Of course, the growth of the legal cannabis industry hasn’t been without its speed bumps. In California, the world’s largest legal cannabis market, the rollout of adult-use cannabis in January 2018 was awkward at best. Beset both by a patchwork of local restrictions and a stubborn illicit trade powered in part by high taxes, state officials and market-watchers have repeatedly downgraded the state’s earnings projections. To this day, local ordinances make cannabis sales illegal in a third of the state.
Disappointing though this may be to Californians, the overall cannabis sales figures indicate that—the Golden State’s middling revenues aside—cannabis will only continue to grow in value in the coming years.
In Florida and Oklahoma, sales of medical cannabis are expected to surpass $1 billion each by 2021. Michigan and Illinois continue to see strong adult-use sales, the latter powered at least in part, we hope, by the state’s forward-thinking stance on social equity in the cannabis industry.
As we hinted before, the COVID-19 pandemic is throwing the best-laid plans into disarray. Thankfully, the designation of dispensaries as essential service providers was a major victory both for operators and those who rely on cannabis to help manage their self-care. But as the experience indicates, the winds can change in an instant, especially in this politically uncertain environment. Stay tuned for more updates on the cannabis industry, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and any other item of cannabis-related news we think you should know.
