Yesterday the Marijuana stocks listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange sold off as a result of a bulletin issued by the TMX.   The announcement affected Canadian companies listed on the TSX and was in regards to their “Business Activities Related to Marijuana in the United States.”  TSX provided some clarity of its policy, suggesting that “Issuers with ongoing business activities that violate U.S. federal law regarding marijuana are not complying with the Requirements.” 

Any company with direct or indirect ownership of direct cannabis companies, arrangements with them, providing goods or services to them and any sort of commercial interests is contrary to its policy according to the TSX.

They will take the remainder of the year and review the listed companies that are engaged in direct or ancillary services:

The Exchange notes that if a listed issuer is engaging in activities that are contrary to the Requirements, the Exchange has the discretion to initiate a delisting review under Policy 2.9 of the Manual.

The good thing is that while the selloff in Canadian LPs should be short lived as most LPs have not pursued U.S operations, with the exception of Aphria (TSX: APH) (OTC: APHQF).  They have investments in Arizona (Copperstate Farms) and in Florida, through ownership of and licensing to Liberty Health Sciences (CSE: LHS) (OTC: LHSIF), which is also vying for licenses in Ohio. 

With the exception of a handful of other companies listed on the TSX or TSX Venture most Canadian companies with cannabis business in the United States are listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE), which has no similar issue.  Any company listed on the TSX could move to the CSE or adopt the OTC in the U.S. as its primary exchange.