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Cannabis: “The United States Is A $100 Billion Opportunity,” States The Head of Tilray

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Irwin Simon, CEO of Tilray (TLRY), says that the U.S. market for cannabis is huge, even though Congress hasn’t given it the go-ahead yet.

Simon told Yahoo Finance Live that the U.S. cannabis market is worth $100 billion (video above). “When it comes to cannabis in the U.S., 93% of people want it to be legal for medical use, and between 63% and 65% want it to be legal for adults. Today, about 33 states and the District of Columbia allow it. So, everyone knows that most people want cannabis to be legal.”

Tilray is one of the biggest marijuana growers in the world. It wants to grow its market share by focusing on both recreational and medical marijuana.

Simon stressed that the chances aren’t limited to the drug, though. There is also a growing market for products like food, drinks, and personal care items that are similar to cannabis.

“Once cannabis is legalized in the U.S., big companies like Diageo, Brown-Forman, ABI, and even Nestle and Unilever will want to get into the business because they know that’s what Gen Z and millennials want,” Simon said.
Curaleaf (CURLF) CEO Matt Darin said something similar to what Simon said: “We think that new ideas are the key to the future. And a lot of the growth in the industry is being driven by the new categories that are coming online.”

Darin said that the drinks category, in particular, was a big one. “It’s still a small part of the market,” he said, “but we see that as a category that will keep growing as new ideas come out and as they become more widely available across the country.”

Even though the legal status of weed continues to weigh down the industry, recent earnings point to growth in the cannabis space.
Tilray said that its sales went up by 8% in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year. This made the stock go up, even though the Canadian company was still losing money.

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In the second quarter, Curaleaf made a record amount of money and made $338 million in sales.

Darin from Curaleaf said, “We’re seeing some great momentum from that earlier in the year, when it was a little bit harder.” “So, we’re very happy with the results and the way the industry is going.”
“There’s never been more support from both sides.”

Still, the question of legalization is still a big deal for the industry. Simon said that federal changes like legalizing or decriminalizing drugs are not a matter of if, but when.

Darin agreed, “We’re very happy with what’s going on in Washington, D.C. right now.” “Reforms that make sense have never had more support from both parties.”
The National Conference of State Legislatures says that 37 states and D.C. allow some form of medical marijuana use, while 19 states and D.C. allow adults to use marijuana for fun.

POLITICO said that at the end of July, Democrats introduced a bill that would make the drug legal on a federal level, but there are not yet enough votes for it to pass.

Simon said that it would “absolutely” make sense to legalize marijuana and pointed to Canada as a country that has benefited from laws.

“If you take a step back and look at Canada, for example, it’s the only country where it’s legal for adults to use cannabis,” Simon said. “And over the last three and a half years and more, it has brought in about $20 billion in taxes, created over 150,000 jobs, and spent about $6 billion on building up infrastructure.”

“Look at the tax money we’re losing by not legalizing cannabis and the tax money we could be getting,” he said. “All the medical benefits of cannabis today, like how it can help with pain, anxiety, sleep, cancer, and other drugs that it could replace. So cannabis has a lot of good things going for it, which is why it should be legalized.”
Even so, cannabis companies are moving forward with other product lines and international growth, whether or not Congress acts.

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“Even if the U.S. doesn’t legalize cannabis in the next few years, our spirits, beer, and Manitoba Harvest businesses will grow a lot,” Simon said. “Twenty countries in Europe allow the use of cannabis for medical purposes. Then there was Canada. Listen up: Canada is as big as California. We won’t stop looking for companies to buy. We will look into making more purchases to add to the Tilray brands.”

Even though the movement toward legalization is slow, Darin said that the companies that are already in business are trying to get ahead of the competition.

Darin said, “It’s important to get started early.” “This has been Curaleaf’s plan from the start.”

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