Medical Marijuana in Florida Could Top $1B In Three Years

medicalmarijuana December 6, 2016 Comments Off on Medical Marijuana in Florida Could Top $1B In Three Years
Medical Marijuana in Florida Could Top $1B In Three Years

Florida is on track to log more than $1 billion in medical marijuana sales by 2019, according to an industry report released Tuesday.

The estimates are good news for Florida’s budding medical cannabis industry, fresh off a major ballot box win last month.

By 2020, the report predicts, Florida will be the second-largest medical marijuana market in the country, following only California. Marijuana industry analysts New Frontier Data and Arcview Market Research compiled the estimates based on data from governments, businesses and activists.

Floridians approved Amendment 2 with 71 percent of the vote in last month’s election. Once it goes into effect, doctors will be able to recommend marijuana as a treatment for cancer, HIV/AIDS and other debilitating conditions.

New Frontier and Arcview assume sales will begin next year. They predict $10 million in marijuana sales in 2017, though the earliest the drug could be available to an expanded group of patients is late in the year.

From there, revenues from the market would only grow, gaining steam from national upward trends in the marijuana industry and the state’s steady population growth.

Earlier estimates from the groups’ previous reports pegged the Florida market at just slightly below these new measures, though the report’s authors say they used new, better data and that old and new projections “cannot be compared.”

But a word of caution: It’s impossible to know just how the rules governing medical marijuana in Florida will look until the state Legislature and Department of Health have their say.

“The full regulatory structure and key program details remain to be determined,” the report says, “and the market could take a few different directions depending on the actions of the Florida Legislature and the Florida Department of Health.”

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