Science Confirms What Common Sense Already Knew – The Controlled Substances Act Is A Fraud
But sarcasm aside, this matters. Because now we have scientific confirmation—published in a peer-reviewed journal—of what rational people have been screaming into the void for 54 years: the Controlled Substances Act is not based on science. It’s based on politics, racism, corporate protection, and authoritarian control.
Aurora Secures EU Community Plant Variety Rights for Two Cannabis Varieties
EDMONTON, Alberta — The European Union’s Community Plant Variety Office granted community plant variety rights for two proprietary cannabis varieties to Aurora Cannabis Inc.
Similar to plant patents in the United States, Community Plant Variety Rights give organizations and individuals exclusive control over the commercial production and sale of unique varieties throughout the EU’s 27 member states for the duration of the protection period.
Aurora’s new plant variety rights are for Cannabis sativa L cultivars named SOT20R07-007 (known as Farm Gas™) and ACB21T044 (known as Sourdough™). Both cultivars are recognized for high potency, pleasant aromas, and bud structure, according to the company, and both are core products available to medical patients in Germany, Poland, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
The company believes protection of these varieties enhances its competitive position in Europe, a fast-moving and highly valuable region.
France’s First Prescriptions ‘Unlikely This Year’ Despite ‘Complete’ Framework
Last week, France’s now five-year old medical cannabis pilot programme was extended once again, providing a bridge beyond March 2026 for patients to continue secure access to their medication.
While designed as a stopgap until the country’s long-awaited generalised framework is implemented, it could be 2027 before the first patients receive their prescriptions, according to French medical cannabis player Overseed’s CEO, Hugues Péribère.
Speaking to Business of Cannabis ahead of Cannabis Europa Paris, where industry leaders will gather to examine France’s unique approach on February 19, he estimated that even after France publishes its regulatory framework, businesses face a minimum eight-month journey before products can reach pharmacy shelves.
“We are speaking about certainly something which is about eight months (from publication to market access). I would say it’s fairly unlikely this year.”
According to reporting from our partners at Newsweed.fr, citing commentary from Dr Nicolas Authier, a key part in the creation of the pilot programme, just 700 patients are left in the pilot programme from an estimated 3000 at its peak.
This dramatic 75% attrition rate raises further questions about the incoming framework. Have these hundreds of missing patients simply grown tired of waiting? Or are there bigger issues with the incoming scheme which have turned them onto other prescription pathways?
The Eight-Month Reality
France has chosen a unique pathway for medical cannabis integration, learning from the issues experienced in neighbouring markets and avoiding many of the pitfalls Germany, the UK and Australia are tackling today, but bringing with it a new set of challenges.
Its proposed framework will integrate cannabis medicines directly into the country’s existing pharmaceutical framework, as opposed to pigeon-holing it into its own unique category, as seen in almost every other market.
While this should significantly streamline the process, providing well-understood and established rules for patients, doctors, and businesses, it also means that cannabis medicine will be subject to the same rigorous standards, approval processes, and oversight as any other controlled drug.
“The med agency over here, the team and the authorities, they don’t want to hear about buds to be distributed anywhere for patients,” Péribère explains. “They look at it with a pharmaceutical eye, not as it is done in many countries.”
This, according to Péribère, is also precisely why it could take until 2027 for the first prescriptions to be received, with the dual phases of evaluation and commercial preparation both taking months to complete.
“When we speak with [ANSM], they will go very deeply into the evaluation,” Péribère explains, stating that the regulator has indicated that reviewing medicinal cannabis product applications will take ‘six months minimum,’ with the standard timeline reaching up to nine months.
These applications must also be completed to exacting standards, requiring complete pharmaceutical files that demonstrate EU GMP compliance, including comprehensive drug substance and drug product documentation, stability data, and rigorous safety assessments.
Every aspect will be scrutinised to pharmaceutical standards before the ANSM will grant a product the five-year temporary use authorisation (ATU), which is set to govern market access.
“After that, you need to have the results to be able to begin the production and the fabrication of the packaging that has to be approved as a medicine. That will take a minimum of two months to be organised and be able to come to the supply chain.”
Another key part of the pharmaceutical focus is the omission of raw cannabis flower, a controversial choice for many, but one that is becoming increasingly common in emerging markets such as Spain’s incoming framework.
Given the pharmaceutical framing, requiring controlled, repeatable, measured dosing, this makes sense in a purely medical market.
While this is a clear plus for regulators, effectively futureproofing the market against accusations of a pseudo-recreational market as seen in Germany, Australia and the UK, it once again presents new challenges and opportunities.
