Legislation
Roll a fatty
Cannabis stocks lit up yesterday on news that the U.S. House of Representatives was preparing to vote on the federal legalization of marijuana next week. A hearing on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act - sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) - will be held on Monday, the final step before consideration on the floor. The bill aims to deschedule cannabis from the list of federally controlled substances and promote social equity in the industry.
Flashback: A previous version of the MORE Act cleared the House floor in December 2020, but it stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate before the end of the legislative cycle. "Hopefully, the next time this unofficial holiday, 4/20, rolls around, our country will have made progress in addressing the massive overcriminalization of marijuana in a meaningful and comprehensive way," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said last year. The nation's war on drugs has "too often been a war on people, particularly people of color."
A total of 37 states and the District of Columbia already permit cannabis products for medical purposes, while 18 states and D.C. have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Legal pot sales in the U.S. are even expected to top $28B in 2022, marking a 20% Y/Y increase, according to cannabis market research firm BDSA.
On the move: Thursday's outsized gains are continuing in the premarket session. Sundial Growers ( SNDL) +20%, Tilray ( TLRY) +17%, Aurora Cannabis ( ACB) +14%, Canopy Growth ( CGC) +12%, HEXO ( HEXO) +11%, Cronos ( CRON) +8%. Note that all of the names are down 80%-90% from their all-time highs seen back in 2018/19. ( 145 comments)
  
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