With cannabis regulations potentially set to ease in the U.S., Canopy Growth CEO David Klein sees the tides turning on cannabis legalization in international markets.

Earlier this week, a U.S. Senate committee voted to advance the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act (SAFER) for a full vote on the Senate floor. If passed, the legislation would give cannabis companies access to financial services instead of relying on cash, which makes them targets for crime.

“We have a tremendous footprint in the U.S. that’s growing and it’s profitable and these regulatory actions, while not being the definitive legalization that we’d like to ultimately see, are really nice steps along the way to keep the process moving toward full deregulation in the U.S.,” Klein told BNN Bloomberg in a Thursday interview.

This comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended moving cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III, which would lessen the tax burden on the industry.

“(It) would have a tremendous impact on the cash flows of our U.S. businesses,” he said.

GLOBAL TREND

As the U.S. and other countries are seemingly taking steps to ease cannabis regulations, Thailand announced last week it would crack down on cannabis and ban its recreational use.

Still, Klein sees Thailand as an outlier on the global scene.

“It’s a macro trend that’s going to take the world -- and clearly America – to legalize cannabis,” he said.

“We’re super bullish on where the business is today, even outside the news in the U.S.”

BIOSTEEL CREDITOR PROTECTION

Earlier this month, Canopy announced it would seek creditor protection for its BioSteel sports drink business, which had been weighing on its books.

Canopy is now seeking to sell the business, which Klein believes will make the company profitable.

“I’m not concerned with us running out of cash at this point, the BioSteel move was a demonstration of how focused we are on the cannabis space, as well as generating cash for our investors,” he said.