Last Year Americans Spent As Much On Cannabis As They Did On Taco Bell

By Maria Loreto.

New data compiled by Marijuana Business Daily says that last year Americans spent $10.4 billion on legal cannabis, about the same amount of money that they spent on Taco Bell foods. To help you get some perspective, Taco Bell is the sixth-largest fast food chain in the country.

Are people buying weed and then stuffing themselves with Cheesy Gorditas? Seems plausible.

The 10.4 billion earned in 2018 are made up of the medical and recreational cannabis sales, a figure that has grown over the years and that’s expected to go even further. Last year cannabis managed to outsell some of the most discussed brands, like the Fortnite video game and the e-cigarette industry. By 2020, stats suggest that the cannabis industry could rival the revenue income of the NFL.

Black market marijuana is assumed to be valued at $50 or $60 billion, a number that is nearly on par with the wine industry, valued at $72 billion. If the plant were to be legalized and taxed the country’s economic boom would be huge.

While legal cannabis has not met expectations in California, one of the US’s biggest markets, state sales predict that the industry will grow as the plant earns its legal status in more states and continues to employ more people and develop new and inventive products.

This article was originally posted on The Fresh Toast.

Photo by Flickr user Mike Mozart

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The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.