The beer industry is keeping close tabs on the
growth of legalized marijuana in the US, and for good reason: The
cannabis industry is gunning to displace alcohol as a safer and
healthier alternative.
Beer already competes with wine and liquor for
what some analysts cutely refer to as “share of buzz,” but with
recreational use of marijuana legalized in four US states—and as many as
six voting in 2016 on whether to join them—competition stands to
toughen.
Marijuana sales have been on the rise, though are still dwarfed by beer,
which brings in more than $101 billion annually. In 2014, marijuana
sales clocked in at $2.7 billion, a 74% increase from 2013. By 2019,
sales are estimated to increase to $10.8 billion, according to Nomura.
Analysts with Nomura attended the Beer Industry
Summit this week (Jan. 25 and 26) in New Orleans, and report that the
rise of marijuana was among the major talking points there. They predict
that the beer industry will lose at least some of its share of buzz to
marijuana.
There’s still a lot of data to collect before we
know whether people in legalized markets are indeed substituting
marijuana for beer, or whether one is definitively a healthier—or at
least less unhealthy—option than the other. Still, many are already making the case for marijuana.
“If people are replacing some amount of alcohol
with cannabis consumption, it is a net positive for public health,” says
Taylor West, of the National Cannabis Industry Association.
Should her argument pan out, it would be good
news for the cannabis industry, which could use any evidence showing
health benefits as an extra arrow in its quiver when making the case for
legalization. Still, it’ll probably be a long time before the beer
industry has to seriously worry about people skipping pints for joints.
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