The cannabis producer Tilray is going bananas after Jeff Sessions resigns as attorney general

Markets Insider

• Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a longtime opponent of legal marijuana, resigned Wednesday as attorney general.
• The cannabis producer Tilray surged 30% on the news.
• In the 2018 midterm elections on Tuesday, voters in Michigan passed a measure to make the state the 10th to legalize recreational marijuana.
• Watch Tilray trade in real time here.

The cannabis producer Tilray exploded higher Wednesday, up as much as 30%, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a longtime opponent of legal marijuana, resigned as attorney general after months of speculation about his future. Shares had alread

"At your request, I am submitting my resignation," Sessions said in his resignation letter, adding that it came at the request of President Donald Trump.

Sessions resignation could be good news for the crusade for legal marijuana, depending on who Trump picks as his replacement.

In January, Sessions rescinded an Obama-era policy directing the Justice Department to keep its hands off of state-legal cannabis. The Justice Department's new guidance leaves it up to federal prosecutors to decide how aggressively to pursue cannabis.

On Tuesday, Michigan became the 10th US state, along with Washington DC, to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Thirty-three states and Washington DC allow medical marijuana.

There has been a "green rush" into the marijuana space this year as investors on both Wall Street and Main Street

This story is developing...