There was $6.7 billion in legal cannabis sold last year in North America, according to a new report by Arcview Market Research. The report isn’t available until February, but was obtained early and reported on by Forbes.
According to the report, the $6.7 billion in legal cannabis sales represents a 30% increase from the prior year, a massive increase for any industry.
“The only consumer industry categories I’ve seen reach $5 billion in annual spending and then post anything like 25% compound annual growth in the next five years are cable television (19%) in the 1990’s and the broadband internet (29%) in the 2000’s”, says Tom Adams, Arcview’s Editor-in-Chief.
The group projects that by 2021, legal cannabis sales will surpass $20 billion annually. This includes sales in the four states that legalized cannabis in the U.S. in November; California, Maine, Nevada and Massachusetts. The numbers also take into account projected sales in Canada, which is expected to legalize cannabis this year.
“One of the biggest stories was the alternative forms of ingestion,” says Troy Dayton, ArcView’s Chief Executive Officer. “Concentrates and edibles are becoming customer favorites versus traditional smoking.”
When asked about whether or not he’s concerned about the incoming Trump Administration, and the effect it might have on the legal cannabis industry, Dayton doesn’t seem too worried, noting that Trump has always said he supports the rights of states on this issue. “It’s one of the few things he has been consistent on,” he says.
For their report, Arcview uses data from BDS Analytics that includes millions of individual transactions at cannabis retail outlets/dispensaries.
For those wanting to read the full 200-page report, you’ll need to wait until it’s released next month.
