Cannabis sales records continue to be broken at every opportunity, and the latest holiday was no exception.
I could certainly smell the aroma of freedom in the air over Independence Day, and that freedom smells a lot like Strawberry Kush.
The July 4th weekend offered the latest chance for analysts to pore over sales numbers, and the results showed cannabis enthusiasts spent a record-setting $255.5 million on flower, vapes, THC-infused drinks and other products during the holiday, according to data from canna-tech firm Akerna.
On the Friday preceding our nation’s oldest holiday alone, the cannabis industry saw $106.7 million in sales, a 19% leap from the same day in 2021.
“As more markets legalize cannabis and more people gain access to the plant, we expect these year-over-year increases to continue,” James Ahrendt, business intelligence architect at Akerna, said in a statement.
This trend is one of upward momentum, as four states saw record-breaking cannabis sales in July of 2021, according to Marijuana Moment.
4/20 Records Broken
And, Americans set a new record for sales this 4/20, reaching $154.4 million, the most cannabis ever sold in a single day. In the six-day period around the cannabis holiday, retail sales reached $485 million, according to dispensaries.com.
Data show women are an increasing segment of buyers, too. On 4/20, women made up more than 40% of all cannabis buyers, breaking the 40 % mark for the first time.
As far as age, buyers under 30 accounted for 28.38% of 4/20 sales, 30-40 year-olds made up 30.43%, 40-50 year-olds accounted for 19.92% of cannabis sales, 50-60 year-olds made up 11.49%, and buyers over 60 accounted for the remaining 9.78%.
While they continued to make up the smallest percentage of cannabis buyers, seniors are another quickly growing demographic of cannabis users.
In fact, according to a 2016 study by Stratos, seniors are the fastest-growing pot demographic in the country, with cannabis use among those 55 and older increasing by 53% between 2013 and 2014.
No matter where one looks, cannabis-related sales numbers are increasing, and it doesn’t look as though we will hit a ceiling in the industry any time soon.
