According to research by Cannabiz Consumer Group, the legal cannabis industry will “canna-balize” 7.1 percent of revenues from the existing retail beer industry, and the industry would be poised to lose more than $2 billion in retail sales if cannabis were legalized nationally.

According to their CannaUse study of more than 40,000 participants, 27 percent of beer consumers indicated that they have either already substituted cannabis for beer or would substitute their retail beer purchases with cannabis if the latter were legal.

Rich Maturo, Cannabiz Consumer Group COO, said that “those at risk of losing sales to legalized cannabis can undertake a variety of actions to offset their losses,” adding that cannabis consumers use the products to “satisfy various social, medical, and experimental needs.”

“By understanding these needs, those at risk of losing sales to cannabis can try to offset some of the losses by understanding and speaking to a consumer’s needs,” he said in a statement. “Unfortunately, there is no doubt that leakage will occur. Those companies that are gathering insights on cannabis and have the foresight to see it as presenting an opportunity in addition to a risk will fare much better than those who strictly take a defensive position.”

The group estimates that a legal cannabis market would settle at levels comparable to the beer and wine industries, projecting that a fully legal cannabis industry would create a $50 billion industry.

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