@article{ref1,
title="Young adult retail purchases of cannabis, product category preferences and sales trends in California 2018-21: differences compared with older adults",
journal="Addiction",
year="2024",
author="Pechmann, Cornelia 'Connie' and Calder, Douglas and Timberlake, David and Rhee, Joshua and Padon, Alisa and Silver, Lynn",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="AIMS: The aim of this study is to identify cannabis products according to their appeal among young adults and measure product sales trends. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a retrospective comparative study using point-of-sale data from licensed recreational cannabis retailers that include buyer age with birth year entered by retailers, set in California, USA. Cannabis purchases by young adults (aged 21-24, GenZ) were compared with older adults (age 25+) over 4 years (2018-21). MEASUREMENTS: Sales for six cannabis product categories were analyzed using a commercial data set with imputations and a raw data set. Age-appeal metrics were dollar and unit sales to young adults, and dollar and unit share ratios (young adults/older adults), where a share ratio of 100 denotes age-appeal comparability. A product category was considered more young-adult appealing than others if its mean on a metric was at least one standard deviation above the grand mean across all product categories. <br><br>FINDINGS: Flower (cannabis plant material) and vapor pen appealed to young adults based on absolute dollar sales, dominating young-adult spending compared with other cannabis products (37.24 and 31.83%, respectively). Vapor pen and concentrate appealed to young adults based on dollar share ratios of 152, meaning these products comprised a 52% greater share of young-adult cannabis spending relative to older-adult spending (31.83/20.97% and 10.47/6.88%, respectively). Less appealing to young adults were pre-roll, edible/beverage and absorbable products (tincture/sublingual, capsule and topical). Flower showed the largest dollar sales growth (B = +$3.50 million/month), next to vapor pen (B = +$1.55 million/month). Vapor pen tied for highest growth in the percent of product dollars from the largest package size (B = +0.85%/month) and showed the steepest price decline (B = -0.53 price per gram/month). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: In California, USA, from 2018 to 2021, relative to older adults, young adults spent a greater share of their cannabis dollars on vapor pen and concentrate (products with high potency of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol).<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0965-2140",
doi="10.1111/add.16617",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/add.16617"
}