Drones Can't Deliver Marijuana Yet, but We're Bullish on Both Industries

You can't get marijuana delivered in California by drones anytime soon, but we are still bullish on both the global drone market and the legal North American cannabis market.

You see, both of these growing industries could end up fueling each other, which will present an exciting new opportunity for investors...

By 2020, legal marijuana sales in North America are expected to climb from $6.7 billion in 2016 to over $20 billion, a 198% increase.

DronesAt the same time, market revenue for the global drone market will nearly double, as advisory firm Gartner projects revenue will climb from $6 billion in 2017 to $11.2 billion by 2020, an increase of 86.6%.

Marijuana businesses and drone manufacturers are licking their chops, but they won't be the only ones who can make long-term profits.

Marijuana sales are expected to climb from $6.7 billion to over $20 billion by 2020, which means there will be a lot of cannabis sold in the next three years. That means if drone deliveries are eventually approved, cannabis companies will help drone makers generate even more revenue.

And we have a way to profit from the connected growth of both industries with a play in the drone sector.

But first, here's the scoop on why California is banning drones from delivering marijuana as well as one expert's take on the issue...

Why California Is Banning Drones Delivering Marijuana

According to a Sept. 11, 2017, report on TheVerge.com, drones will not be allowed to deliver cannabis in California.

Investing in Drones Will Be Like Investing in Smartphones in 2009: If you've thought of drones in military terms or just as toys, this is a wake-up call. Find out more.

The report says marijuana must be transported inside commercial vehicles or trailers, and transportation by any other method, including everything from bicycles to drones, will not be allowed.

Now, it's not surprising drones are being regulated. There were roughly 700 pilot reports of drones interfering with landings, coming too close to airports, or clogging U.S. airspace, according to a 2015 Washington Post report.

But drones could be essential to the cannabis industry...

You see, delivering cannabis is a risky business. On Jan. 29, 2016, thieves in San Francisco stole a delivery driver's car and $8,000 worth of cannabis. With drones, that problem could be eliminated.

Through a camera, the drone operator will be able to scope out a location before it makes a delivery. If the operator sees anything suspicious, it could just fly the drone back to the company.

Also, depending on the location, the drone delivery could be much faster, leaving less time for would-be thieves to try and steal cannabis or money. Eaze, a marijuana delivery company in California, says it takes between 10 and 20 minutes to make a delivery.

The Guinness World record for drone speed is 163 miles per hour, which means a drone could eventually make a delivery in three to four minutes for a 10-mile trip at that speed. For a five-mile trip, it could be two minutes or less.

And because of all the benefits drones could provide to the marijuana industry, Derek Peterson believes it's important to keep an open mind.

Peterson is the CEO and founder of Terra Tech Corp. (OTCMKTS: TRTC), the largest publicly traded marijuana company in the United States.

"Innovations in drone technologies are quickly improving the efficiency and profitability of a range of industries, and for the sake of the cannabis space's health, it's important that we look into their potential without preconceived notions or judgments," Peterson said.

While drones delivering marijuana are illegal now, there are still companies testing the technology for when it is legal. In April, Eaze demonstrated a marijuana drone delivery at the High Times Cannabis Cup in San Bernardino.

As you can see in the accompanying video, the drone was able to deliver marijuana to an attendee of the Cannabis Cup with pinpoint accuracy.

Video

Marijuana Drone Delivery


And as we mentioned earlier, the growth of the booming cannabis industry is going to be a major catalyst for drone stocks.

In fact, the opportunity in the drone market now is beyond anything Money Morning Executive Editor Bill Patalon could have imagined...

Financial Guru Bill Patalon Just Uncovered Your Next Profit Opportunity

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Before Patalon moved into the investment-research business in December 2005, he spent 22 years as a journalist, most of it covering financial news as a reporter, columnist, and editor for outlets such as Gannett Co. Inc. and The Baltimore Sun.

He has covered finance and investing, economics, manufacturing, the defense sector, biotechnology, and telecommunications. The companies he's covered include Eastman Kodak Co., Xerox Corp., Harley-Davidson Inc., Caterpillar Inc., Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC, Verizon Communications Inc., MedImmune LLC, and Black & Decker Inc.

His most memorable interviews include former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, General Electric CEO John F. "Jack" Welch, Forbes magazine publisher and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, and business-turnaround specialist and helicopter industry pioneer Stanley Hiller, Jr.

