
Monday morning saw a burst of excitement in Canada's marijuana market after news that the Canadian government will release plans to legalize the recreational sale of cannabis by July of 2018.
Apparently, Trudeau's government will be introducing legislation the week of April 10th to fully legalize marijuana by the beginning of July 2018. When asked for a comment on the timelines above, David Taylor, a spokesman for Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, declined to comment. Although he did back up the pledge from the government to unveil the proposed new law by spring.
Canopy Growth Corp. shares (the first Canadian company with a market value of $1 billion CAD) saw a rise of 11% intraday in Toronto. This is the largest jump in stock price since November of last year.
Aurora Cannabis Inc. also saw an 11% jump in share prices. Other well known Canadian cannabis companies have seen gains correlating with the news as well. Aphria Inc. was up 6.5%, and OrganiGram Holdings Inc. saw a 10% jump.
The Canadian pot stocks have done particularly well with the investor optimism that recreational sales could reach $6 billion CAD annually by 2021 (according to Canaccord Genunity Group Inc.). This recent news may allow for this to start as early as July 2018.
The Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation issued a report that recommended the Canadian government be the ones in charge of regulating the production of marijuana in December. This would leave provinces in control of the distribution and retail sales.
Now check out the Canadian cannabis companies standing to gain from this.