Bitcoin or Cannabis Right Now? Debra Borchardt of the Green Market Report Talks Investments
The Green Market Report With Debra Borchardt - From CNBC to Cannabis Business News from CannabisNet on Vimeo.
Curt: Good afternoon or good morning everybody around the world special guest today on Cannabis.net, Debra Borchardt of the GreenMarketReport.com . We are here in Las Vegas at the MJ business show and without giving away any fun stuff that's going on here it is by far the biggest cannabis show of the year worldwide. We have definitely a worldwide attendance. But this special lady in front of me has a great new Web site that you all need to check out. And I'm going to let Debra tell you she may look familiar to you. She is obviously a contributor on CNBC at Forbes.com and a variety of financial magazines and Web sites including Seeking Alpha. So welcome to Cannabis.net !
Debra: Thanks for having me.
Curt: So tell us first what got you interested in doing cannabis coverage coming from the financial world.
Debra: I was doing financial reporting at the Street.com. And while I was there I saw, you know, this was was probably 2012/13 in that area for about five years ago. And what I saw happening was that marijuana stocks were just going through the roof. And I thought well that's kind of interesting. And so I started looking at these stocks. And I found that a lot of them were a little shady a little dodgy looks sketchy and that got me really interested because I felt that as a financial reporter. I wanted to expose some of these bad players so that investors wouldn't get sucked into them. And I thought that was really important. There's a lot of sponsor content out in the market and some of that sponsor content. It doesn't give investors all the right information. And so sometimes the investors get caught off guard because they read the story.
Debra: They don't know that it was sponsored. And I think that's a great company. And so for me as a financial reporter that's what got me really involved in it. And from then on I've just stayed with it.
Curt: So coming from the financial side will say Wall Street, what is the general feeling. You know it's the end of 2017. Cannabis legislation, investment not only in Canada, but what does Wall Street and finance think of investment now in the U.S. with Trump and Sessions, where is where is Wall Street on this.
Debra: Well, when Trump was elected, and Jeff Sessions was named the attorney general most of the investment dollars started to dry up and. Pulled away. So before that when everyone thought that Hillary Clinton was going to be elected the money was just flowing in. When it looked like things might be cracked down. The money started to pull back. Well I think here we are a year later. Jeff Sessions has not done anything there's been no action from the DOJ. And in fact just this week when he was asked about marijuana from Representative Cohen from Tennessee of sessions kind of seemed like he was backing off a little bit from his hard stance. So I think now you're going to see even more investment money coming in. We've heard about two very large profile funds that have been established one for$250 dollars another one for one hundred 250 million dollars. The 250 is from Mad Men and the 150 is from society. So you are starting to see this return of investment money now.
Debra: Institutional players are not going to get involved until the federal legal stance is changed. And I think. You'll see that. Continue the big money the big institutional money maybe some of the family office money is not going to come in until it's legalized.
Curt: When do you personally think you'll see a federal shift change?
Debra: You know I would think we want to see anything like that 2020/2021. I think with the new administration whatever new administration comes in in 2020 I think that's when. You ideally have the best chance. There have been so many pieces of legislation put out into Congress that have. Been referred to committee and then it just sits there and dies. And I think that that we're just going to continue to see this. The co-sponsors are adding up. So you're getting more and more legislators. On board for this. But that's really. I don't think that they're comfortable enough in making such a dramatic move.
Curt: Allright Michael Britt would like to know do you think it's going to be otc markets only or is that the current options. You know obviously Canadian and although there are. OK go ahead. What about will there be OTC U.S. markets only
Debra: That's a great question and there are a handful of stocks that are traded on a NYSE and on Nasdaq. What you're seeing on Nasdaq is biotech firms like GW Pharmaceuticals, Insists Therapeutics which is we know kind of blew up. But. That's where the Nasdaq is felt comfortable on the nice. We've got innovative industrial properties which is real. Now those guys were already familiar with the nice people. So I think that's why. They let them in. And there are a couple of other stocks that have kind of come in through the back. Door. I see. But I feel that the people at the New York Stock Exchange don't want those firms. And I feel like they're trying to push them out. Now. We're seeing this happen with Nasdaq. And the High Times deal. They have rejected them twice. The company has appealed twice. Right now they're on appeal to stay listed at the Nasdaq. But those two exchanges again collide the banks until it's truly legal. They're just not very comfortable with it.
Curt: Let's just say with your financial background, five years from now, would you rather put a hundred dollars into Bitcoin or a hundred dollars into a good cannabis company?
Debra: Oh that, ...Cannabis company. By far I think. I may. I'm not convinced on Bitcoin. I've never been convinced on it. I just don't think it's a good idea.
Curt: OK what's the plan for the website. Create content, reporters kind of like CNBC, Forbes focusing on green LEDs in cannabis green energy or other plants.
Debra: So, GreenMarketReport.com just launched in September and we're focusing on financial news in the cannabis industry. And the reason why we found it was because I felt that the financial news that I was seeing in the cannabis industry wasn't the financial news that I personally wanted to read. I felt it was either blogging or it was someone trying to sell stock tips and it wasn't just straight up news reporting and I felt. That. There was a need for that. I think that here at home, is I think they do a great comprehensive. Coverage. If there's a headline out there they're going to do it. But what we'd like to do is take those stories that we feel more important to the cannabis industry and go a little deeper into them. We have been breaking news. We've gotten several exclusives.
Debra: We hope to do is expand in 2018. Bring on some staff writers as opposed to just contributors and search to do events that it will be focused on the financial aspect. And then longer term down the road. You'll start to see where we're going to do companies summary reports that we can sell as a subscription. And then we'll also start to expand into sustainable reporting and some Greenmarket will not only be just the green of cannabis but green of what is sustainable for our planet and do is more coverage from
Curt: Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times… Help you hinder you? Competition or is it good for the entire world to start reading reputable sources and kind of taking that stigma away from you know the word marijuana even.