When the market is eventually rolled out across France, Péribère believes these inherent barriers to flower will see extracts and oils dominate ‘in the beginning’.
“The future in France is really focused on quick assimilation methods from an extract, full extract, not isolate… They don’t want patients to grind their products, manipulate them. They don’t want that in the chain of distribution.”
He also questions whether CE-marked medical vaporisation devices are readily available to be rolled out across the market in bulk, presenting a major opportunity for any manufacturers able to fulfil this demand.
“When we look at the registration numbers, it seems that they are not there. So are they really CE mark approved?”
Slow, but sustainable
While Péribère concedes France’s unique framework presents some significant barriers for businesses hoping to break into the market, the EU’s second most populous country presents a major opportunity for those that do.
“I don’t have the feeling that we will have a lot of actors in France,” he acknowledges candidly. The pharmaceutical file requirements, coupled with the need for either an existing pharmaceutical exploitation license or a partnership with a licensed entity, will drastically limit the field.
“You need to have a complete pharmaceutical organisation with a pharmaceutical laboratory,” he added. Without an existing French pharmaceutical entity, companies from outside France must partner with licensed importers or manufacturers capable of handling the regulatory burden.
As such, Péribère notes that companies who’ve already invested heavily in the pilot, including Aurora Cannabis, Tilray, Little Green Pharma, and Panaxia, should have first-mover advantage.
“They didn’t make this investment to get away now. They are very motivated to come, and they have a good position to begin with.”
Overseed counts itself among this group. “As soon as the publication is made, we will be able to ask for the evaluation of this file,” he says, emphasising the company’s readiness to enter from day one.
The market will start small, likely around 10,000 patients in the first year, according to estimates from Augur Associates and Prohibition Partners, before gradually expanding. With 300,000 to 800,000 potentially eligible patients across France’s five approved indications, and a projected annual turnover of €806m by 2035, the long-term opportunity is clear.
But Péribère emphasises that regulatory approval is only the beginning. The real challenge will be prescriber adoption.
“In every country, the question is always the education of the prescribers, the quality of the information we will be able to provide them. This will have a considerable impact on the accessibility of these medicines to the patient.”
France currently has a base of 2,000-3,000 healthcare professionals trained through the experimentation programme, a head start most markets lack. Yet scaling beyond early adopters will require sustained education efforts.
These challenges and opportunities will be central topics at Cannabis Europa Paris on February 19, where Péribère and other industry leaders will examine whether France’s unique approach justifies the countless delays in the eyes of patients.
These challenges and opportunities will be central topics at Cannabis Europa Paris on February 19, where Péribère and other industry leaders will examine whether France’s unique approach justifies the countless delays in the eyes of patients.
Photos: Oddisee Live at Cervantes Other Side in Denver
Oddisee is a different type. He’s an artist’s artist, but he’s also got a cult following of loyal fans, and his independent career has been going strong for well over a decade. The DC emcee/producer stopped by one of our favorite venues, Cervantes (The Other Side), with a full band for a the 10 Year
How to Stay Compliant with Cannabis Licensing Regulations in Nevada
After the 2016 election, Nevada legalized recreational cannabis, in addition to the states medical-marijuana program. As a result, possession and consumption of cannabis by adults became legal in January of 2017.
Currently, the Cannabis Compliance Board, known as the CCB, serves as Nevada’s cannabis regulatory agency. The CCB oversees and regulates Nevada’s legal medical and adult-use cannabis programs. The CCB’s focus is on ensuring the protection of public health and safety and it has created and implemented a strict and rigorous regulatory system.
If you are operating a legal cannabis business in Nevada, your company must follow the state regulations, enforced by the CCB as well as any applicable local jurisdiction ordinances. In terms of licensing, the licensing process typically includes a background check, fingerprinting, proof of financial responsibility, and facility and security plans. Only businesses licensed by the State for cannabis operations can legally grow, manufacture, test, distribute, or sell cannabis in Nevada. The CCB has to open up an application window to issue cannabis establishment licenses. If an application window is not currently open, people interested in entering Nevada’s cannabis market can purchase an existing license, subject to obtaining approval from the CCB.
In addition to issuing and renewing cannabis licenses, the CCB enforces a regulatory scheme for cannabis programs in Nevada. The regulations cover many aspects of the cannabis businesses including, but not limited to, inventory control, security, training, packaging, and advertising. With regards to cannabis packaging regulations require certain items aimed at protecting minors. For instance, the packaging must be child-resistant and include statements like “Keep out of reach of children” or “For use only be adults 21 years of age or older”.
