WASHINGTON -- An American cannabis producer is warning President Donald Trump that Canada is poised to dominate the North American marijuana industry unless the United States takes steps to eliminate barriers to financing and market capital south of the border.

Today's full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, framed as a plea to the White House, warns the U.S. is "rapidly losing" its competitive advantage to Canada, where recreational pot is poised to become legal at midnight.

Derek Peterson, chairman and CEO of California-based Terra Tech Corp., says that even though cannabis production is legal in 31 states, many American firms have turned to capital markets north of the border in order to attract investment.

The ad also warns that Canadian firms have tapped into U.S. investor interest in order to raise and spend money to acquire American cannabis assets.

Peterson says as a result, what should be one of America's "greatest economic drivers" is at risk of coming under foreign control unless states are allowed to enact their own cannabis legislation.

As of Wednesday, Canada will be the first G7 member to greenlight legal recreational pot -- a move Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has justified as an effort to better protect young people from the drug's effects and eliminate the influence of organized crime.

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