NHL forces marijuana company to change stock listing, is a bummer
As you know, the National Hockey League is very protective of its trademarks, lest anyone think lesser about their Toronto Maple Leafs dog toy tosser.
So the last thing the NHL would want is to be associated with something as destructive and nefarious – according to the cinematic classic “Reefer Madness” – as marijuana. (Although ‘drinking tubes” that looked like bongs were OK for a while.)
And they certainly wouldn’t want its loyal fans to invest in something labeled “NHL” and find out they’re actually helping to fund a company that produces grandpa’s magic eye medicine.
Nutritional High International, Inc. is a company dedicated to “developing, acquiring and designing products and brands in the marijuana-infused edible products and oil extracts sectors for medical and adult recreational use.” It only operates in the U.S., in those states that have legalized products like OG Kush and Pineapple Express.
But its stock does trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange, having offered its IPO on back in March – under the symbol “NHL.”
Perhaps they expected Gary Bettman to be mellow about it. However, it appears he wanted the name to go up in smoke …
The company announced that it’s changing its Canadian stock symbol to “EAT” after a demand from the NHL.
Their CEO, David Posner, evoked some NHL history to rationalize the decision:
“We’re honored to follow in the footsteps of the Nordiques, who were also asked to change their name upon their move from Canada to Colorado. The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup that year, so we figured why fight a winning formula? While we don’t believe anyone would confuse our respective products, we decided to make the symbol change to avoid possible legal costs, despite being on solid legal ground.”
Wait … so this won’t be the new Colorado Avalanche logo?!
Glad that’s cleared up. We’d hate to see people invest their money in something that promotes things that society generally frowns upon. You know, like fighting or brain injuries.
If you’re curious, Nutritional High International’s U.S. stock symbol is “SPLIF.” Because of course it is.
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