William Sumner
Cannabis is no longer just a recreational substance. With 29 U.S. States and the District of Columbia currently with medical cannabis laws on the books, more Americans than ever are turning to cannabis as the solution to their aches, pains, and general wellness… but the question is why?
Proffering answers is an annual report published by cannabis technology company Eaze, which analyzed the consumer habits of over 15,000 survey respondents and 350,000 cannabis consumers in the state of California.
In part three of our four-part series, Analyzing Eaze Insights 2017, Green Market Report will examine the reasons why consumers are increasingly turning to cannabis to help promote their general wellness. If you’d like to catch up on the series, you can find Part One here and Part Two here.
According to Eaze’s report, one of the reasons why consumers are turning to cannabis is to help them sleep. Approximately 57% of consumers surveyed by the company reported that they use or have used sleeping pill in past.
Of those people, approximately 95% have used cannabis to help reduce their consumption of sleeping pills. Approximately 45% of those that use cannabis as a substitute for sleeping pills report to switching over to cannabis entirely.
In terms of product preference, consumers that use cannabis to replace sleeping pills prefer using flower (37%). The second most popular consumption method was vaporizers (29%), followed by edibles in a distant third (17%)
Although survey respondents were not asked why the prefer one method over another, the report authors believe that flower’s popularity is due to its fast delivery of THC; as compared to edibles, which often take an hour or more to take effect.
But consumers are not just using cannabis to help them sleep, they’re also using it to help replace bad habits. Of those surveyed, 38% said that they use or have used tobacco. Approximately 73% of those that use or have used tobacco say that cannabis has helped them reduce their tobacco consumption, and 13% of that group claim to have used cannabis to completely replace their tobacco use.
Consumers that use cannabis as a tobacco substitute overwhelmingly prefer flower (55%), followed by vaporizers (29%) and edibles (8%).
In addition to using cannabis to help make the body well, consumers are also using cannabis to help ease the mind.
Approximately 48% of those surveyed reported to use or have used anxiety medication. Out of that group, 95% say that they have used cannabis to reduce their consumption of anxiety medication and 40% of those people report that cannabis has replaced their anxiety medication altogether.
The preferred method of consumption for consumers using cannabis to replace anxiety is flower (37%), followed by vaporizers (29%) and edibles pulling in at third (10%).
Stay Tuned for Part Four
Apart from the changing markets and newfound benefits of cannabis, there is another emerging trend that stands above the rest: the explosion of women in the cannabis industry, both as entrepreneurs and consumers.
Stay tuned for the fourth and final part of our series, Analyzing Eaze Insights 2017, where Green Market Report will examine the growing power of women as consumers in the cannabis industry.
