Executive Editor

Debra BorchardtSeptember 22, 2023
Capital-1280x480.jpg

6min00

Cannabis legislators are a persistent bunch as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), refiled the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement or MORE Act on Wednesday. So far there are 33 co-sponsors and they are all Democrats.

MORE Act 3.0

The previous versions of the MORE Act stated that states could create their own cannabis policies without federal interference. The MORE Act in previous versions would remove cannabis from the controlled substances list. It would also create a cannabis sales tax to fund various programs aimed at righting the wrongs from the failed war on drugs and the people hurt by it. It is expected that this MORE Act would also expunge cannabis convictions for nonviolent offenders and require courts to hold resentencing hearings for offenders who request them.

H.R. 5601 was filed on September 21, but as of the 22nd the text has not been received for the Congress.gov website. The bill received this description, “To decriminalize and deschedule cannabis, to provide for reinvestment in certain persons adversely impacted by the War on Drugs, to provide for expungement of certain cannabis offenses, and for other purposes.”

Marijuana Moment reported that “Tax revenue from cannabis sales would be placed in a new ‘Opportunity Trust Fund.’ Half of those tax dollars would support a “Community Reinvestment Grant Program” under the Justice Department, 10 percent would support substance misuse treatment programs, 40 percent would go to the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) to support implementation and a newly created equitable licensing grant program.”

The new MORE Act is coming at a time of heightened expectations for banking legislation to be passed. In the past, the MORE Act passed the House because it had Democratic control and this time around it’s the Republicans that are calling the shots. That makes the passage even harder. In addition to the Republican control, the Judiciary Committee is chaired by anti-cannabis Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

More Cannabis Legislation

Still, the Republicans did advance legislation this week to prevent the denial of federal employment or security clearances based on a candidate’s past cannabis use.

In addition to that the cannabis banking legislation known as the SAFE Act got a new and improved name – the SAFER Act. The Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act is designed to protect banks and credit unions that work with cannabis companies in states where cannabis is legal by denying punishment for working with companies dealing with a federally illegal product.

This new version has the support of a broad group that includes the cannabis industry along with banking industry groups. It is scheduled for a markup in the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on Sept. 27. The bill is sponsored by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

“This legislation will help make our communities and small businesses safer by giving legal cannabis businesses access to traditional financial institutions, including bank accounts and small business loans, said the senators in a statement. “It also prevents federal bank regulators from ordering a bank or credit union to close an account based on reputational risk.”

Law360 reported that the new version brings in new rules that would bar banks from arbitrarily cutting off services to businesses for personal or political reasons, and states that banks must have “valid” reasons for terminating banking relationships — such as the customer posing a threat to national security. “A customer merely being a ‘reputational risk’ cannot be the decisive factor, according to the legislation.”

According to House.gov,  “After hearings are completed, the bill is considered in a session that is popularly known as the “mark-up” session. Members of the committee study the viewpoints presented in detail. Amendments may be offered to the bill, and the committee members vote to accept or reject these changes.”

Once these deliberations are over a vote will be taken and the bill will either advance or stall.

 

 

 

 


Debra BorchardtSeptember 20, 2023
psychedelics-mushrooms-psilocybin.jpg

3min00

Enveric Biosciences (NASDAQ: ENVB) announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued U.S. Patent No. 11,752,130, titled “Carboxylated Psilocybin Derivatives and Methods of Using,” pertaining to the Company’s EVM301 Series of molecules being developed as potential treatments for mental health disorders.

“Our EVM301 Series consists of small molecule therapies designed with the intent to enhance neuroplasticity while reducing or eliminating hallucinations associated with other psychedelic or psychedelic-inspired agents,” said Joseph Tucker, Ph.D., Director and CEO of Enveric. “This unique design could be potentially game-changing in the treatment of depression and anxiety as it offers the opportunity to administer psilocybin-derived medications without the requirement for a healthcare professional to observe during dosing. We believe this could greatly enhance the commercial opportunity of EVM301 Series-based therapies, benefiting patients and healthcare systems broadly by reducing the need for costly and time-intensive requirements for supervision throughout the treatment. For these reasons, Enveric is seeking to build a robust intellectual property portfolio for our EVM301 Series with this U.S. patent providing a critical IP cornerstone.”

This new patent, issued September 12, 2023, provides Enveric with intellectual property rights with claims to novel compositions and pharmaceutical drug formulations for a family of carboxylated derivatives of tryptamine-based drug candidates. The company said it expects the patent to further strengthen and add value to Enveric’s EVM301 Series of compounds, which are undergoing lead optimization and preclinical candidate characterization procedures.

Enveric Valuation

Last month Diamond Equity Research issued a report covering the company although it should be noted that Diamond was paid by Enveric to perform the analysis which noted the company’s market cap was lower than its cash position.

The report stated, “We assume a discount rate of 12.50% and a probability of success for EB-373 at 10%, resulting in a valuation of $21.02 million based on our risk-adjusted DCF approach. Notably, the company’s current market capitalization of $4.86 million is lower than its net cash position of $7.07 million. It’s important to consider that this situation, commonly found in non-revenue-generating biotech companies, often arises due to elevated risks and the potential for higher cash burn rates. Additionally, we undertook a comparable company-based valuation analysis, assigning a weightage of 10% to this relative valuation approach. The blended approach resulted in a valuation of $21.47 million, or $10.00 per share, contingent on successful execution by the company.”


Get the latest cannabis news delivered right to your inbox

The Morning Rise

Unpack the industry with the daily cannabis newsletter for business leaders.

 Sign up


About Us

The Green Market Report focuses on the financial news of the rapidly growing cannabis industry. Our target approach filters out the daily noise and does a deep dive into the financial, business and economic side of the cannabis industry. Our team is cultivating the industry’s critical news into one source and providing open source insights and data analysis


READ MORE



Recent Tweets

Get the latest cannabis news delivered right to your inbox

The Morning Rise

Unpack the industry with the daily cannabis newsletter for business leaders.