'The market's ripping right now': Cannabis investors react to a head-spinning 24 hours in Washington

pulse

November 8, 2018 3:21 PM

It's been a head-spinning 24 hours in the news cycle, particularly for investors in the scorching-hot cannabis sector.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions pauses before speaking at the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) at the International Finance Corporation in Washington, Monday, Dec. 4, 2017, about anti-corruption efforts of the Trump administration and other topics.

head-spinning
cannabis sector
is the first time I see the light at the end of the tunnel," a cannabis CEO told Business Insider.

It's been a head-spinning 24 hours in the news cycle, particularly for investors in the scorching-hot, but often volatile, cannabis sector.

In the last day or so, Michigan became the first state in the Midwest to legalize marijuana. Bright-red Utah and Missouri voted on legalizing marijuana. And two of the most anti-marijuana politicians in Washington, Rep. Pete Sessions, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, were kicked to the curb.

On top of all that, Canadian marijuana producer Tilray's stock gained over 30% immediately after Sessions announced he was stepping down on Wednesday, which boosted the entire North American Marijuana Index by over 15%.

"The market's ripping right now," said Morgan Paxhia, a managing partner at the San Francisco-based Poseidon Asset Management.

What that shows, Paxhia said, is "

All this has led the many cannabis bulls to predict that there will be some federal movement on marijuana legalization — or at least to allow cannabis companies to access regular banking services — in the near future.

null BusinessInsider

Paul Rosen, the CEO of Tidal Royalty, a Toronto-based firm that provides financing to US cannabis firms, said pending legislation like the bipartisan STATES Act — co-sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Gardner — is the most likely path for the federal government to clarify its position on the current patchwork of state-legal cannabis industries.

If passed, the STATES Act would exempt states that have legalized marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, effectively removing the ongoing conflict between state and federal law. The Act would also clarify rules around banking and tax deductions, allowing cannabis to operate like any other industry.

And this, said Brady Cobb, an attorney and the CEO of