Cannabis is commonly relied upon as a sleep aid, and those using it in this manner overwhelmingly believe it to more effective than their OTC remedy.

So long to counting sheep. Cannabiz Consumer Group’s CannaUse™ findings reveal that both internal analgesics (otc pain medications) and sleep aids are feeling the pain of substitution effect from legal cannabis more than other OTC categories, such as cold and flu medicines. Cannabiz Consumer Group (C2G) leveraged its highly successful CannaUse™ study to understand how legal cannabis impacts over-the-counter (OTC) medications.

The study found that:

• Those expecting to consume legal cannabis were 25% more likely to be users of sleep aids as compared to their cannabis-uninterested counterparts;
• Half of likely cannabis consumers plan to reduce their purchases of sleep aids in the future;
• 86% of those who have used cannabis as a sleep aid stated that it worked better than their traditional OTC medication.

C2G estimates that 9.5% of OTC sleep aid sales will be cannibalized by legalized cannabis. In a national cannabis market, this would represent nearly $70MM dollars in lost sales.

“Unlike Beer, Wine, and Spirits categories in which consumers tend to switch between varieties and brands, OTC medications show less switching behavior”, states Rich Maturo, C2G’s Chief Innovation Officer. “Once an OTC product is shown to work for a consumer they tend to be loyal. As a completely new treatment regimen that offers the added benefit of mood enhancement, legal cannabis is a real threat to many OTC categories and brands and the retailers that sell them.”

About Cannabiz Consumer Group™

Cannabiz Consumer Group investigates cannabis legalization and its impact on consumer spending throughout the economy. Bringing together a diverse information set and a team with expertise in the tracking of emerging markets, data modeling, and analytics, Cannabiz Consumer Group provides insights and solutions for specific industries that must adapt to cannabis legalization. This includes over-the-counter medications, beer, wine, spirits, tobacco, other foods and beverages, retail, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and travel/tourism. Each will be impacted by consumer spending on cannabis as existing legal use markets continue evolve and new markets launch.

The metrics in this report were sourced from C2G’s CannaUse™ study on the cannabis mindset and behaviors of more than 50K individual participants, the company’s warehouse of over 55MM cannabis purchase transactions, and CPG consumer panel and point-of-sale data sourced from IRI through an exclusive data and analytic share arrangement.