It’s hard to ignore the fact that the boom of Canadian stocks as the country prepares for legal recreational cannabis use has been felt on a global scale. In fact, countries around the world are experiencing similarities to that of Canada where some form of legalization seems ready to establish a market and a potential venue for companies–particularly ones in Canada– to go international.
Alan Brochstein, a cannabis financial analyst with 420 Investor told the Investing News Network in an email the companies that have been the most vocal in their international market aspirations make up for the “bigger players.”
Some of these companies, according to Brochstein include Aurora Cannabis (TSXV:ACB; OTCMKTS:ACBFF) Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED) MedReleaf (TSX:LEAF) and Tilray a private Canadian licensed producer (LP), a producer recognized by the country’s health regulatory agency, Health Canada.
Other Canadian companies with international capabilities are Cronos Group (TSXV:MJN), through Peace Naturals, CanniMed Therapeutics (TSX:CMED) and Maricann Group (CSE:MARI). “Germany is the big market,” Brochstein said, adding that while Australia is an interesting option it currently is “very limited.”
“[D]etails aren’t out about the potential program for Mexico, so it’s premature to speculate on the potential of that market,” he said.
As such, here the Investing News Network (INN) takes a look at what countries around the world are taking steps for legalization and that Canadian companies may be able to find themselves fitting in with on a global scale.
United States
The current situation in the US is complicated at best. Overall the drug is technically still illegal in a federal sense, with even the Attorney General Jeff Sessions calling upon the Congress for funding to disrupt the cannabis operations in the country.
“The Department must be in a position to use all laws available to combat the transnational drug organizations and dangerous drug traffickers who threaten American lives,” Sessions wrote in his letter to Congress.
Several states, however, have voted in favor of legalization either in medical, recreational or both. Governors have seen the options from opening the cannabis market in their states and have welcomed it as an option to get rid of illegal drug deals which have caused massive incarceration and most importantly bring in a solid revenue stream through taxation.
During the 2016 presidential election in the US, several more states voted in favour of legalization of some form including Massachusetts, California, Nevada, and Maine.
In a move that seemed like a definite stance against Sessions and the Federal power, the state of California passed a law which protected local users from being targeted from the federal power and prevented local officers from providing any support against such actions.
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