Top 6 Cannabis Predictions of 2022

This past year was a breakthrough year for legal cannabis, with U.S. legal cannabis sales expected to total ~$25B for 2021.

But 2021 was just the beginning, as BDSA expects the U.S. legal cannabis market to reach ~$30B in 2022, driven by a few key factors across different states and stages of legalization, such as:

• Ongoing growth in MATURE cannabis states such as California, Oregon and Colorado.
• DEVELOPING legal cannabis states such as Illinois, Massachusetts and Michigan seeing sales rise at an ever-increasing rate.
• Huge contributions from EMERGING cannabis markets, like New York and New Jersey, that recently legalized and are expected to be major drivers of total U.S. growth out to 2026.

So, what do we suggest you keep an eye on in the New Year? Here are a few of BDSA’s top trends for 2022 to watch out for…

• Brand recognition will grow, and brand loyalty will emerge. As brands continue to drive consistent, expected experiences and launch in new markets, greater recognition and loyalty will emerge. Currently, only ~25% of consumers claim that a brand they have used before is a major factor influencing their cannabis product purchasing. We expect this to grow substantially in 2022.
• The race for global dominance is under way, but CPG will not take the lead. MSOs and publicly traded companies, including Canadian LPs, are already looking to new international markets, but mainstream CPG companies are still maintaining a cautious “wait and see” approach. In prior years we expected CPG to move, and they still have not (with exceptions, obviously).
• More blatant quality cues will drive greater price differentiation. Quality cues such as solventless, minor cannabinoid (CBD, CBN, CBG) content, terpene profiles, grow/trim method, and beyond will drive greater price differentiation. Gummies with CBD are priced ~20% higher on average across BDSA tracked markets, and CBD Gummie sales have increased ~40%.