If someone told you they wanted to list their cannabis business on the stock market, you would be tempted to throw a joke back at them. That they were high on their own supply. That they'd had one too many puffs.

Turns out, it might not be the reefer talking though — it's the regulator that's giving them that confidence. Late on 2 July, the Financial Conduct Authority cut through the fog and made its position the clearest it has been to date on how it would respond to marijuana companies asking for permission to float.