Eggs, milk, bread… cannabis.

That’s the sort of shopping list more and more Americans are making nowadays. In many communities, you can order pot and get it delivered to your door, just as easily as you can groceries or pizza.

Marijuana isn’t just getting legalized; it’s getting woven into the daily fabric of consumer life. Home-delivered marijuana is a huge trend, spawning profitable opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors.

That said, dispensaries can be slow to show up with a delivery, especially if you live several miles away. But now, in the newest evolution of cannabis retailing, companies are springing up that serve as mobile intermediaries for dispensaries, providing faster on-demand delivery.

For their dispensary clients, these third-party companies offer dispatch drivers; real-time inventory management; payment processing; and other logistical support.

Uber Goes to Pot

Even Uber (NYSE: UBER) has gotten into the mobile marijuana business. In Canada, where marijuana is legal on the federal level, the company now allows users to order cannabis sales on its Uber Eats app. It’s a first step for the firm and probably the precursor to U.S. expansion. However, for Uber to offer this service in the U.S., the federal ban on pot would need to get lifted first.

The trend toward marijuana delivery first gained traction during the depths of the pandemic in early 2020, when social distancing made door-to-door delivery a must for a wide range of consumer goods. Marijuana was actually deemed by many state governments to be an “essential service,” which allowed dispensaries to stay open even as many other types of businesses were shuttered.

Companies that provide mobility and serve as a go-between for dispensaries and customers are thriving. They’re attracting venture capital, going public, and richly rewarding early investors. During the worst of the COVID outbreak, alcohol and marijuana sales were the primary catalysts for home delivery growth.

When the going gets tough, people need their vices more than ever, especially if they’re homebound because of quarantines. Weed went a long way toward alleviating pandemic-induced boredom and anxiety.

Now that COVID is largely behind us, people have developed a fondness for easy-access weed. Dispensaries report that the top marijuana products currently requested for home delivery are edibles.

The aforementioned trends are particularly pronounced in California, a legalization pioneer where marijuana entrepreneurship runs strong.

There are nearly 15,000 cannabis dispensaries in the U.S. California has far more dispensaries than any state: 3,659 as of this writing. A quarter of all marijuana dispensaries in the U.S. are in California, and nearly all Californians (99.5%) have a dispensary in their county.

California rang up about $5.9 billion in legal recreational and medical marijuana sales in 2023, making the state the world’s largest marijuana market.

Online ordering, curbside pickup, and home delivery will continue to be salient industry trends. Fueling this activity is increasing legalization. Pot has been a consistent winner at the ballot box.

When the dust settles after the November 2024 elections, we’ll witness the emergence of additional legal markets in the U.S. for marijuana, via ballot initiatives. New state markets could boost U.S. legal cannabis sales to $72 billion a year by 2030 (medical and recreational combined).

The legal status of marijuana in the U.S. continues to quickly evolve. The following map is a snapshot of where pot stands now in the country:

Marijuana is legal for medical use in 38 of 50 states and the District of Columbia; it’s legal for recreational use in 24 states and D.C.

The efforts of canna-businesses to develop technology and operational logistics to meet demand during the pandemic paid off in successive years. The health exigencies of the coronavirus crisis accelerated the development of much-needed marijuana infrastructure. Marijuana entrepreneurs are currently reaping the “seeds” they planted during the pandemic.

As cannabis cements its status as a consumer staple, some pot stocks are superb investments. But many others are not. You need to conduct due diligence.

Investors should avoid companies that provide the marijuana plant as just a commodity. Growing weed isn’t a unique capability; those firms involved in tasks that are easily replicated already suffer from downward pressure on prices.

The industry’s “picks-and-shovels” plays have great investment allure. Marijuana companies that offer a specialized service (e.g., third-party home delivery) are your best bets.

Crypto’s New Bull Market Has Started

I regularly write about the opportunities in cannabis. But today, I want to emphasize the big profits that await you in crypto.

If you think crypto is too dangerous an investment, think again.

Consider this fact: the “blue chip” of crypto, Bitcoin (BTC), gained 156% in 2023. Similar gains are in store for this year.

Every portfolio should have some sort of exposure to crypto. But you need to be informed, to make the right choices. Start receiving our FREE e-letter, Crypto Investing Daily. Click here now!

John Persinos is the editorial director of Investing Daily.

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This article previously appeared on Investing Daily.