MYTHS & MISCONCEPTIONS OF CANNABIS INVESTING - BUSTING THE 5 BIGGEST
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INVESTOR’S REPORT Busting the 5 Biggest Myths & Misconceptions of Cannabis Investing (And the 3 Picks to Put You on the Fast Track to Getting Rich) Our biggest regrets in life won’t be what we’ve done... but what we haven’t done. Not spending more time with our family and friends. Not traveling and exploring. Not following our passions. Not taking chances. It’s the same thing with investing. We won’t regret buying a stock that didn’t work out as much as we’ll regret not buying a stock in the first place. That’s exactly what MagnifyMoney.com, a personal finance site, uncovered in a survey the top two investment regrets people have are: • Not saving for retirement sooner, and… • Not purchasing a certain stock earlier. The latter is the one that will eat away at you. 2
INVESTOR’S REPORT For decades. If you had just made that one investment... you could have bought your dream home... or helped your children or grandchildren pay for college... or retired early. Unfortunately, it’s a regret most people are going to have with cannabis stocks. They understand that sales climbed from $13 billion in 2019 to $21.5 billion in 2020. They understand that medical marijuana is legal in 34 states, recreational marijuana is legal in 15, and it’s only a matter of time before all marijuana use is legal across the country. They understand that this is an opportunity that won’t come around again. But the problem is people are still sitting on the sidelines. One of the reasons is that the 76% of people investing on their own will be heavily influenced by the opinions of family, friends, coworkers, and the “financial” shows focused more on entertainment than making you rich. 3
INVESTOR’S REPORT And many of those opinions, while well intentioned, will be ill- informed. It could be a husband telling a wife that the time to own cannabis stocks was years ago. “We should have bought in 2017 or at the start of 2018. Before Canada made it legal in the entire country. Now it’s too late.” Or it could be a coworker sharing how they lost money in the great pot stock wipeout of 2019, thinking they are giving advice that will help. “I lost 70% of what I invested in pot stocks between 2019 and 2020. Trust me. You don’t want to touch pot stocks with a 10-foot pole. You will lose money just like I did.” Or some people worry about a judgmental friend. “You’re thinking about buying cannabis stocks? It’s an illegal drug! How can you think about doing that? Do you really want the country to turn into a bunch of lazy stoners?” Or it could be a personality on a TV show telling you not to buy cannabis stocks because they have outdated opinions and don’t care to learn what’s happening now. If you’re listening to those people... you’re going to join most investors who buy stocks when the biggest gains have already been made. The thing is, at the National Institute for Cannabis Investors, we don’t want you to be like most investors. So if you’ve ever said before... 4
INVESTOR’S REPORT “I wish I had invested in Apple early.” “I wish I had invested in Amazon early.” “I wish I had invested in Tesla early.” We’re here, in your corner, to do our best at making sure you never have a regret like that ever again. So if you’ve ever heard that cannabis stocks are too risky… Or that you should wait to invest in a clear-cut winner… Or that because your current brokerage account won’t let you buy cannabis stocks, you can’t buy them at all… Or that all the money has already been made in cannabis investing… Or that cannabis is immoral to invest in… We’re here to bust every single one of those myths and misconceptions so they will no longer hold you back from buying cannabis stocks. On top of that, since you’ll be ready to make your first investment, we’ll give you three stock picks to get started. Let’s start with the myths. Myth No. 1: Cannabis Stocks Are Risky Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way right now. It was a terrible year for cannabis investors in 2019. Some investors who sold their stocks then didn’t get to experience the rebound and are telling everyone they know that buying cannabis stocks is a bad decision. 5
INVESTOR’S REPORT Or people heard about the “pot stock wipeout” of 2019 and still believe what happened then is going on today. Now, what happened in 2019 was a series of unfortunate events that, even though not all of them were related, crashed into each other in the same year. In April 2019, people were getting sick from what has been believed to be vitamin E acetate in vaping devices, which is used as a thickening agent. From April 2019 until January 2020, 20 people died. The outbreak was connected to products sold on the illegal market, but it affected legal cannabis retailers nonetheless. Sales of vape products in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, and Oregon fell an average of 21%, according to data from BDS Analytics. The stock price for KushCo Holdings Inc. (OTC: KSHB), a maker of premium vapes, dropped 73% from $5.60 on April 1, 2019, to $1.50 on December 31, 2019. There were also scandals. In 2019, a whistleblower informed Health Canada – the department for the country’s federal health policy – about unlicensed grow rooms in a CannTrust Holdings (NYSE: CTST) facility, which lead to an investigation. That lead to the suspension of the company’s license; CannTrust had to destroy $12 million worth of plants and $65 million worth of inventory. The president resigned. 6
