HIP CAPITALI$M
Marijuana Stocks -- What Are You Waiting For?
Marijuana transformed at lightning-fast speeds from a mostly underground black market into a dynamic, booming, $20 billion a year industry full of public companies. And the best part about investing in legal marijuana right now is that we are still in the very early days.
The legal tides have already changed dramatically in a short time and we are on the verge of a truly seismic shift that will only happen once. Heading into 2022, there are multiple marijuana legalization bills being debated and reworked in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. is poised to introduce wide-ranging federal cannabis legalization in the near future, on the back of overwhelming bipartisan support. When this happens, the entire industry will change overnight and current projections that call for global marijuana sales reach to $90 billion by 2026 might look super conservative.¹
Legalization is Gaining Steam
Only a decade ago, recreational pot was totally illegal in the U.S. By the end of 2021, a total of 18 states and Washington, D.C. had legalized adult-use marijuana. Meanwhile, the number of legal medical cannabis states is fast-approaching 40.
On top of that, Canada legalized recreational marijuana in 2018, becoming the first major economy to do so. Since then, Mexico has made a series of legal changes that will soon see it operate a large legal pot market. Across the Atlantic, multiple European countries are prepared to legalize nationally.
The tiny European nations of Malta and Luxembourg legalized weed near the end of 2021. More importantly, Germany is reportedly ready to legalize marijuana under its new coalition government in the early months of 2022. Italy and a few other countries are showing solid potential to join the legal ranks in the near future. And with every new market, new marijuana firms are sure to emerge, as the dollars flow.
Huge Bipartisan Support
Global marijuana sales soared roughly 50% to a whopping $31 billion in 2021, based on some recent data, and the U.S. is by far the largest legal cannabis market. The expansion was driven by continued growth in legacy states such as Colorado and California, alongside a wave of relative newbies ranging from Illinois to Arizona. And more states are set to climb on the legal cannabis train in 2022.
More importantly, multiple bills are under debate in Washington to federally legalize marijuana. Furthermore, Republicans, the party traditionally opposed to weed, are in the midst of a dramatic, paradigm-shifting transformation at both the state and national level.
Multiple GOP lawmakers are pushing for marijuana legalization in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. On top of that, the first major Republican-led federal legalization effort was introduced in November. The bill grabbed a huge amount of national media attention and could gain steam as more Republicans come on board.
The growing number of federal legalization efforts on both sides of the aisle make sense given mounting public support. A total of 68% of U.S. adults are now in favor of legal marijuana, including 50% of Republicans. This is up from just 50% of the entire country as recently as 2013. And just think how hard it is to find any issue nearly 70% of Americans agree on these days.
No comments:
Post a Comment