Millennials and Gen Z dominate the cannabis industry – Cannabis | weed | marijuana

Millennials & Gen Z are major players in the cannabis industry, accounting for 72.1% of all tracked sales in Canada and 63% in the United States.

Gen Z is the fastest growing group of cannabis users in both countries, according to Headset’s latest report. While Millennials remain #1, spending almost half of every dollar on cannabis across North America, Generation Z is creeping up.

Millennials & Gen Z also prefer newer forms of cannabis. While older consumers prefer buds and edibles, the younger crowd is buying vape pens and concentrates.

In fact, Gen Z is spending more on vape pens than bud for the first time in history.

Millennials and Gen Z dominate the cannabis industry

Millennials & Gen Z dominate the cannabis industry as top users. It’s like Ludwig von Mises said:

The real bosses in the capitalist system of the market economy are the consumers. Through their purchase and through their non-purchase, they decide who should own the capital and operate the facilities. You determine what is to be produced in which quantity and quality. Your hiring results in either profit or loss for the entrepreneur. They make the poor rich and the rich poor. They are not easy bosses.

And while the cannabis industry isn’t a good example of a free and fair market economy, it’s not as disconnected from consumers as the pharmaceutical industry, for example.

With that in mind, how does the Millennial vs Gen Z cannabis demographic break down?

While Millennials raked in nearly half of every dollar spent on cannabis, Gen Z is the fastest growing group. They are slowly but surely taking over the dominant millennial market.

Canada has a higher concentration of younger cannabis users. But we can explain that by the legal consumption age, which is 19. In the constitutional states, on the other hand, you have to be 21 years or older.

Canada also had the highest concentration of young cannabis users prior to legalization. So this trend might indicate that. (Although Canada’s intended goal with legalization is “to keep them out of the hands of children.”)

Gen Z percentage of total US sales grew 11.3%. In Canada, Gen Z grew by 6%.

In the US, Maine and Colorado had the highest percentage of sales to people under the age of 40. In both countries, men accounted for about two-thirds of all cannabis sales.

Millennials & Gen Z prefer vape pens

There are obvious differences in cannabis product preferences among older generations, Millennials and Gen Z.

For example, Baby Boomers and Gen Z are more interested in “wellness” products like capsules, topicals, and tinctures. Especially for boomers, whose pocketbook for these products is five and a half times larger than that of Gen Z.

Likewise, Millennials and Gen Z prefer inhalable cannabis like concentrates, flower, vape pens, and pre-rolls. Gen Z has a 25% higher share of the wallet for these products than Baby Boomers.

Older demographics tend to be more conservative with their cannabis. They prefer flowers and edibles. In contrast, vape pens are so popular with Gen Z that they sell more flowers.

Since legalization, flowers have remained the top product category in all markets. Except now. Gen Z prefers the convenience of vape pens to the alternative of buying flowers and packing a bowl or rolling a joint.

Gen X also enjoys convenience, but devotes up to 29% of their wallet share to pre-rolls instead of vape pens.

The difference between young and old cannabis users is amazing. Generation Z consumers prefer vape pens by 191.5% over Baby Boomers.

Edible dates in Canada skewed by poor regulations

According to the data, edibles are less common in Canada than in the United States. However, there are a few reasons for this.

Number one is the arbitrary (and potentially illegal) THC cap on edibles. All edibles in Canada must contain no more than 10mg of THC. This makes them highly unpopular to your typical connoisseur and offensive to medical patients.

The second reason can be found in the concentrate data. In the United States, concentrates are more popular with younger consumers. In Canada, concentrates are more popular with older consumers.

However, we can explain this anomaly by the irrational (and randomly changing) regulations of Health Canada. Without the same THC limit for concentrates that Canada has for edibles, many consumers purchase edibles disguised as concentrates.

This has prompted Health Canada to crack down and close the gap.

Millennials and Gen Z dominate the cannabis industry

What is the key takeaway from the fact that Millennials and Gen Z are now dominating the cannabis industry? Namely, this flower can be dethroned. While pre-rolls are as convenient as vape pens, it’s easier to contain the smell of the latter.

If you’re the type of stoner who likes sativa strains during the day, hitting this vape pen is easier and more discreet than finding an outdoor smoking area to light up a joint.

With millennials and Gen Z users making up more than half of the cannabis market, the future of the industry may lie less in cultivating new strains and more in creating the ideal vape pen.