No green flag for cannabis in the U.S., at least at the federal level, anytime soon.

If investors were to look around, they’d probably find a number of fast-growing trends, such as blockchain, cloud computing, and gene therapy in the healthcare sector. But there’s perhaps no industry with a more impressive growth rate at the moment than marijuana.

It would appear that sales for the cannabis industry are only limited by our imagination. Whereas I personally thought that Cowen Group‘s estimate of $75 billion in global sales by 2030 was fairly aggressive, I was blown out of the water by Stifel analyst Andrew Carter’s recent report calling for $200 billion in yearly sales in a decade. Such a scenario has one key cog if it’s to be successful: the United States has to legalize marijuana at the federal level.

Make no mistake about it: We’ve come an incredibly long way in the U.S. since 1995, when no states had legalized medical or recreational pot, and support for legalization stood at roughly 25%. Today, two-thirds of respondents to Gallup’s annual poll favor legalizing marijuana, with 33 states having approved medical cannabis in some capacity. Of these 33 states, a third (11) also allow recreational consumption, with Illinois being the latest to legalize marijuana last month. Retail sales in the Land of Lincoln will commence on Jan. 1, 2020. [Read More @ The Motley Fool]