A recreational marijuana smoker indulges in smoking weed on April 14, 2020, in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, Fresh York.
Bruce Bennett | Getty Images
Americans are more into bud than alcohol.
Daily or almost daily marijuana apply is now more common in the U.S. than similar levels of marijuana consumption, according to data analyzed over 40 years. Carnegie Mellon University.
The report analyzed U.S. data from more than 1.6 million participants collected in 27 surveys between 1979 and 2022.
Although alcohol is still more widely used overall, in 2022, daily marijuana apply overtook marijuana consumption for the first time at the same frequency – approximately 17.7 million people using cannabis and 14.7 million people drinking.
This represents a 15-fold raise for cannabis since 1992, when 900,000 Americans reported using the drug daily, compared with 8.9 million daily drinkers.
“We believe – and the data clearly shows – that the younger demographic cohort is increasingly accepting cannabis for daily and monthly apply at a higher rate than other generations,” said Scott Fortune, an analyst at Roth MKM.
“Because there are signs that consumers are replacing other pleasures (alcohol, tobacco), we believe that as younger generations grow up with legal cannabis options, cannabis acceptance will become more widespread and replace conventional options,” he added.
This report comes as the cannabis industry expects the Drug Enforcement Administration to ease federal restrictions and reclassify marijuana, which will raise access to financing, research and investment opportunities for cannabis-related companies like Tilray, Canopy growth AND Curaleaf.
However, the spirits and alcohol industry is trying to defend itself its market share despite changing trends among younger consumers.
“When it comes to the U.S. alcohol market, the youngest consumers of legal drinking age are less likely to drink alcohol, and if they do drink it, they are drinking fewer drinks,” said Bill Kirk, an analyst at Roth MKM.
Kirk said growing trends, including greater abstinence from alcohol, improved availability of high-quality cushioned drinks and increased cannabis apply, are contributing to this.
“When it comes to cannabis, we wouldn’t say this trend is necessarily hurting alcohol, but we will look to alcohol to partner with, invest in or acquire U.S. marijuana when federal regulations allow it to benefit from the industry’s projected growth,” Fortune said. .
However, some Wall Street analysts expect a greater impact from cannabis adoption on the alcohol industry.
“We estimate that legal marijuana may have a negative impact on beer volume [compound annual growth rate] up to 230 basis points in Canada and 75 basis points in the US, where it is legal,” Bernstein analyst Nadine Sarwat said, referring to basis points (bps). One basis point is equal to one hundredth of a percentage point.
She added that states’ conflicting cannabis policies are softening the blow to major breweries and distilleries. Constellation brands, Diageo, AB InBev AND Molson Coors.
“Federal legalization may raise the risk of alcohol consumption, but in the current political climate that seems a long way off,” Sarwat said.
