A visual take on some key cannabis trends in 2022

The MJBizDaily editorial staff has posted many stories this year exploring issues impacting the cannabis industry.

In the spirit of “a picture is worth 1,000 words,” here are charts and maps that visualize a few of the trends we saw in 2022:

The contraction of mature adult-use markets

The most significant trend in cannabis in 2022 was declining sales in the mature recreational markets.

Most experienced double-digit declines versus the same period in 2021.

Although new markets showed healthy growth, it makes one wonder what that would look like in better economic conditions.

Canadian sales growth

While mature markets in the U.S., including Colorado, Oregon and Washington state, experienced year-over-year sales declines this year, Canadian markets either grew or were flat.

Through October, sales in Ontario were up 32% over 2021, with British Columbia and Manitoba growing more than 20% during that time.

MJBizDaily reporter Solomon Israel attributes the growth to new store openings and increased product selection.

All of which continues to capture more customers from the illicit market.

It sounds exciting, but the important thing to understand – and which the following charts show – is that growth in the Canadian adult-use cannabis market is slowing and has been for some time.

Sliding stock prices

The start of 2021 was full of hope for cannabis investors.

President Joe Biden took office in January, and the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives and Senate.

It all went downhill from there as banking reform failed to happen.

Cannabis versus marijuana

If you need any indication that the word “cannabis” is growing in popularity over “marijuana,” just look at Google trends for 2018 compared to 2022.

These maps show the percentage of searches for the two words by state.

Hover over or select the states for the details.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/a-visual-take-on-some-key-cannabis-trends-in-2022/