Medical Marijuana
The inside of the Columbia Care medical marijuana dispensary is seen in New York January 7, 2016. New York's first medical marijuana dispensaries are opening their doors on Thursday, as the state launches one of the most conservative programs of its kind in the United States. Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

Medical marijuana is a growing market in the US, and if the trend continues, it looks like it will even be more popular in the coming years.

According to a report published by Marijuana Business Daily, the legal marijuana industry in the US is expected to reach US$44 billion (AU$58.7 billion) by 2020, that is, if present rules and trends in the industry remain intact. A separate study from ArcView Research, however, revealed a more conservative outlook in which the industry was predicted to surpass the US$21 billion (AU$28 billion) mark during the same period.

The current year could give the market a total revenue of US$3.5 billion to US$4.3 billion (AU$4.7 billion to AU$5.7 billion). In the first quarter of 2016, sales of legal marijuana skyrocketed by 17 percent to US$5.4 billion (AU$7.2 billion) from 2015 figures. By 2017, the market will reach US$6.7 billion (AU$8.9 billion), up by 25 percent from last year. Due to the continuous growth since 2014, it is anticipated to reach US$8 billion (AU$10.7 billion) by 2018.

MBD managing editor Chris Walsh said that they have been expecting rapid growth in legal cannabis niche as manufacturers and producers are now realising the potential of the nascent industry. "And that's exactly what's playing out," Walsh said (via RT). "Even the mature medical marijuana markets are growing very quickly, like Arizona, New Mexico, and states that have had medical programs for years now."

Walsh also stated that the results of November election could possibly alter the market for the better should California, Nevada and Massachusetts opt to legalise it. The possible legalisation of medical marijuana in Ohio and Florida could encourage both big and small pharmaceuticals to include the new niche to their arsenal of products and services, as well as to their long list of clinical trials for future drugs.

Innovators and entrepreneurs will also be encouraged to join the growing market. Startup companies will find the importance of seeking funding to enhance their research and development capacities, as well as marketing, to become one of the first beneficiaries of the constantly expanding niche.

Among the companies obtaining massive attention from legal cannabis investors is Med-X, Inc. a startup focused on offering research-based marijuana products on the market. Its flagship product, called Nature-Cide All-Purpose Insecticide, promises to help farmers to cultivate marijuana in the most non-toxic and environment-friendly way.

"Both the insecticidal soil and the Nature-Cide All Purpose Insecticide are safe to use with any kind of cultivation project, but they were developed specifically to satisfy each step of cannabis cultivation. By providing exceptional products that have been proven safe and natural, we can ensure cannabis gets grown to our particular standards and expectations for excellence," Med-X COO Matthew Mills said in a press release.

What’s leading Med-X ahead of its many competitors is its sincerity in contributing to the research and development (R&D) segment of legal marijuana market. Just recently, it has launched a crowdsourcing campaign on StartEngine to widen its reach and capabilities in conducting more-in-depth studies on the nascent industry. The company is also educating the public on the current state of the market, as well as cannabis’ many benefits, through The Marijuana Times, its publication arm.

An anti-cannabis president, however, could also alter the market as it could also put other states’ journey to legalisation into a halt. According to the data compiled by the Marijuana Policy Project, supporters of marijuana legalisation are Democratic Party candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and anti-marijuana advocates are GOP contenders Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Rick Santorum and Donald Trump.

Regardless of elections results, Walsh is still highly confident that the marijuana market will certainly be an important and massive industry in the near future. “[The figures we revealed], which we deem conservative, show not only how important the industry already is to the US economy at large, but also how much more important it is about to become.”

Sales of recreational cannabis can also exceed those of medical marijuana as early as 2018, depending on what would happen in the political segment of the market. Colorado, however, remains the biggest market for legal cannabis in the US at US $1 billion (AU$1.4 billion, up by 42 percent from last year.

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