Cannabis stocks are on a high after Donald Trump shared a video on Sunday promoting cannabis use for seniors and Medicaid coverage of CBD products.
The nearly three-minute-long video, posted on the president’s Truth Social platform, touts the usage of hemp-derived CBD as a “gamechanger” that is a pain and stress reliever for seniors.
Stocks for cannabis companies, including Canopy Growth, Tilray and Cronos Group jumped Monday when stocks opened for the week. MSOS, an AdvisorShares Cannabis exchange-traded fund (ETF), also soared on Monday, after Trump posted the video.
The video was produced by the Commonwealth Project, a group promoting cannabis use for senior healthcare, and praised Trump for his 2018 farm bill that legalized industrial hemp.
“Now it’s time to educate doctors … provide Medicare coverage for CBD and give millions of seniors the support they deserve,” the video said.
The cannabis industry has long hoped the White House would take further steps to decriminalize cannabis at a federal level.
Under Joe Biden’s administration, the Department of Health and Human Services requested that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reclassify cannabis as a lower-risk substance. Marijuana is now classified as a Schedule I drug in accordance with the Controlled Substances Act, which means it has no accepted medical use and has a high risk for abuse.
But the Trump administration had been silent about decriminalizing marijuana until August, when Trump told reporters that his administration is “looking at reclassification and we’ll make a determination over the next few weeks”.
“I’ve heard great things have to do with medical, and I’ve heard bad things having to do with just about everything else,” Trump said. “It’s a very complicated subject.”
Currently, 40 states allow the use of medical cannabis products, and 24 states allow non-medical cannabis use.
Tilray led a rally by industry stocks in New York on Monday, surging by more than 40% in the wake of Trump’s video.
Advocates for cannabis for medical use say legalizing marijuana at a federal level will allow for better investment into research and broaden access.
“While the DEA plans to reschedule cannabis, today it is still a Schedule I drug – a controlled Substances Act classification for the most dangerous drugs such as heroin and LSD,” the Commonwealth Project says on its website. “As a result, studying cannabis is challenging and not integrated into comprehensive medical care, depriving millions of Americans aged 65 and older of potential life-changing alternative therapies for medical ailments.”
But it’s unclear where Terrance Cole, Trump’s DEA administrator, stands on reclassifying cannabis. Advocates pointed out that upon Cole’s appointment in July, he did not mention cannabis reclassification among his priorities, instead focusing on cracking down on fentanyl.
