Oregon’s Marijuana Market Continues To Grow Even During Covid-19
The state of Oregon has sustained a solid market for legal cannabis sales. Especially in the last year while in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. Projections for Oregon’s cannabis market are anticipated to grow even more.
Which could lead to more cannabis revenue that can then be used for the state. For instance things like rebuilding communities impacted by the war on drugs or social equity. Analysts with the state Department of Administrative Services’ Office of Economic Analysis shared their thoughts.
They stated that even with the projected winter sale of cannabis being achieved sales in the last few months have increased. This is “setting new records, even as the outlook expected sales to taper somewhat as more entertainment options reopened and employees began to return to the office.”
The report states it’s not transparent whether the sales data indicates real increases in demand for cannabis products. As well as any increased spending potential from stimulus checks. Other states that have legal marijuana markets such as Illinois have seen comparable trends in cannabis sales. Especially during this Covid 19 pandemic.
“Ultimately that is the key question mark for the outlook,” the economic analysts wrote. “Just how much will demand for recreational marijuana increase in the years ahead?”
One way they’re trying to provide good answers to that issue is federal data. This info is being documented on the percentage of the adult population who report using marijuana. In Oregon, that metric has floated around 20 percent in the last few years. Which could indicate that cannabis sales will “slow in the years ahead.”
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More Progress For Oregon’s Cannabis Market
So with this, the report states that due to it being a federal survey and marijuana is still federally illegal, that information could be bias. Overall, the analysts said they foresee short-term sales to “remain elevated due to the ongoing pandemic, strong household finances, and an economy with entertainment options that are not fully reopened.” As those pandemic-related factors continue to be corrected through the fall, sales “are expected to taper,” it continues. 
The growth of long-term sales is projected to increase, the report states, except “maybe not for the reasons you may think.”
“Previous forecasts called for relatively minimal growth in the years ahead as the recreational market matured. While that assumption fundamentally remains the same—the outlook does not build in any large increases in usage rates or increases in the customer base—growth is raised due to the underlying gains in the economy,” it states.
“Previous forecasts implicitly assumed some combination of sales declining as a share of income, and recreational prices would continue to decline.”
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Final Thoughts On Oregon’s Cannabis Market
With more people increasing the population in the state in conjunction with increased salaries, this can also improve long-term, increased demand. The current forecasts for cannabis tax revenue that Oregon will produce in the 2019-2021 biennium is about $304 million. That will continue to rise each biennium. Which could possibly reach $462 million in 2027-2029, the analysis says.
“The bottom line impact is available recreational marijuana revenues are increased,” the projection states.
Staying on the subject, a portion of the tax money made from legal cannabis is helping to fund different programs. This tax revenue would help with the expansion of substance misuse treatment in the state. Which should develop further as voters adopted a drug decriminalization initiative last year. This bill has measures where some of the marijuana tax revenue would be allocated to support those services.
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