North American Cannabis Firms Push Into Europe After Trump’s Reclassification Order Revived $30 Billion Industry
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 16
North American Cannabis Firms Push Into Europe After Trump’s Reclassification Order Revived $30 Billion Industry
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 16
Summary
North American cannabis companies are accelerating into Europe through takeovers and direct market entry after Trump’s December order to reclassify marijuana revived a sector that had been stuck in a boom-bust slump.
The order promised to move cannabis out of the heroin category and cut punitive taxes, addressing two pressures that had choked profits after years of patchwork state laws, high taxes and investor pullbacks.
Europe expansion is already tangible: Organigram bought Germany’s Sanity Group for about $285 million in February, Tilray acquired Britain’s Lyphe in April, and Curaleaf completed its buyout of Germany’s Four 20 Pharma.
Curaleaf has also pushed directly into European markets with London Underground and TV ads in Britain, a rebrand in Poland and the first medical marijuana supply in Spain.
Demand is rising alongside that push—Canadian cannabis exports to Britain jumped more than 560% in a year—while the article argues Europe’s regulatory and market structures are not prepared for the influx.