Taken together, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut are home to 44.8 million people. That’s nearly 14% of the entire U.S. population.
So when the governors of those four states got together to discuss marijuana legalization, I took notice.
The governors of those four important states all support legalizing cannabis. They say their people want it, and both New York and New Jersey came very close to doing it in the last legislative session. Lawmakers got bogged down in details and ran out of time, so don’t be surprised if it happens on both of those states soon.
It’s noteworthy that they actually held a summit to discuss coordinating their policies. As New York Governor Andrew Cuomo put it, “It’s complicated, it is controversial, and it is consequential.”
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said what I’ve talked about for some time … that the current “patchwork quilt of marijuana regulations makes no sense at all.”
Just take a look at the map below and you can see the cannabis chaos. What’s not shown is that marijuana remains illegal federally. But it is fully legal in 11 states and Washington, D.C. and medically legal in 33 states plus Washington, D.C.
It’s crazy … and it won’t last.
Public sentiment has shifted. And states are especially concerned because cannabis brings in big tax revenue in states where it is legal. If there’s one thing you can be certain of it’s that states won’t want their citizens going to neighboring states to spend their cannabis money there.
Here’s how Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman put it: “Legalization is the pathway to regulation. And regulation produces the desired outcome that everybody wants. We want to suffocate the black market, take it out of the shadows, test purity to make it safer, and produce revenue.”
Money talks, right?
It’s already talking. I shared these eye-popping numbers with my Investment Opportunities readers:
- Colorado legalized recreational cannabis six years ago, on January 1, 2014. In that time, the combined sales of recreational and medicinal cannabis have totaled over $6.5 billion … and the state has raked in more than $1 billion in tax revenue.
- California, which sells more marijuana than Canada, expected its excise tax on marijuana to generate $355 million in the 2018-2019 tax year and $514 million the following year.
- Last year, Michigan became the 10th state to legalize recreational marijuana. It estimates $737.9 million in additional tax revenue in the first four years.
- Massachusetts, also new to legalized recreational marijuana, expects to generate $219 million the first two years.
- A study by the University of Illinois concluded that legalization in that state would lead to $500 million in new tax revenue.
We know legalization will be explosive.
The California marijuana market alone is bigger than all of Canada … and growing. If — when — full legalization occurs, the U.S. will immediately become the largest market in the world. In fact, it will be bigger than the rest of the world combined.
U.S. legalization will be the biggest catalyst in the history of the marijuana industry.
Early investors will reap the most benefits from an industry that’s expected to reach $12 billion in the U.S. this year. And by 2024, the North American cannabis market is expected to hit $43 billion if it is legalized in all states.
I am convinced legalization will happen, and I put the odds of it in the next 18 months well above 50%. I realize my predictions are not always the popular view, but that’s precisely the time to buy. Buying Bitcoin at $10 was not popular advice a few years ago … and today it’s at $7,437.
We’re in the early stages of this massive legalization trend in America and around the world. The key to making the biggest gains from the monumental announcement is getting in early. And by early I mean before full legalization opens the door to generational profits.
In other words … right now.
Matthew McCall left Wall Street to actually help investors — by getting them into the world’s biggest, most revolutionary trends BEFORE anyone else. The power of being “first” gave Matt’s readers the chance to bank +2,438% in Stamps.com (STMP), +1,523% in Ulta Beauty (ULTA) and +1,044% in Tesla (TSLA), just to name a few. Click here to see what Matt has up his sleeve now. Matt does not directly own the aforementioned securities.
