David Klein, the new CEO of Canadian marijuana producer Canopy Growth, believes the pot market in the U.S. will officially be open for business regardless of who wins the presidential election in November.
When though? Klein, believes that day is coming soon. He says that it could happen as early as 2022, and it won’t depend on who’s elected president in November.
According to an interview with Yahoo! Finance Canada, Klein said that “it’s only a matter of time until the federal government legalizes marijuana.” He also added that it may take until 2025 before legalization takes place.
“My assumption is that 2022, for me, is the magic number,” Klein additionally said in an interview on CNBC’s “Mad Money.”
“I think, as you watch more and more states move to legalization for medical or rec, you really bring in almost two more senators each time who are really going to feel compelled to not make criminals out of the people in their state who are doing what’s legal in their particular state.”
“The pressure will grow on Congress to greenlight marijuana commerce as more and more states legalize usage of the plant,” he added. “Alcohol prohibition [ended] 87 years ago, and [I’m] not really sure why cannabis was left off that list.”
“The revenue opportunity is huge,” said Klein, who heads up a $6 billion company.
“I’ve seen some really large numbers in terms of the amount of cash flow that would come into the government as a result of just a normal excise tax regime.”
