As an emerging industry, cannabis is still a relative unknown to many investors. However, those seeking to profit from investment opportunities in the sector should start looking sooner rather than later.
A New York Post article reports that the legal U.S. cannabis industry is expected to surpass the $15 billion per year in annual revenues from the NFL, by 2020.
The Post cites an article from MJBizDaily, via its Marijuana Business Factbook. The report pegs 2018 revenues for U.S. cannabis between $8.6 billion and $10 billion for both the medicinal and legalized recreational markets.
MJBizDaily Research Editor Eli McVey added additional context.
"By the end of 2023, sales of legal cannabis in the United States could exceed Americans’ collective spending on gym memberships. But legal sales represent just a fraction of the estimated total potential demand for cannabis in the United States, which is roughly $50 billion to $60 billion when black-market demand is included.”
Cannabis is already big and will get much bigger as cannabis usage is normalized away from the black market. MJBizDaily estimates that 20 percent of adult Americans already consume cannabis either medicinally or recreationally.
And that figure is “expected to grow rapidly as more states and federal jurisdictions remove legal restrictions”.
Altogether the legal cannabis industry is expected to provide a $39 billion to $48 billion boost to the U.S. economy in 2019. This is estimated to hit $100 billion by 2023.
Cannabis is also a job-creator. Total cannabis employment in 2019 is estimated between 175,000 and 215,000 workers. That’s a 34 percent increase over 2018.
Cannabis Industry Gauge: Bigger Than The NFL By 2020
