Legal marijuana trade could be bigger than the NFL by 2020

A new study has estimated that the legalised marijuana trade in the US could be bigger than the country's National Football League by 2020.

According to the report by Greenwave Advisers, the industry could be worth as much as $35bn (£21.7bn) per year if legalised at a national level.

The Washington Post reports that this would make the business bigger than the NFL (currently $10bn), make it a similar size to the country's newspaper publishing industry ($38bn) as well as the confectionary industry ($34bn).

However, the paper also warns of the inherent difficulties in estimating the size of a (largely illegal) market which is currently approximated to be anywhere between $10bn and $120bn.

Marijuana has been legalised in both Washington state and Colorado, as well as being sold for medical purposes in at least 20 other states. Revenues from the legalised industry were thought to be around $1.53bn (£950m) in 2013.

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