A stat from The State of Legal Marijuana Markets suggests that Canadians spent a whopping $A2.28 billion on recreational weed in 2018. Thus, it is no surprise that adults love marijuana, just as they love alcohol and gambling, the least-affected industries even during a recession.
Another promising adult-use weed figure comes from Colorado, where the state’s regulated marijuana industry has generated over $A8.5 billion in sales since legalizing the same in 2014.
In light of the above-mentioned figures, Investment strategist Mark Bernberg said that Australia was losing billions of dollars of potential tax revenue from legal recreational marijuana. He questioned the reluctance of political parties not willing to take up the matter in their election campaigns, especially when the revenue could be utilized in upgrading schools, public infrastructure, and social security.
Bernberg further added that besides attracting new sources of tax revenue, the legalization of adult-use marijuana would also reduce the amount of money spent fighting the eternal war against drugs.
A report from Whitney Economics says that the US saw a 44% increase in jobs in the legal marijuana industry last year. At present, it is estimated, there are nearly 296,000 pot-oriented jobs in the country, which are not just restricted to cultivation and bud tending.
“A cannabis company is like any other business out there – a synchronization of management positions, research teams, cultivators, biochemists, accounting teams and legal teams,” said Bernberg.
Most of the publicly traded companies reported huge sales since Canada and other US states legalized adult-use weed. In fact, Canopy Growth, the largest cannabis grower in the world by market cap, garnered more than $A102 million in gross recreational sales during its last quarter.
Marijuana Tourism is another factor that acts as a huge boost to revenue and job generation. Consider, for instance, the case of Colorado, where cannabis tourism has grown by 51% since 2014.
Thus, in a nutshell, one can safely assume that if recreational weed is legalized in Australia, it will not only act as a huge money-maker but also a great job generator.
