The CEO of the largest marijuana company says a blue wave could trigger legalization ‘very quickly’

As prospects of Democrats taking back control of the Senate continue to grow, the CEO of the largest cannabis company by revenue is predicting it could lead to an expedited timeline of marijuana becoming legal in the U.S. at the federal level.

Speaking with Yahoo Finance shortly after the largest cannabis operator in the U.S. closed on its acquisition of smaller player Grassroots to expand its footprint from 18 states to 23, Curaleaf CEO Joe Lusardi explained that a blue wave could move legalization or cannabis reform up to as soon as next year.

“If the Democrats take the Senate or the White House I think you’ll see sweeping cannabis reform very quickly,” he said. “It’s not a partisan issue — for sure we have support on both sides of the aisle — but I do think the Democratic leadership has shown a desire to pass cannabis legislation where the Republican leadership has not.

On Thursday, the non-partisan Cook Political Report calculated that Democrats are now favored to take back the Senate. As Cowen Managing Director Vivien Azer told Yahoo Finance last week, control in the Senate remains the most important hurdle for cannabis reform to progress as it’s where even bipartisan attempts at modest reforms, like the cannabis banking proposal the SAFE Banking Act, have stalled at the hands of Republican control. [Read more at Yahoo! Finance]