In January 2020, Illinois will become the 11th U.S. state to legalize marijuana, expanding the cannabis market in the United States. It’s another sign of the public support to legalize the substance that is fuelling the push toward legalizing it on the federal level.
The growing momentum to bring cannabis into the mainstream in the U.S. has intensified, especially since Canada last year became the first G7 nation to legalize the weed. The push is based on several factors – the huge economic impact, consumer demand and the medicinal benefits the substance is widely touted to hold. And it is catching the attention of a growing number of investors.
To gauge the level of interest in cannabis-related investment Investing.com looked into data for 8 million users across all 50 states finding that users who have the highest degree of interest in the sector are based in states that have already legalized the substance. Maine topped the list with 7.5% of users in that state interested marijuana stocks, followed by Massachusetts (6.1%), Michigan (5.6%), Alaska (5.2%), and California (5.1%).
In addition, the analysis showed the seven top states with the highest number of users interested in marijuana stocks had already legalized pot. All 10 states where marijuana has been legalized were in the top 20. It is interesting to note that Illinois, which only publicly announced last month its plan to legalize cannabis by 2020, was not in the top 20.
Investing.com’s partner on the survey, SEMrush also found a drastic increase in Google searches for pot socks in each state following legalization, in excess of 100% in most cases.
The data indicates a direct link between the legalization of cannabis and investor interest in pot stocks, which is, in turn, speeding up the drive toward expanding the favorable regulatory environment. All of this points to high times ahead for the cannabis sector as legalization continues to march forward in the U.S.
Recent Comments