INVESTOR’S REPORT The CEO was fired. And a lot of people lost a lot of money. Trading for $10.04 on March 27, 2019, the stock is now trading below $1 – a loss of 93%. There was also Sundial Growers Inc. (Nasdaq: SNDL) selling moldy cannabis. In its June quarterly report, Zenabis Global disclosed that it had returned a half ton of cannabis to a third party. The cannabis reportedly contained pieces of mold, pieces of rubber, and non-cannabis material. While Zenabis didn’t name Sundial directly, people familiar with the matter said it was Sundial. Sundial then became the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the United States in October 2019 for not disclosing that it had sold the cannabis containing mold and rubber when it was returned. 7
INVESTOR’S REPORT And there were smaller events that shook investors’ confidence. Bruce Linton, who had built the biggest cannabis company in the world at the time by market cap (Canopy Growth) was fired. What did that say about the future of cannabis investing if the “Godfather of Cannabis” was let go? Finally, cannabis stocks have a reputation of being more inherently risky because the use of marijuana is not federally legal. Even though the Trump administration left legalization up to the states, some people worried that the federal government could still go after cannabis businesses and try to shut them down. With all of these issues and a few more piled on top, cannabis stock prices plummeted. That was the story of cannabis investing in 2019, and a lot of people got burned. But the past isn’t supposed to be a hammock – it’s a springboard into the future. Today, the top cannabis companies learned from the failures of the past and are executing their plans. They are more strategic and financially responsible. They are separating themselves from the wannabes, opening new operations as more states legalize recreational sales, launching new products, and making shareholders a lot of money in the process. • Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (OTC: TCNNF) now sells 50% of the legal cannabis sold in Florida, and its share price climbed 174% in 2020. 8
INVESTOR’S REPORT • Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (OTC: CURLF) is the largest multistate operator by revenue, and it’s strategically planning to open dispensaries in states transitioning from medical to recreational use, allowing it to grab a 40% market share in New Jersey and own the second most dispensaries in Arizona. Within a full year of cannabis sales, each could become billion-dollar markets. Shares climbed 93% in 2020. • Green Thumb Industries Inc. (OTC: GTBIF) utilizes an “Enter, Open, Scale” model, strategically entering new states, not just obtaining licenses but obtaining them and opening up stores, and reaching as many customers as possible through its products. That has allowed it to expand to 52 retail locations across 12 states. The GTBIF stock price climbed 159% in 2020. Cannabis may have been a wild west of investing in 2019, but that’s coming to an end. So if someone still thinks investing in cannabis in 2021 is like investing in cannabis in 2019 and that is their argument to you about why you shouldn’t invest, that is ill-informed advice. Myth No. 2: There Isn’t a Winner Buying what you know is powerful. Like realizing Amazon would be more than just a bookseller in 1997; it would completely transform consumer habits in the United States. No longer would people have to drive to malls or shopping centers, find parking spots, hope that a shop had something in stock, and fight through traffic to get back home. 9
INVESTOR’S REPORT Selling books online in an easy-to-find format could allow Amazon to sell anything. Those who understood that potential and made a $10,000 investment in Amazon at its $18 IPO price would have had roughly $12 million as of May 2020. Today, you can see Amazon’s dominance all around you, from Amazon having its own movie division to selling its own clothes to offering cloud-computing services to large businesses. It’s the same for Apple and Netflix. You can see iPhones everywhere. You can hear friends and family members talk about Stranger Things, a Netflix exclusive. But with cannabis, not everyone can see that opportunity. People aren’t pulling grams of marijuana from their pockets to show their friends, and those friends aren’t rushing out to buy Jushi stock because the company just launched a new strain. Cannabis is not advertised on TV like a Subway sandwich. You can’t see people enjoying it out on a patio like you can see people enjoying Starbucks. But the winners are still there, and we’re here to show you them before everyone else realizes they are winners. Like Curaleaf, which has a plan to become a household name. Instead of growing craft cannabis, Curaleaf is focusing on reaching the masses who may not care as much how it is grown but want a specific-use cannabis strain that’s affordable. 10