It was Patalon's work covering Eastman Kodak Co. during the latter half of the 1990s that solidified his reputation as one of the nation's top analytical business journalists. With his award-winning reports on Kodak's competitive travails, he consistently scooped his competitors in the national business media. His chronicles of Kodak's turnaround efforts took him to China, Japan, Silicon Valley, New York, Washington, D.C., and even Hollywood.

Along the way, he earned the esteem of heavyweights like Anthony Gallea, senior portfolio management director at Morgan Stanley, who collaborated on Patalon's groundbreaking 1999 book "Contrarian Investing."

Patalon's ideas so impressed Jim Rogers that the hedge fund genius eagerly wrote a glowing, six-page introduction to the book.

A winner of approximately two-dozen journalism awards - including top honors from the Associated Press and the prestigious Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) - Patalon has had his work featured in Kiplinger's personal finance magazine, USA Today, and The South China Morning Post, among other publications.

Before taking over Money Morning, he served as the editor of The Rebound Report, an investment newsletter focused on turnaround stocks.

Patalon has a Bachelor's in Print Journalism from Penn State University and an MBA in finance from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Yes, he's uncovered a lot of investment stories. And he's even been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes.

But he's never seen a story as potentially lucrative as this one...

The Next $127 Billion Profit Opportunity

In the barren, hostile plains of the New Mexico desert, not far from the Mexican border, they're building a city like no other.

A city with high rises, avenues, parks, a big-box store, churches, and gas stations for a population of 35,000, all at a ground-up cost exceeding $1 billion...

It's made to look like so many other cities in America, except for one thing: people. There are none. It's a ghost town, and it always will be.

Here's what Patalon learned about this ghost town and what he believes is really going on.

Its location in New Mexico is the first key: The state scoops up tons of government research dollars straight from Washington.

And indeed, located in hardened shelters far beneath this empty city will be teams of top-secret scientists and federal contractors hard at work...

Driven by what they call "mother's milk" - the hopes of seeing billions of dollars in government funding coming their way. Not to mention the many billions more in new wealth that they hope to create.

Patalon has identified the main group of scientists and researchers behind this project.

They are quite clearly inventing a big future, with new technologies that stretch the imagination - new technologies that are about to be everywhere.

They call their ghost town "Project CITE."

It's the brainchild of the government contractor Marble Arch.

And when you learn how tight Marble Arch is with the Pentagon and how many massive government contracts Marble Arch has scooped up over the years, you know something big is happening here.

"Big," as in "$127-billion-in-new-wealth-for-early-investors Big," Patalon's findings suggest.

Marble Arch is run by Bob Brumley, who was U.S. President Ronald Reagan's point man for privatizing commercial space transportation. He's definitely a big thinker - like an Elon Musk with a direct line to government funding!

And this new venture of his is every bit as ambitious as space travel, with even bigger impact, because it's happening right before our eyes.

Now, as we mentioned, the specific details of this venture are not public. But after Patalon's investigation, he's incredibly confident it will involve the next big thing in tech, security, and investing.

He's talking about unmanned flying machines.

Yes, drones.

But not the drones you're probably thinking of. Not the kind the military uses to hunt down and kill enemy terrorists. Not any kind you've ever heard of before.

These are what Patalon calls "AI Drones" - a brand-new breed of amazingly intelligent, super-capable drones unlike anything Patalon's ever witnessed; drones that can use artificial intelligence to benefit more people, businesses, and countries than you could have ever imagined possible.

But there's another reason why these new drones will soon be everywhere.

I'm talking about a big event that just happened...

An event that's blowing the lid off the drone market not two years from now... not a year from now... not even six months from now...

IMMEDIATELY.

It's happening as we speak.

And Patalon has uncovered one tiny company sitting at the center of it all. You may never have a better shot at getting in on the ground floor of such a massive new market.

By getting in early, you could profit from the potential 4,636% gain that Patalon's projecting. A gain like this would be the equivalent of turning...

Every $50 you invest into $2,318...

Every $2,500 into $115,900...

And every $10,000 into $463,600.

As you know, these kind of quadruple-digit returns are exceptional and don't happen every day. But think about it - even a fraction of these gains could make you a fortune.

Plus, this kind of spike makes perfect sense when you think about it. This is investing in the next frontier in aviation - the next great leap forward.

Patalon sees dollar signs, pure and simple, which is why he put a briefing together for you, including this investment recommendation, as well...

Now, because this is a small stock, there will be volatility. So he'll also recommend a tight buying strategy. The last thing any investor wants to do is blindly chase a small stock upward with no plan in mind. And, as always, never investing more than one can afford to lose is good advice.

Here's everything you need to know about how you could pocket $115,900 from the next frontier in flight.

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