Quality and Accessibility Matter Most for Legal Cannabis; Price Matters Most for Illegal
A discrete choice experiment with 963 cannabis consumers found that quality and accessibility drive legal cannabis purchases while price drives illegal purchases, with policy simulations predicting ways to shrink the illicit market.
Quick Facts
What This Study Found
For legal cannabis, quality and accessibility (distance to seller) were the most important attributes. For illegal cannabis, price was the most important attribute. The likelihood of choosing legal cannabis increased with higher quality, lab testing, shorter distance, higher THC, and lower price. Policy simulations predicted that improving quality, allowing delivery, increasing dispensary density, and lowering prices could reduce illegal market share.
Key Numbers
963 adult cannabis consumers. Five product attributes varied: quality, safety (lab testing), accessibility (distance), potency (THC level), and price. Policy simulations identified five strategies to reduce illegal market share: improving quality, ensuring safety testing, allowing delivery services, increasing dispensary density, and lowering prices/taxes.
How They Did This
Discrete choice experiment with 963 adults who used cannabis in the past year and lived in states with recreational legalization. Participants chose between purchasing from a legal dispensary or illegal dealer across scenarios varying in quality, safety (lab testing), accessibility, potency, and price. Mixed logit models analyzed preferences.
Why This Research Matters
Despite legalization, illegal cannabis markets remain large or even dominant in many US states. Understanding exactly what drives consumers toward legal or illegal sources provides actionable evidence for policies that could shift market share away from unregulated, untested products.
The Bigger Picture
The persistence of illegal cannabis markets after legalization is one of the biggest challenges facing cannabis policy. This study reframes the problem as a consumer choice driven by specific, addressable product attributes rather than an intractable black market, giving regulators concrete levers to pull.
What This Study Doesn't Tell Us
Hypothetical choice scenarios may not perfectly predict real purchasing behavior. The sample was recruited online and may not represent all cannabis consumers, particularly those most reliant on illegal markets. State-level variation in legal market regulations was not modeled.
Questions This Raises
- ?Which combination of policy changes would most cost-effectively shift consumers from illegal to legal markets?
- ?Do price-sensitive illegal market consumers differ demographically from quality-sensitive legal market consumers?
Trust & Context
- Key Stat:
- Quality and accessibility are top drivers for legal cannabis; price is the top driver for illegal
- Evidence Grade:
- Moderate: rigorous experimental design with appropriate econometric modeling, but hypothetical choices may not fully reflect real-world purchasing behavior.
- Study Age:
- 2024 study.
- Original Title:
- Cannabis consumers' preferences for legal and illegal cannabis: evidence from a discrete choice experiment.
- Published In:
- BMC public health, 24(1), 2397 (2024)
- Authors:
- Xing, Jin(2), Shi, Yuyan(18)
- Database ID:
- RTHC-05828
Evidence Hierarchy
A snapshot of a population at one point in time.
What do these levels mean? →Frequently Asked Questions
Why do people still buy illegal cannabis?
Price is the dominant factor. Illegal cannabis is typically cheaper because it avoids taxes, licensing fees, and compliance costs. Some consumers also prefer illegal sources for convenience (closer proximity or delivery) when legal dispensaries are sparse.
What policies could shrink the illegal market?
The study simulated several scenarios: improving legal product quality, requiring lab safety testing (which builds trust), allowing home delivery, increasing dispensary density to improve access, and reducing taxes/prices to be more competitive with illegal sources.
Read More on RethinkTHC
Cite This Study
https://rethinkthc.com/research/RTHC-05828APA
Xing, Jin; Shi, Yuyan. (2024). Cannabis consumers' preferences for legal and illegal cannabis: evidence from a discrete choice experiment.. BMC public health, 24(1), 2397. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19640-1
MLA
Xing, Jin, et al. "Cannabis consumers' preferences for legal and illegal cannabis: evidence from a discrete choice experiment.." BMC public health, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19640-1
RethinkTHC
RethinkTHC Research Database. "Cannabis consumers' preferences for legal and illegal cannab..." RTHC-05828. Retrieved from https://rethinkthc.com/research/xing-2024-cannabis-consumers-preferences-for
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.