One of the prevailing myths about people who use cannabis that just doesn’t seem to go away is the myth of the unemployed and unmotivated stoner. Well, maybe we can swap that inaccurate stereotype for another one: the successful stoner.
According to a new study, people who use cannabis tend to be happier and more successful than their non-consuming counterparts. Surprising, right? No, not really. I know that I’m happier than my non-stoner friends, so that part seems pretty obvious. I’ve always known that the stereotype of the unsuccessful stoner was a myth, but to find out that the opposite is true, is a pretty sweet vindication. Take that high school vice principal who said I would never amount to anything!
The study was conducted by BDS Analytics, a firm specializing in market research, which recently began a partnership with the cannabis industry. Participants consisted of 1,000 residents from Colorado and California who were either users of cannabis, or people who did not use use cannabis, called “acceptors” and “rejectors”. They were asked various questions about life satisfaction, mental health, employment, etc. Results showed that 20% of the cannabis users in California were people who had Master’s degrees, compared with 12% of rejectors. Annual household income was also higher among acceptors (93,800) than rejectors (70,000). In Colorado, 64% of acceptors had full time jobs, compared to 54% in the rejector group. As fas as life satisfaction, five out of ten acceptors reported that they were more satisfied with life than they were a year ago, compared with only four out of ten in the rejector group.
Huh, there’s so many stereotypes that are debunked by these study results: the unmotivated stoner, the unemployed stoner, and the irresponsible stoner. The successful stoner sounds a lot better to me. Maybe some people can stop bugging us about how much we smoke. In fact, I should probably start smoking more. Brb.
Source: The Independent
Image Source: New York Post
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