High Time to Assess the Environmental Impacts of Cannabis Cultivation

On November 8, 2016, four additional U.S. states (California, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Maine) legalized the use of recreational marijuana and four more relaxed medical marijuana laws. This is effectively creating a new industry in United States, one that looks set to rival all but the largest of current businesses with projected income expected to exceed that of the National Football League by 2020. In Colorado sales revenues have reached $1 billion, roughly equal to that from grain farming in the state and a third higher than residential construction, an industry with strict environmental monitoring procedures