House Democrat purchased cannabis stocks while supporting legislation to decriminalize marijuana

A Democratic congressman may be stirring the pot with some of his cannabis stock purchases.

Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, who serves as chairman of the House Budget Committee, purchased stocks in Canopy Growth Corporation, Aurora Cannabis, and Tilray on Nov. 5, according to a filing with the Clerk of the House Representatives obtained by Popular Info.

Prior to the stock trades, Yarmuth had signed on in September as a co-sponsor to H.R. 3884, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which decriminalized cannabis. The legislation passed the House on Dec. 4.

In the time since the Democratic Party gained control of both chambers of Congress, Yarmuth increased his shares. The congressman purchased an additional $1,000 to $15,000 worth of each of the three cannabis companies’ stocks on Feb. 12, according to a Feb. 19 filing.

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A representative for Yarmuth said the Kentucky Democrat followed all House rules, noting the stock trades came after he signed on as a co-sponsor.

“Congressman Yarmuth purchased the stocks after seeing four states legalize the use of recreational marijuana in the November elections. He was transparent about it and followed all House Ethics and financial disclosure rules,” he wrote in an email to the Washington Examiner.

Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen, called Yarmuth’s stock trades “politically reckless at best and unethical at worse” in an email to the Washington Examiner.

“There is no evidence that Yarmuth is using confidential material information in these stock trades, which would constitute illegal insider trading, but he is intertwining his official actions with his own personal benefit,” he continued, calling on Congress to pass the Ban Conflicted Trading Act, which would “prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks altogether while serving in public office.”

The news follows a New York Times report that Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican, bought between $15,000 and $50,000 in Tilray stock on Nov. 6. Mast disclosed the trade on Dec. 1, and three days later, he became one of only five Republicans to vote for the MORE Act.

Several states have made recent pushes to decriminalize or legalize cannabis for various uses. On Monday, New Jersey became the thirteenth state to legalize recreational marijuana, with Gov. Phil Murphy declaring he was “fulfilling the will of the voters” by signing the bill into law. Republican-leaning states have adopted similar measures, with South Dakota passing medical marijuana legislation currently slated to go into effect on Jan. 1.

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Mast’s home state of Florida, which allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes, saw an economic boom for the industry in 2020. The medical marijuana market in Florida created nearly 15,000 new jobs last year, and sales are projected to top $6 billion annually by 2030 in Florida.

A representative for Mast declined the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.