Entrepreneurs new to the cannabis industry who think their typical customer is a young stoner with a rapper t-shirt and unruly ponytail need to think again. A recent report from New Frontier Data handily dispels the stoner stereotype and other misconceptions.
For its report, Cannabis Consumers in America: 2023, Part I, New Frontier Data surveyed 5,345 American adults (4,358 of them users) in February to find that the statistical equivalent of 42 percent of U.S. adults had used cannabis, meaning THC-infused products, and agreed they would likely use them again.
Notably, that use was recent: 39 percent of U.S. adults said they’d used cannabis in 2022, the report revealed; an even larger percentage, 42 percent, said they’d used cannabis in 2023.
Significant finds about consumer motivation included:
· While more consumers (58 percent) considered themselves recreational users as opposed to medical users (42 percent), the majority – 53 percent — described their use as both medical and recreational.
· Eighty-three percent said they were motivated by the need to “unwind.” That broke down to 61 percent aiming for more and better-quality sleep, 64 percent for relaxation, 59 percent for stress release, 62 percent for anxiety reduction and 48 percent for pain management
· Only 10 percent of those surveyed were ages 18 to 24. The largest group, 24 percent, were ages 25 to 34. Almost as large a group, 23 percent, were 35 to 44. Some 18 percent of those surveyed were 45 to 54; 15 percent were 55 to 64; and 10 percent were 65-plus.
· Women made up 46 percent of the users; of those users overall, 63 percent were white, 14 percent Hispanic/Latinx and 14 percent Black.
· Politically, 15 percent of the survey’s users described themselves as strongly liberal/Left; 21 percent, moderately liberal/Left; 28 percent, independent; 19 percent, moderately conservative/Right;10 percent strongly conservative/Right; and 7 percent, apolitical.
What do the numbers add up to? “As legalization continues to spread across the country, so does normalization,” Amanda Reiman, chief knowledge officer at New Frontier Data, said by email. “We are seeing more non-consumers with a willingness to try cannabis, especially if recommended by their doctor.”
The survey broke down the reasons for those doctors’ recommendations (which legally cannot be “prescriptions”): chronic pain, 46 percent; migraines, 21 percent; PTSD, 17 percent; osteoarthritis, 10 percent; rheumatoid arthritis, 9 percent; and neuropathy, 9 percent.
Continued Reiman in the email: “We are also seeing more adoption of a variety of consumption methods beyond just smoking flower, as consumers are taking advantage of the numerous types of products available in the regulated market.”
Reflecting the executive’s statement, for the 74 percent of respondents living in “legal” states, cannabis products’ share of sales was: 43 percent flower, 6 percent pre-rolls; 29 percent vaping; 11 percent edible/beverage choices; 9 percent extracture; and 1 percent tincture.
The survey numbers further reflected the overall description of growth: The industry accounted for $12 billion in sales in 2022 for legal medical use; the estimate for 2023 for medical is $13 billion. The sales number in 2022 for legal adult use was $16 billion; the estimate for 2023 for adult use is $21 billion.
Growth was further reflected in the study where cannabis consumers shop. “We see more consumers using licensed brick-and-mortar stores to obtain their cannabis, even if they have to drive across state lines to do so,” Reiman’s email noted. More dispensaries, more diversified product lines and more legal states point to more opportunities for business, the report’s Takeaways section noted.
Speaking of legal states, Minnesota is about to become the 23rd state legal for adult use, and the survey touched on this increasing data point, finding that 52 percent of user-respondents reported living in adult-use states (with 23 percent in illicit states). Twenty-five percent of respondents said they lived in medical-only states. Clearly, more legal states equals more dispensaries equals more consumers.
Frequency of use among respondents was another reflection of growth. Thirty-one percent of user-respondents reported cannabis use multiple times a day, 12 percent once a day, 21 percent a few times a week, 5 percent once a week, and 11 percent a couple of times a month.
With 70 percent of current consumers saying their cannabis use helps them achieve “a specific objective,” that objective, more and more, is relief for various physical discomforts and illnesses: 51 percent of the self-identified medical consumers in the survey said they had replaced at least some of their prescription medications with cannabis.
Here, CBD (versus THC cannabis) often plays a role for pain relief. Fifty-four percent of the consumers surveyed said they’d tried CBD; even non-cannabis consumers (16 percent) had tried these products. Of the consumers, frequency of CBD use was considerable: daily, 17 percent; once to a couple of times a week, 19 percent; once to a couple of times a month, 20 percent; once to a couple of times a year, 26 percent; and once or twice ever, 18 percent. Oils/tinctures, edibles and topicals were the most popular products.
Still, a caveat was cited: “Despite expanding legalization, many consumers still face limited access to cannabis,” the report states. Seventy-four percent of Americans may live in states with legal adult-use or medical access, New Frontier Data points out, but local restrictions and the geographical spread of dispensaries can be barriers for use.
“As such, regulators should work to ensure that a wider variety of cannabis products are made available to consumers,” the report concluded. To date, operators have focused on flower and edibles. Accordingly, it’s time they expanded their product offerings to reach still more, and new, consumers, the report advised.
Source: Joan Oleck – forbes.com
Image: unsplash.com
