Marijuana Real Estate in California Poised for Growth, Along with Rest of Cannabis Industry

All things considered, 2016 was an excellent year for those in favour of legalizing marijuana. Four new states approved various recreational-usage initiatives, and 28 states in total, along with Washington D.C., have now legalized medical usage of cannabis. Marijuana real estate in California is rapidly increasing in value as a result; despite laws permitting medical and recreational use of the substance spreading to over half the country, the California market still represents more than half of all total cannabis sales in the USA.

Despite some potential setbacks for the industry, such as the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions to the position of attorney general, attitudes across the country towards cannabis usage continue to trend in a positive direction along with the value of marijuana real estate in California. At this point in time, a convincing majority of the American population – approximately 58% of them – approve of some form of cannabis legalization, according to the Gallup polling organization.

Gallup has been asking Americans their position on the legalization of cannabis for nearly 50 years at this point. In 1969, when the question was first asked, a scant 12% of the populace agreed that marijuana use should be legal. By the 1970s, this had grown to approximately 25%, but approval then stalled at that level for decades, until the late 1990s when support for the idea began to rapidly increase once more, and we saw the first laws approving usage of marijuana real estate in California created during this same time. In 2000 30% of Americans favoured legalization, less than 10 years later in 2009 that level had climbed further to over 40%.

The two demographic groups most responsible for this dramatic shift in attitude are the very young and the very old. While support for cannabis usage among the very young is hardly surprising, the proportion at which it is accepted is quite surprising – over 70% of them approve today. Support among the very old stands at 35%, which doesn’t seem very high until you consider that support in this age cohort began at just 4% of them in 1969.

These changing attitudes towards cannabis usage, combined with the ever increasing tax revenues generated by the cannabis industry, have created broad-based support for both medical and recreational usage in California along with much of the rest of the country. The high levels of support in certain age cohorts have led to a high concentration of both entrepreneurial ideas in the industry, as well as the necessary venture capital to fund and support the development of these ideas. 2017 is certainly shaping up to be an exciting year for those following cannabis industry trends – in particular watch for marijuana real estate in California to continue to rapidly rise in value as more and more legal businesses in the industry are created.