The Bengal Bite 🐯 - Cannabis Disruption - 03/06/2020
Cannabis is disrupting multiple industries, most notably alcohol and pharma. Consumers are already finding an alternative to the detrimental effects of alcohol, prescription sleep aids, and opioids through cannabis. The addressable market of consumers that may ultimately seek to replace alcohol and prescription products with cannabis is massive. As consumers become more educated about how to utilize cannabis, its past stigma continues to fade. With growing support from constituents, governments have the cover to reassess past cannabis policies.
The momentum behind cannabis is substantial. The views of both consumers and governments will evolve with additional education and exposure, and we anticipate both groups will expand the search for cannabis alternatives. Countless industries will be disrupted by the emergence of cannabis. We believe that is an enormous market opportunity.
Canadian beer sales continue slide in face of rising cannabis sector
Beer sales in Canada continue to decline, down 3% in 2019 vs. 2018, the steepest decline in seven years. This decline is mirrored in the US with recent research showing that the percentage of college students who drink alcohol daily declined from 6.5% in 1980 to 2.2% in 2017. Declining beer sales have been driven, in part, by the emergence of cannabis as an alternative social lubricant. Cannabis has put pressure on alcohol producers to evaluate their future product offerings and could potentially drive additional corporate activity like Constellation’s investment in Canopy Growth and Molson’s joint venture with Hexo in 2018.
Daily cannabis users with chronic pain less likely to use opioids
A recent study from the University of British Columbia has tentatively confirmed what many in the cannabis industry have been anecdotally discussing for decades: cannabis use is associated with significantly lower odds of daily illicit opioid use.
Opinion: Governments should rethink drug policies
David Nutt, former scientific advisor to the UK Government and current Neuropsychopharmacology chair at Imperial College London, provides a good history lesson on the politics behind the prohibition of controlled substances across the modern world and discusses the need for a change in government drug policies. Nutt’s views come at a time when governments and organizations across the globe are reassessing controlled substance policies; recently the president of the United Nations’ narcotics enforcement agency questioned whether current views were outdated.