2022 Cannabis Predictions: The Good, The Bad, and The Hope
Cannabis has had a big year this year, and it seems only to be getting bigger and better. I feel as if it was only yesterday that it started to snowball into a more acceptable form of medicinal aid to many across the United States. With the end of 2021 approaching and 2022 hovering over all of us, I thought I'd give us all a little hope for the future with the 2022 predictions for the cannabis industry.
Cannabis 2022: The Good
Because cannabis is scaling in variety and terpenes, 2022 will see a boost in personalization and branding towards the widely diverse cannabis user. It's been tough to pinpoint the target audience of cannabis marketing since they span from Gen Z to Millennials to Boomers, male and female users, different socioeconomic backgrounds, educational backgrounds, and add in the confusion of whether to market for recreational use or medicinal use. Nailing down the exact market is becoming easier as the cannabis industry becomes more available throughout the country, lending a greater understanding of what the cannabis user desires.
As cannabis sales continue to climb due to the growing availability and the pandemic, it has been predicted that in 2022, the cannabis industry will see around $24-$30 billion in sales. That also means that those states will see the taxation of this industry, which can then be poured back into each state.
Cannabis 2022: The Bad
Small farmers are starting to fall off the cannabis circuit as more giant corporations have easier access to funding. While this can be seen as a potential positive for a more consistent product, it's still detrimental to the smaller farmers as they need to pivot to the next cash crop.
As many presidential and political candidates often do, they over promise and underserve in the hopes of winning their election. President Joe Biden isn't exempt from this, as he had made substantive claims of several reforms for the cannabis industry, and unfortunately, he has yet to make that happen. As time keeps ticking on and there are still over 40,000 Americans incarcerated for cannabis-related charges. It is a hope and prayer that 2022 may foster more acceptance and legalization. Until then, several cannabis-related bills are scheduled to be debated in 2022, and it is unclear if cannabis-related incarceration will be among them.
Cannabis 2022: The Hope
As plant medicine is beginning to break into the mainstream, with psychedelics now being more widely studied as effective medicinally in microdoses, one can speculate that the stigma surrounding cannabis will start to wane more.
Additionally, as the cannabis industry continues to scale, there will be an even wider variety of products available, including beverages, powders, inventive edibles, and even more pop-up experiences such as cannabis lounges. "A lot of the new emerging dispensaries are starting to say, 'We're looking for new, interesting, diverse things to add to our repertoire,' including edibles, skincare, drinks. Your typical dispensary now is catering to the heavy hitters and the big brands because that's where the marketing money is spent. But in 2022, we'll see a bifurcation of the market with the artisanal shops and the big-dollar shops." (Woodward in GreenEntrepreneur, 2021).
I don't know about you, but I'm excited to see where 2022 takes the cannabis industry - the good, the bad, and the hope that we can all breathe a sigh of relief by this time next year because of the progress made.
Resources:
The Undercover Stoner. Joe Biden Has Been President for 299 Days, and Cannabis is Still Not Federally Legal?. Cannabis.net. 2021, December 16. https://cannabis.net/blog/news/joe-biden-has-been-president-for-299-days-and-cannabis-is-still-not-federally-legal.
Woodward, Latham as quoted in Here Are Some Smart Cannabis Predictions for 2022. GreenEntrepreneur. 2021, December 10. https://www.greenentrepreneur.com/article/401910.