INVESTOR’S REPORT “We’re making the products much more mainstream for our customer base – we’ll be no different than Coca-Cola or Frito-Lay.” And there are 10 more companies right now in our NICI Membership portfolio that are winners, have made our current members money, and will make them even more money as everyone else realizes that there are winners in the cannabis market. Myth No. 3: I Can Only Have My Robinhood Account With commission-free trades, fractional-share investing, and an easy-to-use app, Robinhood has attracted over 13 million users. And from ETFs to cryptocurrencies, there are a lot of different investments to make on the platform. It’s true that you can buy a handful of marijuana companies directly on Robinhood: Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB), Hexo Corp. (NYSE: HEXO), OrganiGram Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: OGI), and Sundial Growers Inc. (Nasdaq: SNDL). But if you’re a cannabis investor, you can’t find the best companies to buy – companies like Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (OTC: CURLF), Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (OTC: TCNNF), Green Thumb Industries (OTC: GTBIF), and Cresco Labs Inc. (OTC: CRLBF). The reason why you can buy some cannabis stocks through Robinhood is that they are all Canadian-based companies. Because cannabis is legal in Canada, those companies are following the law within their country, and they’ve been able to list their shares on the Nasdaq or NYSE. 11
INVESTOR’S REPORT In comparison, cannabis companies in the United States are following state laws, but cannabis is still illegal under federal law. Being illegal under federal law, the Nasdaq and NYSE did not want to take the risk of listing American companies on their respective exchanges. So American companies have to list on over-the-counter (OTC) markets, and Robinhood does not support the buying or selling of OTC cannabis stocks on its platform. Now, some people want to buy the best marijuana companies but only have a Robinhood account and feel like it’s too much work to open another brokerage account, or they just want one brokerage account because they want to keep all of their investments in one place. Or they just want to wait until Robinhood lists all cannabis stocks. Or they don’t want to pay fees on their trades. Here’s the thing… Setting up a new online brokerage account that will open up a whole new world where you can buy and sell cannabis stocks can take less than 20 minutes. It’s also understandable that you may want all of your investments to be listed on one brokerage service, but it’s really not extra work to have a second brokerage account. Whenever you log on to another brokerage account, the cannabis investments you make will be just as easy to find as your investments are in your Robinhood account. But if those first two reasons don’t apply to you and you’re just waiting for more marijuana companies to trade on the Nasdaq or NYSE so that you can eventually be able to buy them on Robinhood, don’t make that mistake. 12
INVESTOR’S REPORT You want to own them before the Robinhood crowd comes in and sends the prices through the roof. And with all the money you will make by investing in cannabis now, paying between $4 and $6 to make a trade isn’t a big deal when you’re pulling in triple-digit winners. Who cares if you have to pay $4 to make a trade if you turned $100 into $1,000?! Myth No. 4: All the Money Has Been Made I’m always asked if it’s too late to invest in cannabis stocks since it’s fully legal in Canada and full legalization in the U.S. is imminent. The answer is no! Of course, it’s true that people have made a lot of money over the last year. My colleague Don Yocham, the executive director of NICI, first told those in our NICI Membership research service to invest in Jushi Holdings Inc. (OTC: JUSHF) back in July 2020. Since then, the stock price has climbed over 300%. Columbia Care ($28 PT) has made our members a 130% return, and Cresco Labs has made current members a 100% ($60 PT) return. The thing is... this is just the start. Because Don predicts over the next 12 to 18 months that: • Jushi’s stock price could climb from $7 to $41. • Columbia Care’s stock could climb from $6 to $28. • And Cresco Labs’ stock could skyrocket from $16 to $60. 13
