Cannabis 2025 – Cannabis Has Been Legal for 4 Years Worldwide, How Should You Start Preparing?

Cannabis 2025 – Cannabis Has Been Legal for 4 Years Worldwide, How Should You Start Preparing?

cannabis future investments

There has been an abundance of cannabis memes on the Internet going around such as how we would have world peace for 6 hours if everyone ate a marijuana edible at the same time, or how we would have world peace if everyone smoked a joint at the same time.

We know the future, cannabis WILL be legal worldwide in the next 5 to 7 years. The world follows US policy at the UN and at the WHO, so once the US legalizes cannabis in some from at the Federal level, the UN will follow suit and change its drug treaties and almost every nation will then be free to adopt some form of legal cannabis.

What does the world look like in 2025 with cannabis legalized basically around the world, with a few holdout conservative nations in the Middle East and Asia? Can you make money on knowing these changes are coming and what would you do now knowing the change is coming?

50,000 Foot Level

People will drop some of their prescription drugs for cannabis

Let’s start with the easy predictions and drill down. Number one is pharmaceutical prescription will drop worldwide in usage. The Baby Boomers, the largest and most wealthy generation in American history, will all be over 70 and they LOVE medical marijuana, you can see our stories on senior citizens and cannabis here and here. One thing we know for sure is that people drop some, or all, of their prescription drugs after shifting to medical marijuana. Even if people dropped 15% of their prescription drugs, that would be a huge dent in profits for Big Pharma drug companies like Pfizer and Merk.

Should you short, or make a bet that a stock goes down, on pharmaceutical drug companies’ stock? The answer is no because these companies are massive billion-dollar operations that work on a variety of drugs at any given time. While these companies may lose some money on anxiety and stress medicines not being used as much, they may be working on a cancer treatment drug or exotic disease drug that could make up for that in their profits. Just betting “people will switch to cannabis so drug companies’ stocks will go down” is to naïve. Yes, some drugs will see less demand, but the picture is too large to know for sure what companies and what stocks could go down based just on that fact.

Marijuana causes the munchies so more junk food will be bought!

Again, basically 3 companies control the entire processed food market and each company controls about 30 common, household brands like Oreos, Doritos, and Chips Ahoy. If you are making a bet these companies’ stocks will go up just based on marijuana getting more and more mainstream, you need more information on the bigger pictures of each company. For example, these companies are struggling right now as people under 30 are turning away from big-brand processed foods and looking for healthier options or white-label branded versions in order to save money. The investment thesis of “buy the cookies and snack makers because weed is legal” is not strong enough as a stand-alone idea to buy these companies.

25,000 Foot Level

Mainstream cannabis use will lead to more DUIs and OUIs on the highways

The law of numbers says this is absolutely true, but can you make an investment now to capitalize on this idea? If you knew which cannabis breathalyzer or street test was going to be adopted nationally, you could definitely buy in early to that companies’ stock or management team, but it is a crap shoot right now with 4 or 5 competing products on the market.

Discretionary income is elastic so alcohol sales will drop due to some percentage going to cannabis instead of beer and wine. Big alcohol stocks will go down.

This may be the safest bet as discreationary income is elastic, meaning that if you have $50 to spend on “fun things” in a week, if half now goes to cannabis, then that is half that isn’t going to beer and wine anymore. Here is the caveat, big alcohol companies are well aware of this and are already buying large chunks of cannabis companies in order to take advantage of future recreational sales. These companies are already seeing sales drop 15% in legal cannabis states and are now becoming “partners” with cannabis companies to develop cannabis-based drinks and beverages. So, for every bottle of beer that isn’t bought due to cannabis, what if that person buys a higher priced bottle of cannabis beer? The alcohol companies’ stock that invest wisely in cannabis companies may actually go UP as they ride the cannabis revolution in consumers’ tastes.

10,000 Level

Once the “Schedule 1” classification is removed from cannabis it is free to cross a state lines in interstate commerce. This will be a huge watershed moment and will give an advantage to the brands that are owned by large, well-capitalized companies.

This one actually makes sense, the most under-reported story in the cannabis niche right now is the inability to cross a state line with a product, and what happens when that changes. Branding now is essential contained to a state-by-state level since the products, like Snoop’s Leafs or Dixie Brands, can’t be shipped or sent to another state. By far the two biggest changes from a schedule change for the THC molecule is the ability to cross a state line and being able to send the product through the Post Office or UPS.

Right now, if a dispensary in Massachusetts wants a Kiva Chocolate on its shelves, Kiva would have to go through all the licensing in Massachusetts, set up a grow, set up a production facility, etc. This is massively expensive and impractical to expect Kiva to set up 50 identical businesses in order to sell its products in 50 states. In the future, a dispensary will call or go online to a Kiva distributor and order its products and have them delivered by UPS or USPS. Betting now on brands with a large state following or with a popular celebrity name associated it to it could pay off down the road.

Once cannabis is readily available it will appear in the health niche in a big way, not just in the medicinal or recreational niche.

This is true as using the plant as a healthy ingredient in a food or drink (once the FDA approves it) will be big. Energy drinks with CBD and/or cannabis, pre-packaged smoothies with cannabis at the local convenience store, 5-Hour Energy type drinks to wake you up with cannabis and also a 5-Hour CBD type drinks to help with sleep. What about cannabis-based power bars? Yes. What about cannabis-based multi-vitamins? Yes. Keep an eye out on which nutraceutical companies make announcements about working on cannabis-based items, they may be good companies and stocks to look at now for a long term play.

5,000 Foot level

Local food vendors working with CBD or cannabis? Yes. Is it time to open a cannabis themed food truck for say, grilled cheeses and burritos with cannabis used as ingredient? You bet. We are a year or two away, but hyper-local cannabis businesses will thrive, even if CBD is the way they go.

Cannabis Consulting – Will businesses all need help in transitioning to cannabis? You bet. Knowing the local laws, zoning, and marketing rules will put you in position to help other local businesses get going with CBD and cannabis.

I hope you enjoyed our look at what the world will look like in 2025 with legal cannabis worldwide. As the saying goes, “if I knew then what I know now”, well now you can. Cannabis will be legal in most of the world by 2025, so start thinking of what you should do now to prepare. Start a business, invest in a company, start an education in cannabis to be an expert, whatever it is, there will be space in the Green Rush for you!