Explained

Quantifying California Cannabis

November 26, 2017

9.5% of California adults 18 or older (or about 2.86 million) have used cannabis in the past month (California Department of Public Health)
23% of California adults over 21 (roughly 6 million) have used cannabis products over the past six months (BDS Analytics, a cannabis business intelligence company based in Denver that combined retail sales data with demographic and psychographic survey data)
61% of Californians age 21 or older are potential consumers of legal products containing cannabis, and ancillary products (BDS)
Nearly 75% of the population surveyed say they have either tried or would consider trying cannabis products (BDS)

Women tend to use edibles; men tend to smoke flowers. (BDS)

Wealthier folks prefer legal cannabis. (BDS)

The average cannabis user is a parents in their 30s or 40s (BDS)

Peter Prato

Michelle Ina and Ben Versluis, employees of Harborside, photographed on location in Oakland, California, on August 23rd, 2017.

In 2016, the wholesale value of California’s gross cannabis flower production can be estimated at $23.7 billion (New Leaf Data + ERA)

650,000 pounds of legal medical flower x $1,600 per wholesale pound = $1 billion.
1.85 million pounds of illicit flower remaining in-state x $1,600 per wholesale pound = $3 billion.
11 million pounds of illicit flower transported out of state x $1,789 per wholesale pound = $19.7 billion.

There are an estimated 40,000 cannabis farms in the state (Hezekiah Allen, director California Growers Association).

There are an estimated 1,000 medical dispensaries as of 2017 (California Cannabis Industry Association & Allen)