The US chocolate market could soon be overtaken by sales of legal cannabis

Such is the growth in sales of marijuana, the legal drugs market could soon be outstripping some of the USA’s biggest food and drink segments, including chocolate and bottled water.

Chocolate in the US is expected to bring in $25billion by 2019, Cookie sales were under $6billion last year, and bottled water sales aren't expected to reach the $22-24billion mark until 2024. By comparison, the marijuana industry could usurp major markets of scale in a very short period of time and because of this, many onlookers are trying to identify opportunity through early investment.

Analysts predict that legal weed in North America is expected to reach $22.6 billion in revenue in 2021 and that the still prevalent black market is raking in somewhere north of $46m.

Sales of chocolate in the USA grew 24 percent between 2009 and 2014, hitting the $21 billion mark to make it the largest chocolate market in the world. However, it is in danger of falling behind other parts of the world, especially Europe, regarding product innovation.

Europe accounted for 51 percent of all launches in the 2009-14 period, followed by Asia Pacific 21 percent, North America 12 percent, Latin America 9 percent, and Middle East/Africa 6 percent.

Calls are being made to allow legal cannabis businesses access to banking services in America as, unlike its food and drink counterparts, virtually all business is being transacted via cash. These companies are still required to pay taxes, yet cannot access banking despite being a potentially huge revenue generator for the US treasury.