As a growing number of states across the U.S. have worked to pass medical and adult-use cannabis reform, each state has taken its own unique approach to building a regulated market of legal cannabis.
While there are a number of common trends across the board when it comes to establishing a regulatory framework for legal cannabis, the legality of home cultivation and extent to which it is allowed among patients and recreational cannabis users tends to vary depending on the state.
A recent survey showed that Americans overwhelmingly support legal access to medical or recreational cannabis in the U.S., but Royal Queen Seeds (RQS) decided to take a closer look at Americans’ attitudes surrounding home cultivation.
Similarly, the results showed that Americans overall support the right to grow cannabis at home.
The Harris Poll conducted the survey on behalf of RQS, surveying more than 2,000 adults—including 713 cannabis consumers—over the age of 21 in a nationally representative study.
The study found that 59% of Americans support the right to legally grow cannabis at home, with 81% of cannabis consumers saying the same. Additionally, 62% of cannabis consumers said that they would rather grow their own cannabis than buy it. On that end, 34% of consumers who grow at home said they do so because they feel safer consuming their own home-grown flower over cannabis purchased from a store.
As states continue to embrace reform, legislators have found that these specific provisions can be essential in establishing an efficient, robust cannabis industry. In that vein, researchers suggest that legal home cultivation is another key element to successful cannabis reform measures.
Established in 2007, Amsterdam’s RQS is one of the world’s largest cannabis seed banks, so it makes sense that the global cannabis leader is invested in cannabis reform in the West and American attitudes surrounding home cultivation.
Pointing out that 40% of American households already cultivate their own food, it’s perhaps unsurprising that they also support home cannabis cultivation. RQS also took a closer look at the reasons why cannabis consumers enjoy home cultivation.
According to the survey, many Americans embrace home cultivation because it gives them a sense of confidence (49%), joy (48%), pride (46%), ease (34%) and connectedness with the Earth, while many (47%) simply enjoy growing weed at home because it’s fun.
Home cultivation can be an enriching hobby, akin to the broader realm of gardening, but consumers also reported highly practical reasons for growing cannabis at home.
Some (43%) said that growing cannabis at home is ultimately more cost-effective than purchasing products from a store, and others (39%) asserted that their home-grown flower was better quality compared to what you’d find at a local dispensary.
Finally, RQS looked a bit more generally about the attitudes of cannabis consumers surrounding home cultivation.
Just over a fourth (26%) of cannabis consumers have grown at home, while 21% said they have not but would like to try. A majority (56%) of cannabis consumers also reported that they will sing to or play music for their cannabis plants.
Most (61%) home growers in the survey plan to grow cannabis in the spring months between March and May, while the summer months of June through August were the second most common time for growing (49%) followed by winter (December through February, 29%) and fall (September through November, 24%).
Finally, 61% of cannabis consumers who plan to grow this year will use seeds, while 21% plan to use clones or seedlings. Growing indoors is also more common among those surveyed (44%), though outdoor growing was not a rarity, either (33%).
In a news release detailing the survey results, RQS President Shai Ramsahai stressed that all adults should be allowed to grow their own cannabis, in the same way they can grow their own fruits and vegetables, “without the fear of financial or criminal penalties.”
“There are many reasons people enjoy growing at home, from cost savings and knowing how their plants were grown, to just plain old having fun,” Ramsahai said. “Royal Queen Seeds is here to champion them through their journey, whatever their reason, with more than 100 seed strains, including F1 hybrids, and one of the largest catalogs of best practices for home cultivation.”
Currently, RQS operates online in the U.S., Thailand and another 28 countries across Europe with headquarters in Barcelona and brick and mortar locations in Amsterdam, Barcelona and Bangkok.
