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Weed Week: Greens reckon legal cannabis could generate $28 billion over a decade
Health & Biotech
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- Greens say a legal cannabis industry could bring tourism – and money – to regional areas
- Emyria kicks off first dosing for its Phase 3 trial into psychological distress
- Medlab Clinical gears up to export NanaBis CBD product to the UK
Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) figures published by the Greens have flagged that a legal cannabis industry could potentially generate $28 billion in revenue over a decade.
The Greens are proposing a 15% cannabis sales tax. If that was a 25% sales tax the revenue “would surge to over $36 billion,” they said.
And the data doesn’t even include potential savings from policing, courts and jails at a State-level from reduced cannabis policing.
“We know that legalising cannabis reduces harm by keeping people out of the criminal justice system, this report shows how it will also bring in tens of billions of dollars of public revenue as well,” Greens Senator and Justice spokesperson David Shoebridge said.
“With the revenue generated from legalised cannabis we can build new public housing for a quarter of a million people or lift JobSeeker by $80 a fortnight. This is an opportunity for some serious investment in social justice.
“When we legalise cannabis we take billions away from organised crime, police and the criminal justice system and we can then spend it on schools, housing, hospitals and social support.”
The costing assumes 10% of the cannabis sold under the scheme would be sold to tourists, with the party suggesting cannabis tourism could become the lifeblood of many regional areas currently struggling for viable local industries.
ASX WEED STOCKS
| Code | Company | Price | % Year | % Six Month | % Month | % Week | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EMD | Emyria Limited | 0.25 | -26% | 22% | 47% | 52% | $77,075,068 |
| LGP | Little Green Pharma | 0.23 | -57% | -34% | 28% | 21% | $62,370,944 |
| ZLD | Zelira Therapeutics | 1.22 | -77% | -35% | 22% | 16% | $11,684,082 |
| ALA | Arovella Therapeutic | 0.031 | -26% | 15% | 41% | 15% | $23,375,075 |
| EXL | Elixinol Wellness | 0.028 | -58% | -20% | 17% | 12% | $8,539,170 |
| EPN | Epsilon Healthcare | 0.025 | -62% | -36% | 4% | 9% | $7,508,850 |
| VIT | Vitura Health Ltd | 0.54 | 83% | 80% | -6% | 6% | $300,527,318 |
| ECS | ECS Botanics Holding | 0.027 | -10% | 8% | 17% | 4% | $29,881,728 |
| IHL | Incannex Healthcare | 0.19 | -55% | -32% | 9% | 3% | $293,596,916 |
| WOA | Wide Open Agricultur | 0.215 | -66% | -60% | 2% | 2% | $27,688,081 |
| BOT | Botanix Pharma Ltd | 0.059 | -2% | -27% | -2% | 2% | $71,248,864 |
| CTV | Colortv Limited | 0.008 | -84% | 33% | 0% | 0% | $1,236,985 |
| HGV | Hygrovest Limited | 0.07 | 43% | 11% | 0% | 0% | $16,096,779 |
| SCU | Stemcell United Ltd | 0.013167 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | $14,995,837 |
| MRG | Murray River Grp | 0.245 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | $10,808,210 |
| RGI | Roto-Gro Intl Ltd | 0.22 | -31% | 0% | 0% | 0% | $4,333,920 |
| IRX | Inhalerx Limited | 0.06 | -33% | -14% | 0% | 0% | $10,299,683 |
| AC8 | Auscann Grp Hlgs Ltd | 0.04 | -43% | -9% | 0% | 0% | $17,621,884 |
| IDT | IDT Australia Ltd | 0.076 | -68% | -49% | 0% | 0% | $18,110,861 |
| EVE | EVE Health Group Ltd | 0.001 | -70% | -33% | -50% | 0% | $5,274,483 |
| CGB | Cann Global Limited | 0.021 | -50% | -22% | 0% | 0% | $5,436,345 |
| EOF | Ecofibre Limited | 0.235 | -45% | -8% | -6% | -2% | $78,573,274 |
| CAN | Cann Group Ltd | 0.185 | -34% | -35% | -12% | -3% | $71,566,300 |
| DTZ | Dotz Nano Ltd | 0.24 | -38% | -13% | -4% | -4% | $107,836,557 |
| TSN | The Sust Nutri Grp | 0.019 | -87% | -86% | -30% | -5% | $2,412,128 |
| MXC | Mgc Pharmaceuticals | 0.01 | -69% | -44% | -17% | -9% | $28,658,473 |
| RNO | Rhinomed Ltd | 0.095 | -62% | -50% | -17% | -10% | $27,143,371 |
| CPH | Creso Pharma Ltd | 0.019 | -78% | -53% | -5% | -10% | $37,940,103 |
| MDC | Medlab Clinical Ltd | 6.9 | -65% | -32% | 2% | -10% | $15,641,989 |
| LV1 | Live Verdure Ltd | 0.16 | -59% | -6% | -6% | -14% | $11,801,449 |
| BOD | BOD Science Ltd | 0.085 | -56% | -9% | -41% | -15% | $13,780,934 |
| AVE | Avecho Biotech Ltd | 0.011 | -21% | -15% | -15% | -15% | $20,216,563 |
| AGH | Althea Group | 0.051 | -76% | -61% | -19% | -18% | $18,791,707 |
| NTI | Neurotech Intl | 0.06 | 20% | -39% | -13% | -20% | $53,308,478 |
| ROO | Roots Sustainable | 0.0015 | -75% | -50% | -25% | -25% | $1,558,829 |
| WFL | Wellfully Limited | 0.014 | -79% | -67% | -13% | -33% | $5,476,075 |
Only 11 companies were in the green, with 10 flat and 15 stocks in the red.