INVESTOR’S REPORT Those could even be too conservative of estimates, as full legalization is going to create a buying frenzy and send stock prices through the roof. The biggest gains are still ahead. But you can’t keep sitting on the sidelines because full legalization is almost here. Myth No. 5: Cannabis Is Illegal and Immoral to Invest In People of a certain age can have a negative perception of cannabis and connect those who use cannabis with unflattering stereotypes. From the 1936 film Reefer Madness that suggests cannabis use will turn young people into criminals to antimarijuana commercials in the 1980s and 1990s that show teens consuming cannabis and then proceeding to play around with a gun and accidently shooting themselves, cannabis users have not been portrayed in the most flattering light. Even when the tone is more comical, cannabis users are still often portrayed as lazy stoners who just eat pizza and watch TV all day. However, that perception is starting to change because the reality is that people from all walks of life use cannabis. From soccer moms who take CBD to wind down at the end of the day to seniors eating THC-infused brownies to help with their arthritis, cannabis users are our friends, family, and coworkers. Even our presidents have smoked cannabis, from George W. Bush to John F. Kennedy using it for back problems. So if you’re investing in cannabis, you’re not turning the youth into zombies. Or funding drug wars. Or being a bad person. 14
INVESTOR’S REPORT You’re investing in companies that help the elderly deal with crippling arthritis. You’re investing in companies that help cancer patients deal with nausea after chemotherapy. You’re investing in companies that help stressed-out people get a good night’s sleep. The perceptions of cannabis are changing. And if anyone wants to tell you you’re a bad person for buying a cannabis stock, they are wrong. By this point, I hope I’ve been able to break down some of the myths and misconceptions you may have had about investing in cannabis. Because I do truly believe that this is a moment in history where you have the drop on everyone else to make life-changing wealth. So I wanted to provide you with three cannabis investments to make in 2021 to help you get off the sidelines and start making some money. The Three Best Cannabis Investments to Make in 2021 No. 1: Pure US Cannabis ETF Founded: 2020 Portfolio Manager: Dan Ahrens Stock Ticker: MSOS Website: Advisorshares.com/etfs/msos/ The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq do not list U.S. companies that sell marijuana on their exchanges because cannabis is illegal to grow, sell, and buy under federal law. The exchanges don’t want to run the risk of giving a federally illegal business a platform to raise money. 15
INVESTOR’S REPORT That means marijuana ETFs are filled with Canadian companies, medical companies with loose ties to the cannabis industry, or pick-and-shovel plays. But with the launch of the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (NYSEArca: MSOS), a massive change is taking place. The holdings in MSOS are filled with U.S. companies that sell cannabis across multiple states. And they aren’t just filled with any old companies. Some of these are the cream of the crop… • Cresco Labs Inc. (OTC: CRLBF) • Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (OTC: CURLF) • Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (OTC: TCNNF) • Green Thumb Industries Inc. (OTC: GTBIF) • AYR Strategies Inc. (OTC: AYRSF) • Jushi Holdings Inc. (OTC: JUSHF) • Columbia Care Inc. (OTC: CCHWF) • Vireo Health International Inc. (OTC: VREOF) • Akerna Corp. (Nasdaq: KERN) It’s also important to note that the companies listed above aren’t just selling cannabis in one or two dispensaries. They already have significant operations set up and are expanding. Trulieve has 63 dispensaries in Florida and is setting up operations in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Columbia Care is currently selling or has plans to sell marijuana in 13 states, ranging from Arizona to New Jersey, and Green Thumb Industries has licenses for 96 retail locations spread out across 12 states. 16
INVESTOR’S REPORT With those picks mentioned earlier making up the bulk of the holdings in MSOS, it’s a good way for anyone to get started with cannabis investing. Of course, we also want to help you make even bigger returns by buying individual cannabis stocks. And the two we are about to share are the absolute best to buy in 2021. No. 2: Jushi Holdings Inc. Founded: 2018 CEO: Jim Cacioppo Stock Ticker: JUSHF Website: Jushico.com Executive Director Don Yocham has gotten to know the team at Jushi very well over the last 18 months. The leaders have skin in the game and know how to use the money they’ve raised wisely. When the company was founded in 2018 and raised $220 million, the founders went “all in” on the company’s success by putting in $45 million of their own money. Jushi has also been extremely disciplined with how it invests that money. It sets up operations in states with limited licenses, which gives it a competitive advantage; if you’re one of the only games in town, you get the biggest slice of the pie. For example, Don was in attendance for the grand opening of Jushi’s newest dispensary in Santa Barbara, California. In a city of 90,000 with a median income as high as $87,000, and more than seven million tourists spend close to $2 billion (before COVID-19), there are only three dispensaries allowed to meet these folks’ demand for cannabis. 17
