Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said his cannabis bill will be introduced in August, four months later than planned.
The delay could make it harder for less ambitious bills to make it to the Senate before November’s midterm elections.
There is a growing risk that nothing gets done.
However, its valuation including debt has fallen to 11 times projected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, from 22 times at last year’s 4/20 celebrations.
Even if banking legislation changes do occur, it won’t solve all of the cannabis industry’s problems. The bill would give pot growers access to normal financial services such as checking accounts by reassuring banks that they won’t be prosecuted for working with a federally illegal industry.
Instead, major investors including BlackRock and Vanguard get exposure to the industry through proxies such as Innovative Industrial Properties, a cannabis-focused real-estate investment trust that has 73% institutional ownership, according to FactSet data.
Maryland may soon go legal too—possibly lured by the almost $4 billion in tax revenue that states made from recreational cannabis sales in 2021, according to Marijuana Policy Project.