Good morning. Welcome to The Greenfields.

What've we got for you today?

• Cannabis companies grow losses

• Dob in a dodgy canna-business

• Vanuatu legalizes but not for locals

• Dr. Lenny compares vaping cannabis to smoking it

Cannabis Companies Grow Losses

Bod Life Sciences (ASX:BOD) and Cann Group (ASX:CAN) have both announced bigger losses for the first half of FY 23.

Cann Group

Cann Group have increased their losses by 128% compared to the first half of FY 22. They announced an after tax loss of $18.84 million and revenue of $5.8m.

They’ve been undergoing some pretty major activities this year with their (failed) phase 3 trial for over-the-counter CBD sleeping pill, satipharm, and streamlining their growing operations. The trial increased their R&D costs by about $1.6 million, and admin and corporate costs increased from $11 million to $17 million.

Cann Group’s been having a rough time the last few months after their sleep trials failed. Their partner Haleon is still reviewing the results to see if they want to commercialise Satipharm.

Bod Life Sciences

Meanwhile Bod (ASX:BOD) have announced a $3.17 million loss up 46% over the first half of FY22. They’ve blamed the losses on increased demand for THC flower and slower than expected reform of cannabis laws in Europe.

Like Cann Group they are also pursuing an over the counter CBD sleep treatment. They are currently recruiting participants for the Phase IIB trial.

Unlike Cann Group they are also pursuing other innovations. Their ‘Aqua Phase’ product increases the absorption of CBD oil. It can be used in future CBD drinks and cannabis infused products, or licensed to other manufacturers.

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Dob in a dodgy canna-business

Patients over profits. Seems pretty straightforward right?

An anonymous group has started a site for people to dob in ‘unethical business practices’ in the Australian medicinal cannabis industry.

Called "You can whistle", people can report:

1. Suppliers

2. Clinics

3. Doctors

The site sends users to the appropriate places for reporting a variety of issues with these groups, including the TGA, RACGP and ACCC.

There’s not really a problem with making medicinal cannabis patients more aware of their rights. This group is simply bringing together resources that people might not otherwise be aware of.

What is an issue is this group being anonymous. We don’t know who is behind this and if they are actually working in patients interests.

Vanuatu Legalizes but not for Locals

Vanuatu has legalized growing and exporting cannabis. Hoping to cash in on the emerging global market they’ve made five 10 year licences available for people with at least 10 years experience in the industry.

Which is pretty much no one in Vanuatu.

That’s a pretty high (😉) bar to clear before you even consider the 10 million Vatu ($123k in AUD) they’ll need to pay for a licence and to renew every year.

The idea behind all these rules is to attract experienced cannabis people to Vanuatu to ensure the quality and capacity to deliver. After locals have spent ten years gaining experience it’s hoped that they’ll be in a position to start their own grow.

Cannabis presents an enormous opportunity for pacific island nations. They get heaps of sunshine and good land for growing crops. 10 years is a bloody long time to wait though, and hopefully models emerge that enable some of the money to flow back to the community.

Dr. Lenny's Lab - Vaping vs 

A reader asks: Which method is better? Smoking or vaping? For better results of the product?

The short answer is vaporising cannabis is much more potent than smoking it.

When cannabis is vaped, twice as much THC can be detected in the blood at the peak of the high compared to smoking.

But is everything about vaping better? Not entirely…

Vaping cannabis can:

• Add 26 beats per minute to your heart rate compared to 19 beats per minute when smoking. Coffee adds 3.

• Give you a dry mouth and red, dry itchy eyes

• Make you more paranoid and feel less motivated and vigorous than if you smoked

• Impair your ability to divide your attention, do maths, and problem solve

These additional effects cannot be explained by the higher levels of THC in the blood when vaping. We don’t actually know the cause. Hopefully more research can explain them soon.

On the upside, vaping exposes you to fewer toxins than smoking which may make you sick.

Unfortunately we won’t know what the longer term effects of vaping are for some time. There are clinical trials currently recruiting participants looking into long term vaping, but we may have to wait a lifetime to see the results!!

In short, smoking cannabis is probably making you sick, while vaping cannabis seems safer and more potent, but is more likely to make you paranoid and unmotivated.

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That’s your walk through The Greenfields of the cannabis industry today. We’ll see you again on Thursday, but if you want more before then follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is not financial advice. It is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell anything or to make any financial decisions. Please do your own research and do not buy anything dodgy.