Weed Week: The great German bake-off

Each week our Weed Week column wraps the news driving ASX cannabis stocks.

Angela Merkel’s ruling conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party might be contemplating a move to legalise cannabis in Germany, DW reported last week.

“Cannabis could be freed for personal use, of course with controlled production and distribution,” CDU interior policy spokesman Marian Wendt reportedly said.

The government’s drug commissioner Daniela Ludwig also said that the party had been “thinking about” legalisation “for years”.

Also in Germany:

Another great headline from the Daily Mail.

And a new Aussie study concludes there isn’t enough evidence to suggest medicinal cannabis helps with psychological disorders.

The meta-analysis — which included 83 “eligible” studies — decided there wasn’t enough evidence to show cannabinoids improve depressive disorders and symptoms, anxiety disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, or psychosis.

There is growing public interest in the use of cannabis for a plethora of conditions, including psychiatric disorders, says Deepak Cyril D’Souza.

“In parallel, there is considerable commercial interest in touting these products as treatments for various disorders,” he says.

“However, although the potential therapeutic use of cannabinoids receives substantial coverage in the media, more scientific information is needed about this topic that is based on careful systematic reviews or meta-analyses.”

Small Cap Spotlight:

Of the 33 companies tracked by Stockhead, 10 posted a weekly gain, eight were unchanged, while 15 lost ground.

Among the big winners were Eve Investments (ASX:EVE) up 22 per cent, Wide Open Agriculture (ASX:WOA) up 17.2 per cent, and Engage:BDR (ASX:EN1) up 12.5 per cent.

Medical tech company Lifespot Health (ASX:LSH) got a nice 7.7 per cent bump after Peak Asset management boss Niv Dagan increased his voting power from 6.88 per cent to 8.26 per cent through on-market purchases.

The biggest loser was Althea Group (ASX:AGH), down 24.8 per cent after delivering a mixed bag of news to investors in a market update last week.

The company said patient numbers for its prescription medicinal cannabis products in Australia are on track to reach 4,000 by the end of the year.

But it also announced that a major shareholder is selling up. Aphria will sell 36.697 million shares in the company at 40c per share in a block trade — equivalent to 15.7 per cent of Althea’s issued stock.

Aphria will still maintain a 12.25 per cent shareholding in the company and stay involved as a commercial partner, but news of the block trade weighed heavily on Althea shares.

Here’s Stockhead’s latest summary of weekly and annual price performance for ASX-listed cannabis stocks.

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort:

Ticker	Name	1 Week Total Return	1 Year Total Return	Price [intraday Tues]	Market Cap
EVE	EVE INVESTMENTS	22.2%	-8.3%	0.005	$ 14,039,287.00
WOA	WIDE OPEN AGRICULTURE	17.2%	41.7%	0.165	$ 11,998,472.00
EN2	ENGAGE:BDR	12.5%	-55.0%	0.028	$ 16,514,312.00
LSH	LIFESPOT HEALTH	7.7%	-24.3%	0.055	$ 4,343,846.00
SCU	STEMCELL UNITED	7.1%	-37.5%	0.015	$ 9,624,125.00
ROO	ROOTS SUSTAINABLE	4.3%	-78.7%	0.049	$ 5,466,630.50
AC9	AUSCANN GROUP	3.7%	-60.0%	0.27	$ 88,773,256.00
RGI	ROTO-GRO INTERNATIONAL	3.4%	-68.8%	0.155	$ 19,488,882.00
MXC	MGC PHARMACEUTICALS	3.0%	-39.3%	0.034	$ 46,468,172.00
APH	AUSTRALIAN PRIMARY HEMP	2.6%	-23.1%	0.2	$ 13,906,027.00
IDT	IDT AUSTRALIA	0.0%	-3.0%	0.165	$ 37,912,504.00
YPB	YPB GROUP	0.0%	-64.7%	0.006	$ 9,042,489.00
RNO	RHINOMED	0.0%	6.0%	0.265	$ 44,839,596.00
SUD	SUDA PHARMACEUTICALS	0.0%	-47.4%	0.0035	$ 10,669,115.00
THC	THC GLOBAL GROUP	0.0%	-23.5%	0.385	$ 53,262,968.00
ECS	ECS BOTANICS HOLDINGS	0.0%	-55.0%	0.045	$ 22,841,598.00
MDC	MEDLAB CLINICAL	0.0%	19.4%	0.43	$ 92,606,808.00
PAL	PALLA PHARMA	0.0%	-33.1%	0.88	$ 98,201,528.00
EOF	ECOFIBRE	-1.9%	N/A	3.15	$ 995,280,704.00
MRG	MURRAY RIVER ORGANICS GROUP	-2.7%	-76.8%	0.072	$ 31,230,798.00
ZLD	ZELDA THERAPEUTICS	-4.2%	15.3%	0.067	$ 51,601,252.00
OBJ	OBJ	-6.3%	-25.0%	0.015	$ 27,141,940.00
MMJ	MMJ GROUP	-7.3%	-42.4%	0.185	$ 42,635,808.00
BDA	BOD AUSTRALIA	-7.8%	-34.3%	0.355	$ 31,614,478.00
BOT	BOTANIX PHARMACEUTICALS	-8.0%	53.3%	0.11	$ 110,918,008.00
CAN	CANN GROUP	-10.3%	-57.0%	1.015	$ 147,546,656.00
CLI	CROPLOGIC	-11.1%	77.8%	0.048	$ 19,997,062.00
DTZ	DOTZ NANO	-11.1%	-56.5%	0.043	$ 9,451,567.00
IHL	IMPRESSION HEALTHCARE	-12.0%	192.0%	0.073	$ 46,231,804.00
CP2	CANNPAL ANIMAL THERAPEUTICS	-15.4%	-33.3%	0.125	$ 10,243,750.00
EXL	ELIXINOL GLOBAL	-15.4%	-5.4%	1.49	$ 219,251,632.00
CPH	CRESO PHARMA	-18.9%	-46.3%	0.205	$ 32,582,032.00
AGH	ALTHEA GROUP HOLDINGS	-24.8%	-1.3%	0.39	$ 92,157,448.00