Cannabis Consumers in North America Spent $53 Billion on Cannabis in 2016

When it comes to the cannabis industry, there are some people who are still skeptical about the plant’s effectiveness. There are millions of people who have presented testimonials about how cannabis has helped improve their lives, but despite those personal accounts, there is still a large group of people who need more evidence. Those people likely respond and are impressed by numbers, and a recent report has revealed some impressive figures regarding cannabis use in North America.

According to an Arcview Market Research study, cannabis consumers in North America spent an estimated $53.3 billion on cannabis during 2016. This includes recreational, medical and also illicit cannabis. To put it into perspective, that amount is more than normal Americans spend on McDonald’s and Starbucks combined together.

The growth of the cannabis industry during the past year has been exponential. Legal cannabis revenue amounted to $6.7 billion, which is reportedly a 30 percent increase from the previous year. Uniquely, the illegal market generated 87 percent of total cannabis sales (which is three percent decrease from the previous year). While this is a negative fact, it’s important to remember that regulations in states across the country, both for those with already established programs as well as those that are still working on it, are intended to reduce black market sales.

CEO of Arcview Market Research, Troy Dayton, describes how unique the cannabis market is right now. “The enormous amount of existing, if illicit, consumer spending sets cannabis apart from most other major consumer-market investment opportunities throughout history,” Dayton said. He also described that “the cannabis industry doesn’t need to create demand for a new product or innovation—it just needs to move demand for an already widely-popular product into legal channels.”

Dayton also commented on the slow but sure transition between the black market and the legal, regulated market, noting that Colorado has had one of the most successful launches of the legal cannabis industry. “It’s one of the major reasons that people are going to leave the underground market to go to the aboveground market,” he added. “It’s about variety. You just can’t get these products on the underground market.”

Legal cannabis sales are expected to continually rise, with Arcview research rising up 26 percent by 2021, with the North American market likely reaching $21.6 billion by the same year.