Looks Like Recreational Cannabis Legalization Isn't Hurting Wine Sales After All
I've talked a lot on this blog about whether or not cannabis legalization will hurt wine sales. At first, I was pretty adamant that the effect would be small enough that we couldn't detect it. I based this on some basic research I did showing that (a) wine consumption is positively correlated to cannabis consumption on a state-by-state basis; and (b) nationwide wine consumption is positively correlated to cannabis consumption over time. It also made little sense to me that
Maybe Marijuana Legalization is a Real Threat to Wine Sales
I and Tom Wark, at fermentationwineblog.com have had an ongoing debate over whether or not marijuana legalization is a threat to wine sales. For a long time, my belief was that marijuana legalization will not lead to a detectable drop in wine sales, (see here, here, here and here.) Then, as I saw more and better quality evidence, I began to equivocate more, (see here and here.) Basically, I noted that the preponderance of evidence indicated that cannabis legalization likely
Study Claims Medical Marijuana Legalization Has Reduced Alcohol Consumption
So, add another study to the evidence that legalization may reduce wine sales: Helping Settle the Marijuana and Alcohol Debate: Evidence from Scanner Data. This study claims that medical marijuana legalization reduced alcohol consumption by about 15% in the affected states. We should pay attention to this. It reinforces Tom Wark's opinion that we should not look upon marijuana as a natural marketing ally of wine - something I wholeheartedly agree with. But, let me also thr
First Evidence We Should Worry About Marijuana Legalization
A recent study looked at how medical marijuana legalization has influenced alcohol consumption. The study is solid, with falsification and robustness check and consideration of covariants and confounders. According to the researchers, medical marijuana legalization reduces consumption by 15%. This is the first real evidence I have seen that marijuana is a threat to wine. At this point I would characterize the situation as 'a preponderance of evidence indicating that marij
More People Are Using Cannabis - Are Fewer People Drinking?
I've noticed that our industry loves to panic about outside forces coming to harm us. The latest panic is that marijuana legalization is going to reduce wine consumption. My line has been that I'm not worried at this point. Of course, there will be some effect, but at this point I see no reason to believe that that effect will be significant or even detectable. A million things can reduce wine consumption: more amusement parks, zoning law changes, etc., etc. All of those
Article in the Press Democrat
Bill Swindell quoted me in his article about cannabis and wine in the Press Democrat. It's a good article about a subject that's easy to write a bad article about: https://www.wix.com/my-account/sites/0a88a463-ee1b-4030-8f0b-15f6b0d59cf5 #cannabis #wine
Silly Sensimilla Survey
A company I won't name in order to deny them the attention they do not deserve published a survey purporting to show that legalization will reduce wine consumption. It's sketchy. Lew Perdue did a good job of explaining why it's a trash survey. As far as I am understanding the results, they claim that every marijuana smoker surveyed feels the cannabis use has reduced or eliminated his alcohol consumption. I haven't seen a poll that decisive since Saddam Hussein was last re
Will Marijuana Legalization Reduce Wine Consumption?
Sometimes I think that the wine industry is like a hypochondriac. We have plenty of immediate worries: the macroeconomy, overplanting, droughts, floods, earthquakes, fires, labor shortages, NIMBYites, regulations, control states, vine disease and pests, etc., etc. Yet we still manage to make every little nagging issue into a bigger problem than it probably is. Lately I keep hearing that craft beer, cider, craft liquor and weed are going to reduce wine consumption. There m
