So I wander through the comments on Who Are You II over at the NORML Blog, a post I wrote as a follow-up to Who Are You because of a suggestion in the comments, I find this suggestion, once again, from Christopher:
I actually see a problem with these charts. If I’m reading them correctly, they take into account the employment status of an individual who has only smoked at least once. In my opinion, that makes these numbers a little flimsy.
It would be much more accurate and believable if statistics showed the employment/education numbers for people that smoke a certain amount or over in a given year. You guys did a great job in answering my question, but now that I look at it better i’m seeing a big fault in the numbers. This is not a solid demographic I can show anti-legalization people.
The data are available for anyone to play with over at SAMHDA, but I’ll go ahead and tackle this one, because Christopher is my muse. I resisted creating the charts for employment based on frequency of use because, as one might expect, unemployment rates go up as the frequency of marijuana use goes up. I’m doubtful of those numbers because of the effect that workplace drug testing would play on creating them, i.e., the more you toke, the more likely a random UA will catch you and make you unemployed, and the more you toke, the more likely you’re not applying for jobs that require drug tests and therefore you remain unemployed longer.
However, I’m glad Christopher did ask for these figures, because if you look at the other side — how many tokers are employed — the numbers look fairly good for pot smokers. Here are the figures for US Adult American Employment based on Frequency of Marijuana Use:
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- 67% of non-pot smokers are employed full-time or part-time
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- 78% of folks who smoke pot rarely are employed
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- 81% of occasional tokers are employed
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- 80% of regular pot smokers are employed
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- 71% of frequent tokers are employed
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- 76% of chronic marijuana users are employed
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- Employment status of marijuana smokers by usage rates
As you can see, in every category, a pot smoker is more likely to be employed than one who doesn’t smoke. And it’s not just part-time jobs; the proportion of marijuana users working full-time jobs exceeds non-smokers in every usage category. They are also more likely to be unemployed, especially among the chronic tokers.
I also considered the category “Other / Not in Labor Force”. That might be the disabled and the elderly that may be more likely to be non-smokers and therefore push down the employment rates compared to the tokers. So I compared the numbers without including the “Other” category.
Depending on usage rates, 18 to 19 out of 20 employable annual marijuana users are employed
So it does appear, by that standard, that the more you smoke marijuana, the more likely you are to be unemployed… but not by much. Depending on usage 88%-94% of pot smokers are employed, compared to 96% of those who didn’t use this year.
still looking for info on MM? come to the Springs. We have plenty of options in this Chrisian right, hippy, dogg loving town.
I live in Canon City Colorado. That’s right, prison capitol of the world with 14 incarceration facilities in one county. Since the legalization of medical marijuana, our city council has been bombarded with fictional statistics compiled by a group calling themselves something like the christian organization of drug facts. I am compiling data to mount a spirited defense, and would greatly appreciate assistance in this regard. Both my elderly parents benefit from medical use of marijuana, and I want to insure that they are able to continue to benefit. As can be expected, researching reliable information can be very time consuming, and between school and tending for my parents I have very little time to sift through the seemingly endless stats. Please send any information, especially from reliable unbiased research that I may attack the lies of the aforementioned misguided organization.
Thank You
Duncan Northrop
It would be kinda hard to get fired at my job. I farm for sustinence now (eat what I raise) and puff as I do my chores, but I retired from a Government job in ’95. It was difficult to keep tokin’ and outta trouble for that many years. I guess good work ethic can help to keep one above suspicion.
When your paying over $100 for Mid-Grade, you gotta have a full time job. Even a pot head can tell you that.