As the legal cannabis industries in Canada and the United States continue to increase in size, the total number of cannabis industry licenses in both markets was lower in the first quarter of 2024 compared to previous periods.
“The pace of cannabis business licensing in North America slowed in the first quarter of 2024, with active licenses declining 6% from the fourth quarter of 2023 in the U.S., and falling 14% in Canada,” CRB Monitor News stated in recent reporting.
“The decline in total U.S. licenses marked the fifth consecutive quarterly decline in active licenses since the fourth quarter of 2022.” CRB Monitor News stated. “Canadian business licensing numbers fell 9% in the first quarter, a marked change from the stability the market had experienced for the previous two years.”
Despite the lower license numbers, North America’s cannabis industry is still projected to experience significant growth in the coming years.
“The North America legal cannabis market size reached US$ 35.6 Billion in 2023. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach US$ 298.5 Billion by 2032, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 26.65% during 2023-2032.” Research and Markets stated in a press release.
The researchers determined that “the increasing utilization of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) in the skincare and the cosmetic industry” is “offering lucrative growth opportunities to industry investors in the region.”
According to data that was recently published by Statistics Canada, “In 2023, more than one-third of adults aged 18 to 24 years (38.4%) and 25 to 44 years (34.5%) reported using cannabis in the previous 12 months, compared with 15.5% of adults aged 45 years and older.”
Statistics Canada also found that 8.7% of adults aged 18 to 24 years and 10.3% of adults aged 25 to 44 years report consuming cannabis daily or almost daily.
Additionally, “over two in three” cannabis consumers bought their cannabis from regulated sources according to government data. Statistics Canada estimates that the nation is home to “more than 3,000 legal cannabis stores.”
The United States adult-use cannabis industry has generated over $20 billion in total tax revenue since the first legal recreational cannabis purchase was made in Colorado on January 1st, 2014 according to a new report by the Marijuana Policy Project.
“Through the first quarter of 2024, states have reported a combined total of more than $20 billion in tax revenue from legal, adult-use cannabis sales. In 2023 alone, legalization states generated more than $4 billion in cannabis tax revenue from adult-use sales, which is the most revenue generated by cannabis sales in a single year.” the Marijuana Policy project stated in a press release.
Total legal cannabis sales in the United States are expected to reach $31.4 billion in 2024 according to a recent analysis by Whitney Economics. Additionally, leading cannabis jobs platform Vangst, in conjunction with Whitney Economics, estimates that the legal cannabis industry now supports 440,445 full time-equivalent cannabis jobs in the United States.
Whitney Economics also projects the following legal cannabis sales figures in the United States for the coming years:
- 2024: $31.4 billion (9.1% growth from 2023)
- 2025: $35.2 billion (12.1% growth from 2024)
- 2030: $67.2 billion
- 2035: $87.0 billion
The emerging legal cannabis industry in the United States is projected to add roughly $112 billion to the nation’s economy in 2024 according to a newly released analysis by MJBiz Daily. The projection is part of the company’s 2024 MJBiz Factbook.
“The total U.S. economic impact generated by regulated marijuana sales could top $112.4 billion in 2024, about 12% more than last year,” MJBiz stated in its initial reporting.