04.07.22
Global cannabis sales are expected to reach just over $35 billion in 2022, a jump of approximately 22% over 2021 sales of $29 billion, according to BDSA’s most recent five-year rolling market forecast update. BDSA forecasts global cannabis sales will surpass $61 billion in 2026, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 16%.
“Though most legal cannabis markets saw sales soften in the second half of 2021, the global cannabis market is expected to see brisk growth in 2022, driven by strong sales in new and emerging markets in the U.S., steady growth in Canada, and international markets led by Mexico and Germany,” said Jessica Lukas, chief commercial officer at BDSA.
Looking back at 2021, new markets in the U.S. experienced some of the strongest growth, especially in the Midwest. Illinois sales grew approximately 70% in 2021, totaling $1.8 billion, while Missouri’s medical-only market reached an unexpected high of $210 million.
Emerging markets are also expected to be a major driver of sales through 2026, as the number of non-legal states is rapidly dwindling. The pace of legalization could even increase as the latest wave of medical and adult-use bills are seeing bipartisan support at the state level.
U.S. Legal cannabis sales in the U.S. will surpass $28 billion in 2022, growth of approximately 20% over 2021’s $24 billion. BDSA forecasts U.S. sales to reach $46 billion in 2026, a CAGR of approximately 14% from 2021.
California, which launched its adult-use market in 2018, will remain the largest contributor to overall U.S. sales growth. Several other markets are expected to be major contributors to total U.S. legal sales by 2026, with the next top four contributors to growth being New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Michigan.
Canada. Legal cannabis sales in Canada reached an estimated $3.8 billion in 2021 and are projected to climb to $4.7 billion in 2022 and nearly $6.3 billion by 2026, a CAGR of 11% from 2021. Ontario is expected to spearhead this growth, with this province growing over $1.3 billion by 2026. British Columbia will also be a leading contributor, adding $420 million to total sales by 2026.
International Markets. Sales of legal cannabis products, including cannabis-derived pharmaceuticals, outside the U.S. and Canada were estimated at $1.4 billion in spending for 2021 and are forecast to grow to $2.2 billion in 2022. International sales are expected to reach $9.5 billion by 2026, a CAGR of approximately 46% from 2021. The bulk of that new spending will be driven by Germany and Mexico, though France and the U.K. will contribute significantly as well.
Radicle Science to Launch Large-Scale Clinical Trials on Rare Cannabinoids
Radicle Science, a healthtech B-corp offering a scalable path to validate and predict the effects of health and wellness products, will launch the first large-scale, blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trials on rare cannabinoids including THCV, CBN, CBG, and CBC, to study their effects on energy, focus, appetite, sleep disturbance, pain, stress, and anxiety. These studies will involve more than 10,000 participants and are set to kick off in early 2022.
Radicle Science closed out 2021 with the completion of 25 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of cannabinoid products. The Radicle Real World Evidence (RWE) studies, involving over 7,000 participants, examined various formulations of CBD-containing products and their effect on key health outcomes across five domains, including general well-being, quality of life, sleep quality, pain, and feelings of stress and anxiety.
In the first half of 2022, Radicle Science will continue to conduct rigorous clinical trials on CBD products for pain, sleep disturbance, stress, and anxiety, while also kicking off the first blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials on rare cannabinoids for various conditions such as:
Brands participating in various portions of the clinical trials include Columbia Care, Lord Jones, Open Book Extracts, Straight Hemp, Trokie, and Wana Brands.
“We are headed for exponential growth in 2022 as we prepare to study ten times more people than we did in 2021,” said Radicle Science Co-Founder and CEO Jeff Chen, MD. “We aim to support our mission of creating a movement that redefines the research paradigm and enables evidence-based decision making across the health and wellness industry, starting with cannabinoids.”
In 2021, Radicle Science worked with dozens of cannabinoid brands, studying more participants across these RCTs than all worldwide cannabinoid RCTs combined that year, resulting in over 2 million health outcome data points.
