cannabisnews.com: Legal Marijuana Sales Hit $5.4 Billion in 2015
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Legal Marijuana Sales Hit $5.4 Billion in 2015
Posted by CN Staff on February 05, 2016 at 05:12:30 PT
By Christine Hauser
Source: New York Times
USA -- It’s not just heat lamps in closets and nickel bags anymore: Marijuana is getting some respect as legal sales take off.This week two marijuana analysis and investment firms released a summary of a report that appeared to confirm that the industry has become a gold rush. National legal sales of cannabis grew to $5.4 billion in 2015, up from $4.6 billion in 2014, according to the firms, the ArcView Group, based in San Francisco, and New Frontier, based in Washington.
Demand is expected to remain strong this year, with a forecast of $6.7 billion in legal sales, the report said.The promises and headwinds of the industry are potentially far-reaching and attracting notice on Wall Street. As more states legalize marijuana sales, analysts are weighing the stock market benefits of new businesses as cannabis goes corporate. Funds are considering the ethics of investing in marijuana. Parents are even debating whether to allow their children to buy the stocks.And say goodbye to the common resealable bags and heat lamps in the closet. Lucrative legal side businesses are spinning off, like the climate systems for growers built by a company in Boulder, Colo., and the FunkSac odor-proof and child-resistant marijuana bags produced in Denver.“There is still a certain stigma around it,” said Brandy Keen, a co-founder of Surna, which makes technology for indoor cultivation. “This is an industry that came out of the basement. It grew out of closets and basements and hidden facilities in cinder-block buildings.”Nonmedicinal adult use accounted for $998 million of the total sales in 2015, up from $351 million in 2014, according to the ArcView/New Frontier report summary. The estimates are based partly on state tax receipts and data on medical and recreational sales.The report summary said that by 2020, legal market sales were forecast to be $21.8 billion.The summary, released before a full report scheduled for the end of February, was one of the latest by market analysts to scrutinize the emerging marijuana industry. Merrill Lynch said in a report cited by Philly.com in December that it expected the cannabis market and associated testing technologies to grow if legalized.GreenWave Advisors said in its latest annual report in November that it estimated revenues of $4.8 billion in 2015, compared with about $3.2 billion in 2014. It expects further growth in 2016 and a “surge” in 2017 and 2018.The latest report defined three types of legal marijuana use: adult recreational use; medical use of cannabis; and medicinal use of a cannabis product from which the compound that gets a consumer high has been extracted.It said 2016 would be the “tipping point” at which a majority of states transition from cannabis prohibition to some form of regulated legal market.John Kagia, New Frontier’s director of industry analytics, said he has spoken at investment meetings about legal marijuana where it was “standing room only” with investors trying to “figure out angles” given the regulatory climate.Twenty-three states already permit medical cannabis use, and four others — Florida, Ohio, Missouri and Pennsylvania — are positioned to advance medical laws, the report said.Some federal regulatory barriers are easing, and federal interest in research into medical marijuana use is growing. But there are headwinds, the report cautioned.Cannabis businesses face a higher tax burden. They are also unable to use banks because of federal laws, which can hinder efficiency and pose security risks, forcing the businesses to invest heavily in security measures. Increased competition across state lines could pose new challenges as more states legalize the trade.Marijuana stocks underperformed on the market in 2015 compared with the Nasdaq and Standard & Poor’s indexes, tempering some of the enthusiasm of investors, the report said.Legalization is also a hot topic of national debate, making the industry vulnerable in an election year.“Though public opinion is shifting toward embracing cannabis reform, presidential candidates are more reticent to support legalization,” the report said.The plant’s business potential has deep and roots, as the rapper Snoop Dogg, the country singer Willie Nelson and the actor Tommy Chong have demonstrated by leveraging their celebrity status to establish new brands in the market, the report noted.Source: New York Times (NY)Author: Christine Hauser Published: February 4, 2016Copyright: 2016 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.comWebsite: http://www.nytimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/9yuxt8AMCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on February 09, 2016 at 22:53:34 PT
Good job, New Hampshire!
