Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years

[jpak]

Source: USA Today

DENVER — Marijuana is rapidly becoming a big, semi-legal business across the country, with $5.7 billion in sales last year and tens of thousands of people working and paying taxes as they cultivate, package and sell cannabis.

Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, Washington state and Washington, D.C. have all legalized adult recreational use, and 23 states and the District of Columbia permit some form of medical use. That’s despite the fact that marijuana remains an illegal drug and Schedule 1 controlled substance at the federal level.

Across the country, thousands of people are rushing into the industry, struggling to work within a conflicting patchwork of state laws and local regulations, all the while operating largely without accounts at banks, which are fearful of running afoul of federal drug-trafficking laws.

The industry is only expected to grow in 2016, particularly if California voters this fall decide to legalize recreational use, according to the newly released 4th Edition State of Legal Marijuana Markets Report from from ArcView Market Research and New Frontier, a cannabis-focused data-analysis firm. Much of the increase is attributed to adult use market sales, which hit $1.3 billion last year. By 2020, adult use and medical marijuana sales are expected to reach nearly $23 billion, triple this year.

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Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2016/03/20/legal-marijuana-sales-forecast-hit-23b-4-years/82046018/

[safeinOhio]

1. Michigan just can't find away to pay for Flint.

I've got a way.

[forest444]

2. Yeh, mon.

[Earth_First]

3. As soon as the back door wrangling for control of this market share is complete... nt

[Hotler]

4. What I dont understand is...

where do all the people in Colorado that use recreational weed work that doesn't do drug testing. I can understand drug testing in the construction and manufacturing industries and the trucking industries, etc.and I agree that safety should be number one in these areas, but I work in an office where there is nothing I do that will injure or kill anyone. As long as I show up for work sober what the hell business is it of my employer what I do on my own time away from the company.

[musiclawyer]

9. Everywhere

Doctors, lawyer, accountants, librarians, realtors, non -safety civil servants. They all get high. Always have always will. It's just a plant--it can make you laugh, make you sleep, make you hungry, make you have mind blowing sex. Oh and it's medicinal if necessary with zero side effects.

Corporate America's kleptocratic/ fascist coup started with weed prohibition. Only Bernie and his legatees will stop it.

[Hotler]

10. So why is it that the marijuana growing/sales industry is not....

trying to change drug testing from testing for residual to testing for impairment?

[musiclawyer]

12. It's happening

There is one company, name I can't recall, that has significant venture capital beta testing a device that measure impairment and not metabolites mobile and on demand.
This issue has been investors not wanting to piss money away when weed is still technical illegal in lots of places with a limited financial ceiling. Now industry realizes the ceiling effectively is unlimited. So money is pouring in. Someone will come up with a device that is accurate and tests for actual impairment as opposed to the old school analog tests the cops use.

Any test that only measures metabolites only is unconstitutional IMHO. No big court has decided yet. But it's a matter of time

[Hotler]

13. Thank you. n/t

[musiclawyer]

15. Just remember that edibles work different

It's not remotely the same as smoking or vaping. It can take a few hours for edibles to hit you, and if you are not watching the dosage or know who made them, you can get very high fast and "go down the ladder". It will go away in a few hours but you might get very scared and paranoid. Don't do edibles as a novice unless you have some one experienced walking you through how much to eat or drink

[Hotler]

16. I haven't been able to use for the past four years as where I work they do randoms. n/t

[Strelnikov_]

18. umm . . yea . .

think I'm gonna score some edibles.

[Hotler]

11. Bernie if he wins will make it legal, but...

will he make the "Man" change the why it is tested for?

[Warpy]

5. Show them the money

and all those Prohibition states (I live in one) are going to start feeling pretty stupid about the whole thing, especially when the money rolls in and society doesn't collapse into a haze of joint smoke, citizens too stoned to work their butts off for that splendid $7.25 an hour.

[GoldenMean]

6. Burn one for Bernie

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/05/bernie-sanders-files-bill-to-legalize-marijuana.html

We've come a long way baby since '68 when I burned my first bowl.
The final hurdle is changing the scheduling from "no medical use"
Even though I've been growing my own for 48 years, I decided to get my "Medical Marijuana Card" this year.
Not only did it cost $350, I had to find an independent doctor willing to give me a prescription.
All the doctors working for large corp. hospitals refused saying they didn't want to take the risk of federal prosecution.
The small town doctor, who used to be a animal doctor, confided in me that since she doesn't keep computer files, her clientele includes doctors, lawyers, judges, police and CEO's.
I got my card in order to try some of the non psycho-active pain salves.
This summer I'm looking forward to letting my "girls" grow to their glorious 12ft. height without fear of an attack helicopter raiding me.

[highoverheadspace]

7. Wow! Thats high!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. US alcohol beverage sales still ten times bigger

Sales of alcoholic beverages were $211 billion in 2014. I'd expect them to grow very near to 230 billion in 2020, which would be ten (10) times the marijuana sales expected in the article.

[musiclawyer]

14. As more people try weed some will switch

And weed will be their vice of choice.
Alcohol will always have its fans. But weed WILL cut into the market, even if only in the single digits. And by no means are the two mutually exclusive. Every stoner I know loves their wine or spirits or both. But what they have in common is they are NOT alcoholics.

[IronLionZion]

17. It's already gone corporate

VICE had a piece on how the big companies are working with lawmakers and enforcers to push out the small independent growers.

There is also a cannabis derived medicine that is up for FDA review and approval for treatment of epilepsy, along with patent protection of the formula so there won't be generics. There will no doubt be more of this.

[musiclawyer]

19. No doubt.

That's why Oregon's model is the best. People can grow their own if they have even a small plot of land. CA will be the same way. In the long run the USA will never tolerate zero home grow like tobacco. That's a corporate power grab that the people will never accept again. And in the long run I expect 4 distinct tiers--big corporate weed that sells the most , smaller scale artisanal, even smaller scale organic, and home grow in tiny quantities that won't impact the market too much