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Shares of cannabis stocks are sharply higher in pre-market trading after the Trump administration approved the start of the formal transition to President-elect Joe Biden.

While Trump did not concede and vowed to persist with efforts to change the vote, the president said on Twitter on Monday night that he accepted the decision by GSA Administrator Emily Murphy to allow a transition to proceed. Trump said via Twitter that he had told his officials to begin "initial protocols" involving the transfer to Biden "in the best interest of our country."

Biden's presidency could lead to more calls for decriminalization of marijuana, and several states recently legalized the use of recreational marijuana. Earlier this month, Canopy Growth (CGC) CEO David Klein told analysts on a conference call that "We believe the Biden win is an important step on the path to federal permissibility of cannabis in the U.S. market through decriminalization and descheduling." In pre-market trading, shares of cannabis stocks, including Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis (ACB), Tilray (TLRY), and Curaleaf (CURLF), are higher.