Pixabay / geralt / CC0 Creative Commons
Investors are betting Canada’s smaller financial firms could see a jump in revenues after they helped fund marijuana companies ahead of the country’s planned legalization of the drug this year.
Equity offerings by Canadian weed companies tripled to a record high of nearly $1 billion in 2017, with nearly two-thirds of that in the final quarter, data from Thomson Reuters showed.
Much of the issuance for pot producers has been led by small independent brokers, such as Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has been on a mission to ensure state-legal cannabis businesses have commercial insurance coverage and with his announcement of the first California cannabis surety bond program on Feb. 21, 2018, he continues to make progress.
More strife is on the horizon for Ohio’s troubled medical cannabis program. On Feb. 20, 2018, a group of unsuccessful medical cannabis applicants, led by Jimmy Gould of CannAscend Ohio LLC, filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s medical cannabis licensing process.
While the province of Newfoundland and Labrador has its key policies in place for recreational legalization and has secured a supply agreement with Canopy Growth Corporation (TSX:WEED) to provide cannabis for the province, it is now ready to hear from prospective cannabis retailers.
