Companies and Brands

Marijuana Consumers: Young, Well-Paid, College-Educated

Paul Ausick

Published: June 27, 2017 11:15 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 10:39 am

As more states approve laws permitting medicinal or recreational marijuana use, a California start-up that has been described as the “Uber for pot” decided to profile its customers to try to determine who they are and what their pot use behaviors are.

Eaze is a San Francisco-based marijuana delivery company that has partnered with seven California medical marijuana dispensaries to deliver customers’ orders. The marijuana is stocked and sold by the dispensary and Eaze picks up the order and delivers to a customer’s home.

So, who are these customers? To find out, Eaze emailed a survey to 50,000 of its customers. Some 10,000 completed the questionnaire.

One of the most interesting results of the survey is that cannabis consumers replace opiate and antidepressant drug consumption with cannabis use. For example, of the 33% of working professionals who have been prescribed antidepressants, 81% reduced their intake of the prescribed medication and 31% replaced their use of prescription antidepressants completely with cannabis.

Similarly, of the 51% of parents who have been prescribed opiates, 95% have reduced their opiate use by consuming cannabis, and 36% have completely replaced opiates with cannabis.

Here are some of the survey’s other highlights:

• 57% of Eaze customers are millennials (ages 22 to 34), 21% are Gen X, 15% are Gen Z (ages 18 to 21) and 7% are baby boomers.
• 66% are men, 32% are women and 2% are transgender/non-conforming.
• 51% have at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 39% of California’s general population.
• 91% are employed, with 19% in the tech industry, 9% in the food and beverage industry and 9% full-time students representing the largest fractions.
• 49% have household incomes of at least $75,000.
• 66% are single or never married while 27% are married or in a domestic partnership.
• 20% are parents.
• 58% use marijuana daily and spends an average of $1,704 annually on cannabis, more than the average consumer spends on alcohol, tobacco and personal care products combined.

In answer to questions related to alcohol consumption, the Eaze survey’s results reflect the results of a survey done earlier this year on the impact of legal marijuana on alcohol sales. Four in five cannabis users also consume alcohol, but 87% have reduced their alcohol consumption because of their cannabis consumption and 13% have eliminated alcohol consumption entirely.

More than half of working professionals (58%) consume cannabis daily and 31% consume cannabis while at work. The breakdown of that second number might surprise you: 19% of food and beverage workers consume marijuana while working, as do 17% of technology sector workers, 14% of arts/entertainment/recreation workers, 12% of retail workers and 9% of professional and business services employees.

The full Eaze report contains more details and data.