• Penington Institute says pot-related law enforcement costs us $1.7 billion a year  
  • Local cannabis is missing out on international and domestic market opportunities
  • Aussie medicinal cannabis revenue was around $230 million in 2021

 

Decriminalising cannabis could save Aussie tax payers $850 million a year, according to the Penington Institute’s Cannabis in Australia 2022 report.

Apparently, it costs us about $1.7 billion a year in law enforcement costs related to weed offences (from 2015 data) with around $1.1 billion on imprisonment, $475 million on police, $62 million on courts, $52 million on legal aid and prosecution, and $25 million on community corrections.

By decriminalising the possession of cannabis, the report suggest taxpayers could save $850 million per year – but the benefits could be even higher (about $1.2 billion) if the government chose to legalise cannabis and regulate the supply fully.

To clarify, Decriminalisation aims to keep those caught with cannabis for their own use out of the criminal justice system so they may be fined or have to attend drug treatment or education sessions (supplying cannabis remains illegal) vs. Legalisation which goes a step further by making cannabis supply, possession and use legal but with varying levels of regulation.

“Cannabis can have negative consequences including a risk of dependence for some people, however the demonstrated harms and enormous financial burden associated with Australia’s simplistic prohibition approach is much more harmful than the substance itself,” CEO John Ryan says.

“There are several key advantages to legalisation. 

“Regulated supply controls the potency and quality of cannabis; it protects users from criminal suppliers and frees up police resources. 

“By allowing for taxation schemes, legalisation can also direct crucial funding into prevention and treatment efforts,” Ryan says.

Massive market opportunity 

Beyond the massive savings from decriminalisation, we’re missing out on a humongous market opportunity, Ryan says.

“The quality of Australian-grown cannabis is world-standard, but our farmers are forced to stand by and watch as producers in North America and elsewhere seize the markets that could be theirs, including our domestic market,” he said.

“Onerous regulations and a lack of government investment are holding the Australian industry back from this significant opportunity.” 

In 2016, medicinal cannabis was legalised federally and while Australian cannabis growers were initially only able to sell their product domestically, by 2018 they were able to export to those countries complying with the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

But currently only two of more than 300 medicinal cannabis products currently available in Australia are included in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG).

All remaining products are unregistered and can only be accessed with TGA approval via the Special Access Scheme (SAS). 

Even with those restrictions, our medicinal cannabis market is expanding in leaps and bounds, with revenue in 2021 estimated at a solid $230 million – that’s up from $30 million in 2019.

And that’s not even looking at the recreational market potential…

 

 

ASX WEED STOCKS

Code Company Price % Year % Six Month % Month % Week Market Cap
AVE Avecho Biotech Ltd 0.015 -6% 7% 67% 36% $27,568,040
ZLD Zelira Therapeutics 1.12 -79% 15% 14% 13% $9,768,658
DTZ Dotz Nano Ltd 0.28 -33% -7% 8% 12% $126,186,014
RNO Rhinomed Ltd 0.11 -60% -8% -8% 10% $31,429,166
MXC Mgc Pharmaceuticals 0.013 -66% -28% 0% 8% $34,390,168
AGH Althea Group 0.064 -72% -4% -3% 7% $21,249,166
LGP Little Green Pharma 0.18 -69% -23% -3% 6% $46,965,739
WOA Wide Open Agricultur 0.205 -71% -64% -36% 5% $26,400,263
IRX Inhalerx Limited 0.06 -25% -20% 11% 3% $11,236,017
CPH Creso Pharma Ltd 0.0205 -74% -45% 3% 3% $36,719,243
HGV Hygrovest Limited 0.071 16% 11% 1% 1% $16,096,779
NTI Neurotech Intl 0.071 22% 1% -17% 1% $57,529,999
CAN Cann Group Ltd 0.2025 -31% -16% -16% 1% $79,270,397
CTV Colortv Limited 0.008 -84% 33% 0% 0% $1,236,985
WFL Wellfully Limited 0.015 -78% -69% -29% 0% $6,258,372
LV1 Live Verdure Ltd 0.22 -44% 22% 33% 0% $16,226,992
SCU Stemcell United Ltd 0.013167 0% 0% 0% 0% $14,995,837
ROO Roots Sustainable 0.002 -60% -33% 0% 0% $2,056,265
MRG Murray River Grp 0.245 0% 0% 0% 0% $10,808,210
EXL Elixinol Wellness 0.02 -73% -5% -35% 0% $6,325,311
TSN The Sust Nutri Grp 0.14 -36% 0% 0% 0% $16,884,894
RGI Roto-Gro Intl Ltd 0.22 -45% 0% 0% 0% $4,333,920
ALA Arovella Therapeutic 0.024 -35% 9% 0% 0% $16,838,366
AC8 Auscann Grp Hlgs Ltd 0.04 -53% 11% 0% 0% $17,621,884
BOT Botanix Pharma Ltd 0.056 2% -3% -11% 0% $68,873,902
IHL Incannex Healthcare 0.17 -69% -36% -31% 0% $277,726,812
IDT IDT Australia Ltd 0.08 -71% -27% -16% 0% $19,281,744
EVE EVE Health Group Ltd 0.001 -70% 0% 0% 0% $5,274,483
CGB Cann Global Limited 0.021 -72% 17% 0% 0% $5,436,345
CAU Cronos Australia 0.58 186% 142% -11% -2% $333,919,243
EMD Emyria Limited 0.17 -51% -6% -11% -3% $49,444,383
MDC Medlab Clinical Ltd 6.96 -68% 5% -13% -3% $14,956,938
ECS ECS Botanics Holding 0.02 -33% 25% 0% -5% $22,134,613
EOF Ecofibre Limited 0.235 -58% 2% -18% -6% $89,049,711
BOD BOD Australia 0.14 -40% 87% -3% -7% $22,202,616
EPN Epsilon Healthcare 0.022 -71% 10% -27% -8% $6,607,788
PAL Palla Pharma Ltd 0 -100% -100% -100% -100% $47,764,383
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Only 6 companies were in the green, with 15 flat and 16 stocks in the red. 

 

Here are the ones with notable news:

 

Apparently everyone’s already off on their Xmas hols because the only notable news this week comes out of specialist investment company Hygrovest (ASX:HGV).

HGV has a 14% legacy investment in Weed Me Inc (since 2017) and in its latest portfolio report says that Weed Me has shown multiplicative sales growth over the past 3 years driven by strategically increasing Stock Keeping Units (SKU) and continued geographic expansion, including the huge potential of US expansion.

The company says its confident of further valuation upside for Weed Me and that there’s “significant long-term opportunity for years of profitable sales expansion ahead.”

“The political dialogue from President Biden et al is pushing for decriminalisation and passage of the SAFE banking act in the US, which would open an additional enormous market many times larger than Canada, which offers Weed Me ready access to multiple large-scale growth opportunities that will drive long-term valuation appreciation,” HGV says.

“Within Canada, the majority of large Licensed Producers (LPs) have garnered attention from large multi-national corporations in the tobacco, alcohol, and consumer space that we expect will be followed by the pharmaceutical companies with FDA regulation. 

“It is not unreasonable to expect Weed Me to garner similar interest, which would enhance its valuation.”

 

HGV share price today:

 

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