Even more positive — particularly for cannabis purveyors and eager consumers — Forbes reports, assuming compound annual growth of 25 percent, sales are projected to top $20.2 billion in just the next four years.

As the outlet explains:

"To put this in perspective, this industry growth is larger and faster than even the dot-com era. During that time, GDP grew at a blistering pace of 22%. Thirty percent is an astounding number especially when you consider that the industry is in early stages."

ArcView Market Research published the eye-popping report — using data from BDS Analytics, with access to individual customer transactions from dispensary partners — and included Canada for the first time as the nation makes its nascent foray into the legal cannabis landscape.

"One of the biggest stories was the alternative forms of ingestion," ArcView CEO Troy Dayton told Forbes. "Concentrates and edibles are becoming customer favorites versus traditional smoking."

Dayton, impressed by the bewildering figures, expressed trepidation over the future of the legal cannabis market under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump — but he remains optimistic.

"It's one of the few things he has been consistent on," the ArcView head said of the incoming president's states' rights position on legalizing cannabis.

Right now, Dayton noted, "Twenty-one percent of the total U.S. population now live in legal adult use markets."