Here are the ones with notable news:
Emyria has commenced first dosing for its EMD-RX5 Phase 3 trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of EMD-RX5 in patients with symptoms of psychological distress such as mild anxiety and stress.
EMD-RX5 is a solid capsule formulation of ultra-pure CBD and the company is targeting registration as one of the first Over-The-Counter CBD medications for treatment for the symptoms of psychological distress with Australia’s TGA.
“An accessible, convenient and effective over-the-counter treatment for psychological distress could have a significant impact on the quality of life and health outcomes for patients, especially those with chronic disease,” MD Dr Michael Winlo said.
“We believe EMD-RX5 represents a significant commercial opportunity as it has been uniquely formulated to meet the registration requirements of multiple global markets.
“The need for mental health treatments is large and growing, and an over-the-counter option could support a large segment of the population alongside prescription medication and non-drug therapy.”
The trial is being conducted across nine sites and is expected to enrol and dose 300 patients in H1, 2023 and, pending clinically significant results, will support a submission to the TGA.
Medlab has snagged the export permit from the Australian Office of Drug Control (ODC) for NanaDol – the export name for NanaBis specifically for the United Kingdom.
The company was approved by the UK Home Office for import in November.
“It’s great to be able to expand the successes we have had with NanaBis (named NanaDol for export purposes) to the UK people,” CEO Dr Sean Hall said at the time.
The company expects to ship several hundred units of NanaDol as soon as secure freight has been arranged.
The company’s partner in the UK, WEP Clinical, will supply UK patients as appropriate.
In recent weeks Althea has secured a CAD$2 million loan facility from lenders in Canada and nabbed another $2.2 million in funding via US-based institutional investor, Obsidian Global Partners LLC.
CEO Joshua Fegan says the company is “extremely confident in our goal of achieving group cash flow positivity during Q12023 and this loan facility provides AGH with the flexibility to continue to launch new products at pace, while providing shareholders with additional investment comfort and further validation of the Company’s robust financial controls.”
The company has also welcomed Health Canada’s recent amendments to the Cannabis Act and its regulations, which includes an increase of the consumer purchase limits for infused-cannabis beverages.
Health Canada amendments will increase consumer purchase limits from 5 x 355ml cans to 48 x 355ml cans, for infused-cannabis beverages – bringing the cannabis beverage market more in line with the alcohol market, where consumers are accustomed to being able to purchase beverages in packs of 6, 12, 24 or 48.
“The enhanced value proposition for customers is likely to lead to an increase in sales in an already rapidly growing cannabis-infused beverage category,” AGH said.
The company has received Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval for its Phase I/II clinical trial of NTI164 in children diagnosed with Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS) and Paediatric Acute- Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS).
NTI164 is a drug derived from a unique cannabis strain with low THC (M<0.3%) and a novel combination of cannabinoids including CBDA, CBC, CBDP, CBDB and CBN.
The company also received Clinical Trial Notification (CTN) scheme clearance by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to commence the trial.
“We look forward to commencement of patient recruitment during the current quarter, under the supervision of Co-Principal Investigator Professor Russell Dale,” executive director Dr Thomas Duthy said.
“To our knowledge, this is the first clinical trial conducted in PANDAS/PANS patients with a novel oral full-spectrum cannabinoid drug formulation (NTI164), which seeks to provide initial evidence of clinical efficacy and safety in these patients over the 12-week study period, with all patients eligible to continue to receive our treatment for up to 54 weeks.”
EMD, MDC, AGH and NTI share prices today
At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Medlab Clinical is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.
