From a broad view, data from the cannabis industry fails to paint an informative picture of what lies ahead for the business in 2024 or what the year holds for insurance professionals specializing in servicing the sector.
Despite a prevailing public focus on the cannabis glut hampering sales in long-legal states, data from industry analysts show cannabis sales overall in the U.S. are poised for growth next year and beyond – with strong performances from new states and emerging product categories.
Some of that growth is because cannabis is now legal for adult-use or medical-use in most states, putting 53% of Americans in a legal state, which is expected to help drive cannabis sales over the next few years to $54 billion by 2027, according to the MJBiz Factbook.
Dragging on that growth is increased competition that has pushed the average retail price of cannabis down. Data from cannabis analytics firm BDSA shows average retail prices across mature markets – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon – fell 13% between the third quarter of 2021 and the same time in 2022, with some markets seeing price compression higher than 20%.
Despite the downward trend, cannabis consumer participat