Since many states have been increasingly legalizing medical and recreational use, the market for marijuana has grown 74% in 2014, according to a recent “The Arcview Group” report cited in the Huffington Post.
Researchers surveyed hundreds of retailers, ancillary business and independent cultivators in states where pot sales are legal in 2013 and 2014. They also collected data from state agencies, non-profit organizations and private companies to see where marijuana stands in the marketplace.
The results showed an increase in sales from $1.5 billion in 2013 to $2.7 billion in 2014.
"In the last year, the rise of the cannabis industry went from an interesting cocktail conversation to being taken seriously as the fastest growing industry in America," Troy Dayton, CEO of The ArcView Group said in the report. "At this point, it’s hard to imagine that any serious businessperson who is paying attention hasn’t spent some time thinking about the possibilities in this market."
According to the report, California has the largest legal marijuana use in the U.S. at $1.3 billion. Arizona has the fastest-growing major marijuana market in 2014, expanding to $155 million. Oregon and Alaska are expected to add a combined $275 million in marijuana sales in their first year.
In this Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014, photo, Cannabis City clerk John Golby, left, helps customers looking over a display case of marijuana products at the shop in Seattle. A year into the nation’s experiment with legal, taxed marijuana sales, Washington and Colorado find themselves with a cautionary tale for Oregon, Alaska or other states that might follow suit: They’re wrestling not with the federal interference many initially feared, but with competition from their own medical marijuana systems or even outright black market sales.
© AP Photo / Elaine Thompson
ArcView predicts that sales will continuously expand with more states passing legislatures to cultivate, use and sell the drug.
The report predicts another 32% market increase in 2015, and 14 additional states to legalize recreational marijuana while two will legalize medical pot in the next 10 years.
It is expected that the overall marijuana market will reach $11 billion annually by 2019.
It is legal to sell marijuana in Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon.
In Washington, D.C., voters approved a ballot measure to legalize the recreational use of the drug, but congressional republicans continue to block its sale.
Twenty-three states have legalized medical cannabis since 1996, however, it remains illegal at the federal level.