The CCB also enforces marketing restrictions including restrictions aimed at protecting children. For instance, there are regulations regarding use of cartoons or mascots that may be popular with minors, advertising near youth-centered facilities, and making false health or medical claims. These restrictions typically apply to advertising in any medium, including online. Hence, online marketing campaigns, social media ads, and other digital advertising efforts are subject to these cannabis regulations in addition to other advertising restrictions.
The cannabis laws and regulations are constantly in flux, at both the federal and state levels. Hence, businesses must adapt their operations, update compliance programs, and manage the increased risk that comes with the market. For businesses who are multi-state operators, these changes often lead to complex and overwhelming operations that usually require a team of state-specific legal and compliance experts. If you are operating a cannabis business in Nevada, contact Connor and Connor for a consultation today regarding operating your business compliantly.
‘Survivor’ Didn’t Break Them. Real Life Did. Then They Found Weed.
Nobody grows up thinking, “One day I’ll win a million dollars on TV… and then get really into cannabis.”
But life has a funny way of rerouting even the cleanest, most straight-edge trajectories. Just ask Ethan Zohn and Tyson Apostol, two Survivor champions whose journeys into cannabis didn’t start in college dorm rooms or at music festivals, but much later.
They weren’t even casual adult users.
But somewhere between Survivor, real life, and a few thousand curveballs, both men ended up discovering that cannabis can be a companion in times of hardship.
This is the story of how two reality-TV icons became unexpected cannabis advocates, and why they’re far from alone.
The OG Survivor who discovered weed the hard way
Ethan Zohn didn’t smoke pot in high school, college, or his early professional years. As a serious athlete, he had a prejudice against the plant (and we now know there are cases where cannabis can actually improve performance).
“I never touched the stuff,” he says. “I was a pro athlete. I went to Vassar. All my friends smoked, just not me.”
Then life detonated.
At 35, the Survivor: Africa winner was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. The symptoms were full-body itching, night sweats, a swollen lymph node in his neck the size of a jawbreaker. A real nightmare.
When treatment began, the pharmaceutical list got large: Ativan for anxiety, Zofran for nausea, Percocet for pain, Ambien for sleep, “every pill imaginable,” he says.
Ethan Zohn receiving chemo
“And it just wasn’t good for me,” Ethan explains. “None of it made me feel human.”
That’s when someone said the obvious: you should try weed. It wasn’t a doctor or a nurse.
But this was 2009 in New York, and there were no legal dispensaries, almost no physician guidance, and no dosing charts.
“So there I was,” he says, “bald, on chemo, wearing gloves and a mask, talking to a drug dealer who sold coke and ecstasy. I was buying weed just to feel better.”
That’s the moment a future cannabis advocate is born, standing on a sidewalk, planning chemotherapy.
“There wasn’t one oncologist, nurse, or doctor who could tell me how to use cannabis while going through cancer,” he says.
“So it was a guessing game.”
He hired a cannabis educator he found online, and learned tinctures, oils, dosages, safety, vaporizing. “Don’t smoke it” was the only official guidance he got. He figured out how to incorporate cannabis into the daily storm of cancer treatment, and he noticed something:
Cannabis didn’t cure anything. But it made everything else survivable.
“I couldn’t control the disease,” Ethan says. “But I could control my food, my exercise, my sleep, my cannabis. It tricked my brain into thinking I had a little bit of control.”
And sometimes a little control is the difference between surviving and giving up.
In his cancer support group, nine people, all in their late 20s and 30s, were being treated the exact same way.
“Out of the nine of us,” Ethan says quietly, “there’s only two left. Me and another girl. And she uses cannabis too. I’m not saying it’s science. But it makes you think.”
Ethan used cannabis as a gateway to a better life, and that helped him in his treatment and during the recurrence.
The first publicly medicated Boston Marathon runner
The Ethan of today isn’t an underground patient sneaking product through TSA.
He’s a public advocate. He works with Trulieve. He’s involved with EO Care, which provides physician-guided cannabis plans for patients who don’t want to play the guessing game he did. He uses tinctures, live rosin products (“least processed, that’s important to me”), and occasionally a vape when anxiety spikes.
“I became the first publicly medicated person to run the Boston Marathon,” he says, grinning. That was 2022, ten years into remission, with a few carefully timed 5 mg gummies powering the final miles.
He laughs. “I’m not a ‘stoner culture’ guy. I’m a health-nerd-with-weed guy.”
The Mormon pickleballer
If Ethan is the OG Survivor stoner, Tyson Apostol is the late bloomer.
