True to Halloween, October was another ghoulish month for cannabis stocks. After rocketing higher during the first quarter of the year, marijuana stocks have been in a precipitous seven-month downtrend. Last month, a majority of pure-play pot stocks ended the month lower, with the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF, the first exchange-traded fund focused on marijuana, losing another 12%. Since the end of March, this popular ETF has lost 50%, inclusive of dividends paid.
October featured many of the same concerns that have plagued the North American pot industry over the past year -- namely, the exceptionally slow rollout of physical dispensaries in Canada (along with a slow licensing process) and high tax rates in select U.S. states curbing legal sales channels.
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