US legal marijuana sales surpass chocolate, craft beer

Around 9:30 one morning inside a legal marijuana store on Lower Broadway in Manhattan, six would-be customers perused cannabis products.

The store sees approximately 500 customers daily, Juan Rivera, the store's security guard, told China Daily. Those who visit most often are older than 65, he said. "I know a lady who is about 90, and she comes in every two weeks."

They are part of the surge of buyers in the US who have lifted sales of legal marijuana past the combined sales of chocolate and craft beer in the country, according to a recent report by MJBizDaily, a cannabis industry publication.

In 2022, people in the US spent an estimated $30 billion on legal marijuana products, topping chocolate's $20 billion, and craft beer's $7.9 billion, according to the publication.

Legal cannabis sales in the US still fall short of the $52.7 billion spent on tobacco products, but cigarette sales are steadily declining while cannabis sales continue to rise.

If the current trend continues, marijuana sales could reach as high as $33.6 billion this year and almost $57 billion by 2028, Business Insider reported.

New York City opened its first legal recreational marijuana dispensary in December. The Union Square Travel Agency on 13th Street and Broadway opened in February and is the city's third adult-use dispensary.

Legal marijuana sold in New York must be grown in New York, as federal law prohibits interstate commerce in marijuana. Authorities estimate there are about 1,400 shops in the city without a license, according to ABC News.

Mayor Eric Adams said unregulated smoke shops have become magnets for robberies and often sell products laced with other drugs.

Consumers generally choose illegal shops because of price.

"Why would you buy an eighth of weed (1/8th of an ounce) for $80 at a legal shop when you can get an eighth of weed at $25 at an illegal shop?" Amanda Chicago Lewis, a freelance investigative reporter who covers the marijuana industry, told PBS News. "And in a city as large as New York, the nearest legal dispensary could be over an hour away, while one might have an unlicensed store in their neighborhood."

Despite marijuana remaining illegal at the federal level, adults in 21 states and Washington, DC, can legally purchase and possess marijuana for recreational use. There are comprehensive medical programs in place in 37 states and Washington, DC, that allow for legal access to marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Nearly half of US adults, or 49 percent, said they have tried marijuana in 2021, up from 45 percent in 2019, according to a 2021 Gallup poll.

Around 9 in 10 Americans say marijuana should be legal for medical or recreational use, according to a Pew Research survey. Only 1 in 10 say it should not be legal in any form.

Igor Volk, a bike courier, told China Daily that he uses cannabis products to ease the pain from injuries sustained on his right thigh.

Volk lives in Brooklyn and arrived at the Manhattan dispensary about 40 minutes after it opened that Monday morning.

He said he has been a regular customer at legal marijuana stores since New York opened its first one and that he typically visits such stores about three times a month.

Agencies contributed to this story.