Eleven Percent of Government Workers in Washington D.C. have Purchased Cannabis

Americans love cannabis and government workers are no different. A new study by Consumer Research Around Cannabis revealed that 11 percent of government workers in Washington D.C. admitted they have legally purchased cannabis.

Researchers surveyed 1,368 people in the D.C. area which stretches from Marlyand to West Virginia and covers about five million residents. Eight percent of all respondents said they had legally purchased cannabis from a retail store or a dispensary. Eleven percent of government workers said they had purchased cannabis legally. In addition, government workers accounted for 16.7 percent of the total number of buyers. Forty-one percent of government workers said they support both medical and recreational cannabis.

The data indicates that the federal government’s current policy on medical and recreational cannabis doesn’t add up in comparison to the people who are actually working in Washington. “Those in charge are anti-marijuana, but that doesn’t represent what most people believe in the higher levels of these agencies,” NORML’s Keith Stroup told Forbes. “Most people at the Department of Justice are frankly embarrassed by Attorney General Sessions.”

The District of Columbia has been dubbed The District of Cannabis. Although voters legalized cannabis in Washington D.C. in 2014, prohibitionist lawmakers have been able to block commercial sales. But businesses have been able to work around the absence of storefronts—in the form of a “gift economy” which is when businesses covertly sell gifts overpriced gifts bundled with cannabis.

Out of the surveyed cannabis consumers, 27 identified politically as liberal, 25 percent identified as conservative, while Independents were much prevalent at 47 percent. Eighty-eight percent of cannabis consumers said they were employed, compared to 64.5 percent of the general population, destroying the stigma that cannabis consumers are lazy. The study provides several layers of insight into the Washington D.C. market.