By Gene Balk/Seattle Times columnist
It’s probably not a good idea — and it can’t be great for productivity — but that’s not stopping a lot of Washingtonians from doing it.
I’m talking about getting stoned at work.
One in four marijuana users who are employed admit to doing this within the past year, according to a new survey of cannabis consumers in Washington, Oregon and Colorado, three states where recreational weed is legal.
One in four also said they’ve gotten high before work — I’m guessing it’s the same one in four, but the survey doesn’t specify.
The marketing communications firm Quinn Thomas, which has offices in Seattle and Portland, funded the survey, which was conducted by polling-and-opinion outfit DHM Research. A representative sample of 900 cannabis consumers were interviewed — 300 in each of the three states — from Jan. 8 to 14. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent.
“There is a lot of information out there about the cannabis industry and its regulatory structure, but not much is known about consumers,” said Zach Knowling, vice president at Quinn Thomas, in an email. “We felt our experience researching and reaching unique audiences could build greater understanding of who they are.”
Washington and Colorado both legalized recreational use of marijuana through voter initiatives in 2012, becoming the first states to do so. Oregon followed in 2014.
The survey shows that after legalization, many cannabis consumers increased their usage. In Washington 44 percent of respondents said they are now regular consumers of pot (daily or a few times per week), compared with 36 percent who said they consumed that much prelegalization.
With legalization, it seems that marijuana has entered into the mainstream. Indeed, the survey data show that recreational-cannabis consumers look pretty much like the average American. They are a close match to the U.S. average for household income and educational attainment. In the three states that were surveyed, pot users match the general population breakdowns in terms of race and ethnicity, age, political-party affiliation and other demographic factors.
There is one significant exception: Gender. Cannabis consumers skew male by about 60 percent, according to the survey.
H/T: Seattle Times