According to data published on the United States Customs and Border Protection website, federal law enforcement agents seized a record low 61,000 pounds of cannabis at the U.S./Mexico border in 2023.
“The total represents a 29 percent decline from 2022 and a 98 percent decline in seizure activity since 2013, when the agency reported interdicting more than 2.4 million pounds of cannabis.” the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws stated in its initial coverage.
A market survey conducted in 2023 by New Frontier Data found that “52% of cannabis consumers, in adult-use markets, repot brick-and-mortar dispensaries as their primary source” for cannabis products.
Starting in 2012 with Colorado and Washington State, voters in a growing number of U.S. states have approved adult-use cannabis legalization measures, with many of them permitting legal recreational cannabis sales. Currently, 24 states and Washington D.C. have legalized cannabis for adult-use.
For many decades, cannabis produced in Mexico was smuggled into the United States. However, demand for unregulated Mexican-grown cannabis has subsided in the U.S. as more states have permitted regulated sales, and that trend is reflected in the latest U.S./Mexico border seizures statistics.
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.