iAnthus Capital Holdings (ITHUF -1.57%) announced on Tuesday that the company received approval to begin operating in New Jersey at its Pleasantville location. The site features a cultivation campus that the company is still building, and when it's complete, it will have an extraction lab and kitchen as well. Initially, the complex will be 33,000 square feet, but it could be expanded to 83,000 square feet.
The company anticipates that it will open its first medical dispensary in New Jersey in Atlantic City during this quarter. In the second quarter, it expects to harvest its first crop from the cultivation facility.
New Jersey could soon be an even more lucrative market for iAnthus and other cannabis companies; the state plans to put a question on the November 2020 ballot regarding the legalization of recreational marijuana. If the ballot initiative is approved, iAnthus says it plans to build another location in Atlantic City to cater to the adult-use market.
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Many growth opportunities remain
So far, 11 states have legalized pot for recreational use, the most recent among them being Illinois. New Frontier Data expects the value of the legal U.S. cannabis market to reach at least $30 billion by 2025 based on the states that have already legalized it.
Last month, iAnthus also received approval to commence operations in Massachusetts. The company, with its market cap of $240 million, is still a relatively small player in the industry. However, over the past 12 months, it has brought in more than $53 million in sales. Like many struggling marijuana companies, it has seen its share price fall -- more than 74% over the past year, outpacing the decline of Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF, which shed 59% of its value during that period.
