“The cannabis industry is composed of legal cultivators and producers, consumers, independent industrial standards bodies, ancillary products and services, regulators and researchers concerning cannabis and its industrial derivative, hemp. The cannabis industry has been inhibited by regulatory restrictions for most of recent history, but the legal market has emerged rapidly as more governments legalize medical and adult use. Marijuana (drug) sales in North America reached $6.7 billion in 2016, representing 30% growth year-over-year. According to a report by university researcher Jon Gettman, cannabis is the United States’ largest cash crop and “”a pervasive and ineradicable part of the national economy””. A 2015 ArcView Group report stated that it was the fastest growing industry in the United States. The industry in the United States is expected to grow from $2 billion in 2014 to as much as $10 billion in 2018, depending on legalization outcomes. By one estimate the industry in the United States could be $35 billion in 2020. According to GQ magazine in mid-2017, it was the second largest cash crop in the U.S., after corn, and worth over $40 billion. The national (non-psychoactive) hemp market was $600 million in 2015. Accurate predictions of potential future legal markets for hemp are deemed impossible to predict due to “”the absence since the 1950s of any commercial and unrestricted hemp production in the United States. cannabis, cannabis oil, sativa, indica, cannabinoid, hemp, marijuana, cbd, chemotype, terpenes, tincture, edible, tea, smoking, vaping, vaporizing, THC, mucosal, psychoactive, non-psychoactive, sublingual topical, transdermal, dab, cartridge, budtender, weed, rig, cannabis flower, bowl, pipe, bong, ganja, pot, cake, cookie