Radicle ACES (Advancing CBD Education and Science) is the largest longitudinal real-world evidence study to determine the effectiveness of botanical products containing CBD. It encompassed nearly 3,000 participants and set new standards for expediency and cost by completing ten times faster and ten times cheaper than traditional clinical trials, the company said.
Radicle ACES employed validated, standardized health indices to gather real-world health outcomes from a highly diverse population. Initial findings indicated participants experienced a 71% improvement in their well-being, on average, across all the products.
Many brands also underwent a Radicle Real World Sleep study (RRWS), an RCT which researched the effectiveness of orally ingestible CBD products for sleep. In total over 2,000 participants from diverse geographical areas in the U.S. participated across all of these RRWS studies, including 10% from hard-to-reach rural and semi-rural populations typically not represented in clinical studies.
When Radicle Science anonymized and aggregated the data across all brands who underwent a RRWS study, researchers found that among participants with pre-existing sleep complaints, on average 65% experienced a clinically meaningful improvement in their sleep quality after taking one of the CBD brands.
Evo Hemp Partners with 40-Acre Cooperative to Support Marginalized Hemp Farmers
Boulder, CO-based Evo Hemp has entered a new partnership with 40-Acre Cooperative, the only Black-led nationwide agricultural co-op for underserved farmers. Based in Sandstone, MN, the cooperative has 34 active members in several states and two tribal territories who receive support and training on a variety of topics, including sustainable farming to help regenerate the soil and reduce climate damage. 40-Acre Cooperative has spent years researching and growing hemp, and offers its unique Wunder x Woman strain.
Evo Hemp will be using the organic, cannabinoid-rich Wunder x Woman variety to produce much of its CBD and hemp food products in 2022 and beyond, the company said. Together, the two companies hope to make U.S. grown hemp food and CBD products more affordable and accessible for everyone.
“We are excited about partnering with industry leaders like Evo Hemp to bring to light the important issues in our industry,” said Angela Dawson, a fourth-generation farmer based in Minnesota and the founder of 40-Acre Cooperative. “The wonderful thing about hemp is the way it unifies people around issues that we all have a stake in, like our shared environment and quality of life. This partnership is the kind of leadership we need more of today, and I’m looking forward to finding ways to build our missions together.”
Lawsuits from white farmers have blocked $4 billion of pandemic aid that was allocated to Black farmers in the American Rescue Plan. While the Biden administration has pledged to pursue policies to promote racial equity and correct decades of discrimination, legal issues have complicated that goal. The legal limbo has created new and unexpected financial strains for Black farmers, many of whom have been unable to make investments in their businesses given ongoing uncertainty about their debt loads.
“We wanted to partner up with 40-Acre Cooperative because we share the same vision to help level the farming fields and keep agriculture alive and thriving in the United States,” said Ari Sherman, co-founder of the brand Evo Hemp. “When the government or industry doesn’t support the needs of a group of people, it’s up to co-ops and businesses to step up, and it starts with us.”
In 1920, Black people owned 14% of farms in the U.S. Today they own just 1.4%, largely concentrated in the Southeast and Texas. The decline is due in part to years of racial discrimination including land theft and denial of loans from the government and banks. Over the years, discriminatory loan servicing and loan denial by white-controlled committees forced many Black farmers into foreclosure, after which wealthy landowners, most of whom were white, purchased their land.
“If we don’t step up to help our community, who will?” said Jourdan Samel, co-founder, Evo Hemp. “It is crucial that we become prosperous while in the service of others, and not at their expense.”
Charlotte’s Web Hemp Extracts Shown to Improve Stress, Sleep, Well-Being
Charlotte’s Web reported positive results from a randomized, controlled, clinical trial study which evaluated the effectiveness of hemp-derived CBD extracts. Charlotte’s Web participated in the Radicle ACES (Advancing CBD Education and Science) study, conducted by Radicle Science, an independent health tech company validating health and wellness products.
As part of a larger study, hundreds of participants from across the U.S. used Charlotte’s Web Original Formula for four weeks and were assessed for key health outcomes across five domains, including general well-being, quality of life, sleep quality, feelings of daily stress, or discomfort. Researchers conducted the study using standardized scientific methods and validated indices for measuring each outcome and tracked their progress repeatedly throughout the study.
