A high profile US cannabis investor has predicted the total impact of the global trade will hit $1tn by 2027.
Mitchell Baruchowitz, managing director of Merida Capital, has accused analysts of undervaluing the market’s potential by ‘failing to account accurately for how fast the global industry is evolving’.
Baruchowitz, a former Wall Street banker who has also been involved in campaigns to expand access, has predicted medical and recreational markets are poised for a period of rapid expansion. CBD, hemp and related services will also fuel growth, he said.
The US has seen a wave of liberalisation in recent years driven by states legislating in favour of patient and recreational access despite ongoing federal prohibition.
Several European countries are also flirting with law changes, prompting Curaleaf founder Boris Jordan to suggest the continent is only a few years behind the US during a conference appearance last week.
Prohibition Partners analysis forecasts the global market will be worth €3.2 billion by 2025.
But Baruchowitz argues ‘traditional industries lack the analytical mechanics necessary to comprehend disruptive changes wrought by cannabis’ and the actual economic impact will be much greater than is accounted for in common forecasts.
He said analysis carried out by Merida Capital points to far greater growth and disruption than is publicly acknowledged by most analysts, comparing the coming shift to cannabis-based products and solutions as comparable to what the advent of the internet did to the magazine industry.
The potential impact of hemp on the construction industry is one underestimated trend, he said.
Baruchowitz wrote on Lido Consulting’s website: “Recent market volatility notwithstanding, cannabis will create tremendous disruption across many old line businesses in health care, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, tobacco, health and wellness and nutraceuticals to name a few.
“In the present, intermediate term and for the next 10 years, responsible and thoughtful exposure to the cannabis industry is an essential part of a well-balanced portfolio.”
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