Cannabis legalization has opened the door to making profits on publicly-traded companies. Despite lack of reform on the federal level, several Congress members have been buying and selling pot stocks.
An article at Salon points to North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, who's purchased as much as $210,000 worth of Altria Group stock in 2020 and 2021. Altria is a tobacco and alcohol company (formerly known as Philip Morris Companies) with a 45% ownership of Cronos Group, one of the hot Canadian companies.
Foxx is not exactly a cannabis-law reformer. In December, she tweeted: "Democrats can't get their minds of of pot bills." In May, she commented: "What are Democrats fighting to protect? Pot. What a joke."
The joke will be on Foxx if her investments don't pan out well in the rocky pot-stock market.
Investing in cannabis on Capitol Hill is pretty much bipartison. Of the top six investors, two are Republicans. According to Usual Whales, they are:
1. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) - purchased $79k to $210k of Altria stock
2. Rep. John Yarmouth (D-KY) - purchased $150k of Altria, Tilray, Cronos, Aphria, Aurora Cannabis and Cronos stock
3. Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) - purchased $100k of Tilray and Aphria stock, sold $200k of Tilray stock
4. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) - purchased $50k of AbbVie stock (AbbVie manufactures Marinol)
5. Rep. Ed Case (D-HI) - sold $100k of Altria stock
6. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) - purchased $25k of Altria stock, sold $75k of Altria stock
RELATED: 25 Pot Stocks Worth Watching
There are 14 other House members who are pot investors. Six Senators (five of them Republicans) are also on the list. All of them invested in AbbVie, with Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) selling off more than $500,000 worth of that stock.
Former White House ethics attorney under President George W. Bush Richard Painter said about Foxx: "This is so obviously a conflict of interest. It brings into question her credibility as a lawmaker."
This applies to all of the above, even the Dems.
