Is Big Tobacco Pivoting to Big Cannabis?
Today, a new low of 11% of American adults report being smokers. Roughly three in 10 nonsmokers say they used to smoke.
British American Tobacco (BAT), Altria Group (AG), Imperial Brand(IB), Casa Verde (CV)(the investment fund co-founded by the American rapper and cannabis entrepreneur Snoop Dogg), and Phillips Morris international (PMI) have all invested into companies operating in the cannabis industry around the world.
Some of these operators are:
– Sanity Group (BAT & CVC),
– Syqe Medial (PMI),
– Oxford Cannabanoid Technologies (Imperial & CVC),
– Cronos Group (Altria),
– Auxly (Imperial)
– VUSE CBD Zone (BAT), and
– Trait Biosciences (BAT).
Gallup has been asking Americans about their attitudes toward cigarettes and alcohol since the 1930s and 1940s, and, in more recent decades, has added similar questions about marijuana. One purpose of these continuing surveys is to update estimates of these substances’ frequency of use.
Some 16% of Americans say they currently smoke marijuana, while a total of 48% say they have tried it at some point in their lifetime.
Marijuana use (based on self-reports) has increased dramatically over the past half-century. Only 4% said they had ever tried marijuana in 1969, when the question was first asked. That’s now 48%. Seven percent of Americans said they currently smoke marijuana in 2013, compared with the 16% measured this summer.
Americans recognize the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes, and smoking has declined significantly over the past half-century and can be expected to continue on this trajectory.
