- Overall legal cannabis revenues in Colorado of $6.56 billion to date
- This has generated over $1.02 billion in state taxes and fees
- Cannabis industry still in its infancy
What would we do without legalized cannabis?
“Medicinal marijuana” is now being used to provide safe, efficacious relief for thousands of different medical conditions.
Big Pharma is currently stumbling badly to try to meet demand for safe new drugs and to replenish its own depleted drug pipeline. Cannabis (and the cannabinoids contained) offers the potential for thousands of new, lucrative, licensed and approved drugs.
Cannabinoid-based research is already advancing with respect to dozens of R&D initiatives. With the remarkable safety profile of cannabis, cannabinoid biopharma research promises to be both faster and cheaper in bringing new drugs to market.
Then there is cannabis as a recreational drug.
Globally, alcohol sales have flattened. This is because as more and more people are put on (one or more) prescription drugs, alcohol is killing too many people.
While the mainstream media continues to promote alcohol over cannabis, this is fooling less and less people. Investors shouldn’t let themselves be fooled either.
Over 40 percent of Americans aged 18 and over are on at least one prescription drug. Roughly half of all Americans reported taking one or more prescription drugs in the past 30 days, in previous research.
Alcohol is toxic and contra-indicated with respect to numerous pharmaceuticals. Alcohol + opioids is a notorious killer.
Cannabis is non-toxic and not contra-indicated with respect to any pharmaceutical drug – opioids included. TSI just reminded readers and investors that cannabis offers one of the greatest hopes in alleviating the Opioid Crisis.
More and more people are giving up (or greatly reducing) alcohol consumption to save their lives. Cannabis has unlimited potential to claim market share in this $1 trillion per year industry.
Then there are cannabis-based nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, food products and additives, as well as 10,000 (or so) uses for industrial hemp.
For revenue-starved state/provincial and local governments, all this emerging cannabis commerce is generating badly needed tax revenues. The state of Colorado is just one example.
(Medical Marijuana cannabis shop at 970 Lincoln Street, Denver, Colorado)
With cannabis commerce now having generated more than $1 billion in state taxes/fees, Governor Jared Polis put this into context for Colorado residents and cannabis investors in a Forbes article.
"This industry is helping grow our economy by creating jobs and generating valuable revenue that is going towards preventing youth consumption, protecting public health and safety and investing in public school construction.”
This is isn’t like investing in tobacco (or even alcohol) companies, where investors may have serious misgivings about how their profits are being generated.
Cannabis is good for people.
Cannabis is good for governments.
Cannabis is good for the economy.
Cannabis is good for investors.
Everybody wins.
Contrast this with 100 years of cannabis Prohibition. During that time, cannabis was “good” for organized crime. Period.
The best news for the cannabis industry, cannabis investors, and government is that the cannabis sector is still in its infancy.
Former Colorado Governor (and now presidential candidate) John Hickenlooper previously dismissed state cannabis tax revenues as a mere “drop in the bucket”. That remark now appears laughable in hindsight.
The reality is that Colorado has now reaped more than $1 billion in state taxes and fees. And that number is still just a drop in the bucket in relation to the future potential of cannabis to generate revenues for governments – as well as profits for cannabis companies and their shareholders.