All Cannabis Use is Not Medical: Motivations for consumption and consumer behavior

Having a medical cannabis card is not the best indicator of motivation for consumption. There are many consumers who live in adult use markets, do not have a medical cannabis card, yet use cannabis for therapeutic reasons like helping with sleep or treating pain. There are also consumers in medical-only markets who seek out a medical cannabis card to gain access to legal products, yet also use for non-medical reasons like a heightened enjoyment of art or music. This reality prompted New Frontier Data to ask consumers to self-identify their consumption as: only medical, primarily medical, primarily recreational or only recreational in our 2023 Consumer Survey.

Just over half of consumers (53%) identified their use as both medical and recreational. This supports the notion that, for many consumers, their motivation for use is variable in nature. One third of consumers (32%) say their use is only recreational, and 15% say they use cannabis for medical purposes only. Last year, our Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Amanda Reiman and colleagues published a study looking deeper into the concept of cannabis consumer identity.

Is self-identified user type connected to different consumer behavior patterns? To answer this question, we did an analysis of these consumer groups as they relate to demographics, consumption patterns and purchasing behaviors. We found that yes, motivation for consumption was tied to differences in consumer behavior. For example, 70% of those who say their use is medical only always source from the same store, compared to 51% of those who say they only use cannabis for recreational purposes. This highlights the need of medical consumers to find a consistent and reliable source of products that meet their needs.

You can read about these findings in our new research brief. Available here for FREE download.