“I grew up Mormon in Utah,” he says. “So yeah, weed wasn’t exactly part of the program.”
Tyson didn’t touch cannabis until he was well into adulthood, after appearing on Survivor four times, after winning Blood vs. Water, finishing his pro-cycling years, and learning firsthand that fatherhood is basically a full-contact sport.
“The worst thing for a man’s back is pulling babies out of cribs,” he laughs. “After two kids, my back gave out.”
What started as occasional pain became constant.
“I was taking 800 milligrams of Tylenol a day,” he says.
Then he tried a cannabis gummy and everything clicked.
“A gummy did the same thing and didn’t wreck my liver.”
That’s how the second Survivor winner began his cannabis chapter.
These days, Tyson uses cannabis “a couple times a week,” mostly for sleep, stiffness, and something he calls “functional flow.”
“If I’m up at five to play pickleball, a couple milligrams helps me loosen up. It’s not about getting high. It’s about getting moving,” he says.
He’s honest about how it affects his game.
“If you use the right amount,” he says, “it helps you not be so much in your head. You stop overthinking. You just play.”
Tyson also works with Trulieve, where Ethan helped bring him in. “He’s late to the weed game,” Ethan jokes. “But he’s learning.”
The show’s weed policy
“I asked if I could bring my medical cannabis… They said I was the first to ask.”
Both men agree that cannabis would have changed Survivor in hilarious ways.
When Ethan returned for Survivor: Winners at War, he asked production if he could bring his medical cannabis.
“They ran it up the ladder,” he says.
“They told me, ‘It’s not legal in Fiji, so you can’t take it. But you’re the first person to ask.’”
And Ethan and Tyson? They’re part of that wave of real people with real bodies who have nothing to prove anymore.
Why are athletes suddenly so open about weed? Because the culture caught up to them.
Elite athletes across sports now publicly embrace cannabis: Ricky Williams (NFL), founded Highsman, a cannabis brand; Megan Rapinoe (USWNT), partner in CBD brand Mendi; Conor McGregor, partnered with TIDL, a THC-free cannabis recovery product; Calvin Johnson (NFL), co-founder of cannabis company Primitiv. Ultramarathoners and endurance athletes increasingly use cannabis for recovery, sleep, and anxiety management.
A Men’s Health article notes that many athletes who use cannabis “notice improvements in recovery and enjoyment.” A Frontiers in Public Health study found that 80% of cannabis users who exercise say it enhances recovery. A University of Colorado study found that cannabis makes workouts more enjoyable, even if it doesn’t enhance performance.
The secret stoner Survivor tribe
Tyson offers his own take on what a weed-friendly season might look like:
“I’d use it to sleep,” he says. “You never sleep out there. Maybe there’d be fewer arguments about how to build the shelter. The blindsides would still happen, they’d just be friendlier.”
Ethan hints at something bigger: “Within the Survivor community, a lot of people smoke weed,” he says. “Most are very open about it.”
There are players who are cannabis farmers, trainers who use cannabis with their clients, musicians, artists.
Welcome to the 10th annual “State of the State” post on Oregon cannabis. A great many things have changed over the years, and I’m planning to write another lookback post soon. For now, though, let’s cover everything that happened in 2025—which is a lot.
Sales and market data
According to OLCC data, total sales from January 1 through November 30 were $848 million. That’s a 3.7% dip from the same period in 2024, where we saw $881 million in total sales. Does this mean that Oregon cannabis retailers are selling less product? No, it doesn’t. They may be selling more, in fact, at discount model pricing.
The dismal retail price trendline continued to fall throughout 2025. Within that trendline, the extracts/concentrates category hit a nadir of $15.00/gram (median) in the extracts/concentrates category in April; it again shows $15.00/gram for November. The “usable marijuana” category also dropped to a ghastly $3.33/gram (median) in April, and all but flatlined from that point. (Usable marijuana is essentially flower, in the OLCC milieu.)
There is no foreseeable end to the price depression: in fact, it may only get worse. Croptober 2025 was Oregon’s largest METRC harvest ever, with 6,289,890 pounds reported. This was a significant and unwelcome 8.9% increase from the October 2024 harvest, which itself was a record high. As I wrote last year:
“I’m sure the illicit market had a bumper year too; weather is the same for everyone and the enforcement paradigm is static… Consumers may benefit, but that can’t be great for pricing.”
