An analysis by BDSA of legal cannabis sales across four Western states (CA, CO, NV, and OR) addressing both adult-use and medical sales demonstrates that sales in the 12 months ending February 2020 (Mar 2019-Feb 2020) reached a combined $6.35 billion. Compared to the prior 12-months, sales in those four states grew 14.2%.
Cannabis has been consumed for centuries but the modern, legalized market has given rise to new product types in addition to flower/bud and joints that are consumed in raw form. These Cannabis 2.0 products include edibles such as beverages and gummies, as well as topicals and vapes, to name a few of the most popular categories.
In Colorado, the nation’s first state to offer adult-use sales, Cannabis 2.0 products contributed 29.1% of sales in 2014. By the most recent 12 months ending February 2020, the proportion of revenues attributed to these products had increased to 49.8% of sales. Also in the most recent 12 months of sales data, combined sales of Cannabis 2.0 products across a four state region (CA, CO, NV, and OR) reached $3.16 billion and accounted for 49.8% of total revenues.
Compared to the trailing 12 months, growth of Cannabis 2.0 products in the 12 months ending February 2020 was 13.1%, slightly lagging behind the 14.2% growth in the broader market inclusive of Cannabis 2.0. After years of rapid growth, Cannabis 2.0 experienced headwinds in more recent periods: The vape category has been one of the hottest segments in cannabis since 2014, but in September 2019 a health scare occurred as unexplained deaths associated with vape products took the wind out of the sales of this category and curtailed growth in the industry as a whole for several months. While the industry and category have mostly recovered from the vape scare, the move towards an industry dominated by Cannabis 2.0 products has slowed as the popularity of flower and pre-rolled joints has persisted and prices in the flower category have leveled off after years of steady declines.
