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Where will it land? TTB, CANNABIS, AND YOU WRITTEN BY STAC Y C. KUL A , ESQ. & RYAN DUNNE EWING, ESQ.
he national market for cannabis is exploding. The New York Post recently wrote that the cannabis industry in America could surpass the National Football League in collected revenues by 2020.1 Annual cannabis sales in the United States are expected to exceed $50 billion in 2020. Put another way, more people are legally purchasing cannabis than the combined sales of all video games and firearms within the United States. With extraordinary growth and sudden availability, businesses are scrambling to enter the cannabis space. And some of those businesses are distilleries and other alcohol manufacturers. Some manufacturers in the alcohol industry perceive cannabis as a competitor — an alternative to the spirits or other alcohol products they produce. Other manufacturers consider it a new opportunity and want to use it as an ingredient in and marketing tool for their products. Regardless of your position, the impact cannabis is expected to have on the economy and the alcohol industry is staggering, and it is important to at least understand the basics of cannabis — including terminology and legality.
1 See Ed Zwirn, Marijuana Industry could surpass NFL in revenue by 2020, New York Post (Jun. 8, 2019), available at www.nypost.com/2019/06/08/marijuana-industry-could-surpass-nfl-in-revenue-by-2020/.
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