We have a real candidate and we are supporting him. A beautiful thing to see. Thank you, New Hampshire!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #9 posted by Paint with light on February 07, 2016 at 06:44:16 PT
What a difference 50 years makes
1966------Burn, Burn, Burn.2016------Bern, Bern, Bern.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #8 posted by The GCW on February 06, 2016 at 14:46:41 PT
Quite interesting
Marijuana in Space – NASA Discovers THC on Meteorite Fragment
http://thehealthdisorder.com/marijuana-in-space-nasa-discovers-thc-on-meteorite-fragment/ Feb. 3, 2016A team of astrophysicists at the University of Hawaii have created somewhat of a stir within the scientific community after the discovery of trace amounts of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on a meteorite found in the Nevada desert in 2010. Cont.-0-If You were to go to Neptune and could only take 1 plant, I strongly recommend cannabis.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by FoM on February 06, 2016 at 12:21:37 PT
The Radical Left Has Bernie Sanders All Wrong
I thought this was a very interesting article and why Bernie's ideas are important to our future.URL: http://www.salon.com/2016/01/31/the_radical_left_has_bernie_sanders_all_wrong/
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on February 06, 2016 at 10:31:01 PT
All of us that feel the Bern
HAVE TO VOTE FOR THE BERN in the DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY!!!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by The GCW on February 06, 2016 at 00:33:54 PT
FoM,
I'm feeling the Bern too.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by Hope on February 05, 2016 at 20:53:21 PT
Imagining the end of the drug war and war on 
The innocent cannabis enthusiasts, I found it difficult to even imagine what legalization might be like. This is actually very exciting and amazing to watch. Cannabis prohibition and injustice isn't going out with a bang or even a whimper. It's crickets. Then "Ka Ching"!My only real hope was for the horrible injustice, indignities, lives and careers ruined, people pushed to suicide and violence, murders, home invasions, spying, and suspicions to stop. It was outrageous. It was obscene. The details were awful. Beyond awful. I still cannot understand why people accepted it for so long. In fact, they still do, sadly, some places. It's getting better. What was it that Margaret Mead said about a small group of determined people?
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on February 05, 2016 at 19:29:41 PT
I Feel The Bern!
Go Bernie!
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Comment #2 posted by Oleg the Tumor on February 05, 2016 at 19:09:50 PT
Mary Jane's next challenger- the TPP
Consider the following phases of cultural development: A. seeking a collective identity.
B. declaring independence. 
C. deriving the power to govern (sovereignty)America started to go through A. from about 1492 through 1775.
The "colonists" took exception to the crown's meddling in their lives (thus creating a tradition of"American Exceptionalism")and declared independence in 1776. The Constitution that we all know and love to ignore was a product of the Constitutional convention of 1789.It is from this curious, original document that we get this notion of sovereignty, that the power to govern requires they consent of the governed.Now, corporations were known to our founding fathers. They were called "cartels", and those and involved in running them were called "criminals" because skulduggery was usually involved.Today's modern corporations found their collective identity (and the right to appear before judge as an individual in a court of law) sometime during the Gilded Age. They moved on to part B. (and declared independence) via the Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the corporate world is now about to move on to "sovereignty" through the Trans Pacific Trade Partnership.One of the provisions of this trade deal is a tribunal, created to settle disputes through binding arbitration.Incredibly, the small print of this deal allows corporations to sue governments for future profits that they would have received had it not been for the actions of the citizenry.As to cannabis, a pharmaceutical company could produce a list of many drugs whose sales have been affected adversely by cannabis legalization. Arbitration gets to replace "justice", and the result will be compensation out the wazoo for the pharmaceutical companies.The TPP represents sovereignty for corporations. It's the last item on their agenda, and if they get it our goose is cooked!Stop the TPP! Let Mary Jane go free!
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on February 05, 2016 at 17:11:01 PT
Good news!!!
The vote is Tuesday - Bernie is on fire!Poll: Sanders Leads Clinton by 20 Points in New Hampshirehttp://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/poll-sanders-leads-clinton-20-points-new-hampshire-n511456Hillary Clinton Losing Her National Lead Over Bernie Sanders, Poll Showshttp://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-losing-national-lead-bernie-sanders-poll/story?id=36733595
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