retailers in one industry are
seeing green in more ways than one. We're talking about
the cannabis industry states like colorado Oregon and
Illinois are all making headlines as they rake in,
billions of dollars in recreational marijuana sales
They're just three of the 18 states who have legalized
recreational marijuana use. And those 18 are expected
to see marijuana sales top $33 billion dollars combine
by the end of the year. And that number is only
expected to get higher as more states consider
legalizing. By 2026, annual sales are expected to
exceed $52 billion dollars and that's without marijuana
being legal at the federal level. So there's the
projections now, let's get to why cannabis has become
big business. And before we look forward, we have to
look back at how we got here. If you drive through
states where cannabis is legal, you'll see more
dispensaries popping up like in colorado. One of the
first to legalize recreational marijuana. There a
over 500 dispensaries in denver More than there are
Starbucks in the state. It's a trend seen beyond just
the mile high city, according to the 2020 U.S. Census
Bureau, 145 million Americans n live in a state where
marijuana is legal either recreationally or medica
This wouldn't have passed 10 years ago for sure. But
people's attitudes in America are changing. So how did
cannabis go from being illegal to a billion dollar tax
revenue generator for states where it is legal, Let's
start in 1996, California became the first state to
legalize the use and sale of medical marijuana by 1999
for other states followed suit allowing medicina
marijuana. It wasn't until more than a decade later in
2012, that Colorado became the first state to legalize
weed for recreational use. A decade later, 18 states,
two territories and Washington, D.C. have legalized
recreational use. Cannabis is legal by prescription in
3/4 of the country. It's showing that people are more
and more receptive to this, especially for the 21 and
over crowd. The demand has always existed. But with the
new legal setups, it's proving to be a multi billion
dollar business. The legal cannabis industry saw growth
over the last few years with more legalized marke
like Illinois, Montana New York and New Mexico. A
number of states also deemed dispensaries essent
businesses during the height of pandemic shutdowns. I'm
very excited about not only what this industry has done,
but where it's going to go for years. Dispensaries,
main customers were medical patients. The doctors
prescribed medicinal marijuana to relieve symptoms of
conditions like arthritis, anxi and PTSD can help
you with epilepsy, can help you with tons of diseases.
I mean, there's tons of studies with more states
legalizing the reach to new customers is growing steve
White owns truly a chain of over a dozen cannabis
stores in Arizona with more on the way he says, the
sales numbers are attractive. Let's put it this way,
It's a whole lot greater than everyone predicted
it would be in the state of Arizona. Two of the most
recent states to legalize are already seeing financial
gains recreational marijuana sales in New Jersey
totaled nearly $2 million in april on its first day of
sales. It's very encouraging just being in the
candidates industry and seeing results like that in
such a short period of time. And in Illinois, the stat
recorded nearly $669 million of marijuana sales in 2020
the first year of legal sales last year. That number
more than doubled, with nearly a third of sales coming
from out of state customers. States that are, have not
legalized and are bordering legal states, they're sort
of donating tax revenue to the states with legalization
right Because their residents are crossing the border
and purchasing and contributing to the tax coffers in
the other states take Wisconsin, for example, the
badger state has not legalized marijuana Wiscons
border states, recreational marijuana is legal in
michigan and Illinois Minnesota allows it for medical
use, proponents of legalization say their state is
missing out on creating jobs and collecting more tax
revenue. Cannabis is an industry that requires a farmer
to grow it, a processor to process it, distributors to
distribute it retailers to sell it. So, um, the
plethora of jobs and opportunities under a cannabis,
robust cannabis legalization bi Um, it is huge to
the state and to the government opponents of
legalization argue the move could make problems states
already have even worse, legali it is not going to
make Wisconsin better. And for the legislators that are
looking forward to one point whatever billion dollars
that Illinois makes and throwing that into the coffers
here in Wisconsin. You're just getting more
complications. But in April survey found six in 10
Americans think marijuana should be made legal
federally. A majority also supported changing the law
to allow banks to partner and work with cannabis
businesses. Growing demand for marijuana products like
edibles and vapes have added new opportunities for job
in the industry. Were close to 400 employees just here
at our indoor facilities and we're looking at adding
another 150 or so. Next year. Three years ago we could
run this shop with 15 20 people were up to 35 plus
people in a single shop. According to cannabis
marketplace, lee flee the industry supports more than
428,000 full time jobs in the US and business is only
growing globally, cannabis market researcher. New
frontier data shows legal cannabis sales topped $23
billion in 2020 with the market expected to double by
2025. Okay, someone who has seen the rise of the market.