Results from a recent flash poll suggest the majority of regular US cannabis users are sourcing products from licensed dispensaries all of the time. But there’s more to it.
NuggMD.com conducted a poll with an online questionnaire sent to a list of opt-in respondents, all of whom use cannabis regularly. The poll was conducted from July 25 to July 30 2024 and elicited 473 responses.
Poll participants were asked how much of the cannabis they acquired comes from licensed, regulated dispensaries versus “the numerous alternatives”.
The results:
- All of it: 65%
- Most of it: 12%
- Around half of it: 7%
- Less than half of it: 4%
- None of it: 6%
- Unaware of licensing status: 4%
Around half of the respondents reported using cannabis mostly or exclusively for medical reasons and a majority reported daily cannabis consumption. But the company notes what constitutes medical versus recreational use is down to the user’s perceptions.
NuggMD.com operates a telehealth platform that connects US patients with online physicians authorised to issue recommendations for patients to register for medical cannabis access in their state.
“It is therefore advisable to assume our polling is over-indexed on medical users and frequent users,” commented the company. “The perceptions and behaviors of our sample is likely to be a leading indicator of how the consumer market will trend.”
Another NuggMD poll we covered recently was in relation to the main motivation for using cannabis, which was found to be primarily for medical reasons – with pain, anxiety and stress relief being the leading factors.
Medical cannabis is legal in 38 of 50 US states, several territories and the District of Columbia, and 24 states permit marijuana for recreational use. Citing NSDUH figures, NuggMD pegs the number of cannabis consumers nationally at 35,791,267. NSDUH figures available here indicate in 2022, 42,317,000 people had used marijuana in the last month – up substantially on 36,950,000 in 2022. Both figures are among people aged 12 or over.
While so many states have programs, illicit sales still thrive – and not just through deals in alleyways, but unlicensed shops that have popped up around the country. In some states, it’s been a case of whack-a-mole with such establishments.
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