Marijuana company’s new stock symbol: WEED

Investors can now buy and sell WEED on the Toronto Stock Exchange after Canopy Growth Corp., a major federally licensed cannabis cultivator in Smiths Falls, Ontario, changed its ticker symbol to the new, slangy version.

The move comes after the company made history last summer when it became the first marijuana cultivator to list on a major North American exchange.

Canopy announced its switchover from ticker symbol CGC on Wednesday and rang in its new era that morning by opening the TSX’s daily trading session.

Bruce Linton, the company’s CEO, said in a statement the name change and its approval by TSX officials signaled the growing acceptance of cannabis in mainstream Canadian society.

“Patients, investors and Canadians as a whole are more accepting of the cannabis sector today than ever before … We are proud to have played our part in introducing a once-stigmatized topic into Main Street and Bay Street conversations,” Linton said, referring to Toronto’s equivalent of Wall Street.

Canopy has been busy the past couple of months.

In January, the company announced it had tripled its production space with the purchase of a former Hershey chocolate factory. And in December, the company announced its acquisition of another Canadian cultivation company, Mettrum Health Corp.