This is about the marijuana industry in the United States. The special substance will be legal where I live on January 1, 2020. Thanks goodness I moved back to Illinois from Idiot Florida.

Cannabis Watch

Cannabis stocks snap six-day losing streak on hopes for bill that would end federal ban

Published: Nov 19, 2019

Cannabis stocks rose Tuesday and were on track to end a six-day losing streak, buoyed by news that a congressional committee is advancing a bill that would lift the federal ban on cannabis and overturn past convictions.

The House Judiciary Committee is planning a markup on Wednesday on the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (More Act), according to Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat.

Nadler, along with Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon and additional members of Congress, are holding a press conference on Tuesday to highlight the legislation.

“Our marijuana laws disproportionately harm individuals and communities of color, leading to convictions that damage job prospects, access to housing, and the ability to vote.” Nadler said in a statement. “Recognizing this, many states have legalized marijuana. It’s now time for us to remove the criminal prohibitions against marijuana at the federal level.”

The news “is a positive for the industry and investors are likely baking some of that into stocks,” said Craig Behnke, equity analyst at Marijuana Business Daily (MBD).

It’s far from certain that the bill would be taken up by the Senate, however. The Senate has for now failed to take up a bill passed by the House that would protect banks that serve the cannabis industry in those states that have legalized. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader of the Republican-controlled Senate, is a longtime opponent of cannabis legalization, although he did meet with cannabis executives on a recent trip to California and heard pitches for banking reform.