Curaleaf expands into the European market with the acquisition of Emmac Life Sciences

With cannabis legalization potentially coming to the US, investors won’t have to hide those sandwiches anymore. But one US company is looking beyond the US to take on the next big cannabis market — Europe.

• On Mar. 9, Curaleaf agreed to buy one of Europe’s largest cannabis operators, Emmac Life Sciences — sending Curaleaf’s stock up over 12%

Cannabis legalization: US vs Europe

• US — certain states have legalized recreational use (i.e. California) but the drug is still illegal on a federal level
• Europe — recreational use is illegal in most countries but medicinal use is allowed in certain ones (i.e. UK, Germany)

The similarity — both are moving towards legalization. One cannabis CEO expects 5-6 European countries to legalize cannabis in 2 years — with France, Switzerland and Netherlands already making progress.

Despite Europe’s larger population, the US is still further ahead in regulations and is expected to make up 70% of global cannabis sales by 2025.

Where the US investors at?

Curaleaf, a US-based cannabis operator, is the largest cannabis operator in the world by sales. From growing cannabis to operating retail locations and wholesaling — Curaleaf does it all. In 2020, Curaleaf nearly tripled its sales from the previous year.

But not all investors have access to Curaleaf and other major US cannabis stocks:

• US pot stocks aren’t allowed to trade on major US stock exchanges (i.e. NASDAQ, NYSE) but are allowed to trade on smaller Canadian exchanges
• Canadian pot stocks are allowed to list on both the US/Canadian market

As a result, Canadian companies like Canopy Growth ($CGC) and Tilray ($TLRY) have become more well known amongst retail investors.

The workaround: US investors can purchase US cannabis companies on the over-the-counter market which are unavailable to certain apps like Robinhood.

Looking further ahead: The SAFE Banking Act, a bill introduced in 2017 that could allow US cannabis companies to list on US stock exchanges — might finally have a chance of passing with Biden.

For investors… Cure your PTSD…

… with Cannabis. Anyone that’s lived through 2018 — where many cannabis stocks crashed and lost over 90% of their value — knows how scary it can be investing in cannabis. In the early days of legalization, Cannabis companies overproduced supply, overspent on marketing and overleveraged with debt and many went under.

Today, cannabis operators are a lot stronger this time than they were 2 years ago — and here are more resources to understand the industry:

• Cannabis stocks are lit — and legalization could bring the industry higher
• Aphria and Tilray announces merger — to challenge the largest US cannabis operators