Conventional Sleep Aids Ousted by Cannabis, Sleep Aids Market Rife with Opportunity

Published On : Feb 25, 2020

The scientific community is still on tenterhooks, a tad unsure about the efficacy of marijuana in treating and curing sleep disturbances such as insomnia. The general consensus, however is slowly gravitating toward the legal access to cannabis and the subsequent reduction in over the counter sleep medications.

New studies undertaken recently postulate that the market share growth for sleep aids is showcasing a steady decline as recreational cannabis dispensaries are coming to the fore. Cannabis sales are witnessing a juggernaut and competing in tandem with diphenhydramine and doxylamine, the critical components of conventional sleep aids that account for nearly 88% of the market share for sleep aids.

Consumer Sentiment Argues Favourably for Cannabis

The study highlighted on the importance of retail scanner data which clearly depicted how access to recreational marijuana affected the sales of OTC sleep medications. Heightened consumer preference for cannabis was revealed every time a new recreational dispensary for cannabis opened.  Sales of OTC sleep aids further declined with each passing month of the dispensary’s existence. The market share decline with entry of new dispensaries indicates that recreational purchasers of cannabis are using it for therapeutic purposes. The self-regulated intake of cannabis by consumers as a sleep aid purports, that legal access to it is associated with reductions in prescription medications such as sedatives and opioids. From a public health standpoint, the extensive utilization of cannabis for treatment of sleep disorders throws imminent light on its therapeutic potential. At the same time health specialists are raising concerns on its risk-benefits trade-off as it has traditionally been associated with substances of abuse.

Science of Sleep Simplified with Medical Cannabis

Prominent medical marijuana physicians opine that efficacy of marijuana to treat insomnia is high as it helps to restore a person’s natural sleep cycle. Furthermore, its analgesic properties are giving the much needed panacea to patients suffering from chronic pain, high stress and anxiety. The combination of two cannabinioids namely cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabidiol offer a number of health benefits that help to restore ‘out of sync’ sleep cycles. With legislation around cannabis use undergoing a paradigm shift, its usage as a sleep aid is becoming even more critical. The role that activists are playing in getting cannabis off the ground from a highly stigmatized drug to a multi-billion dollar industry is a comforting alternative to the previously draconian approach to drugs and drugs policy.

Bureaucracy to Put a Dampener to Cannabis Exports

The cannabis industry in several countries has been stymied for a while with large scale political interference putting restrictions on the export of the cannabis flower. Countries like Israel which face huge domestic demand deficits are importing medical cannabis to ease the significant shortage. With government elections becoming a political battleground, exports have got stuck in the quagmire with non-execution of approvals. This has also led to a gnawing frustration among cannabis farmers who are suffering from a harvest overflow with streets facing a deluge of unsellable herb. Despite export hurdles, research and development initiatives in Israel abound with the country being a pioneer and an industry leader in cannabis science and subsequently the market for sleep aids.

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