What’s Going On Here?Tilray and Aphria are remarkably chilled out about the post-pandemic future: the Canadian cannabis companies announced a merger on Wednesday, creating the world’s biggest cannabis producer by sales (tweet this). What Does This Mean?The newly merged company will boast 17% of the Canadian cannabis market, but Tilray and Aphria aren’t stopping there: they’re keen to break into the potentially massive US market too. And they might've already made the move a lot easier for themselves. Tilray, for one, is headquartered in Canada but registered as a US firm, and it became the first cannabis company to debut on one of the key American stock markets back in 2018. Aphria’s recent acquisition of US brewer SweetWater, meanwhile, should give them an invaluable distribution point south of the Canadian border. Far out. Why Should I Care?The bigger picture: Up in smoke.
Investors seemed to dig the prospect of two of the biggest names in the cannabis industry joining forces, with Aphria and Tilray’s stocks initially jumping 6% and 27% respectively. That could have something to do with the timing: the US took one step closer toward becoming the world’s biggest cannabis market last month, with various states voting to relax their rules and the election of a more weed-friendly president-elect. But investors might want to chill, man: an opposition-controlled US Senate is unlikely to sign off on full legalization even if the president-elect were on board with it himself – which he’s not.
For markets: Drink it in.
At least Tilray and Aphria have something to fall back on if the US market takes a few more years to open up. Aphria’s ownership of SweetWater and Tilray’s partnership with beer brewer AB InBev puts them at the forefront of the cannabis-infused drinks market, which stands to benefit from the trend away from alcohol and sugary drinks in favor of healthier, potentially more therapeutic options. | 
