Tilray CEO Expects U.S. Federal Cannabis Legalization in 2 Years

Today in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” hosted by Jim Cramer, Carl Quintanilla, Morgan Brennan, David Faber and Rick Santelli, Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy was optimistic in his prediction of the federal marijuana legalization that he believes is inevitable to occur in the United States in the near future. Within the next two years to be exact.

Tilray, which trades on the NASDAQ market under the symbol TLRY with a market cap of $3.01B, is a Canadian Licensed Producer of pharmaceutical grade cannabis. Tilray is incorporated in the United States with primary operations taking place at the company headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. Tilray also currently has operations in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Portugal and Latin America.

Kennedy believes that federal marijuana legalization in the United States will be a move that will shake the industry forever, changing the trajectory and course of the entire market.

“I expect that pressure from the North and the South will ultimately lead the U.S. to implement a federal program here at some point in the next 18 to 24 months,” Kennedy said in his interview on CNBC Wednesday.

The pressure from the North that Kennedy is referring to is the widely-regulated Cannadian cannabis market and the pressure from the South coming after Mexico recently published regulations outlining medical cannabis use in the country. Kennedy is confident that both Mexico and Canada’s stances on the plant will put much needed pressure on the U.S.

On Tuesday, Tilray announced news that the company had been selected as a provider to supply medical cannabis for experimentation and research in France through a partnership with France’s National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products.

Tilray has been selling cannabis products within Germany since 2017 and looks to use the knowledge learned from that market to assist in the French research program. Kennedy hopes that the move will lead other European countries to explore implementing medical marijuana programs of their own.

The Tilray CEO touched on the partnership in his CNBC interview as well stating, “While we are excited for our opportunities in Germany and France, we expect to see additional opportunities for our European businesses in the coming quarters.”

Tilray currently holds cannabis production licenses in Canada and Portugal, where their main cannabis facility is located.