Latest Data on Legal Weed Reveals Billion-Dollar Opportunity

Marijuana is the kind of industry where people either love it … or hate it. So, when I write about it, I tend to hear from readers who either love it … or hate it.

So, today I want to take a look at the numbers. They tell the real story.

When Leafly.com wanted to run a jobs report on the U.S. cannabis industry, it realized that the federal government was not tracking it. So, the website hired Whitney Economics. And from looking at state and industry data, it found that nearly 65,000 cannabis-related jobs were created in 2018. It was a 44% increase, on the heels of +21% in 2017.

All in all, total cannabis jobs came in at 211,000. But when you factor in indirect jobs (like lawyers and accountants), it’s more like 296,000 jobs. For context, that’s more than the employment in broadcasting, railroads, or even medical labs.

ZipRecruiter agrees, telling The New York Times that it estimates the total number of marijuana jobs at 200,000-300,000 — and “this will grow rapidly.”

And if there’s one thing politicians like to brag about, it’s creating jobs.

Well, here’s another figure that should get their attention: $1,017,120,136.

That’s how much state revenue Colorado has raked in since being the first state to fully legalize marijuana back in 2014.

Interestingly, it took the state three-and-a-half years to reach the $500 million mark in legal marijuana sales. Less than two years later, that figure has doubled … and then some.

That wasn’t the only exciting milestone in Colorado’s monthly data. As of the end of May it had brought in more than $6.5 billion in sales. May and April were the two highest-grossing months in the five-year history of the industry. April – which just so happens to include the infamous 4/20 holiday — brought in the highest total ever of $24.2 million.

Legislators all over the country are eager for their state to be next. In 2018 and 2019 alone, we’ve seen 11 more cannabis legalization measures. Now that politicians see states like Colorado making $1 billion in tax revenue, more will join them.

And each new state to legalize opens up a multi-billion-dollar new market.

Now just imagine when legal weed is opened up to our entire $21 trillion economy. We’re talking exponential growth potential in a single stroke. It’s like when Facebook (FB) opened itself to non-college students, and it went from six million to two billion monthly users.

Or when the company ramped up its advertising business in late 2012, and Facebook stock took off for the stratosphere — and never came back down.

Whether it’s a big tech company or a government … one policy change can have a big impact. And when our whole country of 330 million people opens up … think how the best, established cannabis companies will flourish.

Well, finding the best investments in a huge mega-trend is what I do. I’ve been on this since 2014. Back then, people were more concerned with shale oil, and whether Ebola was going to tank the market. (They still hadn’t decided whether Facebook was a good investment, for that matter.)

But I was willing to go on TV and urge people to consider cannabis stocks. It was well before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. And that’s how fortunes are made: by investing in huge new trends, early on.

With the Brightfield Group expecting the U.S. cannabis industry to go from $11 billion to $22 billion by 2023, this is the place to look.

Finding the Best Investments in Legal Marijuana

From my research, I’ve developed a tried-and-true method of picking pot stocks. I evaluate recent IPOs — and ride the best ones higher — in a system I call the Cannabis Cash Calendar.

Every few weeks in Investment Opportunities, I notify readers which early investment in cannabis to make now. One of our first was Elixinol Global (ELLXF). It’s up 74% for my subscribers now. Other cannabis stocks have made us 153%, 276%, even 564%. That kind of explosive wealth creation doesn’t happen in “normal” times. It happens when a new market has just been created — and you win by getting established early.

Here’s the thing with these unusual windows of explosive wealth creation: You never know how long they will stay open. Sometimes the gains come overnight. Sometimes they take a year or more. The key is to act quickly.

My Next Cannabis Cash Calendar Pick Is Coming July 8th

These days, new cannabis stocks are popping up all the time. Anytime there’s an IPO, I want to see the stock meet five specific criteria — and I want to get the timing right. That’s what I designed my Cannabis Cash Calendar system to do specifically for marijuana IPOs.

As legalization works its way across the country (and the world), the biggest gains in pot stocks are still to be made. In other words, even the best investments in cannabis still have further upside. Oftentimes, you can buy tomorrow’s leaders for just pennies a share, or maybe a few dollars.

This Monday, July 8, I’ll be releasing my next Cannabis Cash Calendar recommendation. You can get exclusive access to it the moment it is released to my Investment Opportunities readers. Click here to learn more and get on the list to be notified. 

Best regards,

Matt McCall