The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSEArca: MJ) is higher by nearly 49% year-to-date, making the only cannabis ETF listed in the U.S. one of this year’s best-performing non-leveraged ETFs.
With another election year looming in 2020 and some states expected to take marijuana initiatives this year, it pays to remember politics is an important element of cannabis investing.
As the rules and regulations around marijuana begin to loosen, with improving sentiment on the recreational usage on the once highly guarded drug, more businesses are starting to dabble and expand the cannabis industry, and investors can also access the growth opportunity through related exchange traded fund strategies.
“Sen. Cory Booker, a Democratic presidential candidate, is reintroducing a bill that would legalize marijuana at the federal level,” reports MarketWatch. “Four of his fellow presidential candidates, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Kamala Harris and Sen. Bernie Sanders are cosponsoring the bill.”
In the U.S., MJ is getting a lift from speculation that more states will legalize marijuana for either recreational or medicinal use and that Congress and the White House could soften their stances on the drug being illegal at the federal level. California, Colorado, Nevada and Washington are among the states with thriving legal cannabis industries.
Political Push for Recreational Marijuana
“Ten states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana, and leaders in New York and New Jersey have signaled their intentions to legalize. Local governments cite the racial disparities in criminal sentences for drug offenders, which tend to disproportionately affect blacks and Hispanics, as well as increased tax revenues as reasons for legalization,” according to CNBC.