If it had even been suggested as recently as forty years ago that marijuana would not only have been legalized but come close to being demonized in some of the soberest circles around the world in 2021 and would have reintroduced itself as highly profitable, a globally popular commercial product, they may have had to endure the embarrassment of being ‘laughed off the planet’.
Marijuana has turned a new leaf over, so to speak. These days, the image of cannabis has not only been ruined but burnt to the point where it has delivered industries estimated at more than US $ 20 billion. Legalization has torn down walls of denial in even the most conservative countries and global industry lobbies are denouncing ‘weed’ as a guaranteed ‘bankable’ product in the right hands.
As marijuana’s medical and cosmetic credentials continue to bask in iron-clad scientific confirmation, there seems to be no inevitable stopping its longer-term veneer. Marijuana has traveled light years from the days when it was smoked in dark and secluded places, and among those who break the law in tenement yards. What was once a black market commodity, these days, is floating on stock markets, continually attracting investor attention.