CBD is taking the world by storm. From relative obscurity just a few years ago, the industry has exploded into a multi-billion dollar a year market. Think back just even 5-10 years and CBD was often difficult to find. Now, depending on where you live, in addition to buying CBD online, you can find it in convenience stores, gas stations, doctor offices, even video rental stores.
CBD product sales are expected to hit $5 billion this year, which is a 706% increase over 2018, according to the Brightfield Group, a cannabis-focused research firm. A market research study done by BDS Analytics and Arcview Market Research projects that the collective market for CBD sales will surpass $20 billion by 2024 in the United States alone.
“We’re witnessing CBD maturing from a cannabis sub-category into a full-blown industry of its own,” said Roy Bingham, Co-Founder and CEO of BDS Analytics. “Our growth forecast for the CBD market, across all distribution channels, predicts a compound annual growth rate of 49 percent by 2024. This is a great opportunity for all involved, but it means the road ahead will include decisions that need to be informed by the best possible data.”
Where the CBD Market Is Going
The forecasts and projections for CBD market growth take into account products sold by dispensaries, pharmaceuticals, along with cafes, smoke shops, grocery stores, and pharmacies. However, also according to BDS analytics, the majority of CBD sales will soon occur in general retail stores instead of cannabis dispensaries.
The reasons for the continued projected success of CBD products are as follows:
- CBD has a history of health and wellness use, especially as an active component of the cannabis plant and because of a mountain’s worth of anecdotal evidence from people of all walks of life
- CBD is one of the few natural remedies out there that has an official scientific basis for at least some of its health claims and that scientific basis is growing stronger each day
- CBD has a wide range of potential applications, ranging from inflammation to mental health and everything in between
- CBD does not have any known negative side effects and does not lead to any form of dependence
The growth of the CBD industry is really unprecedented when it comes to health and wellness products, or any products in general. Sales of CBD products in dispensaries since 2014 have grown at an even faster rate than overall sales in dispensaries. Yep, you read that correctly, CBD sales have outpaced the sales of THC products in states that have general legalization or medically legal marijuana industries.
There’s really a feeling in the industry that the sky is the limit. The curiosity of the general population is peaked right now as CBD proliferates society more and more, there’s increasing pharmaceutical, medical, and scientific interest which is leading to more and more studies about the efficacy and specific CBD applications, and it’s a genuinely good product that thousands and thousands of consumers swear by.
Recent Developments in the CBD Industry
There have been several recent developments in the CBD industry that have helped spur on this massive growth and explosion in popularity. One of those developments was the Farm Bill that was signed into law in December of 2018. This law removed the hemp plant from the list of Schedule One federally controlled substances, legalizing the cultivation and sale of hemp at the federal level. It defines hemp as a cannabis plant containing less than a 0.3% concentration of THC.
The practical consequences of this law are that hemp producers and businesses that deal in hemp and hemp-derived products, like CBD, now have the freedom to pursue their businesses more aggressively. This law may incentivize CBD companies to use hemp as the primary source for CBD instead of marijuana, but it also removes the possibilities that the federal government will suddenly change their law enforcement priorities and decide to prosecute hemp product businesses.
Another development in the CBD industry was the World Health Organization publishing a report in which CBD was found to be generally well-tolerated, non-addictive, and safe. Both the shift in federal policy and this study by the WHO lend new credibility and opportunity to CBD companies across the country and across the world.
Potential Benefits of CBD
So what’s the reason for this explosion in CBD popularity? Put simply, because people think it works. From professional golfers to elderly people with chronic pain to people with mental health disorders, CBD produces tangible benefits for the people who consume it. CBD users are an average age of 40, have higher education, and are more likely than non-consumers to be employed full time.
According to Project CBD, extensive preclinical research has shown that CBD possesses powerful anti-tumoral, anti-oxidant, anti-spasmodic, anti-psychotic, anti-convulsive, and neuroprotective properties. It also has been shown to directly activate serotonin receptors, allowing it to help alleviate anxiety and giving CBD potential as an anti-anxiety treatment.
This has implications of CBD being a potential treatment for a variety of conditions, ranging from arthritis, diabetes, alcoholism, MS, chronic pain, schizophrenia, PTSD, depression, antibiotic-resistant infections, epilepsy, and other neurological disorders.
CBD’s Moment
We are at a critical moment when the floodgates are opening up for CBD. The industry is growing exponentially, there is more and more research for an ever wider array of potential applications, and existing studies are showing that CBD possesses near-endless medical and health possibilities.
Coupled with its total non-toxicity, the explosion of CBD on the market and in the medical research community is nothing short of exciting.
Want to get in on the action? Try out one of our CBD products today.