Are drinks the secret to increasing cannabis use among consumers?

Are drinks the secret to increasing cannabis use among consumers?

Adult use of cannabis is becoming legal in an increasing number of US states. While the trend towards legal adult usage is evident on this side of the Atlantic, significant progress is also being made in Europe, namely in Germany.

Like any freshly legal market, there are many of customers who have never encountered such things, but there are also plenty of people who have been using cannabis illegally for some time in these newly legalised marketplaces. In light of this, the industry might appear very intimidating to novices. Entering a dispensary in California or Colorado presents you with an amazing array of products and strains that can be very challenging to navigate if you don’t have much experience.

A well-known bridge

Reach into the drink. During his keynote address at Cannabis Products Exchange 2022 (CPX 22), Cann CEO and Founder Jake Bullock disclosed that one of the cannabis industry’s fastest-growing segments is beverages. It’s a market that’s growing in size within the cannabis industry, even though it might not be as large as the flower or vape markets.

It may yet play a larger role, particularly when those new markets start to open and attract sizable populations that might not be as familiar with cannabis use as more established markets like Colorado or California. For those individuals, it may be frightening to walk into a dispensary and see all the flowers and inhalables available, but as Stephanie Gorecki of Cresco Labs put it, “Most people know how to eat and drink.”

In actuality, a large number of people who dabble in cannabis are habitual drinkers; for them, downing a few bottles, cans, or glasses in the evening is not a novel method of ingestion. When taking into account the current recreational “drugs,” microdosing, or low THC levels of less than 5 mg, frequently occurs between 1 and 2.5 mg. This is nothing new to consumers. After all, just as a 330ml bottle of beer is a delivery system for 4.5 percent ABV alcohol, coffee is a delivery system for caffeine.

Bullock is attempting to penetrate that market with Cann. According to him, the company wants to draw beer drinkers from its establishments rather than cannabis smokers from their joints.

A sizable section of the cannabis consumer market is “Cali-sober,” or cannabis users rather than drinkers, and there is a rising sober-curious movement. Bullock envisions a future in which cannabis-infused drinks will be served at social gatherings in the same manner as alcoholic beverages. He does, in fact, assert that some home parties in Los Angeles already accommodate this, saying that “you’ll find a cooler full of cannabis beverages.”

Market impediments

However, the method that products can be sold—that is, in dispensaries—significantly constricts the US cannabis market. You cannot purchase THC beverages at your neighbourhood Whole Foods or Walmart alongside Coca-Cola, Nescafé, or Coors Light. Bud tenders, or those who sell goods from dispensaries, are the only way to reach customers instead. However, there’s a concern that budtenders, who frequently have a lot of experience with cannabis themselves, would not give very low THC goods the same weight as more conventional, high-dosage formats like flower or even edibles.

That was acknowledged by Travis Tharp, CEO and President of Keef, one of the biggest cannabis beverages in the US based on market share. The philosophy of his business is to enter a new

In addition, Tharp disclosed that Keef deliberately chose to maintain the 10mg THC threshold rather than explore the microdose realm, as so many others have done. At CPX 22, Tharp stated, “We want to appeal to the canna-curious, but you have to take care of the canna-connoisseurs first.” It’s an intriguing school of thought, and maybe Keef’s success is hidden there. In a market where there is only one path to customers, you need to make sure that path—the budtenders—is open.Drinks may not be able to replace them in the dispensary lineup because to logistical issues. It is exceedingly challenging for stores to carry beverages due to certain state requirements. For instance, a law mandating inventory to be kept in a safe at all times was recently passed in Colorado. If you sell little packages of candy and flowers, that duty is exhausting enough every evening; however, many budtenders may find it difficult to transport cases of hefty cans back and forth every day. Real estate alone is another factor that dispensary entrepreneurs need to take into account. Given that a sizable portion of their customers are seasoned cannabis users, one could contend that it seems sense that many shops seek to stock their shelves with goods that offer

Quick expansion and enthusiasm

Even with its difficulties, the cannabis beverage market is a fascinating one to work in. Jessica Lukas of BDSA informed the CPX22 audience that this industry is among the fastest growing, registering 63 percent year-over-year growth in 2021. This is noteworthy, as is the fact that only 23% of cannabis “acceptors,” or people who consume or are open to taking cannabis, would consider inhalables as a cannabis delivery method, compared to 45% of edibles.

Many people will be eager for their first cannabis experience—or at least their first in a long time—if and when federal law is introduced, and it seems that beverages will offer the most recognisable delivery system to them. Will Bullock’s dream of cannabis-infused and alcohol-infused cocktails side by side at a party or bar come true? Who knows, but it’s absolutely something to watch in this industry.