The market for cannabis is exploding. You'll be able to do much more than smoke it over the next decade.
ADVERTISEMENTThe quickening pace of cannabis legalisation could change the food, drink and beauty landscape over the next decade, according to market research organisation Euromonitor International.
Bolstered by the rise of CBD, many regions have relaxed and in some cases decriminalised full-strength cannabis. Unlike CBD (cannabinol), cannabis contains THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the active – and in some cases psychoactive ingredient – that gets you high.
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By 2030, the cannabis market will have been revolutionised, seeing brand names emerge and a host of cannabis products available for use in everyday life.
Where will cannabis be available?
Euromonitor predicts the market for cannabis will go far beyond revolutionising the tabacco industry to see people smoking the dried cannabis plant.
In fact, it identified four additional key industries as potential markets the burgeoning cannabis industry could exploit.
Drinks
There are already a host of CBD-infused drinks on the market, to take advantage of the wellness halo currently surrounding CBD products. While looking ahead to widespread acceptance of products containing THC, Spiros Malandrakis, Euromonitor’s industry manager for alcoholic drinks says there is an opportunity for cannabis to “radically disrupt traditionalist industries such as alcoholic drinks”.
“Reshaping millennia-old drinking rituals and providing an alternative to social lubrication occasions, cannabis should be either embraced as a symbiotic opportunity or faced as a potentially detrimental antagonist for an alcohol industry already on the defensive,” he adds.
However, while the two could work together as a social bonding experience, Euromonitor is keen to point out drinks containing THC rarely contain alcohol at the moment, as research is still ongoing about the impact of the combined effects.
Health
Some believe cannabis-based products could provide a natural solution for pain relief and an alternative to addictive opioid drugs.
Euromonitor suggested vitamins and dietary supplements containing cannabis could become commonplace within six years while it could also form part of sleeping aids and sports nutrition.
Beauty
CBD has already replaced hemp references in many beauty products, promoting its anti-oxidising, oil-balancing and anti-inflammatory properties.
Euromonitor expects skincare to be the main driver of cannabis beauty growth, with those looking for a holistic skin routine likely to jump on the trend.
Food
Cannabis-infused edibles are nothing new, but seeing them on the shelves of your local supermarket may come as something of a revelation.
Bakery products, savoury snacks, pasta and soups could all soon contain CBD to satisfy demand for mood-boosting snacks.
“They will be able to wake up and have a pick-me-up cannabis beverage, jump in the shower and use cannabis toiletries, take a cannabis supplement with lunch, consume cannabis sports nutrition after the gym, pop out in the evening for a non-alcoholic THC drink with a buzz and go to bed at the end of the day with a THC sleeping aid,” says Zora Milenkovic, head of drinks and tobacco at Euromonitor and author of the report Here Comes Cannabis: How Legalisation Will Disrupt Global Industries.
Where is cannabis legal now?
Recreational marijuana is now legal in Canada and in 10 US states. Medical marijuana is legal in 33 US states, which is a strong precursor to recreational legalisation. Euromonitor expects federal legalisation of recreational cannabis in the US within the next 10 years. Meanwhile, some countries and regions in Europe, Asia and as far away as Australia have legalised cannabis for medicinal or personal use.
