The new "green" boom

[whateverpedia]

By "green" I'm not referring to alt-energy sources (wind, solar, geo-thermal, etc.), I mean cannabis stocks.

With medical marijuana becoming more and more accepted, and more and more jurisdictions legalising it for recreational use, the potential for companies in this space seems yooooooge!

On July 31 this year, I took a stake in 4 companies listed on the ASX that are involved in the development of cannabis related "technologies". These are (in alphabetical order),:

AusCann (AC8.AX) - purchase price $0.425, closing price $0.505, return 18.82%

Creso Pharma (CPH.AX) - purchase price $0.565, closing price $0.53, return 6.19%

MMJ Phytotech (MMJ.AX) - purchase price $0.32, closing price $0.34, return 6.25%

Zelda Therapeutics (ZLD.AX) - purchase price $0.07, closing price $0.078, return 11.43%

NOTES: All prices quoted in AU$ (obviously); Purchase prices do not include brokerage fees; closing prices are at ASX close of trade on Friday, 15th of September. Returns in green represent gains, and those in red represent losses.

DISCLAIMERS: Investing in stocks, whether they be "blue-chips" or "penny dreadfuls" carries an element of risk - the higher the potential reward, the higher the risk. The risk/reward factor in companies involved in (as yet) unproven technologies is probably the highest of all. As with all other investments, never put all of your eggs in one basket, and never invest more than you can safely afford to lose. The combined total exposure I have in the above mentioned companies represents less than 3% of my total portfolio. I can safely afford to lose all the money I have invested in these companies.

[whateverpedia]

What do other investors think of the potential for stocks in the cannabis industry (medicinal or recreational)?

Has anyone else taken a stake in stocks in this field?

Opinions for or against are welcome.

[ShayB]

I don't know about stocks, but I know that since recreational cannabis was legalized last year in my state (Massachusetts), they are predicting a booming industry once the stage is set for opening shops, lounges/cafes, etc. 

Investing in stocks would make sense to me.

[whateverpedia]

Exactly Shay. In fact there are many benefits to legalisation:

- A huge hit to organised crime syndicates;

- A reduction in police/government corruption;

- Employment opportunities;

- Tax revenue for the state and federal governments (income tax, sales tax, corporate tax, etc);

- Tourism from other states, countries;

etc., etc..

There are so many benefits, legalisation is, to me at least, a no-brainer.

[Mike Friedman]

I have not looked into stocks yet, but I have a client who is branching out their business an in the beginning stages of opening a medical marijuana facility for which I will be handling their online marketing. 

Online, there is probably a good opportunity to setup a niche site around the topic covering questions like where is it legal, how to get a prescription, do I need a prescription, etc. Probably could get a lot of traffic and be profitable with banner ads.

 

 

[whateverpedia]

Today the Australian Government announced it was going to relax laws that stopped companies exporting medical cannabis products.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-04/australian-pot-stocks-soar-after-government-relaxes-export-rules

The market reacted by pushing all of the stocks in my "potfolio" higher.

AC8 jumped 53.66%, CPH was up 20.6%, MMJ rose 11.58% and ZLD was up a "mere" 10%.

Nice.

 

[Mike Friedman]

And in the United States, our Department of Justice basically took the exact opposite approach to marijuana today.

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/04/politics/jeff-sessions-cole-memo/index.html

[Terra]

39 minutes ago, Mike Friedman said:

And in the United States, our Department of Justice basically took the exact opposite approach to marijuana today.

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/04/politics/jeff-sessions-cole-memo/index.html

Sessions is an idiot!

And so is any other politician that continues to promote/accept profits from big Pharma who utilize chemicals and man made crap that has a list of bad side effects (including death) six times longer than the benefits of said drug. And yet are opponents of something naturally growing on God's green earth that has been proven to help many with a plethora of ailments and is used for chemo patients as well. 

 

Terra

[Terra]

And I'm glad that I'm not the only one to feel this way...

Republicans Vow to Throw Down Against Jeff Sessions After Feds Threaten All Marijuana Users

 

Terra

[Mike Friedman]

45 minutes ago, Terra said:

And I'm glad that I'm not the only one to feel this way...

Republicans Vow to Throw Down Against Jeff Sessions After Feds Threaten All Marijuana Users

 

Terra

 

Not to get all political, but what I don't get about it is usually Republicans are for less federal government interference and letting states decide on issues like this. Well now that states are deciding in a way they don't like, they want the federal government involved. 

If they want to be job creators and bring in new streams of revenue to keep their ridiculous tax plan from inflating the deficit even more, legalize it across the nation.

 

[Terra]

3 minutes ago, Mike Friedman said:

 

Not to get all political, but what I don't get about it is usually Republicans are for less federal government interference and letting states decide on issues like this. Well now that states are deciding in a way they don't like, they want the federal government involved. 