“As a hemp company driven by sound science, we were encouraged by the Radicle Science study,” said Tim Orr, president, Charlotte’s Web Labs. “Independent third-party research and reporting on the efficacy of hemp wellness products help build long term consumer trust and is an ongoing commitment of Charlotte’s Web.”
People in the study regularly taking Charlotte’s Web Original Formula on average realized a distinct improvement in their quality of life and well-being. A majority of people also experienced clinically meaningful improvements across the other health domains studied, including sleep quality and feelings of daily stress or discomfort as compared to the baseline, before they started taking Charlotte’s Web. People on average showed significant improvements as compared to the control group who did not take any hemp extract.
This clinical trial helped confirm the benefits of Charlotte’s Web full spectrum hemp extract; 64% of participants with symptoms of stress experienced clinically meaningful improvements in their stress after taking Charlotte’s Web Original Formula, versus only 22% of the control group. Moreover, 60% of participants struggling with sleep issues experienced clinically meaningful improvements in sleep quality, versus only 15% of the control group. And participants who took Charlotte’s Web experienced a significant 74% improvement in their well-being assessed using the World Health Organization (WHO)-5 Well Being Index.
The study also showed that Charlotte’s Web worked quickly with notable improvements on average occurring within the first week, and generally reported effect onset within four hours after using the product. The study is therefore helpful in addressing a common question around hemp CBD: “How long will it take to work?”
“Charlotte’s Web and other responsible participants in the CBD industry continue prudent research investment to contribute data on the safety and efficacy of hemp. This increases the standard of trust and transparency for consumers, healthcare providers, and regulators,” said Jacques Tortoroli, CEO of Charlotte’s Web. “Consistency from year to year and bottle to bottle is a core driver of the trust that Charlotte’s Web has earned.”
Sun God Medicinals Recognized for Condition-Specific Supplement
Sun God Medicinals won a NEXTY Award for its Organic Panacea Immune Support Tincture at Natural Products Expo West 2022. The NEXTY Awards recognize progressive, innovative, inspiring, and trustworthy products in the natural products industry. Winning in the Best Condition-Specific Supplement category, this was the company’s third NEXTY Award.
The Panacea Immune Support tincture is made with Oregon-grown whole hemp flower, compounded and blended with supporting herbs such as Reishi mushroom, yarrow, elderberry, echinacea, and more to produce an herbal tincture that naturally supports the body’s immune system.
“As a family-owned business, rooted in a mission of extracting and blending local organic herbs with the health of the end-user in mind, we are honored to be recognized for our innovation in the herbal compounding space” said Brie Malarkey, founder and CEO, Sun God Medicinals. “For us it’s about whole plant, traditional herbalism and it feels great to welcome hemp back into the light as the powerful medicinal herb it is and then paired with wonderful herbal allies, and to be recognized again by the pinnacle of recognition of excellence in the natural products industry is an honor.”
Theralogix Launches Enhanced-Absorption CBD Supplement
Theralogix has launched TheraHemp, which was formulated with VESIsorb technology, a patented emulsification agent that enhances absorption and bioavailability. Theralogix claimed results showed 300% overall greater absorption of CBD using the technology. The product has been independently tested and certified for content accuracy and purity by NSF International. NSF International’s stringent program is the first non-profit, third-party CBD/Hemp certification program that is completely independent of the cannabis industry.
NSF International certification assures consumers that TheraHemp’s THC content is non-detectable at 100 ppm (0.01%), the product contains the exact amount of CBD shown on the label, and it does not contain contaminants.
By mimicking the body’s natural process of fat digestion, VESIsorb results in nearly 300% greater overall absorption of CBD. CBD with VESIsorb also results in three times faster absorption than its competitors, with peak CBD blood levels reached in one hour.
Each TheraHemp softgel provides broad-spectrum hemp oil and is standardized to provide 20 mg of CBD along with 8 mg of beta-caryophyllene-enriched terpenes.
