Wealth Advisor to CNBC Squawk Box Europe: Invest in Cannabis

Every place that has legalized cannabis has created new jobs and generated revenue, usually exceeding expectations. As cannabis reforms sweep across the world, we can expect to see more advances by the industry, nation by nation, as countries take a familiar path of decriminalizing personal use, legalizing medical programs, and eventually legalizing for all adults. Cannabis and Uruguay have led the way, along with several U.S. states, and Luxembourg appears poised to be the first European nation to end prohibition.

The current state of the industry, and even more importantly, the future, will be covered at International Cannabis Business Conference events in Barcelona, Berlin, and Zurich, as more and more investors agree with what an international wealth analyst told CNBC today: invest in cannabis.

Cannabis stocks are the “next huge growth area” and the plant has “staggering” possibilities for medical use, according to one advisor to wealthy families.

“If you want to be in something that’s very growthy, and actually legitimate as it is legalized and controlled properly, I think this is the place to go,” Carol Pepper of Pepper International told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday.

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“The medical applications for cannabis are staggering. The research is being done and I really think this is next huge growth area,” she said, noting evidence of the drug’s efficacy in treatment of arthritis and epilepsy.

Carol Pepper mentioned that the tangible benefits of cannabis will save the industry from a Bitcoin-type bubble and that should be true in the long run, but investors should certainly diversify and not putt all eggs in one basket. Pepper also made one prediction that I hope isn’t true, that tobacco and beverage companies will control the cannabis market. While she could certainly be right, I hope that sensible regulations can be in place to allow for a significant portion of the industry to remain mom-and-pop and craft operations.