Last week’s news that the US could potentially reschedule cannabis from to Schedule III has seen global cannabis stocks skyrocket. According to New Cannabis Ventures’ Global Cannabis Stock Index, which tracks the overall publicly-traded market for the medical and legal cannabis sector, cannabis stocks up over 20% following the news.
This has helped the index jump 19.1% in Q3, however over the year-to-date global cannabis stocks are still down 8%, and around 90% since their peaks in February 2021.
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New Cannabis Ventures’ Alan Brochstein explained that while the news was not a total surprise given President Biden’s commitments made earlier this year, it could mean the elimination of 280E taxation.
This ‘onerous’ taxation has long been recognised as a major sticking point for cannabis companies, requiring them to pay much higher taxes than normal income tax.
However, he warns that this is not yet set in stone, and the DEA could yet decide to move cannabis to Schedule II, and could take a long time to implement.
Furthermore, concerns have been raised that by moving cannabis to a less risky Schedule III, the FDA could step up its regulatory role, putting current operators at ‘great risk’.