“Though most legal cannabis markets saw sales soften in the second half of 2021, the global cannabis market is expected to see brisk growth in 2022, driven by strong sales in new and emerging markets in the U.S., steady growth in Canada, and international markets led by Mexico and Germany,” said Jessica Lukas, chief commercial officer at BDSA.
Looking back at 2021, new markets in the U.S. experienced some of the strongest growth, especially in the Midwest. Illinois sales grew approximately 70% in 2021, totaling $1.8 billion, while Missouri’s medical-only market reached an unexpected high of $210 million.
Emerging markets are also expected to be a major driver of sales through 2026, as the number of non-legal states is rapidly dwindling. The pace of legalization could even increase as the latest wave of medical and adult-use bills are seeing bipartisan support at the state level.
U.S. Legal cannabis sales in the U.S. will surpass $28 billion in 2022, growth of approximately 20% over 2021’s $24 billion. BDSA forecasts U.S. sales to reach $46 billion in 2026, a CAGR of approximately 14% from 2021.
California, which launched its adult-use market in 2018, will remain the largest contributor to overall U.S. sales growth. Several other markets are expected to be major contributors to total U.S. legal sales by 2026, with the next top four contributors to growth being New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Michigan.
Canada. Legal cannabis sales in Canada reached an estimated $3.8 billion in 2021 and are projected to climb to $4.7 billion in 2022 and nearly $6.3 billion by 2026, a CAGR of 11% from 2021. Ontario is expected to spearhead this growth, with this province growing over $1.3 billion by 2026. British Columbia will also be a leading contributor, adding $420 million to total sales by 2026.
International Markets. Sales of legal cannabis products, including cannabis-derived pharmaceuticals, outside the U.S. and Canada were estimated at $1.4 billion in spending for 2021 and are forecast to grow to $2.2 billion in 2022. International sales are expected to reach $9.5 billion by 2026, a CAGR of approximately 46% from 2021. The bulk of that new spending will be driven by Germany and Mexico, though France and the U.K. will contribute significantly as well.
Radicle Science to Launch Large-Scale Clinical Trials on Rare Cannabinoids
Radicle Science, a healthtech B-corp offering a scalable path to validate and predict the effects of health and wellness products, will launch the first large-scale, blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trials on rare cannabinoids including THCV, CBN, CBG, and CBC, to study their effects on energy, focus, appetite, sleep disturbance, pain, stress, and anxiety. These studies will involve more than 10,000 participants and are set to kick off in early 2022.
Radicle Science closed out 2021 with the completion of 25 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of cannabinoid products. The Radicle Real World Evidence (RWE) studies, involving over 7,000 participants, examined various formulations of CBD-containing products and their effect on key health outcomes across five domains, including general well-being, quality of life, sleep quality, pain, and feelings of stress and anxiety.
In the first half of 2022, Radicle Science will continue to conduct rigorous clinical trials on CBD products for pain, sleep disturbance, stress, and anxiety, while also kicking off the first blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials on rare cannabinoids for various conditions such as:
- Effect of CBG on stress, anxiety, pain, and sleep disturbance;
- Effect of CBC on pain, anxiety, and sleep disturbance;
- Effect of CBN on sleep disturbance, stress, anxiety, and pain; and
- Effect of THCV on energy, focus, and appetite.
Brands participating in various portions of the clinical trials include Columbia Care, Lord Jones, Open Book Extracts, Straight Hemp, Trokie, and Wana Brands.
“We are headed for exponential growth in 2022 as we prepare to study ten times more people than we did in 2021,” said Radicle Science Co-Founder and CEO Jeff Chen, MD. “We aim to support our mission of creating a movement that redefines the research paradigm and enables evidence-based decision making across the health and wellness industry, starting with cannabinoids.”
In 2021, Radicle Science worked with dozens of cannabinoid brands, studying more participants across these RCTs than all worldwide cannabinoid RCTs combined that year, resulting in over 2 million health outcome data points.
