Gen Z has shredded a long-held dynamic in the cannabis industry.
For centuries, cannabis flower has been the king of marijuana. And since legalization, flower has always been the most popular product at legal pot shops in California. But that dominance is now all over, largely thanks to Gen Z. Cannabis vapes surpassed flower in June and are consistently the top-selling product category in California, according to state data.
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California shoppers spent over 10 percent more on cannabis vapes than flower last month, and more than 170 percent more on vapes compared to edibles, according to state data.
This growth is being driven primarily by Gen Z, who have an overwhelming preference for the handheld vapes and are the first generation to prefer vape pens over any other type of cannabis product, according to data shared with SFGATE by cannabis analytics company Headset. Over the past 12 months of national pot sales, Gen Z spent 38 percent of their money on vapor pens, and only 32.5 percent on flower, the next most popular category. That’s the opposite of millennials, who spent 40.1 percent of their money on flower and only 25.7 percent on vapes.
While their popularity is clear, there is still some disagreement over exactly how dominant vapes are in California. Flower sales are still slightly outpacing vape sales according to Headset’s figures, which are based on both government reported data and information directly from retailers. Their February data found that flower accounted for 31.2 percent of sales while vape pens were 29.3 percent. But Mitchell Laferla, a senior data analyst at the company, said it’s only a matter of months before vaping matches flower even in their data.
“Gen Z is becoming a larger part of the market by the day so eventually their love for this category is going to affect the category assortment of the overall market,” Laferla said in an email.
Gen Z is defined as people ages 14 to 29, so the majority of the generation are adults who can purchase cannabis legally at California’s cannabis stores. But the preference for vaping also appears to be affecting underage people. Fewer high school students report using cannabis these days compared with six years ago, but the students using it are overwhelmingly using vapes, according to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reported on a Bay Area high school where teenagers said it was easy to buy the vapes using Snapchat and the school was forced to install vape sensors in its bathrooms to prevent students from consuming on campus.
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The rapid growth of vaping across all age groups should be a cause for concern for public health advocates, according to Ziva Cooper, a leading cannabis researcher and professor at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Cannabis oil has a higher risk of being contaminated by heavy metals or pesticides, and vaping cannabis oil could carry different risks compared to smoking cannabis, including higher risk of pulmonary disease, risk of contamination and possibly increased risks of dependence. But for now, Cooper said scientists do not have clear answers to any of those questions.
“I think that people should definitely be concerned that we don’t know the long-term or short-term effects of these products,” Cooper said. “We don’t even know what is in these products.”
The explosive growth of vapes is already birthing entire brands dedicated to the products. Stiiizy, California’s biggest vertically integrated cannabis company, has been driven in large part by its blockbuster sales of budget vapes that can cost under $20 a piece. And nearly every major cannabis company has its own line of vape products.
For Cristian Pou, a 24-year-old cannabis brand founder from South Central Los Angeles, vapes are his Be$os brand’s best seller and have powered his rapid expansion over the last two years. Besos is Spanish for kisses, and Pou said he specifically created the brand to appeal to fellow Latinos.
“I’m trying to build the Jarritos of cannabis,” Pou said. “I don’t sell a product, I sell a feeling of identity.”
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Pou did not set out to create a brand specifically for his fellow members of Gen Z, but he launched his brand in a decidedly internet-smart way. Before he ever launched an actual pot product, he partnered with an LA streetwear brand for a sold-out apparel drop and then had his brand featured in a music video by Herencia De Patrones, a popular corridos rap group from Southern California. Five months later, he released his first cannabis vapes, produced through a white labeling company, and has been selling enough since to quit his day job and work full time on selling vapes.
*This article first appeared on SFGATE. GreenState and SFGATE are owned by the same parent company but operate independent newsrooms. This article is reposted with permission.