If they want to be job creators and bring in new streams of revenue to keep their ridiculous tax plan from inflating the deficit even more, legalize it across the nation.

 

I'm with you, Mike. Even the president said this should be left up to the states.

Not all Republicans are on board to my understanding.

See why I'm neither a Republican nor a Democrat nor any other party loyal? LOL!   

 

Terra

[whateverpedia]

3 hours ago, Mike Friedman said:

 

Not to get all political, but what I don't get about it is usually Republicans are for less federal government interference and letting states decide on issues like this. Well now that states are deciding in a way they don't like, they want the federal government involved. 

If they want to be job creators and bring in new streams of revenue to keep their ridiculous tax plan from inflating the deficit even more, legalize it across the nation.

 

Check their donor base. You can guarantee that privatised, for profit prisons are on that list. Legalising it across the board will hit their revenue stream bigly.

[Terra]

16 hours ago, whateverpedia said:

Check their donor base. You can guarantee that privatised, for profit prisons are on that list. Legalising it across the board will hit their revenue stream bigly.

I bet you just nailed it!!

 

Terra

[HeySal]

22 hours ago, Mike Friedman said:

 

Not to get all political, but what I don't get about it is usually Republicans are for less federal government interference and letting states decide on issues like this. Well now that states are deciding in a way they don't like, they want the federal government involved. 

If they want to be job creators and bring in new streams of revenue to keep their ridiculous tax plan from inflating the deficit even more, legalize it across the nation.

 

Sessions needs to step down or get booted.  He has a lot of money in the prison-for-profit system.  This is sheer self enrichment he's going after.  Just another swamp rat we need gone. 

[Khemosabi]

On 9/16/2017 at 9:46 AM, Mike Friedman said:

I have not looked into stocks yet, but I have a client who is branching out their business an in the beginning stages of opening a medical marijuana facility for which I will be handling their online marketing. 

Online, there is probably a good opportunity to setup a niche site around the topic covering questions like where is it legal, how to get a prescription, do I need a prescription, etc. Probably could get a lot of traffic and be profitable with banner ads.

 

 

Just throwing out some additional ideas here Mike... because it's legal here, many facilities look for farm land owners that are capable of getting a '502' license.  The hydroponic industry is growing as well (personal growers).  Grow lights, soil.. the list goes on and on.  

I've thought about this niche.  I had a potential client that wanted me to build him an extensive site.  He never got his funding, that I know of, but talking to him got me thinking about all of the different ways you could drill it down.  

[HeySal]

10 hours ago, Khemosabi said:

Just throwing out some additional ideas here Mike... because it's legal here, many facilities look for farm land owners that are capable of getting a '502' license.  The hydroponic industry is growing as well (personal growers).  Grow lights, soil.. the list goes on and on.  

I've thought about this niche.  I had a potential client that wanted me to build him an extensive site.  He never got his funding, that I know of, but talking to him got me thinking about all of the different ways you could drill it down.  

Monsanto and pals are trying to get a patent on GMO pot for medicinal.  My money would go to hemp rather than recreation.........there's about 100 earth friendly ways to use hemp, such as hempcrete for home building, paper, and cloth,  and the products are quality (plus the seed is super nutrition).   I'm thinking that once the country gears up to produce quantities of  hemp and starts opening production plants for hemp products....that is where I think the real money is going to go. 

[Terra]

On 1/4/2018 at 6:59 PM, whateverpedia said:

Check their donor base. You can guarantee that privatised, for profit prisons are on that list. Legalising it across the board will hit their revenue stream bigly.

What I just discovered is that Sessions just legalized synthetic marijuana for drug companies just a couple of months ago. 

Before, just the THC was harvested from the plant and made into pill form. But now they can use synthetic marijuana and that kind of scares me. Wasn't it just a few years back where gas stations and party stores were selling synthetic pot and kids were going psycho and even dying from it?

 

Terra

[whateverpedia]

We've now reached the six month anniversary* of me taking a punt on cannabis stocks, so it's time to take a look and see how we're travelling.

Listed as Stock symbol, purchase price, closing price (25/1/18), gain/loss, (high price during period)

AC8 $0.425, $1.74, 309.41%, ($1.86)

CPH $0.565, $1.035, 83.19%, ($1.65)

MMJ, $0.32, $0.505, 57.81%, ($0.63)

ZLD $0.07, $0.13, 85.71%, ($0.145).

As a whole the "potflolio" is up 147%.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Incidentally, the high price for CPH was achieved back in November, but then fell back to around the $0.80 mark, before getting a boost again from the government announcement mentioned above.

* Technically the six months is up on January 27, however that's a Saturday, and the 26th is a public holiday Down Under, so the close of trade on the 25th is being used to mark the anniversary.