In the 2020 election last November, every cannabis-related ballot presented to voters was passed or approved to legalize cannabis for recreational use. Today, there are now more states that have legalized THC either medicinally or recreationally than states that have not at all.
As it reached its way towards a billion-dollar industry, many governors and public health officials even considered cannabis operations an essential business during a global pandemic crisis. The quick development of legal cannabis in the last few years alone has presented questions for what the future of global cannabis legalization can look like, as well as the obstacles faced today.
As a result, many of these strains are now popular among cannabis culture and actively sought out by smokers and dispensaries. Continue reading to learn the most popular cannabis strains of 2021 and how they were created to be what they are known for today.
The Current State of Cannabis
All eyes continue to focus on the legal cannabis industry, as countries throughout the world connect their discoveries and turn to legalization. There has been immense progress and profit that has come from the cannabis industry, despite the plant being illegal under U.S. federal law as a Schedule 1 drug. In 2019, the U.S. marijuana industry was estimated at $13.6 billion, with 340,000 jobs devoted to the plant.
As time passes, these numbers continue to flourish. In the U.S. alone, legal marijuana sales are expected to hit $24 billion in 2021 alone. According to Grand View Research, by 2028 the legal market is expected to hit $70.6 billion. Even as a federally illegal substance, investors, manufacturers, researchers, scientists, and even celebrities are focusing their attention and wallets on various cannabis brands, products, and companies.
Other countries classified with legal cannabis use include the Netherlands, Uruguay, South Africa, Jamaica, and parts of Spain. But even so, the regulations and laws for cannabis use in this area are all divergent. Since Canada’s full legalization of cannabis in 2018, the country now carries a $2.6 billion industry that has doubled since 2020. However, as one of the first major countries in North America to legalize weed, Canada has faced challenges and hurdles regarding cannabis taxes, illegal sales, and varying policies.
With the current state of cannabis today, there’s no doubt we have come a long way since the war on drugs. But while this illegal plant is boasting a billion-dollar industry in multiple places around the world, there is a mound of progress still ahead.
Cannabis Policy Reform
More than half of Americans believe marijuana should be fully legalized, as the plant stands legal to some extent in 36 states. As the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes continues to prove discoveries and information, the debate of federally legal cannabis in the U.S. remains a hot topic.
- Challenging Taxes and Regulations
Each legal cannabis state holds its complicated regulations and rules. For instance, states such as California, Washington, and Arizona have been presented with the issue of regulating how cannabis gets transported between other states, risking passing through areas where the plant is still illegal to possess. Despite specific countries and states in the U.S. loosening and legalizing marijuana laws, the federal classification of this plant as a Substance I drug forces complications on any state regulations made. There is a gray area on any factor or element that is related to the cannabis industry, no matter whether it is decriminalized.
Cannabis growers must grow, sell, use, and tax their products within the legal state limits, limiting their customers and reach. Many banks refuse to support cannabis businesses due to the illegal federal status. Growers and farmers are not backed by federally managed resources of water, electricity, and gas in their area. In legal cultivation states such as California, a state license to cultivate and distribute cannabis is required to establish a cannabis business. This type of legal license ranges anywhere from $2,000 – $77,000 in the application process. After being licensed, these states like California are required to pay an excise tax and other environmental or industrial charges. The pricey consequence of legal cannabis regulations and licensing is making it practically impossible for smaller, independent cannabis businesses to thrive in this new market.
- Social Justice of Cannabis
Even as this plant continues to develop a booming industry, the injustice and racial inequality of those affected or criminalized by cannabis prove another example of the immense work for us ahead. In the U.S. alone, thousands of people are charged or criminalized for nonviolent uses or possessions of marijuana. Many cannabis equity programs have been established in U.S. cities and states that are legalizing cannabis.
The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act of New York, for instance, is formulated around racial and social justice in cannabis. The act addresses how reform will benefit communities and people who have been disproportionally impacted by cannabis criminalization. Many of these cannabis reform laws created, also passed in states like Illinois and Vermont, involve the expungement of cannabis-related convictions that are now legal. This reform demonstrates that as these areas decriminalize cannabis, no person or group is left behind in this progress. Legal states like California and Michigan have also enacted cannabis reform policies, but the expungement or sealing of records is only authorized by petition. With these reform policies enact, it is also no secret that this industry is exclusive to white distributors, with 81% of businesses in the U.S. owned by white people. The limitation for people of color to enter this space has been a challenge for many. Some states have even forbidden those with cannabis felony convictions to be granted a legal license for their business. The racial disparity that is occurring in this industry has brought many questions and concerns about the industry’s future to the surface. Until global, federal legalization is reached, these cannabis policies and reforms will continue to range in their effectiveness towards the communities and people who have been unjustly impacted.
The Future of Global Cannabis Legalization
Until full global legalization of this plant is granted, it has become difficult for the regions that have legalized weed to maintain and regulate this budding industry. Each state or region that has decriminalized cannabis cultivation and sales has had to explore down a new, untouched avenue.
Fortunately, the increase of sales and worth in the legal cannabis market throughout the U.S. and Canada alone has presented a promising future for the legal cannabis industry. Until overall legalization takes place, it is up to these legalized regions around the world to use their efforts towards a beneficial and positive future of cannabis. Global legalization of cannabis means correcting the unjust actions that have affected many and equally regulating the cultivation and use of this powerful plant in a fair, civil way for all.