INVESTOR’S REPORT On October 14, 2020, Jushi became one of them. And Jushi is using a strategic approach across multiple states – it’s not opening dispensaries just to open dispensaries. Pennsylvania: • Acquired permits that allow for the maximum 15 medical marijuana dispensaries. This number includes two existing dispensaries in Philadelphia and Bristol. California: • Definitive agreements to acquire three adult-use and medical dispensaries in limited-license jurisdictions. • Acquired an operational adult-use and medical dispensary in San Diego. • Awarded one of two permitted licenses in the city of Malibu. • One of three applicants for a storefront retail permit in Culver City. Virginia: • Acquired membership interests in Dalitso LLC, a pharmaceutical processor of medical cannabis extracts. • One of five applicants to receive conditional approval for a permit to cultivate and process medical cannabis. This also includes the ability to dispense and deliver CBD oil and THCA oil extracts in the northeast region of Virginia. • Developing a cultivation, manufacturing, and retail facility in Prince William County near Manassas. 18
INVESTOR’S REPORT Nevada: • Acquired 100% equity ownership of Franklin Bioscience Nevada, which holds medical and adult-use cannabis cultivation, processing, and distribution licenses. Illinois: • Owner of two medical cannabis dispensaries, with the option reserved to open an additional two. New York: • Awarded industrial hemp-CBD processor license by New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. • Will construct and operate a GMP-certified industrial hemp processing and manufacturing facility in Buffalo with approximately 65,000 square feet. Don believes that Jushi could trade for $41 per share by the end of 2021. No. 3: Curaleaf Holdings Inc. Founded: 2010 CEO: Joseph Lusardi Stock Ticker: CURLF Website: Curaleaf.com Curaleaf has never received as much media attention as more well- known cannabis companies, like Canopy Growth or MedMen. But that’s okay. Curaleaf knows actions speak louder than words – it went from 19
INVESTOR’S REPORT just one little dispensary and turned itself into the biggest cannabis company in the world, based on its anticipated $1 billion in revenue. It has a presence in 23 states, has 22 cultivation sites, and owns and operates 95 dispensaries. Similar to Jushi, it takes a strategic approach and launches dispensaries in areas of the country that are highly populated but where only a limited number of companies can sell cannabis. It currently has or will have dispensaries in: • Arizona • New Jersey • Connecticut • New York • Florida • North Dakota • Maine • Oregon • Maryland • Pennsylvania • Massachusetts • Utah • Nevada • Vermont In a state like New Jersey, which was a medical-only state before November 3, 2020, Curaleaf has a distinct advantage; it already has operations set up and has a built-in clientele. Of the $53 million in medical sales in New Jersey in 2019, Curaleaf accounted for $11 million, which is 20% of all sales. With New Jersey residents voting to legalize recreational sales on Election Day, if Curaleaf can capture 20% of the expected $1 billion recreational market in the Garden State, that’s $200 million. Also, Arizona voters said “yes” to recreational sales in their state, where Curaleaf already has eight dispensaries up and running. 20
INVESTOR’S REPORT For other states like Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania, selling recreational cannabis is only a question of “when” and not “if,” so they all offer another massive windfall for Curaleaf in the next few years. We interviewed the CEOs of both Jushi and Curaleaf and shared those interviews with our members in 2020. We will continue to be in contact with both of them and share any one-on-one video meetings exclusively with the members of the National Institute for Cannabis Investors so you can hear from them directly. You won’t have to read quotes from them in press releases to find out how they are going to make shares you own in their companies more valuable. Conclusion As a quick recap, to make the biggest returns, these are the three metrics to follow: • It must be a U.S. company. • It must directly sell cannabis. • It must operate in multiple states. For 2021, we recommend you invest in AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (NYSEArca: MSOS), Jushi Holdngs Inc. (OTC: JUSHF), and Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (OTC: CURLF). We’re very excited about the huge momentum that is happening in cannabis right now, and we want to congratulate you for starting your cannabis investing journey! 21
