Vape Sales Decrease in Response to Health Crisis

• Analysis of dispensary sales data from Jane Technologies, Inc., reveals that the recent vaping issue has had broad but varied impacts on retail sales.
• Vapes’ market share has declined an average of 15%, with medical-use states (and Oregon, where a victim was linked to legal products), and adult-use markets with high canna-tourism rates (e.g., Nevada, Massachusetts) seeing the sharpest effects.
• Long-established markets – including California, Colorado, and Washington – were least likely to see sales disruptions, suggesting that consumers in mature markets with well-known products and brands were less likely to question the safety of such products.
• As vape sales have contracted, other categories (flower, pre-rolls, and tinctures) appear to be fulfilling demand as consumers reallocate their spending.
• While long-term implications for the vape market remain to be seen, outcomes of the CDC’s investigation and the industry’s collective response pose significant implications going forward for consumers’ perceptions and the category’s performance.
• Given an estimated 273 million vape pens sold through legal U.S. markets from 2017-2019, a suspected strong connection of the outbreak of illness to unregulated products will likely fuel calls for legalization, standardization, and quality controls to minimize risks.

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