Why Cannabis is Overtaking Alcohol: A 20-Year Transformation in America

During their recent episode, Taylor, Carlisle, and Asif Suria discussed Why Cannabis is Overtaking Alcohol: A 20-Year Transformation in America. Here’s an excerpt from the episode:

Tobias: So, Aaron, the opportunity sounds pretty good. We’ve had this boom and bust that scared everybody away. There’s obvious problems to be resolved. That’s the regulatory environment, somehow they’ll solve the growing environment, but that’s probably closer to being solved. And so, you say now, what’s left are reasonably robust, nobody’s interested in the sector. The valuations are really cheap until you like it as an investment proposition. It probably seems like it’s got a long way to go, but I saw a stat this year that said, that on a daily basis, there are more daily active users. I don’t know if that’s the right term of weed [crosstalk] alcohol, daily alcohol drinkers. So, it seems– [crosstalk]

Aaron: Just look at the alcohol sales of all the companies. It’s crushing wine. Because if you think about what cannabis really does is it relaxes you and it gives you a buzz. You think of the categories that it’s going to hit the most is wine and craft beer, and they are getting taken out to the woodshed. Because what people are finding is– My experience is–

I’m the father of three. The last thing I want is to be hungover the next day or have a couple of days I feel terrible. Just imagine a product where you can relax at the end of the day, and it’ll help. You’ll sleep great. And then you’ll wake up the next morning with no hangover, who doesn’t want that?

And then, just the negative effects with alcohol, and then you can lower the amount of prescription meds you take. It’s like, people are finding through experimentation that this is just, “Wow, this is part of the great replacement.” That’s why I think we’re on this 20 or 30 year run where– The basic is like, America’s getting high and it’s going to get more high.

Jake: It always was. It’s just–

Aaron: It always was, but now to a different level. What they’re finding is, like some of the health benefits for cancer patients, kids with epilepsy, we really haven’t studied this plan.

Now, I want to caution this. It doesn’t mean that cannabis is like the greatest thing in the world, that has no danger. Yes, it does like anything, if you overuse it. But it should be legalized and regulated. Part of the reason why it’s very timely now is the Biden administration has initiated, about two years ago, a rescheduling review. We are due any moment. I actually believe it’s in the next 45 or 60 days, where they’re going to reschedule and downgrade it from a Schedule 1 to Schedule 3. And to me, it’s like the first major reform of cannabis.

It’s like a giant bat signal to the world, to our country that it’s just not what– We’re just going to downgrade the danger. I think it’s going to allow a lot more investors. There’s some people who think it may allow uplifting into US exchanges. They need to figure out the federal state conflicts or whatever. Congress has been working on something called state banking for a very long time, like a political football. And so, you’re having a bunch of things going on right now, where it’s more of like, “Well, how do we do this?” Not “Whether we do it.”

The other problem is you still have people in Congress who are very old, including Biden, who are like, “Yeah, I don’t know if we should do that.” They’re ex-drug warriors with the war on drugs. I believe the only reason that Biden went through with this is because how do you look young if you’re– An elderly president wants to get reelected, you have to do something like cannabis. And now, I think you have someone like Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, who are very pro-cannabis, who are running on their ticket. On the other side, I don’t think Donald Trump is necessarily a negative. I don’t think he cares, to be honest. That’s part of the problem is this doesn’t rise to the level of abortion or the war in Ukraine.

Jake: Immigration.

Aaron: Everyone’s like, “Eh, it’s like–” And so, they don’t see it necessarily. But in a very close election, this could drive the vote. One of the interesting things in Michigan is a battleground state. Highest per capita consumption of cannabis is in Michigan. And so, I think cannabis becomes an issue, because if you have a swing of 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 voters in a state, it could be the difference.

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