What's going on?

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.