Debra: Right. So I did write for Forbes for quite some time. And I think that that’s what everyone loved to see was that you know mainstream media was covering cannabis. But what I found was. The mainstream media coverage is that they tended to not take the industry seriously and as a result would assign those stories to cover reporters or random reporters who write that kind of a story this week and you write it next week. So there hasn't been a consistency in the reporting. And then they always seem to keep it at a very 50,000 foot level reporting and not really going into the details. My audience at the GreenMarketReport.com is an audience that knows the cannabis industry. And so I don't have to constantly keep explaining to them about the industry. I'm assuming they already have this information. So that's where I see it.
Curt: We have a few people asking for the website, it’s GreenMarketReport.com
Debra: That's right. As the GreenMarketReport.com, we broke news this week about the California Federal Reserve Bank taking money from cannabis companies, hard cash.. That was a huge, huge story. Because the Federal Reserve Bank has been very resistant to taking in cannabis cash. And in fact have you. Had lawsuits with credit unions in Colorado saying they didn't want to open a master account for them. They're now doing it in California it was on a pilot project that's been going on secretly for about three months and this is huge because now it's taking cannabis money and putting it into our monetary system so it's a really big deal.
Curt: Do you feel that, as well, as the recent money the NIAA I think gave the University of Florida for AIDS research and cannabis, are having federal offices giving research money to quote a new plant with no medical value according and schedule 1 classification, is the dam breaking? Is this kind of a watershed six months? I think it's very interesting that you bring that up because I do feel that that we are seeing some chinks in the heart among.
Debra: I think it's very interesting that you bring that up because I do feel that that we are seeing some chinks in the armor. Some cracks in the wall. And I say that because Organa brands also just did a new PSA in an airport in California where they were buying the trays with a PSA message a public service announcement like don't take the cannabis back with you kind of thing. But the TSA had to approve that. And so it's a. You know. That's kind of a government agency that's saying OK this is OK that we're going to let these cannabis people advertise in an airport. So I think you are starting to see that some of these government agencies are becoming more accepting of cannabis customers.
Curt: And what niches, with your background, that you see in any part or my will say particular companies, but what niches would you invest in the cannabis industry at this time?
Debra: I think that the AG tech has been where people are at and focused. Really focused because before it was all about cultivation and the idea of going to set up a warehouse and I'm going to go plant about (a thumbs up or somepeople like that answer a lot of thumbs up!) and tell them. But what we're seeing is the wholesale prices are dropped dramatically. So while you're seeing a retail price. I don't know. Eleven hundred dollars for a pound. The guys are going to these farms and buying up acres for $300 a pound. So that's a really. Low price $300 to $500 a pound. So the thing is the growers have to be able to get better yield better efficiencies. More out of those plants if they're going to get a lower price. That also means the warehouse has to be cheaper. The lights have to be cheaper the water has to be cheaper the electrical has to be cheaper it's all got to get cheaper. And the only way they can get these costs down and get cheaper is to act. And that's why I think that that's really going to be the focus.
Curt: What about the website coverage on hemp. I just read something on hemp earlier this week.
Debra: You know, I think that hemp is going to be a huge market. I think though that that is a road that's got a lot of potholes on it right now. One of the problems that we have with hemp is that even though we have the farm bill that said you can grow and sell it. The state must approve it. So, it's been really difficult for the farmers to increase their reach of hemp. The Canadians are way ahead of us. And the Chinese are way ahead of us. So those two countries are supplying most of the hemp to America. American farmers have a long way to go to catch up because they're behind. There hasn't been the innovation that we would have liked to have seen them growing. And I think that's definitely a problem. I think that when we get past that get some more innovation. It will help the hemp plant. I mean processing this plant is a real difficult thing. What makes it a wonderful plant that fiber that strength it's also what makes it really hard to process. Is we need innovation there. And. I do believe once we get those past those things it will be a huge market but I don't think it's going to happen it's not what a lot of people thought.
Curt: We have a few people that would like to write for you, if someone wanted to get in touch with you what's the best way that people could get in touch with you or message you?
Debra: I would absolutely love that. So, if you go to our Web site you'll see a box to contact us. Go to w w w Greenmarket report dot com. Go to that contact us. Send me some of your information I'm happy to talk to him. Always looking for new voices and I'm willing to work with people that maybe aren't super seasoned journalists but if you've got a good voice. That's what I like.
Curt: Gotcha. And I have to ask you say ask, what are your favorite strains out there. What do you enjoy?
Debra: Oh, that I don't think I could even say, OK, well what will what will go away. You know I wouldn't want to favor one company over another. OK.
Curt: Fair enough, fair enough. And you also have a lot of experience on CNBC and our people may know Jim Cramer. What does Jim Cramer think of weed?
Debra: You know when Jim looks at the stocks he will look at something like a GW Pharmaceuticals and I think that's the only one that he has mentioned that he is somewhat willing to discuss. You know when Jim talks about the stock market so he's has to be very careful with the stocks he chooses. They have to have liquidity. They have to be able to withstand a market move. And that's the thing now. You know Jim has a trust that he invests. And so he's very very careful before he speaks about any stocks because he does move markets.
Curt: All right. Well I can't start that appreciates it. I don't want to take up all your time. Everybody go check out Debra's Web site if you're interested in writing or contributing she'd love to hear from you. And thank you for your time. Thank you.
(Visit Debra at the Green Market Report, Click Here!)
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