High Income: 4 Ways You Can Make Money Off Legal Marijuana
The market for weed is growing like, well, a weed.
Marijuana sales worldwide are expected to hit nearly $17 billion in 2019, according to Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics, which track the industry. And that boom has been helped by the legalization of cannabis in Canada and a growing list of states.
For those who are looking to profit from pot, either through investments or other means, the time is now. Here are four ways to make money from legal marijuana.
1. Investing
Pot can help your investment portfolio grow.
The marijuana business is no longer an underground network. Instead, you now find marijuana-related companies listed on major stock exchanges in the U.S and Canada.
That's right: You can roll pot into your portfolio.
Several larger marijuana companies in the U.S. have been attracting venture capital money, and the world's first marijuana exchange-traded fund, or ETF, now includes more than four dozen stocks related to weed.
If you're new to investing, an automated investment service might be an easy way to get started.
2. Crypto and blockchain
The weed industry wants to leverage the power of the blockchain technology underlying bitcoin and other digital currencies.
The weed industry is looking past the initial hysteria and speculation over bitcoin and other digital currencies and is seeing important uses for the underlying blockchain technology.
For marijuana dispensaries that have been shunned by the traditional banking system, blockchain provides an alternative to doing business only in cash.
Budbo, an app for finding pot products at local dispensaries, has been developing a blockchain-powered seed-to-sale system for marijuana companies and has even launched its own cryptocurrency through an initial coin offering.
3. Entrepreneurship
A legal pot-preneur might open a dispensary or a paraphernalia shop.
Legal marijuana offers practically endless startup opportunities for those with the drive to innovate.
If pot can be sold legally where you are, you could explore opening a retail store focusing on cannabis oils or edibles, or a paraphernalia shop offering the right tools for getting a recreational high.
A business credit card might help with financing.
Note that state application and licensing fees for a new dispensary operator typically surpass $10,000, and your state also may require you to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in working capital on hand.
4. Lucrative jobs in the industry
The legalization of marijuana is creating high-paying jobs in quality control, among other fields related to the business.
Weed is a new sector with lots of new jobs. A report from the cannabis website Leafly and Whitney Economics says the U.S. now has 211,000 full-time legal cannabis jobs, including more than 64,000 that were added in 2018.
The positions vary, but you can find something that pays well if you are driven, have the right skills and know how to market yourself.
For example, Canada's national health department had to create quality control analyst positions across the country, with an average starting salary of $72,000 (U.S.).
Jobs available within the private sector easily pay twice as much, in business development and government relations for marijuana-related firms.
