Legal Marijuana has improved drastically in the United States, and if legalization moves to all 50 states, marijuana will be a larger industry compared to the organic food industry. A group of researchers from the ArcView Group in Oakland, California, who have invested in the cannabis industry discovered that the cannabis market in the U.S rose to 74 percent in 2014 from 1.5 billion dollars in 2013 to 2.7 billion dollars.
This group studied hundreds of recreational and medical marijuana retailers in areas where sales are legal, including ancillary independent cannabis cultivators and ancillary business operators for about seven months between 2013 and 2014. Additionally, ArcView garnered information from non-profit organizations, state agencies, and private firms operating in the marijuana industry for a comprehensive look at the marketplace.
In the coming years, this industry is projected to continue growing, with ArcView anticipating that fourteen states will legalize the recreational cannabis while two more states will legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purpose. At least ten states are already thinking about legalizing recreational marijuana in the coming years through state legislatures or ballot measures.
Currently, four states – Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska – have legalized retail cannabis. Voters in Washington DC also legalized the use of recreational marijuana, but their sale remains prohibited. Medical cannabis has been legalized in twenty-three states, but at the federal level, marijuana remains illegal.
According to reports by the ArcView, by 2019, all state-legal markets will form a potential overall marijuana market worth $11 billion every year. The report also reveals some interesting trends from around the country. Still, California has the biggest legal marijuana market in the United States, at $1.3 billion. In 2014, Arizona had the fastest-growing marijuana market, expanding to $155 million. This amount was $120 million more compared to its previous year’s value. Medical marijuana is legalized in California and Arizona, and recreational legalization measures are predicted to appear on the coming ballots in the two states.
From the study, more than 1.5 million customers purchased legal cannabis from a dispensary in 2014. Currently, five states boast marijuana markets greater than $100 million. In Washington and Colorado, consumers purchased $370 million in products related to marijuana in 2013. The projections for Alaska and Oregon are expected to amount to $275 million in retail sales. The continued attempts by the congressional Republicans to interfere with the new marijuana law in Washington have made it difficult to project its market size, although there is a great potential for both the recreational and medical marijuana sectors.
The enormous growth potential of marijuana use in the United States appears to be hindered by the likelihood of the states rejecting to ease their laws on drugs. The marijuana industry is projected to be more valuable than the organic food industry, as long as all fifty states legalize the use of marijuana for recreational use. The total market value will amount to $36.8 billion ($3 billion higher than the organic food) if all states legalize marijuana.