INVESTOR’S REPORT If you want to learn more and stay up to date on our insight and research, we suggest visiting and bookmarking Nicinvestors.com. To your success, Danny Brody Partner, RADD Capital 22
PLEASE NOTE From time to time, the National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC will recommend stocks or other investments that will not be included in our regular portfolios. There are certain situations where we feel a company may be an extraordinary value but may not necessarily fit within the selection guidelines of these existing portfolios. In these cases, the recommendations are speculative and should not be considered as part of the National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC philosophy. Also, by the time you receive this report, there is a chance that we may have exited a recommendation previously included in our portfolio. Occasionally, this happens because we use a disciplined selling strategy with our investments, meaning that if a company’s share price falls below a certain price level, we immediately notify our subscribers to sell the stock. NOTE: National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC is not a broker, dealer or licensed investment advisor. No person listed here should be considered as permitted to engage in rendering personalized investment, legal or other professional advice as an agent of National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC. National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC does not receive any compensation for these services. Additionally, any individual services rendered to subscribers by those mentioned are considered completely separate from and outside the scope of services offered by National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC. Therefore if you choose to contact anyone listed here, such contact, as well as any resulting relationship, is strictly between you and them. Copyright 2007-Present National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC 1125 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 Phone: 866.260.0361 All rights reserved. National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC provides its members with unique opportunities to build and protect wealth, globally, under all market conditions. The executive staff, research department and editors who contribute to National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC recommendations are proud of our history and reputation. We believe the advice presented to our subscribers in our published resources and at our meetings and seminars is the best and most useful available to global investors today. The recommendations and analysis presented to members is for the exclusive use of members. Copying or disseminating any information published by National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC, electronic or otherwise, is strictly prohibited. Members should be aware that investment markets have inherent risks and there can be no guarantee of future profits. Likewise, past performance does not assure future results. Recommendations are subject to change at any time, so members are encouraged to make regular use of the website a nd pay special attention to National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC updates sent out via e-mail. The publishers, editors, employees or agents are not responsible for errors and/or omissions. PRIVACY NOTICE You and your family are entitled to review and act on any recommendations made in this document. All National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC publications are protected by copyright. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means (including facsimile) or placed on any electronic medium without written permission from the publisher. Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC expressly forbids its writers from having a financial interest in any security recommended to its readers. All National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC employees and agents must wait 24 hours after an Internet publication and 72 hours after a print publication is mailed prior to following an initial recommendation. National Institute for Cannabis Investors, LLC does not act as a personal investment advisor, nor does it advocate the purchase or sale of any security or investment for any specific individual. Investments recommended in this publication should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor, and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company. NICI-0421-1970 WEB
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