingers with cultivators about what to do about the excess product with a diminishing shelf life.

State of the Industry

Delaware: The state House voted to legalize recreational cannabis.

Hawaii: Legislators in the state Senate passed a bill to legalize recreational cannabis.

Indiana: A number of bills filed in the state Senate focused on cannabis legalization failed to get approval ahead of a deadline last week.

Maryland: Delegates in the state House gave preliminary approval on a bill to tax and regulate recreational cannabis.

Missouri: Sales exceeded $100 million in the first month of the legal recreational cannabis market, the third highest opening month behind only California and Arizona.

Virginia: A study found that two bills cracking down on hemp products could cost over 4,000 people their jobs.

Quick Hitters

• NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri is stepping down, both he and the organization revealed.

• There is a new farmers market in San Francisco devoted to cannabis.

• A new report from the Law Library of Congress looks at hemp regulations from around the world.

• Singer Erykah Badu and her cannabis company Apple Trees partnered with leading cannabis brand Cookies on a new product line.

• Canadian cannabis producer Atlas Global Brands intends to buy a majority stake in two Israeli cannabis pharmacies.

What We’re Reading

• Where is marijuana legal and how do people feel about it? Five charts show the shifting landscape (CNN)

• Is Cannabis Good or Bad for Sleep? Here’s what the experts want you to know. (New York Times)

• Cannabis Companies Are Having Trouble Winning Over Institutional Investors (Bloomberg)

• Cannabis business owner now earns praise for what he was once arrested for (NPR)

• Voters Rejected Marijuana Legalization in Yet Another State. Is the Movement in Trouble? (TIME)

• Weeding out gray market cannabis operators presents special challenges for states (Reuters)

• How a NY Cannabis Insider experiment led to statewide policy change​ (Syracuse.com)

• Travis Kelce Kills It On 'SNL', Cold Open To Hilarious Skits, Jokes About College Cannabis Suspension (Benzinga)

Stay tuned for more cannabis industry news next week!

💚,

The Pre Roll Team

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