How the Legal Cannabis Industry is positioned to Exceed Alcohol Sales Nationally within the Next Five Years

The legal cannabis market is projected to hit 146.4 billion dollars by 2025 globally. This is according to a recent Grand View Research, Inc. report. The plant has been greatly adopted in various medical applications, including chronic pain (caused by arthritis, HIV/AIDS, and neurological disorders), mental disorders, and cancer, among others. It is a move that is expected to boost the growth of revenue in the near future.

Cannabis Legalization

Legal cannabis has been gaining traction across the globe as a result of high demand among consumers of every adult age bracket. Just recently, Canada made headlines as the first G7 country to make recreational cannabis legal. Currently, there is growing support for the legalization of recreational cannabis here in the United States. According to a poll released in 2017, at least 64 percent of Americans were in support of the legalized cannabis. So far, at least 9 states have made recreational cannabis legal, while 30 states have legalized medical cannabis.

Medical cannabis is increasingly becoming a major alternative to common pain relievers, especially opioids, which are known to have fatal side effects. In 2017, the medical cannabis market saw a growth of 349.1 million dollars. As more people get to learn about the advantages of cannabis over the forecast period, there will be a substantial growth of up to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36.2 percent.

The Future of Cannabis

With the sale of legal cannabis in North America up by 33 percent in August 2018 alone and close to 550 percent within the last three years, the possibilities of an ongoing boom in the next five years are high. This is something that could be brought about by legislative reforms across more US states. In fact, the prohibition of cannabis in the US may come to an end in the next five years.

2018 could perhaps be the year that has given the industry a reason to be highly optimistic. First, the world’s fifth largest economy, California, permitted recreational cannabis shops to open in January. In Massachusetts, retail stores were opened for legal business in July and national sales are expected to go beyond one billion dollars by 2020.

Expected Surge

With the increasing number of cannabis companies in legal operation, the variety of products expected to reach the end user will increase. More so, the high investment on research for the development of safer products such as vapes will reinforce the growth of the market positively. Despite current cannabis prohibitions in the US, in 2017, the marijuana industry saw a 31 percent growth rate. It only goes to say that the ongoing legalization by individual states will  increase the demand for marijuana to about a 22 percent compound annual growth rate.