BUZZ-Pot stocks fall as DEA cancels cannabis rescheduling hearing

Updates

** Shares of cannabis firms fall as a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) judge on Monday canceled a hearing to consider the proposed rescheduling of marijuana from a schedule I drug to a schedule III drug

** Marijuana's schedule I categorization prohibits most conventional U.S. banks from doing business with cannabis firms, despite the drug being legal in dozens of U.S. states

** Tilray Brands TLRY.O falls 1.4% and Cresco Labs CL.CD down 1.5%

** Canada-listed shares of Canopy Growth WEED.TO down 3.2%, Trulieve Cannabis TRUL.CD falls 2.2% and Curaleaf Holdings CURA.TO down 2.9%

** John Mulrooney, the DEA administrative law judge, canceled the scheduled January 21 merit-based hearing and stayed the proceedings for at least three months

** Morningstar analyst Kristoffer Inton says while stock volatility is not unusual for the sector, the recent fall is an extension of the decline since November elections "as the market seems increasingly bearish on rescheduling"

(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru)

((Pooja.Menon@thomsonreuters.com;))