00:00 Speaker A

Well cannabis stocks ended 2025 on a high note with the advisor shares Pure US Cannabis ETF outpacing the S&P 500 last year. Things really picked up in December when President Trump signed an executive order urging the DOJ to speed up the process of rescheduling cannabis to schedule three, a category that includes substances eligible for FDA approval as medications.

00:27 Speaker A

So what is next for this industry in 2026? Joining me now on this, we’ve got Dan Ahrens, AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF Portfolio Manager. Dan, it is good to see you. So, big picture, you you you call this Dan here, uh you say the most consequential federal cannabis policy shift in more than 50 years. Maybe start there, Dan. Explain that for us. Why is this cannabis rescheduling, Dan, such a big deal for investors?

00:54 Dan Ahrens

Well, we’ve been waiting on regulation for cannabis in the United States for some time now. And um after it is a schedule one drug uh on the DEA list, um listed along with uh drugs that have no medical use whatsoever and very dangerous narcotics.

01:21 Dan Ahrens

Um, cannabis shouldn’t be a schedule one drug. It never should have been there. And we already have a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States. It’s been allowed to grow on a state-by-state basis with the feds basically having a look the other way approach.

01:45 Dan Ahrens

But these US cannabis stocks can’t list on the exchanges, they can’t bank, they pay very punitive taxes and um, we’re badly in need of the regulation after it was promised back when Biden was first running for president. And we’ve been in this quagmire for four or five years now, and now it seems with the executive order that President Trump is definitely asking for the process to be complete to make it schedule three, open up business and open up a great deal of medical research as well.