Business
Forty-Two Percent of American Adults Use Cannabis
A new report dives into the trends and facts about today’s cannabis consumer.
A new report called Cannabis Consumers in America 2023: Part 1 was recently release by New Frontier Data on May 2. The study analyzes a wide variety of trends and demographics of the modern cannabis consumer.
According to New Frontier Data CEO Gary Allen, more than 42% of adults have used cannabis and say that they will use it again. “Cannabis consumers are diverse with users spread across age groups, genders, economic brackets and political affiliations,” said Allen in a press release. “With 42% of U.S. adults having used cannabis and likely to do so again, and another 15% expressing interest in trying cannabis in the future, acceptance and receptiveness continues to grow, creating massive opportunities in both new and emerging markets.”
The survey sample size included 5,534 participants, which was broken down into 4,358 cannabis consumers and 1,176 non-cannabis consumers, who were surveyed in Q1 of 2023.
The survey found that 37% of U.S. adults are considered to be “current consumers” who either consume pot annually and plan to do so in the future, while 30% of Americans have never used pot, and don’t intend to. Additionally, 15% of Americans have never tried cannabis but are interested in doing so, and 13% are former consumers who no longer partake.
New Frontier Data also published a 2022 analysis of American consumers. In comparison, the number of current consumers increased from 39% in 2022 to 42% in 2023. For those who have never used cannabis and don’t intend to, the number dropped from 34% in 2022 to 30% in 2023.
The study also reviews results from participants of different age ranges being asked about their past month of cannabis use between 2017 and 2021. Since 2017, the percentage of adults between 18-20 has decreased by 8% and increased by 20% for those 21-25. Some of the biggest increases in that four-year period included adults ages 65+ with a 96% increase, and adults ages 40-44 with a 64% increase. Across the board, all age groups increased significantly, with the exception of the 18–20-year-olds.
Approximately 74% of people in the U.S. live in a state with some kind of legal framework, and 48% live in an adult-use state while only 26% reside in a state with only medical cannabis.
In terms of product popularity, 2022 data from legal cannabis markets show that flower still dominates most product share of sales with 43%, followed by vapes at 29%, edibles (including beverages) at 11%, and extracts at 9%. Tinctures, topicals or “other” all reflect 1% or less of product share.
The race or ethnic identity is mainly broken up between white (63%), Hispanic/Latinx (14%), Black (14%), Mixed/multi-racial (4%), Asian (3%), and Other (2%). Currently, a majority of consumers are men at 54% and women at 46%.
Participants showed that 70% of consumers use cannabis to target a specific objective. A majority of consumers, about 83%, use cannabis for “unwinding (relaxation, stress, or anxiety)” and 61% use it for improved sleep. Most consumers use cannabis while watching videos, television or movies at home (56%), listening to music (52%), sleeping (45%), browsing the internet (37%), eating (36%), spending time with family/partner (35%), socializing (33%), playing video games (32%), and doing housework or chores (30%). (Under 30% includes activities such as cooking, having sex, spending time in nature, and drinking alcohol.)
Most medical cannabis consumers use it to treat diagnosed conditions such as chronic pain (46%), migraines (21%), PTSD (17%), and osteoarthritis (10%). The average consumer typically uses cannabis for symptoms such as pain (64%), anxiety (55%), depression (41%), insomnia (40%), and inflammation (28%). Ninety-four percent of consumers say that their medical conditions or symptoms improved after consuming cannabis.
According to the survey results, 77% of flower consumers say that strains are important, while 47% are more interested in minor cannabinoid and terpene profiles. “Despite recently increased industry focus on minor cannabinoids and terpenes, most consumers still use strains to make decisions,” New Frontier Data stated.
For consumers who prefer edibles, gummies lead by a large margin at 84% for most common edible, followed by 50% who enjoy cookies or brownies, 42% choose chocolates, and 22% prefer beverages. Most consumers who choose edibles will consume 2-4 mg (14%), 5 mg (18%), or 10 mg (17%).
Cannabis Consumers in America 2023: Part 1 contains a wealth of information about cannabis consumers today, with 45 pages of charts and data on other topics such as spending trends, where consumers choose to buy their product, brand loyalty, social consumption details, perspective on policy, and more.
Source: https://hightimes.com/news/forty-two-percent-of-american-adults-use-cannabis/
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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