Radicle ACES (Advancing CBD Education and Science) is the largest longitudinal real-world evidence study to determine the effectiveness of botanical products containing CBD. It encompassed nearly 3,000 participants and set new standards for expediency and cost by completing ten times faster and ten times cheaper than traditional clinical trials, the company said.
Radicle ACES employed validated, standardized health indices to gather real-world health outcomes from a highly diverse population. Initial findings indicated participants experienced a 71% improvement in their well-being, on average, across all the products.
Many brands also underwent a Radicle Real World Sleep study (RRWS), an RCT which researched the effectiveness of orally ingestible CBD products for sleep. In total over 2,000 participants from diverse geographical areas in the U.S. participated across all of these RRWS studies, including 10% from hard-to-reach rural and semi-rural populations typically not represented in clinical studies.
When Radicle Science anonymized and aggregated the data across all brands who underwent a RRWS study, researchers found that among participants with pre-existing sleep complaints, on average 65% experienced a clinically meaningful improvement in their sleep quality after taking one of the CBD brands.
Evo Hemp Partners with 40-Acre Cooperative to Support Marginalized Hemp Farmers
Boulder, CO-based Evo Hemp has entered a new partnership with 40-Acre Cooperative, the only Black-led nationwide agricultural co-op for underserved farmers. Based in Sandstone, MN, the cooperative has 34 active members in several states and two tribal territories who receive support and training on a variety of topics, including sustainable farming to help regenerate the soil and reduce climate damage. 40-Acre Cooperative has spent years researching and growing hemp, and offers its unique Wunder x Woman strain.
Evo Hemp will be using the organic, cannabinoid-rich Wunder x Woman variety to produce much of its CBD and hemp food products in 2022 and beyond, the company said. Together, the two companies hope to make U.S. grown hemp food and CBD products more affordable and accessible for everyone.
“We are excited about partnering with industry leaders like Evo Hemp to bring to light the important issues in our industry,” said Angela Dawson, a fourth-generation farmer based in Minnesota and the founder of 40-Acre Cooperative. “The wonderful thing about hemp is the way it unifies people around issues that we all have a stake in, like our shared environment and quality of life. This partnership is the kind of leadership we need more of today, and I’m looking forward to finding ways to build our missions together.”
Lawsuits from white farmers have blocked $4 billion of pandemic aid that was allocated to Black farmers in the American Rescue Plan. While the Biden administration has pledged to pursue policies to promote racial equity and correct decades of discrimination, legal issues have complicated that goal. The legal limbo has created new and unexpected financial strains for Black farmers, many of whom have been unable to make investments in their businesses given ongoing uncertainty about their debt loads.
“We wanted to partner up with 40-Acre Cooperative because we share the same vision to help level the farming fields and keep agriculture alive and thriving in the United States,” said Ari Sherman, co-founder of the brand Evo Hemp. “When the government or industry doesn’t support the needs of a group of people, it’s up to co-ops and businesses to step up, and it starts with us.”
In 1920, Black people owned 14% of farms in the U.S. Today they own just 1.4%, largely concentrated in the Southeast and Texas. The decline is due in part to years of racial discrimination including land theft and denial of loans from the government and banks. Over the years, discriminatory loan servicing and loan denial by white-controlled committees forced many Black farmers into foreclosure, after which wealthy landowners, most of whom were white, purchased their land.
“If we don’t step up to help our community, who will?” said Jourdan Samel, co-founder, Evo Hemp. “It is crucial that we become prosperous while in the service of others, and not at their expense.”
Charlotte’s Web Hemp Extracts Shown to Improve Stress, Sleep, Well-Being
Charlotte’s Web reported positive results from a randomized, controlled, clinical trial study which evaluated the effectiveness of hemp-derived CBD extracts. Charlotte’s Web participated in the Radicle ACES (Advancing CBD Education and Science) study, conducted by Radicle Science, an independent health tech company validating health and wellness products.
As part of a larger study, hundreds of participants from across the U.S. used Charlotte’s Web Original Formula for four weeks and were assessed for key health outcomes across five domains, including general well-being, quality of life, sleep quality, feelings of daily stress, or discomfort. Researchers conducted the study using standardized scientific methods and validated indices for measuring each outcome and tracked their progress repeatedly throughout the study.
