What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘marijuana?’
If you’re like 99% of the population, you probably picture some hippy with dreadlocks and bloodshot eyes.
Or maybe you envision billows of smoke coming out of a car window.
Or maybe you see DEA Blackhawk helicopters decked out with assault weapons, attacking drug lords in some Latin American country.
Whatever you picture, it’s probably not something you want to be associated with.
What’s the first thing that comes to your mined when you think about wine?
Do you picture rolling hills of grapes in Napa Valley?
Do you think of sophisticated men and women sipping wine at a fancy restaurant?
It would seem that wine and marijuana are polar opposites, as Marijuana is generally considered a trashy and illegal habit, while wine is generally considered an elegant and high class pass time.
And that’s why my prediction will sound very strange:
I believe that the largest consumer class of cannabis products will be women who are over the age of 30, have children, and have never done anything illegal in their entire life.
Sound strange?
Well… think about it…
Who is the current largest consumer of wine? In the US, it’s millennial women.
Check out the title of this Vice Media article:
From that article, “As a group, millennials drank 159.6 million cases of wine in 2015. That’s more than any other generation and constitutes 42 percent of all of the wine consumed in the US last year.”
And in that group, “although women make up a slightly larger share of wine-purchasers across generations, the gender gap among Millennials—especially the younger ones—is huge: two-thirds of high-frequency wine drinkers under 30 years old in 2015 were women.”
So, the largest group of wine consumers are millennial women, who are just about to start having kids (perhaps aided by the wine?!).
However, there are some problems with wine… especially for this demographic of consumers.
There are three main issues that I see, which has to do with price, health, and image. I’ll explain below, and also show why I think marijuana will be the go-to alternative for this demographic
#1 Price.
Wine is expensive.
The average bottle of red wine costs $15, so depending on your consumption habits (or your taste in wine) you can end up spending big money.
And if you are hosting friends or buying wine at a restaurant, that wine bill can start to get scary.
According to WineBusiness.com, price is the number one most important factor when purchasing wine.
Marijuana solution: If you grow your own cannabis, it’s basically free. But the reality is that few people will do this (who makes their own wine?!). More likely this demographic will consume cannabis edibles. For an effect similar to a couple glasses of wine, one can consume a cannabis edible that costs less than $5.
#2 Health.
Wine is unhealthy.
That’s not 100% true, as there are some great studies about red wine’s antioxidant benefits, that may help reduce the chance of coronary heart disease.
However, wine is super high in sugars, which means it’s fattening.
That pretty much applies to all alcohols, as everyone knows that alcohol gives you a gut.
Also, wine can give you a mean hangover the next morning. And if you have kids, you know how fun it is to change diapers at 5:30am after you’ve had too much to drink the night before.
Marijuana solution: Depending on the edible (chocolate covered, gummy bear, cookie, etc.) the actual amount of calories can be less than a sip of wine. One bottle of wine has about 600 calories (a cannabis edible can have less than 5 calories). So, from a straight ‘fattening’ standpoint, cannabis is a much better option. (What you eat afterward is on you! But, the same can be said about wine.) And as far as a hangover goes… cannabis doesn’t give you one.
#3 Image.
Drinking a glass of wine, while holding your baby, is probably not what you want people to see every night (it’s probably not what you want your baby to see either).
The reality is that people like to relax at night. Whether it’s reading a book or having a drink, most people need help to unwind.
Now, if you’re a mom who has been with a screaming baby all day, changing diapers, and washing an endless supply of laundry… you probably think about that evening glass of wine all day long!
Obviously I am stereotyping here, as the same can be said for working moms, single women, and of course… all guys.
Marijuana solution: Just eat a small edible at the beginning of the evening. Many new cannabis edibles on the market are micro-dosed. That means that the effects of the edible are similar to a single glass of wine (or similar drink). This allows consumers to control how they feel, and they will NOT end up stoned and sitting on the couch, like most people envision cannabis consumers. Also, you won’t be carrying around a glass of alcohol, announcing to the world that you are trying to unwind.
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The new cannabis consumer is looking for a way to relax, stay healthy, and maintain their mature and professional appearance.
The stigma of consuming marijuana will be disappearing over the next decade, along with the insane outlawing of this plant (that has never lead to a single overdose death).
As an investor, we want to get in front of this trend. And that’s exactly what we are doing this weekend in Denver.
If you’re not joining us in Denver, I’ll be sharing some of our findings next week.
Also, if you are a cannabis skeptic, I suggest you check out the recent surge in cannabis stocks. While many of these stocks are probably due for a correction, we are still very early in this game. The cannabis industry is going to be huge… but there will be a lot of speed bumps along the way.
(Explorer Partnership members are up over 400% in only three months on one of our stock picks!)
