New report says medical cannabis users are spending more

Cannabis data and analysis specialist, Headset, just released its latest report comparing the development of the US medical and recreational cannabis market and providing results that show sales patterns and unify trends across the industry. The report’s findings are based on the prevailing pattern of a three-step process in the development of the cannabis market, including prohibition, medical access and legalization of adult use.

While there are exceptions to this trend where markets skip medical use and move straight from cannabis prohibition to legalizing adult use, flagship states like California, which approved medical use in 1996 but took another 20 years to make adult cannabis, follow suit to allow for more predictable patterns. The report compares California’s slower adoption to the accelerated process in Illinois exhibited by the shorter six-year time span between medical and recreational legalization.

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The Medical To Rec Jump

Because of the proven predictability of this market pattern, industry analysts use it to understand the past, paint a clearer picture of the present, and predict future sales patterns in states like New York, New Jersey, and Montana. all of which will be converted to recreational use this year. Headset’s report also looks at the Illinois and Michigan cannabis markets, which only recently made the transition from medicine to recreation, as well as Colorado and Oregon, which jumped on that bandwagon much earlier.

Overall, the analysis shows significant growth when markets first switch to adult use, as demonstrated by the 226% increase in Illinois in the period between the recreational market launch in January 2020 through July 2021, but showing total sales for adults in the same period still a whopping increase of 1077%.

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The effects of adult legalization on the medical market are less predictable and more country-specific. While medical sales in Illinois initially remained stable after adult use was legalized, Michigan recorded 75% growth in medical sales between January 2020 and July 2021. Still, the proportion of total cannabis sales to medical patients in Michigan since its inception has been the recreational market, and Illinois saw a steady decline in the first quarter, leading to an all-time low of 20.9% in July 2021.

RELATED: Can You Use Your Medical Marijuana Card In Other States?

However, Colorado and Oregon, two of the country’s most mature recreational markets, offer some evidence that legalizing adult use isn’t necessarily a death sentence for medical purposes. Oregon’s medical sales have held steady at 8-12% since early 2020, with Colorado outperforming that at 18-20% over the past twelve months.

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Medical patients spend more

Differences in purchasing behavior between recreational and medical consumers can also affect the market. Headset data shows that medical consumers have a tendency to buy more products at once (a metric they refer to as “basket size”) than recreational consumers. The daytime period was a staggering 99% larger than recreational consumers. Consumer differences have also carried over to preferred consumables, with medical patients having higher concentrate consumption than recreational consumers’ preference for edibles and instant rolls.

Ultimately, lower taxes, higher potency THC products, and more knowledgeable people and sales experience give the medical market enough head start to hold its own with the advent of adult legalization. However, given the astronomical surge in growth in new adult consumption markets, the latest results from Headset suggest that medical cannabis will be happy to hold its overall market share of 10-20%.

This article originally appeared in the Green Market Report and was republished with permission.