Employees tend to marijuana plants at the Aurora Cannabis Inc. facility in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.
Jason Franson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Cannabis stocks continued their post-election rally on Friday after American voters in several states approved expanded use of marijuana.
Aurora Cannabis led the way with a furious climb of more than 68% on Friday, bringing the stock’s gain since Election Day to over 115%. Tilray and Canopy Growth surged by roughly 33% and 13%, respectively, on Friday.
Five states legalized some form of marijuana use on Tuesday, including Arizona, New Jersey and Mississippi, according to NBC News. Voters in Oregon also chose to remove jail time as a punishment for small possession of some other drugs, including cocaine.
Traders may also be betting that Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who took the lead in Pennsylvania on Friday even as the presidential election remained uncalled by NBC News, would be more willing to legalize marijuana on a federal level. Biden said during the campaign that he supported decriminalization but did not endorse full legalization.
The spike for pot stocks follows a dramatic decline for much of the year. Even with Friday’s jump, Aurora shares have lost roughly 60% of their value this year.
