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Survey finds changing cannabis consumer and consumption habits

Curaleaf & The Harris Poll

OUR TAKEAWAY

A Harris Poll commissioned by MSO Curaleaf finds not only a general increase in cannabis consumption, but a marked increase in people replacing alcohol with cannabis. In particular, parents have been putting down alcohol and picking up cannabis. The survey found that more than half (57%) of parents with children under 18 who have ever consumed cannabis have reduced or replaced their alcohol consumption with cannabis since the start of the pandemic.

Executives no longer spooked by pot jobs

Bloomberg

OUR TAKEAWAY

“Today, it’s become the sexy industry,” said Liesl Bernard, CEO of San Diego based staffing agency CannabizTeam. “After it was deemed essential in Covid, people are reaching out to us and saying: ‘How can we get into this industry?’” Executives from well-known brands are now popping up in the industry with greater frequency. This includes Hydrofarm Holdings Group Inc.’s CEO Bill Toler, who previously held the same role at Hostess Brands Inc. Toler said, “Over a 40-year career, I’ve seen very few sea changes in our culture that will parallel what will happen in cannabis.”

Green Wednesday cannabis sales blow away Black Friday

LA Weekly

OUR TAKEAWAY

Data from both Akerna and Headset agree that this year’s cannabis sales on Green Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving) easily beat Black Friday sales for the first time. Cannabis consumers wanted to make their purchases in advance of Thanksgiving, making Green Wednesday the single biggest sales day of 2020. A total of $238 million of cannabis was sold over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend.

Jay-Z’s cannabis brand, Monogram, launches with $50 hand-rolled joints

Forbes

OUR TAKEAWAY

Sean Carter (Jay-Z) has officially launched his own line of craft-cultivated cannabis, Monogram, through a partnership with Caliva and The Parent Company. In the past, Jay-Z has successfully used his cultural cache to grow iconic brands such as the Tidal streaming service and Armand de Brignac champagne. However, it remains to be seen whether Jay-Z’s star-power will translate to sales for a premium cannabis product (the Monogram product line includes $40 prerolls to "foster communal smoking" and a $50 cigar-like handroll) during a time when many hypothesize that consumers are gravitating towards value-priced products due to economic conditions.

Inside Curaleaf billionaire Boris Jordan’s hunger to become the ‘Frito-Lay’ of cannabis

Forbes

OUR TAKEAWAY

Curaleaf CEO Boris Jordan is not hiding his cannabis ambitions, “I look at Curaleaf as a consumer-packaged goods company. We’re making the products much more mainstream for our customer base—we’ll be no different than Coca-Cola or Frito-Lay.”

"Canna"nomics: December 11, 2020

There has been a flurry of market activity in the cannabis space, suggesting that financial markets might once again be warming up for cannabis operators. This past week brought an RTO, M&A, another SPAC merging with an iconic cannabis brand, and the opportunity to watch the supply and demand “canna”nomics of the industry at play in public markets. ‍ Multi-State Operator quarterly recap - 3Q20: 2020 was an “outstanding” year for U.S.-based MSOs with strong growth rates and improved margins. Looking to 2021, Needham shared an optimistic view, “We can point to no macro, regulatory, or fundamental factors that would materially alter the pace of revenue growth, and we expect continued improvement in operating metrics into 4Q and '21.” Moving forward, they see “capital raising activity over the next few months required to sustain growth.”