United States: the cannabis and hemp industry could reach $41 billion by 2025

According to the Total Consumer Report According to Nielsen, one of the world’s largest market research firms, legal cannabis sales in the United States could reach nearly $41 billion by 2025. In 2018, the sector was estimated to be worth $8 billion. The estimate includes both recreational and medical sales, as well as revenue from hemp.

«In 2018, we estimate that total sales of all legalized cannabis in the United States reached $8 billion,» Nielsen states. «This includes sales of hemp-derived CBD. That’s $8 billion in a country where cannabis is now legal for recreational use in only 11 U.S. states and Washington, D.C.»

«With the opening of new recreational markets such as Michigan and Illinois in 2020, and other states likely to follow suit, we project that sales of all legal cannabis in the United States will reach $41 billion by 2025.».

These sales projections include $35 billion for cannabis-based products and $6 billion for products based on CBD derived from hemp. Forecasts related to CBD assume that CBD-infused products will be legally available in stores.

In the section of the report titled «Brace for Impact», the research firm notes that the share of cannabis flower sold in dispensaries fell from 77% in 2014 to 48% last year. According to a survey of legal cannabis sales in Colorado and Washington in 2014, only 4% of cannabis sales in those states were vape pens, while 9% of edible products and 10% of «other formats.» In 2018, sales of vape pens in Colorado, Washington, Nevada, and California accounted for 19% of total sales; sales of edibles accounted for 11% of the market; and »other formats,» 22%.

Nielsen also points out that in 2014, there were only 166 cannabis brands in the two states that had legalized cannabis. By 2018, that number had risen to 2,600 across four states.

«If cannabis use were to become legal for adults in all the states where it is currently being actively considered, we could very soon be living in a country where more than one-third of American adults reside in a state where cannabis use is legally permitted,» according to the report.

Nielsen also notes that legal cannabis has an impact on related industries such as tobacco; alcohol, and pharmaceuticals: 41% of respondents who had used cannabis said they would try using cannabis to quit smoking tobacco, and 1 in 5 said they would buy less beer at stores because of their cannabis use. Another 35% said they would stop using over-the-counter pain relievers in favor of cannabis for back and neck pain.