Insights

Budding Insights: How Covid-19 Has Changed the Cannabis Landscape

In Green Horizons’ benchmark study, Cultivating the Cannabis Market (October 2019), four in ten (39%) U.S. adults 18+ reported using cannabis, with 28% saying they typically use it at least weekly. With COVID-19 having an impact on every aspect of Americans’ lives, we wanted to understand how the pandemic is changing usage.

Join the Green Horizons mailing list

Get the latest insights on cannabis and holistic health delivered straight to your inbox.

How has Covid-19 Changed the Cannabis Landscape?

As cannabis usage shifts, Green Horizons can help you stay on top of what consumers need and want from their cannabis products.

Six Reasons Your Cannabis Strategy Should Lead with LGBTQ+ Insights

Pride Month 2020 may be coming to an end, but for the emerging legal cannabis industry, the opportunities to reach and connect with LGBTQ+ consumers are just beginning.

The bond between the LGBTQ+ community and the cannabis industry stretches back to the beginning days of the legalization movement. Spurred by marijuana’s ability to treat the devastating symptoms of AIDS and side effects from aggressive medications, San Francisco LGBTQ+ activists spearheaded many of the earliest fights to decriminalize marijuana with help from the likes of Gilbert Baker, creator of the Rainbow Flag, and Cleve Jones, founder of The Names Project. In 1996, Dennis Peron helped write California Proposition 215, which became the first statewide approval of medical marijuana.

Join the Green Horizons mailing list

Get the latest insights on cannabis and holistic health delivered straight to your inbox.

“Cannabis legalization was really sparked by the LGBTQIA community, and so I’ve felt a responsibility to continue providing representation as I’ve built my business. As a femme-presenting lesbian, it is critical for me to be visible as such so that others can see they also have a place in the industry,” said Andrea Brooks, founder & CEO of Sava.

The intertwined history of cannabis legalization and the LGBTQ+ community suggests a huge opportunity for the cannabis industry. Green Horizons, a consumer insights firm focused on research for the cannabis and holistic health industries, and SPI Marketing, a leading LGBTQ+ marketing agency, predict that LGBTQ+ consumers will be a major force in the continued growth of the legal cannabis industry.

Six Reasons Why the Cannabis Industry Should Prioritize the LGBTQ+ Opportunity:

1) Already, LGBTQ+ consumer over-index on using cannabis. According to Green Horizon’s Cultivating the Cannabis Market report, 28% of U.S. adults 18+ report using cannabis weekly, compared to 43% of LGBTQ+ consumers.

2) Like cannabis users overall, LGBTQ+ cannabis users are gravitating towards dispensaries: 6 in 10 (58%) buy their cannabis at a dispensary, compared to 34% who buy through an individual dealer.

3) Younger consumers are a core target for cannabis, with half (47%) of 18-34 year-olds reporting ever using cannabis, compared to 22% among 50+. Younger Americans are also more likely to identify as LGBTQ+ in the survey (13%, vs 7% of those 35+), creating a perfect storm of opportunity for the burgeoning industry.

4) The LGBTQ community are high velocity consumers with both enthusiasm and opinions, therefore also making them influential. In the emerging and cluttered landscape of cannabis brands, the LGBTQ+ community offers companies a targeted and highly social brand platform to build brand recognition and demand.

5) LGBTQ+ consumers are increasingly demanding authenticity, especially the Gen Z and millennial segments. Attention to detail and inclusion of both community and trade are essential in building a smart, sustainable approach to this consumer, and brands that do it well will be rewarded.

6) Prioritizing the LGBTQ+ market has proven hugely effective for other industries. For example, in the spirits industry, Absolut jumped into the LGBTQ+ market around 1981 because they saw they had a visible customer base in gay bars, and they understood and recognized the potential. The reward for being the first brand in the market was authenticity and a massive lead in brand recognition.

With cannabis legalization happening state-by-state, cannabis marketing must adopt targeted, market-specific approaches—and many of the markets where cannabis is legal have large and culturally influential LGBTQ+ and other diverse communities. Gaining insights into this community and turning those insights into curated local and online strategies, influencers, and sponsorship activations, not just during Pride but throughout the year at LGBTQ+ events, offer tremendous opportunity to emerging cannabis brands to connect with this eager and highly valuable consumer segment. With the right strategy, LGBTQ+ influencers can become cannabis’ most impactful brand advocates, driving awareness and market share.

