Cannabis Beverages at Thanksgiving 2023

How about some cannabis beverages at your Thanksgiving gatherings this year? Maybe your crazy uncle won't get belligerent, because that's just not what happens when you drink a cannabis beverage.

Before you declare your Thanksgiving shopping done, go pick up some cannabis beverages at the dispensary (or gas station, grocery store or liquor store if you're living in a state that realizes this is where social beverage consumption is headed).

Give your guests a new beverage to be thankful for this holiday season.

#normalizethanksgivingweed

Side note - This is also a great way to get high without annoying your entire family with the smoke cloud you bring into the house from your pre and post walks.

After Ohio Legalizes, How Many Americans 21 and Over Have Access to Legal Cannabis?

Congratulations to Ohio for joining the right side of history. There are a lot of stats being thrown around regarding what percentage of Americans now have access to legal cannabis. I took a look at some basic data from the US Census to arrive at some estimates of my own.

Raw Numbers

Question: After yesterday’s Ohio win, How many adults aged 21 and over in the US live in a state where cannabis is legalized for recreational purposes?
Answer: 132M adults 21+

Question: How many adults aged 21 and over live in the US in total?
Answer: 246.8M adults 21+

So this means 53.5% of adults 21+ now live a state where cannabis is legalized for recreational purposes. The “Just over half” statements check out…initially.

Enter Nuance

Look what happens if we change the definition to those adults 21+ who actually have access via a regulated commercial market. To do this you have to pull out Ohio and Virginia as neither groups of adults 21+ actually have access. We also have to give many other states a haircut as these states allow cities and counties to prohibit cannabis businesses, like retail. We limited CA, NY and NJ by the percentage of population where retail is open by county and NJ by municipality. So that meant reducing CA by 63%, NY by 33% and NJ by 60%.
When we take into account this nuance we’re left with:

Question: After yesterday’s Ohio win, how many adults aged 21 and over in the US have access to legal adult-use recreational cannabis?
Answer: 89.6M adults 21+

So this means 36.3% of adults 21+ now live a state where they have access to legal adult-use recreational cannabis. The “Just over half” statements start to crumble.

I’m going to keep running scenarios with this dataset and other population datasets to see what other interesting insights emerge.

I Just Enjoy The Plant. It’s As Simple As That.

“I just enjoy the plant. It’s as simple as that.”

During Kevin Durant’s interview at Game Plan by CNBC and Boardroom, he said, referring to cannabis, “Everyone does it, to be honest, it’s like wine at this point”. This was the line most media outlets lifted. But the line that I remember most is…

“I just enjoy the plant. It’s as simple as that.”

Coupled with his demeanor suggesting “Andrew, this is no big deal”, I admired KD's reaction to these questions. This is exactly the kind of statements and demeanor we need from those with power and influence. Not only has Kevin Durant invested in the industry, here he is on stage just keeping it simple. It’s a plant. It’s time we all start acting as if cannabis is a plant. I’m going to try to incorporate KD’s style into my own communication about cannabis stigma because I think he has this right. Less is more in this case.

Updated Thoughts on Social Consumption Lounges: Summer 2023

I was pretty excited about social consumption lounges. These businesses, if located in one of the East Coast markets, are within our investment criteria. I’m sure it will come as no surprise that we have yet to make an investment. More recently, I'm starting to challenge the viability of the stand-alone social consumption lounge idea purely from a consumer experience perspective.

The premise behind separate, stand-alone cannabis social consumption lounges is flawed. It still may work, but it remains somewhat flawed. I think there are some scenarios that still make sense such as a social consumption lounges adjacent or within a cannabis retail environment. Listening to a recent episode of Coffee with the Collective podcast by The Cannabis Collective with Ariel Palitz, New York City´s first “Nightlife Mayor”, she reinforced and validated this thought process for me. During the show, Ariel was answering a question about the challenges of siloing cannabis in the night life scene. She said that it’s challenging because “cannabis is consumed everywhere”. She’s right. Cannabis is used in a wide array of social gathering places and separating that social use from other social gathering places such as bars, restaurants, night clubs and event spaces doesn’t make much sense.

State liquor licensing outfits think they have alcohol and cannabis siloed but they don’t. Finish your drink at the bar, walk outside, smoke a joint, walk right back into the bar and order another drink. Bring an edible with you to the bar and eat it right after your first drink and a few wings.

Cannabis use in social settings will have to become more nuanced for the type of environment the social use is taking place. For example, beer and wine are served and sold in many places where whiskey is not…and for good reason. Allowing different types of cannabis social consumption in different types of social environments needs to be considered and defined. Cannabis beverages at a bar or restaurant make a lot of sense. Allowing anyone to smoke a joint in a bar or restaurant would annoy almost everyone, including those smoking the joints.

The East Coast markets have yet another opportunity to lead by redefining social consumption for cannabis. Recently New York’s Office of Cannabis Management approved Cannabis Growers Showcases (CGS) as a stop gap to increase access to safer cannabis products. In a Linkedin post they rightly described this move as meeting consumers “where they are”. I am hoping this is a good sign as it relates to the development of regulations with regard to social consumption lounges as well.

If you or someone you know are building a company that addresses this opportunity please contact us.