It would stand to reason that, as more states open their portals to cannabis growth and sales–for both recreation and medicinal uses–an emerging asset class is also presenting itself to investors. 

And that's true, but with certain asterisks. The market sector is fraught with risks as we await regulatory issues to get ironed out and the market becomes more of a familiar investment commodity. For now, it takes a strong stomach and careful due diligence to hit a homerun here. Let's weigh some of the pros and cons on the retail side of the industry.

First, it should come as no surprise that the number of states turning their backs on pot sales is shrinking. Reportedly, there are currently only 11 holdout states. So, the writing is clearly on the wall. Can a federal sanction of sales be far behind? As the number of states increases, sales naturally follow. In fact, last year outpaced 2021 activity by roughly a third. Both of these data points reflect the popular sentiment as revealed in national polls, which indicate that most Americans are in favor not only of medicinal use, but recreational legalization as well.