Pubdate: Wed, 04 Jan 2017
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2017 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Alyssa Pereira

LEGAL MARIJUANA SALES IN 2016 GREW 30 PERCENT, 'FASTER THAN THE DOT-COM ERA'

[photo] Production supervisor Joshua Ramos trims marijuana plants in a
flowering nursery at ButterBrand farms in San Francisco, California, on
Friday, Oct. 28, 2016.

In 2016, the legal marijuana industry in the United States earned $5.8
billion dollars, according to San Francisco-based Arcview Market Research,
first reported by Forbes.

In the whole of North America, those sales add up to $6.7 billion for the
year, meaning the cannabis industry in the U.S. and Canada grew by an
incredible 30 percent over the previous year - "faster and larger than,"
as Forbes writes, "the dot-com era."

Those sales numbers are expected to rise to more than $20 billion in 2021,
due in part to California's recent legalization of recreational marijuana
sales.

"This is the vote heard round the world," said Arcview's chief executive,
Troy Dayton, before the legalization vote in November. "What we've seen
before has been tiny compared to what we are going to see in California."

And studies suggest he may be right; sales in California alone are
expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 18.5 percent, from $2.76
billion in 2015 to $6.5 billion by 2020.

Arcview is expecting to see a cumulative 25 percent compound annual growth
rate for North American sales over the next few years as the industry
blooms and more dispensaries open.
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