What Half a Million Cannabis Products Look Like on a Major Online Marketplace
Researchers cataloged over 500,000 cannabis product listings from Weedmaps, finding THC dominates compound types and nearly half of all products feature flavor marketing.
Quick Facts
What This Study Found
Among 501,012 consumable product listings, multisystem routes of administration were most common (41%), followed by respiratory (37%) and digestive (20%). THC was the dominant compound (63.3%), and 42% of listings featured at least one flavor, with lemon, cake, and strawberry topping the list.
Key Numbers
501,012 consumable listings analyzed; 41% multisystem ROA; 37% respiratory; 20% digestive; 42% featured flavors; top flavors: lemon (8.9%), cake (7.9%), strawberry (5.6%); THC was 63.3% of compound types
How They Did This
Researchers scraped 573,854 unique US product listings from the Weedmaps e-commerce platform between September and November 2023, removing non-consumable items and coding the remainder for product characteristics, routes of administration, and flavors.
Why This Research Matters
As cannabis markets mature under legalization, the sheer variety and flavor-forward marketing of products raises questions about consumer appeal, youth attraction, and regulatory oversight that parallel concerns seen with flavored tobacco and vaping products.
The Bigger Picture
This is one of the first large-scale snapshots of what the legal cannabis marketplace actually looks like at the product level. The dominance of flavored products and the wide variety of delivery methods reflect a rapidly diversifying industry that regulators are still catching up to.
What This Study Doesn't Tell Us
Data came from a single e-commerce platform (Weedmaps) and may not represent all cannabis sales. Product descriptions were self-reported by dispensaries. The study did not assess potency or verify product contents.
Questions This Raises
- ?How do flavored cannabis products influence youth initiation compared to unflavored options?
- ?Do different routes of administration carry different health risk profiles?
Trust & Context
- Key Stat:
- 42% of all product listings featured at least one flavor
- Evidence Grade:
- Large dataset from a major e-commerce platform, but limited to one marketplace and self-reported product descriptions.
- Study Age:
- Published in 2024 with data from late 2023.
- Original Title:
- Cannabis-Derived Product Types, Flavors, and Compound Types From an E-Commerce Website.
- Published In:
- JAMA network open, 7(10), e2440376 (2024)
- Authors:
- Nali, Matthew C(3), Yang, Joshua S, Li, Zhuoran(3), Larsen, Meng Zhen, Mackey, Tim K
- Database ID:
- RTHC-05584
Evidence Hierarchy
A snapshot of a population at one point in time.
What do these levels mean? →Frequently Asked Questions
What was the most common way to consume cannabis products on this platform?
Multisystem products (usable in multiple ways) were most common at 41%, followed by respiratory products like vapes and flower at 37%.
How prevalent is flavor marketing in cannabis products?
Nearly half (42%) of all listings featured at least one flavor, with lemon, cake, and strawberry being the top three.
Read More on RethinkTHC
Cite This Study
https://rethinkthc.com/research/RTHC-05584APA
Nali, Matthew C; Yang, Joshua S; Li, Zhuoran; Larsen, Meng Zhen; Mackey, Tim K. (2024). Cannabis-Derived Product Types, Flavors, and Compound Types From an E-Commerce Website.. JAMA network open, 7(10), e2440376. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.40376
MLA
Nali, Matthew C, et al. "Cannabis-Derived Product Types, Flavors, and Compound Types From an E-Commerce Website.." JAMA network open, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.40376
RethinkTHC
RethinkTHC Research Database. "Cannabis-Derived Product Types, Flavors, and Compound Types ..." RTHC-05584. Retrieved from https://rethinkthc.com/research/nali-2024-cannabisderived-product-types-flavors
Access the Original Study
Study data sourced from PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
This study breakdown was produced by the RethinkTHC research team. We analyze and report published research findings without making health recommendations. All interpretations are based solely on the published abstract and study data.