Legal marijuana sales topped $5.8 billion in 2016
Legal marijuana is growing fast.
Sales of the newly legal-for-many drug topped $5.8 billion in the United States in 2016, and $6.7 billion in North America, according to a new report.
That's a 30 percent jump to sales in North America, according to Forbes. U.S. sales in 2015 came in at $5.4 billion, so most of that growth is in Canada. In 2014, U.S. marijuana sales were $4.6 billion.
The Arcview Market Research report cited by Forbes projects that North American sales of legal marijuana will reach $20.2 billion by 2021.
As Forbes pointed out, this growth is faster than even the 2000s dot-com boom.
On Election Day in 2016, voters approved recreational marijuana measures in California, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana and Nevada. Medical marijuana gained approval in Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas.
Colorado and Washington state first voted for legalization in 2012. Canada is also moving toward legalizing adult use of marijuana.
Colorado alone generated more than $1 billion in marijuana sales.
Topics Cannabis
Emma Hinchliffe is a business reporter at Mashable. Before joining Mashable, she covered business and metro news at the Houston Chronicle.
