Legal Cannabis is Eroding Alcohol Sales, According to a Report

Legal Cannabis is Eroding Alcohol Sales, According to a Report

Analysts at Cowen Equity Research say that legal cannabis sales in the U.S. have started to cut into the sales of beer, wine, and liquor. However, a MarketWatch report says that the alcohol industry is far from being hurt by this.

As Colorado approaches 10 years since voters OK’d legal adult-use cannabis sales in the state, Cowen reviewed nearly 20 years of U.S. government survey and spending data to weigh the influence of pot on alcohol sales. They also crunched figures from Nielsen and the Cowen Consumer Survey and studied more than 8 million survey responses combined with underlying alcohol data from 38 specific states.

According to a Ganjapreneur report, Cowen Equity Research analyst Vivien Azer said that the cannabis industry’s short-term effect on alcohol sales is mostly manageable. However, Azer also said that the legal cannabis market is now about 10% the size of the alcohol market, which is a five-fold increase from cannabis’s 2% share of the alcohol market just five years ago.

The cannabis industry is gaining steam, with a projected $26 billion in sales for 2022. This sector has grown from 2% of the alcohol market to 10% in just the past five years. Says Azer. The survey revealed that in states where marijuana is legal, cannabis sales growth is outpacing alcohol sales growth by a margin of 0.6% to 1.1%.

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