Researchers from the Glass House Group have shared some fascinating insights into substance use habits over the recent holiday season. According to the results of a survey published at the end of December, 64.2 percent of respondents intended on replacing alcoholic beverages with cannabis during the festive period.

Just a small percentage – 16.5 percent – of respondents said that they would not be substituting cannabis for alcohol over the holiday season. Furthermore, 19.3 percent said that they were “unsure”.

Co-founder, chairman and CEO of Glass House, Kyle Kazan, described the poll results as a “paradigm shift”. He touted the green plant as a “mainstream choice for consumers.”

“With health and wellness top of mind during the ongoing pandemic, it’s also not shocking that more consumers plan to replace alcohol consumption with cannabis this year,” Kazan said in a press release.

Majority of poll respondents wanted to give cannabis as holiday gifts

More than half of survey respondents (52.6 percent) told researchers that they were going to bestow a cannabis-related gift upon their friends or family during the holiday season. Just over 70 percent of those polled said that they were intent on spending their money on cannabis-related gifts over the last holiday season, with 65.2 percent planning on gifting relatives with cannabis-inspired products and 40.8 percent to a significant other.

In regards to the most popular type of cannabis-related product that buyers planned on presenting to their loved ones, flower was highly favored (65.8 percent). Edibles (61.3 percent) came in next, followed by pre-rolls (54.7 percent), CBD products (32.4 percent), concentrates (20.1 percent) and tinctures (15 percent).

Not only was flower the top choice as a gift but also, it proved to be the most popular choice when respondents were asked what gift they would be most happy to receive — 69.3 percent wanted to see flower-related gifts under their Christmas tree last year. Edibles trailed slowly behind at 56.4 percent, followed by pre-rolls (51.3 percent), vapes (33.2 percent) and CBD products (25.4 percent.)

Stress relief was the main reason for using cannabis during the holiday season

Another interesting takeaway from this Glass House Group poll was that 53.4 percent of respondents planned on using cannabis to relieve the symptoms of stress over the holiday season. Studies like this one have demonstrated the plant’s ability to fight stress and lift the mood.

Conversely, 45.6 percent of respondents said that they would use cannabis to celebrate the festivities. An additional 50.3 percent said that they would consume cannabis to relieve pain, while 43.3 percent of respondents wanted to benefit from the plant’s creativity-boosting qualities. 

Furthermore, 64 percent of polled people said they wanted the plant to assist them in getting a good night’s rest before St. Nicholas slid down their chimneys; 63.7 percent wanted to use cannabis over the holiday season for general wellness; 57.2 percent were interested in the recreational benefits of weed.

A total of 637 respondents shared their views for this survey on cannabis consumption during the holidays. Of those people, 95.1 percent were regular consumers of the plant and 96.7 percent said they planned to use the plant (in some form) over the festive period.