10 Fast Facts About Marijuana You Might Not Know, But Will Now

With Marijuana about to make an (even bigger) place for itself in Sonoma County, people who’ve done no more than consider it in passing may be finding themselves with questions  about why it’s becoming such a big deal – with twenty-nine U.S. states plus the District of Columbia now allowing legal use of medical marijuana, with eight states plus D.C. permitting recreational use of the drug. We’d like to help.

Here are 10 facts about marijuana you might not have known:

1. The U.S. marijuana market will be $37.3 billion by 2024
Data gathered by Statista says that within seven years, the U.S. marijuana market could hit $37.3 billion, including both medical and recreational marijuana markets. That’s a lot of green (pun intended.)

2. 55 million Americans used marijuana in the past year
According to a survey conducted by Altaba’s Yahoo News and Marist College, this number also includes around 35 million adults who use marijuana at least once or twice per month and another 20 million who used marijuana once or twice in the past year.

3. Marijuana sales in North America last year amounted to $6.7 billion.
Arcview Market Research compared the growth in the marijuana industry to the growth of cable television in the 1990s and broadband internet in the first decade of the 21st century and estimates that the North American market for marijuana totaled $6.7 billion in 2016.

4. 129 million American adults have tried marijuana.
A Yahoo News/Marist College survey reported that 52% of American adults have tried the drug at some point in their lives. That translates to around 129 million people.

5. $655 million in tax revenue from marijuana is estimated for 2017
According to projections by New Frontier Data , States where marijuana is legal could generate tax revenue from marijuana totaling $655 million. Much of this figure stems from states with legalized medical marijuana.

6. 83% of Americans support legalizing medical marijuana
Yahoo News/Marist College survey reported that 83% of respondents supported legalization of medical marijuana, which is consistent with another survey conducted by Quinnipiac University.

7. There are about 25% fewer opioid-related deaths in states with legal medical marijuana
Research has found that the annual rate of deaths due to opioid overdoses was nearly 25% lower in states that allow legal use of medical marijuana. Some clinical studies indicate that medical marijuana could be effective in helping to alleviate pain.

8. 13,000 kilowatts/hour of electricity are used to produce 5 pounds of marijuana
Evan Mills, from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, calculated how much electricity was used in California’s greenhouses in the production of marijuana. To put his 13,000 kilowatts figure into perspective, it’s more electricity than the average U.S. household uses in a year.

9. There are around 165,000 cannabis industry workers in U.S.
A publication focusing on the medical marijuana and retail cannabis industry, Marijuana Business Daily, estimates that between 165,000 and 230,000 people work in the U.S. cannabis industry. This estimate includes employment data for retailers, wholesaler, testing labs, and ancillary companies. This means that there are more cannabis industry workers than there are dental hygienists in the U.S.

10. 60 million gallons of water per day are used in California’s marijuana growing season
This is 50% more water than every person living in San Francisco uses per day.