In just a few years, the marijuana industry has taken giant steps forward – moving from a cottage industry dominated by small growers to a multi-billion dollar juggernaut. In Canada, projections indicate that marijuana industry revenue has overtaken the revenue derived from alcohol spirits and is closing in on the revenue generated by sales of bottled wine. The United States will catch up fast!
As of January 1, 2018, thirty states and the District of Columbia had laws broadly legalizing marijuana in some form including eight states and the District of Columbia that have adopted laws legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Most recently, sales of recreational-use marijuana in California kicked off on January 1. In Massachusetts, retail sales of cannabis are expected to start later this year in July. Voters in Michigan will have an opportunity to vote on the issue later in 2018.
The rapid changes in the level of marijuana acceptance have the growing, processing and extraction operations moving from the shadows to the mainstream and state and local governments are reviewing license and safety requirements for grow operations, processing, extraction and distribution.
