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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:

• Cannabis banking bill clears an important hurdle

• New York plans to expand cannabis market

• NCAA aims to remove cannabis ban

…and more. Let’s get to it.

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🚨 Roll Call

Policy

Better SAFER than sorry. The Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act (SAFER) — an updated version of the bill previously known as the SAFE Banking Act and introduced last week by a bipartisan group of senators — is officially headed to the Senate floor after passing a key vote 14-9 in the Senate Banking Committee.

The bill would ensure that cannabis businesses, historically forced to operate on a mostly cash basis, would have access to deposit accounts, insurance, and other financial services.

While this achievement is a significant win for the cannabis industry, a looming government shutdown remains a threat and the bill’s companion legislation faces uncertainty in the Republican-controlled House.

Policy

Ever Upward for New York. The New York Office of Cannabis Management anticipates issuing as many as 1,500 new licenses after accepting a new wave of applications beginning next week on October 4. However, the licenses will not be given out until early next year.

Applicants can seek a range of license types such as cultivator, processor, distributor, microbusiness, and retail dispensary. There will be a 60-day window to apply.

Existing medical dispensaries, including MSOs, will be eligible, despite previous pushback.

The state has already issued close to 700 conditional licenses, but most remain unopened as the industry has been at a complete standstill since the beginning of August when a New York Supreme Court judge issued a temporary restraining order. The decision came after a lawsuit was filed by a group of military veterans alleging the agency’s process for prioritizing applicants violated the state’s Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act. 

Policy

N C Double Nay. The NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports has recommended, based on extensive study informed by industry and subject matter experts (doctors, substance misuse experts, and membership practitioners), that legislation be introduced and adopted to take cannabis off the list of banned substances.

The rationale for the move centers on the consensus opinion formed that cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug and that a harm-reduction approach to cannabis is best implemented at the school level. Additionally, committee members are suggesting a robust educational strategy be put in place to accompany the change.

Initial support to remove cannabis from the NCAA’s banned drug list and testing protocols was reported in June.

🇺🇸 State of the Industry

Massachusetts: Shannon O’Brien, chair of the Cannabis Control Commission, is suing state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg after being suspended abruptly earlier this month.

Minnesota: Erin DuPree, appointed by Governor Tim Walz to head the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, stepped down after just one day following an investigation that found she sold cannabis products exceeding state limits.

📊 Business

4Front collabs for a cause

The vertically integrated, multi-state cannabis operator has partnered with The Weldon Project, a non-profit dedicated to driving social change and furthering federal cannabis reform for those incarcerated for non-violent cannabis-related offenses, in support of the nationwide campaign Round Up for Cannabis Reform, allowing customers to round up their purchase to the nearest dollar at the point of sale at all Mission dispensaries to donate.

Safe Harbor Financial launches line of credit products

The cannabis financial services firm announced its new portfolio of credit products for cannabis businesses, expanding its growing suite of deposit and credit tools to offer credit facilities ranging from $25,000 to $1 million at market-leading, normalized rates.

💻 Tech

Treez ups the ante in cannabis FinTech

The enterprise cannabis point-of-sale platform revealed multiple advancements in financial offerings for their retail customers: TreezPay One Application, a streamlined online application and expedited approval process for compliant cashless payment products, the launch of Swifter ACH Payments, and PayLater Embedded Financing, a tech-enabled, integrated lending service.

🏆 Awards & Honors

2023 Notable Leaders in Cannabis (Green Market Report): The cannabis financial news site released its list of 75 movers and shakers that demonstrated a willingness to effect meaningful change on the industry.

💨 Quick Hitters

• TILT Holdings appointed Tim Conder, former co-founder of cannabis technology company Blackbird, as permanent CEO.

• High Times agreed to a $558,000 settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over a stock promotion scheme.

• A flock of sheep in Almyros, Greece accidentally feasted on more than 600 pounds of cannabis after invading a greenhouse.

📚 What We’re Reading

• How a Chewing Gum Heir Fell Into a Sticky Situation With Weed (POLITICO)

• Pot boom wakes sleepy Dinosaur, Colorado — a small town that could be the state's cannabis capital (CBS News)

• Tainted drugs and illegal shops: what’s going on with New York’s weed industry? (The Guardian)

• New York’s licensed cannabis operators turning toward illegal market to make ends meet (NY Cannabis Insider)

📼 Video of the Week

🔎 Job Board

• Vice President of Operations

  • Wyld

  • $180,000—$200,000

• Senior Manager, CRM & eCommerce

  • Cookies

  • $90,000—$130,000

• Business Development Manager

  • Terrabis

Stay tuned for more cannabis industry news next week!

💚,

The Pre Roll Team

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