When Colorado first launched adult-use (recreational) sales in 2014, the existing medical market opened up to a wave of new consumers, including those from the sizable illicit market as well as new consumers who previously had little or no experience with cannabis.
Global legal cannabis spending is forecast to reach $47 billion in 2025, a number too big to ignore for many companies and industries. The U.S. will continue to be the largest global market, driven by more and more adult use markets opening.
The Nevada cannabis market is unique among states with legal recreational cannabis regimes. The role of tourism plays a big role in shaping retail trends. The concentration of sales in urban centers stands apart. And the state’s regulatory framework offers benefits and challenges for cannabis companies and investors.
The latest Cannabis Intelligence Briefing from Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics: CBD: Cannabidiol Escapes the Dispensary details CBD’s move from legal cannabis dispensaries to the general retail market. At present, the bulk (65%) of the $1.9 billion in annual spending on CBD products in the U.S. takes place through licensed dispensaries in legal cannabis states.
How many products contain cannabis? Hundreds. Flower – of course – and pre-rolls. Vape pens and concentrates like shatter and Live Resin. Creams and massage oils. Chocolate chip cookies, coffee sodas, pills, strawberry taffy, powders for adding to hot tea or cold juice. Companies are rolling out myriad new products in pot-friendly states every week — it’s remarkable.
Cannabis Ingestibles cover a lot of ground, including everything from pills to slices of pie to bottles of THC-infused cold-brewed coffee. But one style of ingestible dominates the market: the gummy.
By the time it drew to a close, California’s first year of legal adult-use cannabis had matured into an industry behemoth.
When Colorado kicked-off legal adult-use cannabis sales in the United States in 2014, unbranded flower fully dominated the marketplace, capturing more than 60 percent of all sales. Concentrates, edibles and topicals were far behind.
Make sure to check out our year-end recap of the Top 10 Cannabis Product Trends. Click to read.
Legalization changes everything. And in 2018, legalization of cannabis, both for medical and adult-use is playing a huge role in influencing where the industry is headed – with production, with consumption, and everything in-between. It transforms cannabis from something reminiscent of dried oregano in a plastic bag into a smorgasbord of products, complete with elaborate store displays, state-regulated testing and high-tech facilities and laboratories focused on the plant’s manifold intricacies.
