The wellness market is transforming nearly every consumer industry. From nutrition and fitness to food, beverages, and personal care, today’s consumers seek products that do more than simply satisfy a want or craving. They want products that help them perform better, recover faster, sleep deeper, focus longer, and manage stress more effectively.
Brands are responding accordingly. Walk through any grocery store and you will find products marketed around specific functional benefits: probiotics for gut health, antioxidants for recovery, adaptogens for stress management, protein for performance, and beverages designed to support everything from energy to sleep. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global functional food ingredients market is projected to grow from $139 billion in 2026 to $237 billion by 2034, fueled by consumer demand for products that contribute to overall well-being.
The cannabis industry is experiencing a similar evolution. According to Brightfield Group research previously reported by mg Magazine, 64 percent of American cannabis consumers cite relaxation as their primary motivation for engaging with the plant, 49 percent use cannabis as a sleep aid, 43 percent seek pain relief, and 40 percent address anxiety with cannabinoids. A 2024 study published in the Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology also found functional and wellness-adjacent motives among Canadian cannabis consumers.
As wellness-minded consumers enter the category, they are reshaping everything from product development and retail experiences to consumer education and brand positioning. Increasingly, consumers are asking not simply, “How strong is it?” but rather, “What will it help me accomplish?”
Cannabis moves beyond potency
For years, cannabis products were largely categorized by potency, strain names, and recreational experiences. While those factors still matter, many of today’s consumers approach cannabis with a more intentional mindset. They seek specific outcomes and are incorporating cannabis into broader wellness routines.
Regardless of their health and wellness goals, consumers are beginning to view cannabis through the same lens they use to evaluate supplements, nutrition products, and fitness tools: Does it help me feel and function better? This shift is creating significant opportunities for brands that can clearly communicate benefits, educate consumers, and develop products designed around specific use cases.
Medical cannabis patients have understood this concept for years. For decades, they have recognized the plant’s ability to provide meaningful relief and improve quality of life. What is changing today is that adult-use consumers are beginning to recognize they, too, often seek functional outcomes — even if they do not always describe their search that way.
The person consuming cannabis after a stressful workday often seeks relaxation and mental decompression. Someone choosing an edible before bed is looking for better sleep. Others may be seeking support for recovery after exercise, improved focus during creative pursuits, or a more comfortable social experience.
In many cases, the desired outcome extends well beyond “feeling high.” Consumers increasingly evaluate cannabis based on how it fits into their daily lives and whether it helps them function at a higher level.
Adult-use retailers and brands must bear this in mind as they design their marketing and educational materials. To meet the moment, they may want to shift from promoting strictly recreational use to “recreational with a functional twist” to capture consumers who expect products to perform more than one role at a time.
Performance-minded consumers are turning to cannabis
This trend resonates with me on a personal level because health, wellness, and performance have shaped my life for as long as I can remember.
I started martial arts as a kid and became serious about training as a teenager. That commitment eventually led me to become a professional mixed martial artist, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and a coach. Throughout those experiences, I developed a deep appreciation for the habits that build long-term performance and the choices that undermine it.
Even during my college years, while many of my peers were focused on activities that left them feeling depleted the next day, I focused on training, recovery, and maintaining the physical and mental capacity to perform. Success in athletics taught me every decision has a cumulative effect on your health, performance, and longevity.
As I have gotten older, my perspective on wellness has evolved. Today, my perspective is not about simply performing at a high level in a competition. It is about preserving the ability to do the things I love for decades to come. I want to continue training, coaching, building businesses, raising my family, and stepping onto the mat with athletes half my age.
To me, wellness is not about perfection. It is about maintaining the physical and mental capacity to fully participate in life. That is one of the reasons I believe cannabis is being embraced by wellness-oriented consumers. During my years of training and competing, I discovered cannabis as a tool that could support recovery, relaxation, and mental decompression. It was not a replacement for healthy habits, but it could complement them when used intentionally.
Implications for cannabis brands
Consumers today are approaching cannabis in much the same way. They are not necessarily looking for products that help them disconnect from life. They are looking for products that help them engage with life more effectively and want cannabis products that support their broader wellness goals. For cannabis brands, this shift has important implications.
First, product development must become more outcome-focused. Consumers are looking for products designed around specific experiences and benefits rather than simply cannabinoid percentages or potency levels. This creates opportunities for more sophisticated formulations, precision dosing, and targeted product innovation.
Second, education will become an even greater differentiator. As consumers seek functional benefits, they want guidance. Brands that can help consumers understand how different cannabinoids, terpenes, and product formats can support different goals will be better positioned to build trust and loyalty.
Finally, brand positioning matters. The next generation of cannabis consumers is looking for authenticity and credibility. They want brands that understand wellness, recovery, performance and quality of life, not brands that rely solely on legacy cannabis marketing approaches.
This shift from purely recreational to functional also is influencing retail experiences. Increasingly, consumers shop based on desired outcomes rather than product categories; consequently, more stores are organizing product selections by effect instead of type. Questions about sleep, relaxation, focus, recovery, and creativity are becoming central to the purchasing journey. Retailers that organize products and resources around those goals will be better positioned to meet evolving consumer expectations.
As wellness continues to influence purchasing decisions across industries, cannabis has an opportunity to establish itself as a functional category for consumers who want products that may support recovery, relaxation, sleep, and overall quality of life. For an industry still in the early stages of its evolution, that may represent one of the most significant growth opportunities ahead.
Oz Pariser is founder and chief executive officer at Kite, a Connecticut cannabis product manufacturer. A Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and former professional mixed martial artist known as “The Wizard,” his experiences in training, recovery, and human performance helped shape Kite’s mission and product-development philosophy, which emphasize intentional formulations and consumer experiences. He remains actively involved in martial arts, coaching, fitness, and personal development. Pariser earned a bachelor’s degree in health science and a Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of Hartford (Connecticut).
