Marijuana News Today: House Set to Vote on Medical Marijuana Reform
Marijuana News Today
The slow but steady stream of U.S. marijuana legalization continues in the marijuana news today, with an upcoming House vote on a major medical cannabis reform bill.
The Medical Cannabis Research Act of 2018 would see a new federal mandate to issue more licenses to grow marijuana to be used for research purposes. The bill is scheduled to land at the House Committee on the Judiciary for a vote this week. (Source: “Marijuana Bill Scheduled For Congressional Vote This Week,” Forbes, September 10, 2018.)
The bill is being sponsored by a variety of congressional members from both sides of the aisle, marking again that marijuana reform is one of the few remaining bipartisan issues in the country.
Among other things, the bill seeks to amend the current state of affairs wherein a single farm at the University of Mississippi is the only legal source of cannabis used in research in the U.S.
Complaints have been levied at the farm, claiming that the cannabis provided is of low quality and difficult to obtain.
In any case, the bill’s passing would be another major victory for marijuana in the U.S. and put the country further along the path toward full legalization.
What This Means for Marijuana Stocks
While the bill’s passing is unlikely to have an immediate effect on marijuana stocks, it does bode well for the future of the drug in the U.S.
As we’ve seen countless times before, medical marijuana acceptance almost universally precedes recreational legalization and reform.
It’s a well-trodden path at this point, and the U.S. is likely to be no different. As the country grows to accept that marijuana can be used for medicinal purposes, the stigma surrounding weed will peel away and marijuana legalization will be that much easier to peddle.
While we’re still years away from full U.S. marijuana legalization, promising signs like legislative reform at the federal level are cementing the fact that marijuana legalization in the U.S. is, at this point, a certainty.
There’s simply too much momentum built up behind cannabis legalization that I don’t see how any politician—no matter how steadfast they are in their anti-drug sentiment—could stop it.
Marijuana companies have long been looking for the U.S. to relax its laws on cannabis, especially at the federal level.
As the U.S. comes closer and closer to marijuana legalization, there will be more opportunities for marijuana companies to gain from the American pot market.
When the U.S. eventually opens up to full legalization, marijuana stocks will likely skyrocket in value.
Tilray Stock
The marijuana news today on the stock market is a mixed bag, with some major marijuana stocks falling while others continue on impressive runs.
One such company that has been seeing another day of massive growth is Tilray Inc (NASDAQ:TLRY).
Up another 11% in early-morning trading, Tilray stock continues to impress. TLRY stock is up 20% over the past week.
Few companies can match Tilray’s success in recent weeks. The first-ever marijuana initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq has proven to be a consistent golden stock ever since it hit the markets in July.
Over the past few weeks, TLRY stock has soared from an IPO price of less than $20.00 to its current price of a few dollars shy of $100.00.
This is an absurd growth rate that marijuana bulls have salivated over.
Some have asked when the other shoe will drop—which is to say, when a correction will hit in order to temper this massive growth.
We’ve yet to see any indication of a correction so far, but there are certainly concerns when a stock shows such massive growth in such a short period of time.
At the same time, no marijuana stock is showing such an impressive boom as Tilray stock, making it very appealing at the moment.
Aurora Cannabis Stock
Another company that is up in the marijuana news today is Aurora Cannabis Inc (OTCMKTS:ACBFF, TSE:ACB), gaining about three percent in early-morning trading.
Aurora scored another massive acquisition, this time of ICC Labs Inc (OTCMKTS:ICCLF, CVE:ICC) in a deal valued at CA$290.0 million.
The latest Aurora Cannabis expansion has a lot of angles to it. Perhaps the most important one for the Aurora Cannabis stock forecast is the company’s South American expansion.
By acquiring ICC Labs, Aurora now has 70% of the legal cannabis market share in Uruguay, the first country in the world to fully legalize marijuana for recreational use (Canada is the first developed economy to do so).
ICC Labs also holds marijuana licenses in Colombia. Therefore, the acquisition establishes a foothold in the South American market for Aurora, from which it can expand into dozens of countries with potentially millions of marijuana consumers.
The Aurora Cannabis-ICC deal is also important because it provides Aurora with a number of advantages over its competitors, including low-cost production and an increase in production capacity. The cost of production of marijuana is, as you can imagine, potentially far lower in South America due to lower labor costs.
Overall, this is a very strong deal that will likely see a boost in Aurora Cannabis stock.
TLRY & ACBFF Stock Performances
On the chart below are the recent performances of the stocks for Tilray Inc (black line) and Aurora Cannabis stock (blue line):
Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com
Analyst Take
The marijuana news today once again showed progress on the U.S. marijuana legalization front.
As the country further edges toward pot acceptance, marijuana companies eagerly await the day they can take full advantage of the largest cannabis market in the world—a moment that is closer on the horizon every day.
