Legal cannabis is predicted to outpace the speed of global smart phone expansion. It is expected that more than $1.43 billion in legal cannabis will be sold this year alone, with a predicted growth to $2.34 billion in 2014. That’s a 64% growth.

Smartphones are only used as a popular data reference for the purposes of this analogy, but consider that from 2012 to 2013, the global smartphone market grew 46%. That’s a pretty solid growth figure for a widely popular device that is only getting more users. Now think about that 64% growth prediction. That is huge.

Cannabis could quite literally be the next “it” industry and the Green Rush could potentially revitalize our sluggish economy. The populace wants it, business persons and investors are champing to get in on the ground floor of what is almost a guaranteed successful enterprise.

Once again, it’s the federal government that is the big road block to progress. Marijuana’s designation as a Schedule 1 narcotic and the ever-present threat of federal prosecution are what stand in the way of this billion dollar industry. It has been suggested that by 2018, at least 14 more states will have legalized recreational weed to the tune of more than $10 billion per year.

And those numbers are just for cannabis itself. If you factor in all the ancillary businesses that will crop up to support legal cannabis, the revenue potential soars even higher.

With DC and, indeed, our nation seemingly doing a constant dance on the edge of financial ruin, at what point do the feds finally stop ignoring the will of the people and denying us all a huge boon to our revenues?