California Legal Cannabis Market Projection

New Frontier and Arcview Market Research latest projections have found California’s legal medical cannabis market is the largest of any state, responsible for an estimated 62% of the country’s total medical cannabis sales and 48% of all canna­bis sales (medical and adult use markets combined) in 2015. California voters will decide in November whether to legalize adult use, and if passed, annual legal cannabis sales in the state are projected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 23.1%; from an estimated $2.81 billion in 2016 (based solely on legal medical market sales), to $6.46 billion by 2020 (medical and adult use combined). The state has low patient barriers to entry, a long and rich industry history, and the northern part of the state represents the largest cultivation and production region for cannabis in the country. With 58 coun­ties and 482 incorporated cities across the state, one of the biggest roadblocks to California’s legal indus­try growth will be the autonomy of local jurisdictions to create their own rules regarding cannabis sales (or their decision to ban it altogether).