4 incredible figures on cannabis

Cannabis, long demonized, is beginning to restore its image. From the’Therapeutic uses of THC and CBD at hemp fibers used in aircraft construction, the legitimacy of cannabis is growing as States are legalizing it and that companies are investing considerable resources in cannabinoid research.

No matter what your position is on cannabis, here are some facts and figures about cannabis that will likely surprise you.

In the United States, the legal cannabis industry was worth 5.4 billion euros in 2015.

The cannabis market is a business much bigger than one might imagine. While it is legitimate to wonder what the long-term effects of cannabis use will be, legalization clearly brings benefits to society—from a purely economic standpoint—in the form of jobs and tax revenue.

Colorado raised so much money The government had to figure out what to do with this new source of revenue. In 2015, more than 265 million euros—more than the revenue from alcohol taxes—was thus allocated in part to the construction of new schools.

If all U.S. states legalized it, they would collect 3 billion euros in taxes, for total revenue exceeding 20 billion. In France, the The market is estimated at 3 billion, with €500 million in taxes.

In France, 130,000 people are arrested each year for cannabis use

That’s a lot of people! And most of those 130,000 people aren’t drug lords or small-time dealers. Only 15,000 people (12%) are arrested for reselling. All the rest are arrested solely for personal use, often involving small amounts.

Read more: Cannabis Statistics in France and Around the World

All of these people, however, end up in the judicial system, suggesting that decriminalization or legalization would relieve the burden on the courts—which would also result in tax savings—in addition to avoiding the criminalization of people for mere use.

There are more than 25,000 possible uses for hemp

Hemp is often considered to be a different plant from cannabis. The main difference between the two is that the Hemp is used for industrial purposes or therapeutic (it contains very low levels of THC) whereas cannabis will be used for therapeutic or recreational purposes.

Read more: Everything you didn't know about hemp

Hemp cultivation has enormous agricultural potential, and the establishment of hemp crops in France is strictly regulated. Only About 20 varieties of hemp are authorized in France and must contain less than 0.3% of THC. Fortunately, the european catalog of hemp varieties is wider!

Hemp is a highly fibrous plant—four times more so than a typical forest—and can be used to create very strong materials, food, beauty products, clothing, and more. It is also resistant to many pests, requires no pesticides, and can be processed without chemicals.

The first e-commerce transaction was the sale of cannabis

This anecdote comes from John Markoff's book What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry.

In 1971 or 1972, Stanford students used Arpanet accounts to conduct a commercial transaction with their counterparts at MIT. Long before Amazon or even eBay, the founding act of e-commerce was actually a drug deal. The students used the network to arrange a small sale of cannabis.

The ancestor of Silk Road ?