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Betting against cannabis stocks has come with large losses and big fees this summer.

A case in point: Aurora Cannabis. Short sellers, investors who profit when a stock price falls, have poured into the Canadian cannabis company’s stock since the start of August. The number of shares shorted rose 76 percent over that period. Their price, though, has climbed 46 percent, including an 18 percent gain Monday after BNN Bloomberg reported that Coca-Cola had held talks with Aurora to develop beverages. That rise has cost short sellers $50 million over the past six weeks, according to S3 Partners, a financial technology and analytics firm.

Since the start of August, shares of publicly traded pot stocks have gained 30 percent, on average, according to IHS Markit. Over that period, short sellers have lost $626 million, according to S3 Partners.

What has driven the rally? Deregulation and interest from some of the biggest beverage companies in the world. As cannabis becomes legal in more countries — in Canada, for example, recreational use will become legal on Oct. 17 — beverage companies are trying to buy into the industry before they become disrupted by it.