When Nevada’s adult recreational law went into effect this past July, cannabis began to fly off the shelves across the state. A new report says that more than 25% of adults in Nevada have purchased cannabis.
Per Marijuana
So now that we know plenty of adults are buying legal weed in Nevada, it begs the question of exactly who is purchasing all this pot?
A new study aimed to find out if Nevada’s sales were volume buys, concentrated groups of cannabis users, or spread out among a more diverse group of adults.
The study, conducted by consulting firm Enlucem, found that more than a quarter of adults in Nevada had purchased cannabis legally since the state opened the recreational market — an estimated 28 percent of Nevada’s adult population to be exact. The study concluded that 15 percent of adults in Nevada are “potential users” who plan to purchase marijuana in the next six months from a dispensary.
While this seems like a large proportion of adults in the state buying legal weed, there are other states boasting even higher rates of recreational adoption. In Oregon, for example, a whopping 36 percent of adults took home a recreational product in the first half of 2017.
What is interesting about the Nevada numbers is how significant the customer base growth has been since the transition from medical to recreational markets. An estimated half-million adults have spent money on legal weed in the state’s recreational dispensaries, which is about 20 times the 24,803 Nevadans who held doctor recommendations for medical marijuana as of October. California should experience similar growth with an estimated 1.5 million medical marijuana patients.
Even though they’re buying the weed recreationally, almost half of the consumers (46%) in the five states (Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Colorado) included in the study are using the products medicinally, while another 43 percent use cannabis to relax and enjoy a good time.
Of those buying legal weed, the study found that roughly 61 percent are male while another 61 percent are under 40. Almost half (43%) are married, and over one-third have minors at home.
Still, admitted marijuana users make up only 13 percent of the adult population nationwide according to a 2016 Gallup poll, which pales in comparison to the 62 percent that told the same organization they consume alcohol.