Legalization of psychoactive cannabis has helped boost sales of alcohol in Colorado

At that time, as the tax income from the hemp market has increased three times, in the interval between June 2014 and May 2015, the market of alcohol also continued to grow by 2.1%, which is approximately equal to the market growth for the year to legalization.

In addition to the conservative part of the population that supports the Republican Party, other influential opponents of the movement to legalize psychoactive hemp in the United States is older and wealthy industry, to provide the public recreational substances: alcohol producers.

Given that an increasing number of states are planning to soon begin to consider the possibility of introducing in its territory the full legalization of recreational cannabis use, it is not surprising that many manufacturers of alcoholic products concerned by the advent of legalization, able to take away from their fair share of market income.

But as the experience of Colorado, whose inhabitants a few years ago decided to legalize cannabis for recreational consumption, sale of alcohol in the state, despite all the fears of alcoholic companies, on the contrary began to grow rather than fall, which in turn led to the fact that sellers of alcohol hemp industry was seen as a kind of "union power" in the market of recreational substances.

In the first 18 months of the legalization of cannabis, business Martza Justin, 32 year old owner of a wine shop Mr B's Wine & Spirits in downtown Denver, is experiencing unprecedented growth in sales of alcohol. He says that at first, it is extremely concerned about the prospect of legalization, but it became clear soon after its onset, the effect was opposite to the expected. In fact, Mr. Martz said that "legalization is extremely helped sellers of alcohol. Onset of the economic rise of the hand and went to the liquor store."

Brian Simpson, a spokesman for craft brewery New Belgium, settling down in the town of Fort Collins, said that forecasts that the legalization of cannabis alcohol market will experience a major drop in sales did not materialize. As it turned out, alcohol and cannabis do not compete with each other in the market of recreational substances, and co-exist in a kind of symbiosis, providing sales growth for both industries. "Many beer lovers do not give up, and cannabis, and vice versa," says Mr. Simpson. "The appearance of new industry did not hit sales of beer. As has been said, they are on the contrary, it began to grow." As a confirmation of his opinion, he led the journalists as an example, sales of his company New Belgium.

The continued growth of sales in the market of alcohol, despite the wide availability of legal psychoactive hemp confirmed collected from sales of alcohol taxes. At that time, as the tax income from the hemp market has increased three times, in the interval between June 2014 and May 2015, the market for alcohol has also continued to grow, but not at the same speed: growth was only 2.1%, which is approximately equal to the growth of the market for year before legalization.

This symbiosis of two industries became evident only a year after legalization, and even more time political battles between alcohol companies and activists supporting the legalization.

Representatives of the alcoholic industry have long believed that the legalization of psychoactive cannabis significantly reduce consumer interest in alcohol. "Consumer preferences may switch to the use of psychoactive cannabis, since the beginning of its legalization and a broader and lawful availability", warned representatives of the alcohol market experts from the company Brown-Forman, the owner and producer of several well-known brands of liquor, such as whiskey Jack Daniel's and Southern Comfort .

Fuel to the fire poured liquor traders concerns and academic studies that suggest that the consumer sees cannabis and alcohol, the goods interchanged. In particular, one study showed that legalization of medical cannabis has led to a drop in sales of alcoholic beverages in some states. As the professor of economics at the University of Colorado, Daniel Rice, in an interview on the subject, "it is not surprising that alcohol companies have paid attention to the legalization and the associated risks. Given such studies, it could be assumed that the risk of falling sales of alcohol was It is quite real. "

Therefore, the industry of alcohol, at first, tried hard to prevent the legalization, sometimes resorting to direct donations to fund political opponents of legalization. An example is the introduction in 2010 by the Association of Distributors of beer and spirits donation sum of 10,000 dollars to fund the organization of Public Safety First, which led to what is proposed in that year plan for the legalization of recreational cannabis in California failed.

It should be noted that hemp activists and industry representatives also seen in alcoholic industry enemy and rival. Most of the activist organization considers alcohol as a widely available and legal recreational substance that is much more dangerous to health and society than psychoactive hemp.

The most well-known clash between the two industries occurred in 2013 in Portland, Maine, where between large organizations Marijuana Policy Project and the Beer Institute (Institute of Brewing), a dispute arose over a billboard installed hemp activists. On it were depicted middle-aged people with the following words: "I choose psychoactive hemp instead of beer, because it causes less harm to my body," and "I choose psychoactive hemp instead of beer, because it does not make me aggressive." A representative of the Institute of Brewing, Chris Thorne, said at the time that the advertising provides people with incorrect information because "recreational cannabis and beer are fundamentally different products, manufactured completely different industries."

Some experts believe that the cause of the continued growth in sales of alcohol in Colorado could be started in conjunction with the adoption of the legalization of the tourist boom. Despite the assertion of some officials that medical cannabis is not significantly influenced by the influx of tourists to the state statistics reports that in 2014 Colorado visited a record number of tourists, namely, 71.3 million people in the state have spent about 18.6 billion dollars.

Representatives of the alcoholic industry recognize that the reason for the growth of tourism is just recreational legalization. Mr. Martz, for example, said that his shop became more frequent visits to the guests of the state in which he now always wondered what kind of reason, they decided to spend your vacation just in Colorado. "One way or another, many mention is legalization," Martz says, noting that even if the availability of cannabis has not been for some tourists the main motive for visiting the state, it is certainly a significant indirect reason. Mr. Simpson from the brewery New Belgium, confirms this view, noting that he visited Fort Collins for his hemp shops tourists with great interest and try the local beer.

Nor should we assume that alcohol raises just imagine the profit on the success of the legalization of psychoactive cannabis: the two industries equally help each other. For example, many of the guests of Denver who have come to the shop Mr B's Wine & Spirits, owned by Mr. INTA not only buy alcohol, but also interested in him, where to find a good hemp store, to which he is not only ready to tell them the right direction to their new hemp partners, but also provide visitors the discount card on cannabis when buying alcohol in his store.