“As a hemp company driven by sound science, we were encouraged by the Radicle Science study,” said Tim Orr, president, Charlotte’s Web Labs. “Independent third-party research and reporting on the efficacy of hemp wellness products help build long term consumer trust and is an ongoing commitment of Charlotte’s Web.”
People in the study regularly taking Charlotte’s Web Original Formula on average realized a distinct improvement in their quality of life and well-being. A majority of people also experienced clinically meaningful improvements across the other health domains studied, including sleep quality and feelings of daily stress or discomfort as compared to the baseline, before they started taking Charlotte’s Web. People on average showed significant improvements as compared to the control group who did not take any hemp extract.
This clinical trial helped confirm the benefits of Charlotte’s Web full spectrum hemp extract; 64% of participants with symptoms of stress experienced clinically meaningful improvements in their stress after taking Charlotte’s Web Original Formula, versus only 22% of the control group. Moreover, 60% of participants struggling with sleep issues experienced clinically meaningful improvements in sleep quality, versus only 15% of the control group. And participants who took Charlotte’s Web experienced a significant 74% improvement in their well-being assessed using the World Health Organization (WHO)-5 Well Being Index.
The study also showed that Charlotte’s Web worked quickly with notable improvements on average occurring within the first week, and generally reported effect onset within four hours after using the product. The study is therefore helpful in addressing a common question around hemp CBD: “How long will it take to work?”
“Charlotte’s Web and other responsible participants in the CBD industry continue prudent research investment to contribute data on the safety and efficacy of hemp. This increases the standard of trust and transparency for consumers, healthcare providers, and regulators,” said Jacques Tortoroli, CEO of Charlotte’s Web. “Consistency from year to year and bottle to bottle is a core driver of the trust that Charlotte’s Web has earned.”
Sun God Medicinals Recognized for Condition-Specific Supplement
Sun God Medicinals won a NEXTY Award for its Organic Panacea Immune Support Tincture at Natural Products Expo West 2022. The NEXTY Awards recognize progressive, innovative, inspiring, and trustworthy products in the natural products industry. Winning in the Best Condition-Specific Supplement category, this was the company’s third NEXTY Award.
The Panacea Immune Support tincture is made with Oregon-grown whole hemp flower, compounded and blended with supporting herbs such as Reishi mushroom, yarrow, elderberry, echinacea, and more to produce an herbal tincture that naturally supports the body’s immune system.
“As a family-owned business, rooted in a mission of extracting and blending local organic herbs with the health of the end-user in mind, we are honored to be recognized for our innovation in the herbal compounding space” said Brie Malarkey, founder and CEO, Sun God Medicinals. “For us it’s about whole plant, traditional herbalism and it feels great to welcome hemp back into the light as the powerful medicinal herb it is and then paired with wonderful herbal allies, and to be recognized again by the pinnacle of recognition of excellence in the natural products industry is an honor.”
Theralogix Launches Enhanced-Absorption CBD Supplement
Theralogix has launched TheraHemp, which was formulated with VESIsorb technology, a patented emulsification agent that enhances absorption and bioavailability. Theralogix claimed results showed 300% overall greater absorption of CBD using the technology. The product has been independently tested and certified for content accuracy and purity by NSF International. NSF International’s stringent program is the first non-profit, third-party CBD/Hemp certification program that is completely independent of the cannabis industry.
NSF International certification assures consumers that TheraHemp’s THC content is non-detectable at 100 ppm (0.01%), the product contains the exact amount of CBD shown on the label, and it does not contain contaminants.
By mimicking the body’s natural process of fat digestion, VESIsorb results in nearly 300% greater overall absorption of CBD. CBD with VESIsorb also results in three times faster absorption than its competitors, with peak CBD blood levels reached in one hour.
Each TheraHemp softgel provides broad-spectrum hemp oil and is standardized to provide 20 mg of CBD along with 8 mg of beta-caryophyllene-enriched terpenes.
