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1. 10/16/21, 4:10 PM The Top 10 Reasons People Smoke Weed According to a Few New Studies
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WHY DO PEOPLE SMOKE WEED
The Top 10 Reasons People Smoke Weed
According to a Few New Studies
Why do people smoke marijuana? A new study looks to answer that question
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2. 10/16/21, 4:10 PM The Top 10 Reasons People Smoke Weed According to a Few New Studies
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Posted by:
Reginald Reefer, today at 12:00am
Top Reasons to Smoke Cannabis According to a Few New
Studies
Why do you consume cannabis?
This question can be answered in many different ways depending on whom you ask. Someone with a medical condition
could be using cannabis to tolerate the aches and pains of their illness. A recreational user might be using it to “blow off
some steam” at the end of the week – i.e stress management.
Others might be using it for religious or spiritual purposes.
The reason ‘why’ we do anything is something we should all be consciously aware of. If you don’t understand why you
are doing a particular activity or believing in a particular “truth” – then you’re running blindly in this ever changing world.

3. 10/16/21, 4:10 PM The Top 10 Reasons People Smoke Weed According to a Few New Studies
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/the-top-10-reasons-people-smoke-weed-according-to-a-few-new-studies 4/15
We all have our assumptions.
Within the psychological community – understanding the “why” can inform researchers on the motivations of users –
which could help them in various ways I suppose. Perhaps they need this data for intervention programs, or to
understand the social context of cannabis. Nonetheless, it’s been a question that has been plaguing researchers for a
while now.
Psychology Today recently published (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-new-home/202110/top-
reasons-why-people-smoke-marijuana) a blog that dealt with this very issue. They took data from four different studies
attempting to solve this riddle and published some of the findings. In this article, we’ll be taking a closer look at the
studies as well as the conclusions made by the researchers.

4. 10/16/21, 4:10 PM The Top 10 Reasons People Smoke Weed According to a Few New Studies
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This will allow us to reflect on the data and compare our own motivations for consuming cannabis. While you may not
agree with what will be discussed – bare in mind that these papers are typically based on secondary research. In other
words, they rely on surveys and data collected from other sources which they use to build a “picture” of the average
consumer.
College Freshman Motivations
Age does play a significant role for motivation. College freshmen will make drastic different decisions based on their
social environment compared to a 38-year-old professional. And this 38-year-old will make completely different
conclusions than his 65-year-old boss.
The first study looked at possible motivators for “entering college students
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2723942/)” and found that,
“The most frequently reported reasons included enjoyment/fun, conformity, experimentation, social enhancement,
boredom, and relaxation. Regression analyses revealed that experimentation was consistently associated with less use and
fewer problems whereas enjoyment, habit, activity enhancement, and altered perception or perspectives were associated with
heavier use and more problems.”(Emphasis Added)
Of course, when we’re looking at the paragraph above we see that there are six main categories which casts a wide net.
Many college entering youth have already experimented with cannabis. These would be people who enjoy consuming
cannabis simply for the act of “feeling high”. We could probably clump them together with the “problematic use group”.
This is because the test was designed by addiction “specialists” – and they associated elements such as socioeconomic
status with these groups. This creates a subtle suggestion that those who enjoy smoking weed or who does it to “alter
their perception” are typically people who are “worse off” than those who are simply experimenting.
In my experience, when people are experiencing “tough time” they do tend to use cannabis at a higher rate to cope with
the increase in stress. Some might argue that this creates a dependence on cannabis – yet, when people’s life turns
around, their behavior changes as well. Yet a snapshot from a survey would never be able to capture the depth and
subtle nuances of life.

5. 10/16/21, 4:10 PM The Top 10 Reasons People Smoke Weed According to a Few New Studies
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Social Acceptance was another high ranking category in this age group and it makes sense. When you’re finally “out of
the nest”, you need a conduit to engage with other people. If people are smoking weed – you may feel slightly more
inclined to try it to “fit in”.
Of course, this is one of the dumbest reasons to consume cannabis – but I’m sure many people also use it to deal with
social anxiety. After all, they are now “out on their own” or at the very best, “away from their parents” and have to make
“adult decisions”. This can all be very scary – and weed can definitely be a means of working through this.
Typically, people wane off heavier consumption after college – when real life happens.
Adults who smoke weed for a long time
Another study (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1606635021000041807) looked at older demographics
trying to understand their motivations for consuming cannabis. Not surprisingly, there is a far more nuanced list of
reasons than the college aged demographic.
“Top reasons for use pertain to relaxation and enhancement of recreational activities followed by coping with stress and
anxiety. The frequency of respiratory and throat problems attributed to using cannabis underscores the perceived risk of
pulmonary damage due to long-term heavy use. Whereas concerns about use levels nonetheless overshadowed other
dependency indicators, including concern for personal health, however, no association was found between amounts nor
frequency of use and the number of DSM-IV items reported by respondents. Users acknowledged and accepted the
potential for dependence, adapting use levels accordingly when seen as problematic.” (emphasis added)
Here’s a quick view on the other reasons not listed in the paragraph above;
Relaxation (number one)
Feeling good
Medical uses
Inspiration

6. 10/16/21, 4:10 PM The Top 10 Reasons People Smoke Weed According to a Few New Studies
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New ways of looking at things
Coping with depression and anxiety
Forgetting one’s worries
Enjoyment of movies or music
Better sleep (https://cannabis.net/blog/medical/cbd-or-thc-for-better-sleep)
Coping with boredom
As you can see, the list is quite varied and as we have established in our opening paragraphs – depending on who you
ask, you’ll get a different response.
This is because cannabis is a very adaptive substance. Since it helps stimulate the endocannabinoid system – the system
that is responsible for maintaining the body in homeostasis – it can virtually help with any of the categories listed above.
However, considering that the three most prevalent of these are; relaxation, enhancement of activities, and stress
management – we can see two things;
1. Cannabis is being used as a means for people to unwind
2. This action of unwinding helps them alleviate stress.
It’s pretty much the same as having a glass of wine at the end of a long day at work. There is nothing pathological about
this. Even the researchers admitted that, “users are for the most part very self aware of their consumption habits, and
alters their behavior when THEY see it as problematic.”
This is because consumption is a subjective practice. Perhaps you can wake up and take a few tokes of weed to get you
inspired, while another must wait till the end of the day to unwind.

7. 10/16/21, 4:10 PM The Top 10 Reasons People Smoke Weed According to a Few New Studies
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The bottom line is that if you know yourself – you’ll always adjust accordingly to optimize yourself for maximum
enjoyment/efficiency at life.
For researchers – the “why” is still illusive because they look at cannabis use as a pathological activity. This is why it’s
compared to the DSM-V all the time, because they think you’re “abusing drugs” when in reality you’re letting go and
simply engaging with life.
Framing matters!
So I’m curious – why do YOU consume Cannabis?
Let me know in the comments!
MORE ON CANNABIS STUDIES...

8. 10/16/21, 4:10 PM The Top 10 Reasons People Smoke Weed According to a Few New Studies
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The Importance Of Tapering Off Opioids And Medications Safely Before You Start Cannabis
As with any medication, when you stop these three types of medications, you’ll notice your side effects will also subside. We can’t emphasize enough how
important it is to keep an open dialogue with your doctor if you intend to quit these medications and substitute it with cannabis instead. But you’ll be doing
yourself a favor once you do.