Regular pot smokers spend up to $100 a week on weed
Nearly half of the Canadians who smoke pot do so at least once a week, according to new consumer research, suggesting there’s a healthy, consistent customer base for recreational marijuana.
The inaugural Cannabis Consumer Update survey by Lighthouse Consulting found that 47 per cent of the 360 Canadians surveyed have used marijuana. Among younger Canadians, aged 18 to 34, the rate was 61 per cent, while among those 35 years and older, it was closer to 42 per cent.
The online survey’s release comes a day after the federal task force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation provided 80 recommendations to Ottawa on how to roll out a legal market. The government is expected to table a legalization bill in the spring and investors have been jumping into the 36 licensed marijuana producers in anticipation of an estimated $6 billion market.
About one-third of marijuana smokers have used it in the past 12 months, according to the survey. Those are the consumers that players in the burgeoning marijuana business should target, said Marc Solby, a partner at Toronto-based Lighthouse, who calls himself the company’s “chief marketing problem-solver.”
Among that important cohort, 21 per cent used marijuana about two to five times a week, 19 per cent used it every day, and nine per cent used it once a week, the survey found.
The survey produced similar results to one conducted by the Parliamentary Budget Office earlier this year, which suggested 98 per cent of the total demand for marijuana would come from the 41 per cent of users who consume it at least once a week.
Solby found that people who smoke pot weekly go through a lot of it — an average of 11 grams, which adds up to about $100 a week. By age demographic, consumption levels were similar among 18- to 34-yearolds and those 35 and older.
“The idea that there was a very strong cohort of older cannabis users was a good wake-up call,” Solby said. “Marijuana has been around a long time and there’s a lot of people who have been using it and it’s not just limited to young people.”
The task force report suggested the government encourage “a diverse competitive market that also includes small producers,” in a well-regulated commercial market that would be based on the existing medical marijuana regime.
That suggests there could be a market for smaller “craft” producers, something Solby’s research suggests consumers desire: About 60 per cent of respondents said they would rather buy from a smaller company than big marijuana.
The task force report called on the government to allow storefront sales in addition to the current mail-order system for medical products.
Solby’s findings suggested that is something 70 per cent of pot smokers want, with older users in particular preferring a face-to-face experience over purchasing online.
“One thread of our research is the degree to which people are excited about real retail. It’s an indication that consumers want to be able to see it, touch it, walk around it,” Solby said. “And that creates a threat for licensed producers because in that scenario they’re no longer going to be direct to consumer, they’re going to sell to a retailer rather than have a relationship directly with the consumer.”
The task force report also called for the government to allow edibles, but limit how they could be marketed and suggested they not be made in forms that could be appealing to children, such as gummy bears or suckers.
The majority of users surveyed by Lighthouse smoked the dried form of the drug, likely because it is the most readily available, Solby said. Still, about a third of users had tried vaporizing or edibles in the past year, which could suggest demand for those forms of consumption.
Though it was based on a very small sample of medical users, about 30 per cent said they also use the drug recreationally, while a similar proportion who do not have a prescription use the drug for medical use.
Solby said that suggests some who want the drug for medicine prefer not to bother with a prescription, perhaps because of the ease of access to the recreational market.
“It speaks to the need to continue to increase access,” he said.
“It’s one thing to say we have a medical marijuana regime but it’s another thing for people to be able to take advantage of it.”