In a data-driven business environment, everyone is waiting on the latest statistical reports to show what directions consumer spending — an obvious clear indication of consumer attitudes — is heading. As a relatively new industry, the legalized marijuana sector still is working on how to best serve consumers and discern trends to sort out the hype from the reality.

That’s created a whole new side business in marijuana: data analytics.

A company that has stepped to the forefront in this area is New Frontier Data. The company has partnered with Baker Technologies, which provides customer relationship management and marketing automaton platforms to cannabis businesses, for access to an immense database of legal marijuana transactions.

In April, based on this data, the company released its annual “The Cannabis Industry Report: 2017 Legal Marijuana Outlook.” They uncovered some interesting trends.

Medical marijuana dominates the market.

Recreational marijuana — or adult-use marijuana — has been the focus of much of the recent media attention, partially because of its reflection of wholesale change in how millions of Americans view marijuana. Voter have now made recreational marijuana legal in eight states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia. [Read more at Entrepreneur]