LOS ANGELES — Colorado-based research firm BDSA projects legal marijuana sales in the U.S. will jump 8% this year to $27 billion.
Much of the increase is coming from states like Illinois and New Jersey that recently legalized cannabis sales for recreational use, according to BDSA. Those gains should offset slowing sales in more established legal marijuana markets, such as California, Washington and Colorado, according to a BDSA forecast released this week.
BDSA forecasts U.S. sales will reach $42 billion in 2026. Adult recreational use of marijuana is legal in 19 states, while medical use is legal in 39 states.
BDSA Chief Executive Roy Bingham spoke to The Associated Press about the cannabis industry trends that shaped the firm’s forecast.
Q: Why are some markets seeing sales growth, while others are slowing?
A: The industry is made up of a series of growth curves for each state. In the case of some of the mature states, they are now at the flat or declining phase, largely because of price reductions. And in the case of the early stage markets like New Jersey, they’re in the catching up very rapidly phase. And then you still have states like Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan that are seeing fairly strong growth. Combine that with markets that are going to come on in the future when legalization takes place for either medical use or adult use, and you end up with our projection of $42 billion by 2026. [Read More @ AP News]
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