It has just been forcasted that medical and recreational sales of marijuana will reach 2.2 billion in 2014 and then explode to 8 billion in 2018. Experts are attributing the explosion in forcasted sales to the Cole Memorandum. The Cole memorandum was issued last August by the U.S. Department of Justice and states that the Justice Department will take a hands-off approach to the marijuana industry as long as state and local regulations are followed.