When it comes to the fastest growing industries on the planet, the green rush certainly has its place. After posting $10.9 billion in worldwide legal sales last year, the global cannabis industry could grow into a $50 billion to $200 billion industry by the end of the next decade. At $200 billion a decade from now, the pot industry would be delivering a compound annual growth rate of roughly 34%.
But when we're talking about growth in the cannabis industry, we're really discussing the potential of the U.S. market, which should account for somewhere between a third and half of global weed sales. Investment bank Stifel, which put out the aggressive note to clients calling for $200 billion in worldwide sales, predicts that the U.S. will be responsible for $100 billion of this annual total. That makes U.S. pot stocks particularly attractive to long-term investors.
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