“As a lesbian who has consistently operated in industries dominated by straight white men, I view the LGBTQIA community not only as customers but, more importantly, fellow warriors and as family,” said Tracey Mason, CEO of House of Saka infused beverages. “The culture of inclusion and respect we’ve nurtured at House of Saka has been shaped and, indeed, afforded by the rights that the LGBTQIA community has so valiantly fought for and we are grateful. Every day.”

To learn more about Green Horizons’ research for the cannabis industry, click here.

To learn more about SPI Marketing’s work among LGBTQ+ consumers, click here.

Authors:
Adriana Waterston, SVP, Insights & Strategy, Green Horizons
Scott Seitz, CEO, SPI Marketing

Budding Insights: Cannabis Usage vs. Arrest Rates

This is the first installment of Budding Insights, our monthly insights about cannabis.

Join the Green Horizons mailing list

Get the latest insights on cannabis and holistic health delivered straight to your inbox.

The 2020 analysis from the ACLU finds that while arrests for marijuana possession have gone down since 2010, they still made up 43% of all drug arrests in 2018. In every state, including those where marijuana has been legalized, Blacks are more likely to be arrested for possession. The severity of this racial disparity varies by state, ranging from 1.5 at the lowest end in Colorado to more than 7x in Iowa, West Virginia, Illinois, Kentucky, and Montana.

As a country, we are finally engaged in a national conversation about institutionalized racism in law enforcement. It is important to understand that that the issues we are confronting today stem from deeply ingrained racialized criminal justice policies that leads to the disproportionate criminalization of Blacks and other people of color.

Green Horizons Research Shows Desire For Psychedelics Market is Strong

Since Denver became the first city to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms just shy of a year ago, the movement to decriminalize psychedelics has been sweeping the nation. According to research from Green Horizons, a boutique consumer insights firm focused on the cannabis and holistic health industry, four in ten (38%) U.S. adults feel that psilocybin mushrooms, also known as “magic mushrooms,” should be legal under at least some circumstances: 25% believe they should be legal under limited circumstances, such as medical or religious reasons, and 13% believe they should be legal under all circumstances.

Join the Green Horizons mailing list

Get the latest insights on cannabis and holistic health delivered straight to your inbox.

Support for legalization varies by age: among 18-34 year-olds, 45% believe psilocybin mushrooms should be legal under at least some circumstances; among 35-49 year-olds, 40%; and among 50+, just 23%. Support for legalization is also closely correlated with how much adults know about psychedelics. Seven in ten (71%) 18-34 year-olds say that they know a little or a lot about psychedelics; this drops to 59% among 35-49 year-olds and 49% among 50+.

As the science of psychedelics gains more mainstream coverage, such as in Michael Pollan’s 2018 book How to Change Your Mind, psychedelics’ reputation is changing. This evolving reputation is likely influencing support for legalization. According to the study, 27% of U.S. adults feel that psychedelics, when used in moderation, are less dangerous than other legal substances, like alcohol and tobacco. Three in ten (29%) believe that psychedelics can be beneficial for a wide variety of mental health and physical issues, including treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, PTSD, and addiction.

 

Among those who say they have at least some knowledge of psychedelics, 43% feel that psychedelics can be less dangerous than other legal substances and nearly half (47%) believe psychedelics can be a beneficial medical treatment. Furthermore, among those who say they have some knowledge of psychedelics, support for legalization of psilocybin mushrooms rises to 53% (35% under limited circumstances; 18% under all circumstances).

“When it comes to psychedelics, there are many parallels with the movement to legalize cannabis. In both cases, education is paramount,” said Adriana Waterston, Green Horizon’s SVP of Insights and Strategy. “Psychedelics, like cannabis, have been tied to a negative, highly stigmatized image for many years. Science, however, is showing us that psychedelics demonstrate tremendous promise for certain chronic psychological illnesses, even those that have been treatment-resistant. As we continue to study psychedelics and evidence for their benefits mount, we can expect support for legalization to follow.”

Methodology

1,000 nationally representative online surveys among U.S. adults 18+ fielded in October 2019. 

Contact

For Research & Services, Contact: Meredith Falvo Client Services meredith@gh-insights.com
For Press Inquiries, Contact: Stephanie Wong Director, Insights & Strategy stephanie@gh-insights.com