How CBD, THC, and Combined Users Buy Cannabis: 2026 Study

A new study published in Drug and Alcohol Review applies behavioral economics — the same toolkit used to study alcohol and tobacco demand — to one of the cannabis market's most under-examined questions: how do CBD-only, THC-only, and dual-cannabinoid consumers actually buy and use cannabis? The findings help explain why retail pricing strategies, harm-reduction policy, and product mix decisions all hit these three groups in very different ways.

The research, led by Gabriela González-Roz of the Addictive Behaviors Research Group at the University of Oviedo, treats cannabis demand as a quantifiable behavior that responds to price the same way other consumer goods do — but with patterns that vary sharply depending on whether someone is using over-the-counter CBD, THC alone, or a combination. For dispensary operators and policymakers, those differences matter.

What "Behavioral Economic Demand" Actually Measures

Behavioral economics asks a simple question with a precise method: how much of a substance will a person consume at $0, and how quickly does consumption fall as the price climbs? The answer produces a demand curve with five established metrics: intensity (use at zero price), Omax (peak expenditure), Pmax (price at peak expenditure), breakpoint (price at which use stops), and elasticity (how sensitive use is to price changes).

The methodology has been applied to alcohol and nicotine for years. Applying it to cannabis matters now because the market has fragmented. CBD products sit on gas-station shelves alongside THC seltzers, hemp-derived intoxicants, and state-legal flower at vastly different price points. Understanding which consumers are price-sensitive — and at what dose form — is no longer an academic exercise.

The González-Roz study examined demand patterns across three consumer groups: people who use only over-the-counter CBD products, people who use only THC, and people who consume both. The study was received in May 2025, accepted in October 2025, and published in the January 2026 issue of Drug and Alcohol Review, making it one of the most current cannabis behavioral-economics datasets available to the industry.

Why CBD-Only Users Behave Differently

CBD-only consumers tend to demonstrate different demand characteristics than THC users — a pattern consistent with prior consumer research showing that CBD purchasers more often skew toward wellness motivations, structured dosing, and clinically framed use cases. They are typically buying for a specific outcome (sleep, anxiety, joint pain) rather than for the recreational arc of an evening or a social occasion.

That pattern has practical implications for retailers. CBD-only customers are more likely to respond to product education, dose precision, and condition-specific marketing than to discounts. Pricing this segment aggressively often does less to lift volume than improving the perceived medical or wellness credibility of the brand.

It also matters for harm-reduction policy. CBD users are typically not the population at greatest risk of cannabis use disorder, and lumping them with THC consumers in regulatory frameworks tends to produce messaging that misses both groups.

How THC-Only Users Respond to Price

THC-only consumers — the more traditional adult-use customer — tend to show the demand patterns most familiar from alcohol research: relatively inelastic at low-to-moderate prices, with a sharp falloff once the cost crosses an individual breakpoint. That's why $1 pre-roll promotions and 4/20 deep discounts produce reliable spikes in basket size.

It also explains why a flower price collapse — like the one driving the 2026 U.S. wholesale market — leads many heavy THC consumers to substitute up in volume rather than to save money. When the price drops, consumption rises faster than spend per unit falls. In behavioral economics terms, demand is "inelastic" in the relevant range. That has been observable in state-level retail data for years, and the new study formalizes the consumer-behavior side of it.

For tax policymakers, the takeaway is consistent with the alcohol literature: high excise taxes on adult-use cannabis can compress consumption, but only past a certain breakpoint. Below that, users absorb the tax. Above it, the illicit market becomes the relief valve.

Dual CBD+THC Users: The Most Complex Segment

The most interesting findings tend to come from consumers using both cannabinoids. CBD+THC users are typically more sophisticated about cannabinoid ratios, more willing to pay premium prices for specific product profiles, and more responsive to claims about "entourage effect" formulations. They also tend to be older, more likely to identify as medical or wellness consumers, and more likely to use multiple form factors (flower, edibles, tinctures) in rotation.

For dispensary buyers, that's a high-LTV segment, but it's also one that is hardest to retain through price competition alone. These shoppers are buying experience and outcome — not THC milligrams per dollar. Brands that price by potency lose them to brands that price by formulation.

The behavioral-economics framework also helps explain why the dual-use segment has been the fastest-growing slice of the legal market in recent years. As consumers learn that CBD modulates THC's effects (a mechanism documented by separate 2026 research from Wageningen University and the University of Colorado Boulder), they are more likely to combine the two intentionally.

What Operators Can Do With This Data

Three practical implications stand out for dispensary operators, brands, and policymakers reading the new behavioral-economics findings:

First, segment your menu by cannabinoid profile, not just by price-per-gram. The single biggest lever for margin in 2026 is matching product education to consumer demand type, not racing to the bottom on flower prices. CBD-only and dual-use shoppers buy differently; treating them as one consumer leaves money on the table.

Second, price elasticity differs across form factors. Edibles tend to be more elastic than flower among casual users; concentrates skew toward inelastic demand from heavier THC users. Promotional planning should reflect those curves rather than apply uniform discounting across the menu.

Third, regulatory submissions and harm-reduction messaging should stop treating "cannabis users" as a monolith. The behavioral-economics evidence increasingly shows that risk profile, price sensitivity, and policy responsiveness vary dramatically by cannabinoid pattern. Public-health messaging that lumps wellness-oriented CBD shoppers with high-tolerance THC consumers reduces credibility for both audiences.

What This Adds to the 2026 Cannabis Research Cycle

The González-Roz study lands in the middle of a notably busy year for cannabis research. The same publication cycle has produced new findings on CBD increasing THC blood levels when vaped, CBD's protective effect on memory under THC influence, CBG's anti-anxiety profile, and the Lancet Psychiatry meta-analysis on cannabinoids for mental health and substance use disorders.

What sets the behavioral-economics work apart is that it asks a different kind of question. Instead of "what does this molecule do biologically," it asks "how do real consumers behave when buying this molecule." For an industry that increasingly competes on data — and a regulatory environment that's leaning on that data to set tax, age-gating, and marketing rules — that question is overdue.

Key Takeaways

• A January 2026 study in Drug and Alcohol Review applies behavioral economics to cannabis demand across CBD-only, THC-only, and CBD+THC consumer groups.
• CBD-only users tend to behave like wellness consumers; price discounts move them less than education and condition-specific framing.
• THC-only consumers show inelastic demand at low-to-moderate prices, validating retail-data observations on price-driven volume substitution.
• CBD+THC users are the highest-LTV segment and the most sophisticated about formulation, ratios, and entourage-effect claims.
• For operators, the takeaway is to price and market by cannabinoid pattern, not just by potency or price-per-gram.

For consumers trying to figure out where they fall in the demand curves, two reads sit naturally next to this study: how to actually read a cannabis terpene label so you know what you're paying for, and the recent research showing CBD changes how THC behaves in your bloodstream — a mechanistic reason CBD+THC users behave differently than the THC-only group at the register.

Curious which segment you actually fall into? The fastest gut-check is to walk a real menu: find a dispensary near you, browse the CBD-only, THC-only, and ratio-blend shelves side by side, and notice which framing — price, condition, or formulation — pulls you in first.