Marijuana Stocks and Biotech Stocks Share This Striking Similarity

There are few, if any, industries that have been as unstoppable as legal marijuana in recent years. Last year alone, voters went to the polls in nine states and wound up passing medical and/or recreational weed initiatives and amendments in all but one. In just 22 years, we've gone from no states having legalized medical or recreational pot to 29 medical and eight recreational states that now allow it.

This expansion in the U.S., along with Canada's medical-cannabis market and Mexico's recent legalization of medical weed, has really lifted legal sales. In 2016, according to cannabis research firm ArcView, North American legal pot sales jumped 34% to $6.9 billion. By 2021, legal weed sales should total $21.6 billion, working out to an annual growth rate of 26%. It's this growth rate, and growing favorability toward marijuana according to various polls, that has marijuana stock investors excited about its future. It's also a reason so many pot stocks have vaulted by 100% or more over the past year.

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Source: Fool.com