AdvisorShares is praising the federal government’s move to reclassify marijuana to Schedule III, calling it a historic shift that could remove one of the biggest barriers facing the legal industry in the United States.
In a statement released today, the company said the Department of Justice’s final action to move marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act marks a major milestone for businesses, workers, consumers and investors tied to the nation’s legal marijuana market.
“This is the moment the U.S. cannabis industry has been building toward for many decades,” said Dan Ahrens, managing director at AdvisorShares and portfolio manager of the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (MSOS). “Finalizing rescheduling moves cannabis out of a policy gray area and firmly into a regulated framework. That shift matters not just symbolically, but fundamentally for operators, employees, consumers, and investors alike.”
Ahrens said the move won’t immediately fix every issue facing the marijuana industry, but he said it removes one of the most serious long-term obstacles. “This action does not instantly solve every challenge facing the industry, but it removes one of the most significant structural barriers,” he said. “By enabling relief from punitive tax treatment and expanding access to research, capital, and institutional participation, rescheduling represents the true starting point for cannabis to function as a normalized U.S. industry.”
The company framed the policy change as especially significant given the size of the current market. AdvisorShares noted that the marijuana industry employs more than 400,000 Americans and operates in a majority of states, while many in the industry have continued to face banking issues and other complications due to the federal government’s longstanding classification of marijuana as a Schedule I substance.
AdvisorShares said the change could help create a stronger foundation for additional reforms, including broader banking access and more consistent regulatory oversight. The company also said rescheduling may allow business performance and fundamentals to play a greater role in determining valuations, rather than ongoing federal uncertainty.
“From an investment perspective, rescheduling is not the end of the story—it is the beginning,” Ahrens said. “It establishes the conditions under which fundamentals, not federal uncertainty, can begin to drive valuations.”
AdvisorShares is a major sponsor of actively managed exchange-traded funds and says it is the largest asset manager of U.S. and global marijuana stocks. Its marijuana-related funds include the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF, the AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF and the AdvisorShares MSOS Daily Leveraged ETF, all of which are managed by Ahrens.
