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Medical-only states: Moving gray market <br />consumers to the regulated market <br />We know that expanding access to cannabis is <br />a powerful tool to encourage illicit consumers <br />to take advantage of legal channels. So the <br />most effective way to grow the legal cannabis <br />markets in medical-only states would of <br />course be to legalize adult-use cannabis, a <br />trend which dozens of states have followed in <br />the last decade after observing the benefits of <br />regulation play out in other markets. But short <br />of legalizing adult use, medical-only markets <br />still have room to grow. <br /> <br />In medical-only states, there are many <br />consumers who describe their cannabis use as <br />medical (as opposed to recreational) but who <br />are not registered patients and are therefore <br />consuming outside the regulated market. This <br />segment will be called “unregistered medical <br />consumers”. <br />Roughly half (48%) of all self-identified medical <br />consumers in medical-only markets are <br />unregistered medical consumers, despite the <br />majority (65%) of them using cannabis to <br />manage a specific diagnosed medical condition. <br />Who are unregistered medical consumers? <br />…and how do they differ from registered medical <br />patients? <br />Among self-described medical consumers in <br />medical-only states… <br />• those over 45 years old are less likely than <br />those under 45 to be registered patients. <br />• women are less likely than men to be <br />registered patients <br />• those in rural and suburban areas are less <br />likely than those in urban areas to be <br />registered. <br />• those with annual household income under <br />$50,000 are less likely than higher earners <br />to be registered. <br />Considering state-specific regulations is <br />necessary when determining what actions may <br />effectively capture more of the unregulated <br />medical use in a market. Medical-only state <br />cannabis programs vary widely in terms of <br />recognized conditions, costs of participation, <br />and philosophy of the program. <br />CANNABIS CONSUMERS IN AMERICA 2023: PART 322 © New Frontier Data, All Rights Reserved. <br />Page 273 of 322