52-WEEK HIGH

With medical marijuana initiatives gaining support across the country
and abundant harvest in Northern California, the pot business is booming.

Northern California's most famous crop, grapes, had a tough year due
to weather in 2008. Not so NoCal's most profitable crop: marijuana.
DEA and law enforcement officials seized 5.25 million plants from the
region during harvest season (Most farms grow marijuana for
California medical dispensaries and, according to the DEA, also for
sale to dealers). The record haul - worth $16 billion on the street-
is just one indication that pot is booming. ANother: pro-medical
marijuana ballot initiative received more votes in Michigan on Nov.
4th than Barack Obama. And another: Massachusetts became the 13th
state to decriminalize possession. As the economy circles the drain,
it seems more people are taking to toking to mellow the
macroeconomics harshness.

400 CANNABIS CLUBS, give or take, sell medical marijuana in
California. The network of dispensaries makes up the most
sophisticated pot distribution system in the nation. By some
estimates there are as many as 350,000 medical marijuana users,
constituting a total annual market of as much as $2 billion.

$3000 PER POUND is the going rate for medical-grade (high quality,
all buds, no seeds) marijuana -down some 33% from a decade ago, due
in part to increased production.

8.9 PER CENT of Californians have smoked marijuana in the past 30
days. The Golden State smokes the most pot in aggregate. But the
New England States all have higher per capita usage. So does the
king of kush, Alaska, where more than 12% of the population has
inhaled in the past month. No wonder you can see Russia from your house.