Why The Legal Cannabis Industry Is High On The American South

“The South is the biggest frontier in cannabis,” says Jim Cacioppo, the CEO of Jushi, a marijuana company that has 26 dispensaries across Virginia, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois and Massachusetts. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Jushi has two dispensaries in Virginia but will open a total of six stores by 2023. His company’s stores are just outside of Washington, D.C. in Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax. Cacioppo says that while California boasts the title of being the country’s largest marijuana market in terms of annual sales, he sees states like Virginia and Georgia as having the greatest growth potential.

“We view Virginia as one of the best licenses in cannabis,” Cacioppo says, explaining that his company has the exclusive right to sell weed legally in the D.C. suburbs, which has 2.5 million residents. “It’s the keystone of Jushi.”

Virginia is still a small medical market. But with a population of over 8.5 million people, it has the potential to be bigger than Colorado, which has 5.7 million residents and a $2.1 billion (annual sales) cannabis market. [Read more at Forbes]