We didn’t have a family dog while I was growing up.
Several of my relatives and neighbors did. I remember most of their dogs living in doghouses in the yard the majority of the year.
Now, every family dog I know lives inside.
Mine are no exception. They’re even allowed on the couch. They have their own cozy beds made with memory foam.
As my colleague Amber Dakar noted, the pet care industry is absolutely booming. We spend billions of dollars each year pampering our animals.
So when my family took a weeklong trip to the Pacific Northwest two weeks ago, we booked our trusted pet sitter to stay in our home with our dogs.
Like people, our aging dogs have health concerns.
One of them, a 14-year-old hound mix, takes several pain relievers for arthritis.
Our 12-year-old bluetick coonhound needs anxiety medication.
After sending a few pictures of our brood, the pet sitter asked me a question.
“Have you looked into CBD oil for their arthritis and anxiety?”
How Controversial Ideas Like Medical Marijuana Become Mainstream
CBD, short for cannabinoid, is a compound that occurs in marijuana. CBD doesn’t give users a high.
I’d heard how CBD helps people:
But I hadn’t considered it for pets.
The pet sitter followed up her message: “I have clients whose dogs take CBD, and they swear by it, so I wanted to mention it.”
I admit this is the first time I’ve considered CBD for my family.
But this is how controversial ideas become mainstream: We see how it benefits our own loved ones.
I did a little research. Florida state law says I can get CBD oil for my dogs as long as I have a prescription from their veterinarian.
Of course, federal law remains less clear.
But vets in states where medicinal marijuana is legal, like Florida, seem to agree: There hasn’t been legal resistance to prescribing CBD oils.
If medical marijuana is legal at the federal level, consumers like me will be even more likely to contribute to this booming industry’s growth. We won’t have to consult the internet before we buy CBD.
Many of our experts at Banyan Hill agree that legalization across the U.S. is inevitable. Matt Badiali thinks the industry could surge over 4,000%.
Forbes reported just last week that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is calling for more than five times the amount of cannabis to be grown in 2019 than this year. It says this is “to meet the country’s medical, scientific, research, industrial and export needs for the year and for the establishment and maintenance of reserve stocks.”
This increase from about 1,000 pounds to over 5,400 pounds of cannabis could signal that the DEA is changing its tune on medical marijuana.
And our neighbors in Canada are less than two months away from full legalization.
These changes will create a tailwind, and several companies are set to benefit. So if you’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the right time to invest, this could be your last opportunity for a while.
Good investing,
Kristen Barrett
Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing
