Cannabis Market Rallies on Harris Nomination Speculation
Kamala Harris Presidential Prospects Boost US Cannabis Stocks.
The prospect of a Kamala Harris presidential nomination has helped boost the price of US cannabis stocks, as investors seem optimistic that the Vice President will carry the torch lit by Joe Biden.
Following Biden’s long-speculated announcement that he will not be seeking reelection in November, Harris appears to be the most likely candidate to secure the Democratic nomination.
Despite a mixed record on cannabis reform, investors seem to be confident that the current administration’s commitment to reschedule and decriminalise cannabis in the US would be in safe hands under a Harris-led White House.
According to New Cannabis Ventures’ ‘American Cannabis Operator Index’, which tracks the country’s largest cannabis firms, 11 of the 13 tracked firms have seen a boost in stock price since the weekend, with the other two remaining flat.
Since the announcement on Sunday, the index has risen to its highest point since late June, with TerrAscend Corp, Ayr Wellness and Jushi Holdings rising by 11.7%, 7.3% and 7.3% respectively.
Elsewhere, the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF was up by 7% in early trading yesterday.
During her time as California’s Attorney General and San Francisco’s District Attorney, Harris aggressively prosecuted cannabis-related crimes, often garnering criticism due to the racial disparities in cannabis related arrests.
Then, despite initially being opposed to legalization, she began advocating for decriminalization during her tenure as a US Senator, going on to introduce legislation to decriminalize and tax cannabis federally.
Since her tenure as Vice President, she has championed the Biden administration’s pardons for federal cannabis possession and has supported reclassifying cannabis as a less dangerous and addictive drug.
In a benchmark poll conducted from March 25 to April 03, NuggMD found that cannabis consumers would vote for a pro-cannabis candidate regardless of their party affiliations, and that pro-cannabis policy can reliably motivate them to turn out and vote.
Andrew Graham, head of communications at NuggMD, explained: “Our analysis of this polling data suggests that nearly 6.8m undecided voters are ready to make their voting decision based on cannabis policy, including more than 2.5m in the battleground states.
“The polling suggests that swapping out President Biden for Vice President Harris at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket would produce a net gain for Democrats among the voting bloc we polled, assuming the campaign continues to endorse pro-cannabis policies that Republicans do not.
“This includes expected net gains in eight crucial battleground states, seven of which Democrats won in 2020. It also suggests that Florida, which has adult-use cannabis on the ballot in November, is now more likely to be in play for Democrats because of how the cannabis voting bloc would react to the change in the ticket.”
