Looks like it’s time to upgrade our ideas about who uses cannabis, and what matters to them. Results of a study released last month show they’re not the burned out, aimless slackers of stereotypical lore, reports Javier Hasse for Forbes.
In fact, they’re successful and driven. Heck, they even care about their health.
The new stats come from cannabis e-retailer dutchie, which surveyed 5,000 adult cannabis users in the U.S. and Canada.
Writes Hasse: “The data revealed that, contrary to the outdated ‘Dazed and Confused’ depiction, today’s cannabis consumers are successful, motivated and health-conscious people.”
Case in point: Snoop Dogg. The rapper turned businessman is one of cannabis’s most outspoken and celebrated advocates. (He’s also one of dutchie’s investors.)
“I smoke cannabis, advocate for it on a personal level, but I'm also an investor and entrepreneur,” he said of the results of dutchie’s study. “The opportunity in cannabis is clear, and this data highlights that consumers are highly educated, with more buying power than these stereotypes would have you believe.”
“I smoke cannabis, advocate for it on a personal level, but I'm also an investor and entrepreneur. The opportunity in cannabis is clear, and this data highlights that consumers are highly educated, with more buying power than these stereotypes would have you believe.”
— Snoop Dogg
Quick stats from the study:
- 54% have a college degree
- 54% are employed full time, versus 34% of those who’ve never used cannabis
- Cannabis users include doctors, lawyers, mothers, teachers, creatives, and Olympic athletes
- They’re mostly women
- 58% said they’re physically active and enjoying hiking and sports
- 57% identified as health-conscious, considering cannabis an alternative to cigarettes and alcohol, with potential health benefits
- They prefer to purchase weed legally, with transparent sourcing
From Snoop’s “Potluck” pal Martha Stewart to unofficial American royalty Beyoncé and Jay-Z, perhaps it should be no surprise that today’s cannabis consumers are ambitious, well — and often wealthy.
And according to the results of the study, these ambitious, healthy cannabis users aren’t necessarily “occasional users.”
- 31 - 39% are daily users (varying with age and gender)
- roughly 20% consume it several times a week
- 8 - 17% use weekly
- 20 - 30% consume it monthly or a few times a year
A growing list of public figures advocating for cannabis, and in many cases getting into the business, appears to support the claim that cannabis users can be — and often are —successful, driven people. From Snoop’s “Potluck” pal Martha Stewart, who sells CBD for humans and their pets, to unofficial American royalty Beyoncé and Jay-Z, she growing her own hemp and he at the helm of the cannabis retailer Monogram. Perhaps it should be no surprise that today’s cannabis consumers are ambitious, well — and often wealthy.
“It’s time to set the record straight once and for all,” the co-founder and CEO of dutchie, Ross Lipson, told Hasse. “Negative stigmas around cannabis — not to mention overcriminalization — must be a thing of the past. … People use cannabis to relax and as a crucial element of a health and wellness routine, and we should encourage people to share the benefits cannabis brings for them.”
“Overall, the survey suggests that cannabis users are a diverse group of intelligent and hardworking contributing community members,” Hasse writes. “The data paints a fuller picture of the modern consumer — one that should help normalize cannabis use in the mainstream as legalization spreads worldwide.”
To quote another successful cannabis user: “The times, they are a changin’.”
