Of the millions of storylines emerging from Wednesday evening's vice-presidential debate, one certainly made cannabis investors and executives happier: Sen. Kamala Harris said — to an audience of millions — that a Biden-Harris administration would federally decriminalize cannabis and expunge prior convictions.
"We will decriminalize marijuana, and we will expunge the records of those who have been convicted of marijuana," Harris said during her debate with Vice President Mike Pence. Her remarks came during a segment of the debate focused on criminal-justice reform.
While it's not clear how a Biden administration's decriminalization plan would work, it was a bold promise and one that could energize young voters.
It also energized a number of US cannabis stocks, known as multistate operators, including Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries, and Harvest Health & Recreation.
Curaleaf, the biggest US cannabis company by market cap, jumped nearly 9% on Thursday morning. The Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries gained over 6%, and Harvest Health & Recreation rose over 10%.
On top of that, Cresco Labs gained over 5%, and the Florida-based Trulieve jumped more than 3% by midday Thursday.
The AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF (MSOS), an exchange-traded fund that tracks a basket of US multistate operators, is up 3.5%. The ETF is the first focused solely on US cannabis companies.
Even Canadian cannabis giants like Canopy Growth, Tilray, and Aurora Cannabis got a bump. Canopy Growth, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is trading up over 8%, Tilray is up over 7%, and the embattled Aurora Cannabis is up nearly 6%. But the biggest winner of the bunch so far is Aphria — it's trading up over 10%.
The recent gains are welcome for the cannabis sector, which has contended with a capital crunch, mass layoffs, and dwindling value over the past year.
Cannabis is legal for adults over the age of 21 in 11 US states and medically legal in 33. Four states are voting on whether to legalize cannabis outright: Arizona, New Jersey, South Dakota, and Montana. Mississippians will vote on whether to legalize medical cannabis.
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