What happened

Marijuana stocks moved higher on Friday, with cannabis company Canopy Growth (CGC 2.41%) gaining more than 12% earlier today and Aurora Cannabis (ACB -0.15%) rising more than 7% before each settled down.

Political maneuvering in Washington and how investors are interpreting it might explain why investors are enthusiastic about marijuana stocks. Unfortunately, these same investors may be drawing the wrong conclusions.

So what

So what are the politicos up to this time? On the one hand, there's real progress in the Senate, with efforts to advance a Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act that would permit banks to provide services to marijuana businesses in states that have legalized cannabis sales. By all accounts, this bill should exit committee and head to the Senate floor for consideration as early as next week.

At the same time, in the House of Representatives, advocates of marijuana legalization have reintroduced the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which would go beyond mere banking reform to legalize marijuana entirely.

Simultaneously, news source Marijuana Moment reported today that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, is circulating a petition online asking voters to "sign on to demand that the federal government end the prohibition of marijuana."  

Now what

Full-scale legalization of cannabis would increase sales of the drug, and maybe even profits from those sales, and that's probably why investors in Canopy Growth and Aurora Cannabis are thinking this news is good for their stocks.

The problem, as Marijuana Moment points out, is this petition isn't aimed at winning legislators' votes, but rather is targeted at voters to build a political campaign's email and fund-raising lists. So it's more of a political pitch than a legislative pitch to win votes for legalizing marijuana.

Reinforcing this view, Marijuana Moment points out that Schumer has not actually introduced a marijuana legalization bill in the Senate to accompany his fundraising pitch.

What implications does this hold for marijuana investors? If Schumer's real motivation is to raise campaign funds, then logically he's going to want to keep the question of marijuana legalization open for as long as possible (and almost certainly through the coming election) to maximize the amount of money coming in. And if that's the case, then contrary to what the petition seems to be promising -- imminent legalization -- it's more likely he'll be motivated to delay a vote on that.

So what sounds like good news is actually bad news today. And even the marijuana stocks that are racking up gains will probably soon give them back.