The cannabis industry is continuing to break its own growth records year after year -- and 2023 is shaping up to be the biggest yet. More growth equals more attention, and that means more data!
We've compiled some dispensary statistics for 2023 that cover all things cannabis for the booming industry this year. In this report you'll find everything from cannabis usage stats to cannabis job growth.
In April 2023, Dispense reported that 44% of unit sales across all customers were Flower, followed by 26.6% Vaporizers.
The Beverage category is relatively new and Dispense hasn't seen much adoption here, but the low percentage could also be caused by some retailers mapping beverages to the 'edibles' category.
Headset's cannabis industry report shows the clear category preferences when it comes to age groups.
Older demographics consumer more variety of products than Millennials or Gen Z. Boomers and Gen X generally have more interest in “wellness” related products such as Capsules, Topicals, Tinctures, and Sublingual. Younger consumers show a strong preference for inhalable products such as Concentrates, Flower, Vapor Pens, and Pre-Rolls.
Headset dove into the data to see which generation was buying the most cannabis. Millennials capture nearly half of every dollar spent on cannabis in the US and Canada. Canada see a larger concentration of total spending within younger demographics, which is likely attributed to the legal age being 18 in Canada, versus 21 in the US.
Headset analyzed cannabis sales by gender and found that males account for about two-thirds of cannabis sales in the US, while females are one-third. This has stayed relatively flat over the last couple of years.
According to the latest Gallup poll on cigarette use, the rate of smoking tobacco has fallen from 35% to 12% in the past two decades and young adults are more likely to smoke e-cigarettes or marijuana than tobacco. Rates of marijuana consumption are on the rise for 18-49 year olds, whereas 50-65 are on the decline.
Here are some 2023 cannabis industry job stats from Vangst:
Whitney Economics forecasts growth ahead for the industry. After 2022 experienced 3% growth with sales totaling $26.1B, 2023 cannabis sales are expected to grow 11.8% and 2024 is expecting 20% growth.
According to MJBizDaily, the cannabis industry will add $100 billion to US economy in 2023. And for every $10 consumers spend on cannabis, an additional $18 will be injected in the economy - most of this at the local level.
88% of US adults say either that marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use by adults (59%) or that it should be legal for medical use only (30%). Only 10% say marijuana use should not be legal, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted October 10-16, 2022.
This cannabis legality chart by MJBizDaily shows that medical cannabis is legal in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Recreational cannabis has been approved in DC and 22 states.
According to MCBA's National Cannabis Equity Report, only 15 states have social equity programs. 13 of the 18 adult-use states and 2 of the 18 medical-only legal cannabis states have social equity programs.
According to the Leafly's 2022 Cannabis Harvest Report, cannabis is America’s 6th biggest cash crop.
Adult-use cannabis farmers in the US grew 2,854 metric tons in 2022. That's 554 more metric tons from 2021.
Marijuana is the number 1 crop in Alaska, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. However, regulators in two of those states don't publish production totals, so you might not even know!
