It’s been twenty-two days since election night (as of this writing). There have been recounts, there have been lawsuits, there have been protests and celebrations and still Donald Trump has refused to concede — despite having been shut down and defeated at every turn.
Only yesterday on November 24th did the Trump administration start a formal transition of power to President Elect Joe Biden — though Trump himself has yet to concede or even mention the word “loss.”
However, even though there still seems to be some form of delusion or denial from the president, that formal kickoff of the transition sparked an explosion of cannabis stocks on Tuesday. The future of cannabis under a Biden administration looks a lot more hopeful than it did under Trump’s.
Not only do things seem brighter for the cannabis industry under Biden, but the green wave is growing faster by the election cycle. This month, Arizona, Montana, Jew Jersey, and South Dakota all legalized recreational cannabis; and Mississippi legalized it medically. On top of that, Mexico just nationally legalized cannabis, making the United States the only country in North America that’s still fighting a drug war on pot.
Needless to say, investors are salivating over the cannabis industry right now, as indicated by Tuesday's explosion: Aurora Cannabis Inc. soared by 29.5%; Tilray Inc. boosted 19.2%; Canopy Growth Corp. soared by 7.6% and Cronos Group Inc. by 10.4%.
And the largest cannabis ETF, Etfmg Alternative Harvest ETF has climbed 26.5% just this month.
Graphic courtesy of Market Watch.
That’s all despite the fact that Joe Biden never promised cannabis legalization on the campaign trail; despite the fact he was one of the main authors of the 1994 crime bill which enabled the mass-incarceration of non-violent drug offenders; despite the fact that his running mate is a former district attorney who put thousands of non-violent cannabis offenders in prison (most of whom are still rotting behind bars), and who calls herself the “Top Cop.”
Despite all that, cannabis stocks are blooming. And that’s largely because the factors that will define the cannabis sector over the next four years, go well beyond the Resolute Desk — they depend on States, people, businesses and (unfortunately) the also depend heavily on congress. While the democrats still maintain control of the House, Republicans have a majority in the Senate — and there likely won’t be much progress in the way of de-scheduling cannabis (if any) under Mitch McConnell’s glassy watch.
Even with Biden’s victory, the odds are still stacked against this industry. The fight isn’t over, yet. But many people — investors, businessmen, and entrepreneurs — feel as though the levy is slowly breaking.
And the leap these cannabis stocks made this week, is an indication of that hope.
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