Billed as a world first, the Horizons Medical Maijuana Life Sciences ETF (HMMJ) aims to provide returns by tracking the North American Medical Marijuana Index.
The index is made up of US-listed stocks of companies where at least 50% of the business is connected to the medical marijuana trade.
More than 60% of the stocks listed on the index are Canadian companies where the industry has boomed since the introduction of laws giving people the right to grow medical cannabis for personal use.
Around 40 firms in the country now have licenses to produce or sell the drug.
More than a quarter of stocks are US-based where the trade has continued to grow with several states, including California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada, legalising recreational use of marijuana.
However, the ETF, launched by Canadian firm Horizons ETF Management, will not include any exposure to companies involved in supplying a recreational form of the drug or any firm not legally regulated.
continued on the next page
