8 incredible facts about the booming US marijuana industry

The marijuana industry is booming in the United States.

From the $52 billion in sales the industry posted to the  76% increase in cannabis jobsthis year, there are plenty of statistics to show marijuana’s startling contributions to the US economy.

Marijuana initiatives have swept through state legislatures in recent years. Recreational marijuana use is legal in 10 US states, while medicinal marijuana is legal in 33. Illinois became the most recent state to weigh the topic when Gov. JB Pritzker introduced a bill to legalize the drug on Saturday.

Now, the industry is showing no signs of slowing down.

Read on for eight interesting facts about the US marijuana industry:

• The marijuana industry could soon be worth more than the GDP of 9 US states
• Cannabis employs five times as many Americans as coal
• The median marijuana salary is 10% higher than the US median salary
• Investors poured $10 billion into the North American marijuana industry in 2018
• A Colorado county made $35 million off the marijuana industry in 2016
• Marijuana policing cost Americans $3.6 billion in the first decade of the 2000s
• The US marijuana market is worth $52 billion — but 87% of sales were on the black market
• But legal-marijuana sales alone topped sales of Oreos and organic produce