In the grand scheme of things, the legal global cannabis industry is just getting started. As it stands right now, 57 countries have adopted some form of medical cannabis legalization, and six countries have adopted national adult-use cannabis legalization measures. Of those nations, only some have implemented robust cannabis commerce models. This leaves a significant amount of untapped cannabis industry potential.
According to researchers at New Frontier Data, more than 260 million adults worldwide consume cannabis at least once a year. The researchers estimate that global cannabis consumers “spent an estimated $415 billion on high-THC cannabis in 2020,” and that figure is expected to increase to $496 billion by 2025.
However, 94% of the money cannabis consumers spent on cannabis in 2020 went to unregulated sources, which demonstrates how the legal cannabis industry is barely scraping the surface of what it could become. At a regional level, leading international cannabis economist Beau Whitney estimates that the cannabis markets in Central and South America are worth a total of $8 billion and that much of that market is still unregulated.
Pet CBD and Cannabis Products on the Rise
Adding to the emerging legal cannabis industry is the diversification of how the cannabis plant is used. In addition to ingestible products for human patients and consumers, parts of the cannabis plant are being used to make products for pets and other animals. For example, regulators in Brazil recently approved the dispensing of cannabidiol (CBD) products to animals by licensed veterinarians.
