Comments from White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Thursday that federal authorities could start cracking down on recreational marijuana businesses sent cannabis stocks on a roller-coaster ride Friday, with some stocks tumbling as much as 15% in early morning trading.
As of late Friday afternoon, a U.S. cannabis index – MarijuanaIndex.com’s collection of 17 cannabis-related stocks that trade mainly over the counter – was down 4.45 points, or 5.81%, from its opening price of $75.40.
The stock that took the the biggest hit was United Cannabis Corp., a Denver-based consulting company whose shares were trading down almost 13% an hour before the closing bell. The next two biggest losers were Surna Inc. and Terra Tech Corp., both cannabis conglomerates that were down about 10% and 9% respectively.
Not all cannabis stocks were down.
Axim Biotech, a New York-based company developing cannabis-based medicines, and GrowGeneration Corp., a Denver-based hydroponic and gardening retail chain, were trading above their respective opening prices as of late Friday, but just barely.
The Canadian cannabis index, a collection of 10 stocks, was down late Friday afternoon by about 2%.
