Puerto Rico is facing billions of dollars in budget cuts, a public debt load of more than $70 billion and a declining population as people flee to the mainland seeking better opportunities. But people are betting that the new cannabis industry can revert the situation. Juan Manuel Rodriguez, an investor at Natural Ventures inspects marijuana plants in a bloom room in Caguas, Puerto Rico, last month. Investors in Puerto Rico have spent more than $3 million to obtain licenses issued by the island’s health department to cultivate, manufacture and sell medical marijuana.

2017-08-14