While much of the marijuana news has focused on potential federal interference with legalized marijuana and California joining the ranks of legal recreational marijuana states, Florida has started what should become a mammoth medical marijuana business.
Projections vary on the size of the Florida market for medical marijuana but the consensus estimate is that it will exceed $1 billion by 2020.
Sales started this year and business has rapidly expanded across the state. A list kept by the state shows that more than 1,200 doctors have been authorized to prescribe medical marijuana. When voters approved legalized medical marijuana in November 2016, that number stood at fewer than 300. The state Office of Medical Marijuana is granting licenses to doctors at the rate of about 20 per day.
Sunshine State goldmine
It doesn’t take an MBA to understand the confluence of factors that make Florida a great spot for the medical marijuana industry.
The state is the third most populous in the country,with nearly 21 million people living there according to recent estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. And 19.1 percent of the population is 65 years old or older, according to the Pew Research Center.
The elder population is likely to grow as the nationwide population gets older over the next 20 years. Older patients are among the most likely to want medical marijuana for issues such as chronic pain management. [Read more at Entrepreneur]
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