Why Curaleaf Holdings Stock Popped by Almost 25% on Tuesday

Investors caught quite the serious buzz from marijuana stocks on Tuesday, thanks largely to President Trump's strongest indication so far that he will get the ball rolling on the drug's rescheduling. One title that wafted well higher in price was Curaleaf Holdings (OTC: CURLF), which was up by almost 25% when the smoke cleared.

Will the Trump card be played?

This came in an answer to a reporter's question whether the President would enact an executive order (EO) to direct the government's Justice Department to begin the process of marijuana rescheduling. Justice's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) slots drugs into a set of five "schedules," with Schedule I containing what it considers to be the most damaging ones. Marijuana is in this category.

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Trump stated that he was "considering it, yeah," adding that he and his team were "looking at that very strongly."

It's worth noting that he didn't quite confirm the EO, a subject of speculation over the past few days. But he didn't deny it, either, and media reports indicate that he's in favor of this move toward federal cannabis law reform.

Longing for legalization

If and when Trump signs off on the EO, and Justice/the DEA puts rescheduling in motion, the fortunes of Curaleaf and its numerous, scattered marijuana industry peers should improve drastically.

At the moment, they're buffeted by a number of negative factors, not least of which is their lack of access to basic financial products and services (technically, after all, weed is illegal on the federal level). Rescheduling, which would be tantamount to de facto legalization, would remove such hurdles and make the entire country one big market for "legitimate" marijuana.

Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.