Now times are somewhat different from when Washington State and Colorado legalized back in 2014, as the industry has introduced better product varieties, as well as more convenient ways to get the product, such as right to your door delivery services. Nevada also took a different approach to sales, as they allowed almost a pre-launch of cannabis sales while various nuances and details of the legislation was being finalized. This in turn allowed experienced companies with existing brands to enter the Nevada market quickly.
While these numbers look impressive relative to other states during the first six months, Colorado’s sales average about $97 million per month right now, and Washington at about $80 million. Quite a difference from the $32 million sales figures in Nevada. That being said, the number of retail stores total 130 or so, compared with Colorado and Washington which have over 500. As that number increases in Nevada, so too will sales. Some analysts have noted that this is due to the tourist driven Nevada market (over 50 million annually), as opposed to states such as those mentioned above, which predominantly are driven by residents. Nevada has a population of about 3 million people but sees over 50 million people come and go as tourist flock the state, mainly to Las Vegas. But tourism in Nevada is on a downtrend, and as an article posted on Travel Weekly suggests, this may be due to the shooting at the country music festival back in October 2017. According to the article, following the shooting, domestic bookings were down 21% and international bookings about 16%. This is in addition to a 7% drop domestically and 2% drop internationally in the two months prior to the shooting. That being said, Arcview Market Research released its official market projection on Nevada and concluded that annual sales of cannabis and related products will grow at a compound rate of 51% to an estimated $630 million by 2020.
How does this have anything to do with Canadian investment opportunities? Marijuana companies are forbidden to list on public stock exchanges in their home country because the drug is considered a Schedule I narcotic at the federal level. So they’ve found an opportunity to list and trade publicly in Canada through the Canadian Securities Exchange (the “CSE”). There are several companies listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange that do business in this wonderful state, including but not exclusively: Marapharm Ventures Inc., MPX Bioceutical Corporation, MedMen Enterprises Inc., Golden Leaf Holdings Ltd., Nutritional High International Inc., and Friday Night Inc.
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