Ever since California opened the door to legal sales of medical cannabis in 1996, cannabis-infused foods and beverages have been commercially available. Similar legislation progressively made its way across the U.S., providing relief for a wide range of conditions and ailments. Entrepreneurial businesses sprung up around legal cannabis to meet demand, and the nascent roots of a cottage industry began to grow.
But it wasn’t until 2014 when Colorado passed legislation permitting recreational cannabis use that this industry began to see exponential growth. More states followed suit, and in 2019, sales of legal cannabis in the U.S. reached $12.2 billion according to the 2020 update to “The State of Legal Cannabis Markets” report released in January 2020 from Arcview Market Research and BDSA.