CANNABIS in America is fast becoming a legitimate business. Four states, as well as Washington, DC, have now legalised marijuana consumption for recreational use, and a further 21 allow it for medicinal purposes under a panoply of state laws. Colorado, which became the first state to sell recreational marijuana in January 2014, sold around $600m-worth of recreational and medical weed over the first 11 months, raising $68m in taxes for the state. But thanks largely to those taxes and restrictive licensing rules, it costs about 50% more to get high legally in Colorado than it does from buying cannabis off the street (though legal weed will probably be stronger). Americans spend an estimated $40 billion getting high each year, about 20% of what they spend on cigarettes and alcohol. The legal market, estimated at $2.5 billion last year, is just a fraction of that but will grow. A majority of Americans (52%) are now in favour of legalisation—in 1969 that figure was just 12%. California is likely to legalise cannabis in 2016; weed-watchers reckon that federal legalisation may be five to ten years away.