A huge new report on the marijuana industry by Ackrell Capital projects that U.S. marijuana will be a $100 billion market by 2029. Although marijuana remains federally illegal in the United States, 39 individual states have now legalized the drug for recreational and/or medical use.

According to the report, the current legal and illegal U.S. marijuana market is around $40 billion in size. However, Ackrell is convinced that the real watershed moment will come when the federal government inevitably legalizes marijuana.

“We believe that it is a question of when—not if—the federal prohibition on cannabis will end,” Ackrell said in the report.

The firm predicts that marijuana will be federally legalized by 2020.

Related Link: 15 Marijuana Stocks To Watch In 2015: Where Are They Now?

Ackrell estimates that the legal U.S. marijuana business was about $4.4 billion in 2015, but forecasts that the market will grow to $37 billion within five years of federal legalization.

The firm projects that the cannaboid-based pharmaceutical market could eventually grow to exceed $50 billion and the total marijuana market could reach $100 billion annually.

So far, most marijuana stocks have made for pretty lousy investments, with many stocks down 70 percent or more in 2015 alone. So far in 2016, names like GW Pharmaceuticals PLC-ADR (NASDAQ: GWPH) and Insys Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: INSY) are down another 40 percent.

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.

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