Americans spending as much on legal cannabis as on alcohol
Source: thedrinksbusiness.com
by Steven Green
27th July, 2016
A new report has found that Americans are now spending as much on legal cannabis as they are on alcohol.
And according to Time Money, it’s men who are predominantly reaching for the rolling papers, with $647 annually on marijuana products, while female consumers drop about $634 each year on weed.
That is in comparison with an average of $645 spent a year on alcohol and $1,000 a year on coffee (via Headset).
Cannabis is currently legal for medical purposes across 25 states, while Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia are all completely decriminalised for recreational purposes, and as more states legalise the drug it is thought that the average age of consumers is set to decline.
Men currently represent 70% of the legal cannabis industry and will generally gravitate towards products they can smoke, but reports show that female consumers are more likely to purchase edible cannabis products.
However, new customers are said to be following the recent trend of vaping by gravitating towards vapour pens as the new technology requires little effort to consume.
Vapour pens now account for 9% of purchases for both male and female consumers.