That proved true in 2025, unfortunately, and it will happen again in 2026. As far as what people are actually buying at all of these OLCC stores, I compiled this table:
2025
2024
Change +/-
Usable marijuana
43.6%
46.2%
-2.6
Concentrate/extract
26%
25%
+1.0
Edible/tincture
14.2%
13.7%
+0.5
Inhalable w/non-canna additives
10.7%
9.1%
+1.6
“Other”
4.9%
5.4%
-0.5
Industrial hemp
0% (?)
0.6%
-o.6 (?)
Check out that drop in the usable marijuana category. In both 2023 and 2024 I noted a “years-long trend of usable marijuana sales decreasing per capita in favor of other categories.” We are not just seeing these SKU shifts in the data—we’ve had a series of farm clients lament that retailers are pulling back orders for flower, in response to consumer preference for vape and cartridge products.
Bottom line: People are buying more Oregon cannabis than ever, at lower prices than ever. There is also more cannabis in the OLCC market than ever. Surveying this abundance, customers aren’t burning flower like they used to, opting instead for packaged products. All of this makes for an extremely challenging business environment—especially for small farms, which continue to falter and fail.
Oregon cannabis licenses and licensing
Oregon’s years-long OLCC licensing moratorium was ratified by the legislature in 2024. We still have a “one-in, one-out” policy where outgoing licensees are allowed to surrender (sell) their licenses in favor of new market entrants, who acquire (buy) replacement licenses. Outside of this buy/sell paradigm, OLCC is “prohibited from accepting new license applications pretty much forever, due to restrictive, ratio-based formulas tied to population,” as I explained back when HB 4121 passed.
In 2025, license numbers declined marginally across the board as predicted. This was also the case in 2024 and 2023 due to the years-long moratorium, in concert with business failures. Here’s a table showing current license numbers as compared to this time last year:
2025
2024
Change +/-
Producers
1,351
1,375
-24
Processors
275
288
-13
Wholesalers
243
257
-14
Retailers
769
789
-20
Labs
10
13
-3
Research
1
1
none
Numbers continue to fall at the slow drip we’ve seen for a couple of years, which is healthy. Most would agree that we have too many licenses across all categories—except perhaps for labs and research. Unfortunately, we lost a couple of labs this year, possibly tied to fallout from the October 2024 crackdown on THC inflation.
As far as pricing, we helped people buy and sell producer licenses at prices between $60K and $85K throughout the year, with prices rising in the last month or two. Most of these transactions are change-of-location and change-in-ownership scenarios, and most of the buyers are Chinese. Wholesale and processor licenses trade less frequently, and for lower prices; retail pricing is its own animal, largely dependent on store performance. That said, we did help sell a couple of change-in-location retail licenses in the $100K range.
OLCC has emphasized moving applications through the system quickly, which is welcome news. I met with a few OLCC staff last week, who articulated their goal of a “zero wait” time for change-in-ownership applications, their plans to enforce new rules requiring polished submissions, and requirements that applicants move quickly through the process.
New Oregon cannabis rules
Marijuana
The licensing protocol rules mentioned above come online on January 1, 2026, alongside rules that make some technical updates and implement the 2025 marijuana legislation. I covered these rules in a recent post, and I won’t summarize them further here.
Earlier this year, rules banning sales of most CBN products also took effect. I explained:
Beginning July 1, 2025, products containing artificially derived CBN can no longer be sold in Oregon, either in the OLCC system or in the general (hemp-derived) market, unless the manufacturer has made a “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) determination, or submitted a New Dietary Ingredient Notification to the FDA and received a “no objections” response.
To my knowledge, no one has acquired GRAS status or submitted a qualifying NDI notification. That’s not unexpected, and it’s also too bad.
Hemp
The comprehensive hemp registry rules will take effect on January 1. These rules apply to hemp flower pre-rolls, as well as hemp beverages and tinctures containing cannabinoids like THC, CBD and others. The rules don’t apply to hemp items that are: a) sold at OLCC licensed stores, b) lacking cannabinoids, c) intended only for topical use, d) industrial or commercial feed products, or e) merely passing through the state.
A host of labeling and “claims” requirements for hemp products sold in Oregon also take effect next year. It remains to be seen if or how any of these new rules will interact with the recent federal ban on intoxicating hemp products, although I’m not expecting much friction. If the federal ban holds, we’ll likely just have fewer out-of-state registrants, and fewer inbound products beyond what is carved out in the CBD space.
For what it’s worth, earlier this year OLCC and other agencies published a report detailing that most hemp products in Oregon run hot. It wasn’t a great look, but it was no surprise.
Oregon cannabis litigation
Oregon cannabis matters found their way to the courts in 2025. Our office handled a series of business and investor disputes, and there were some public skirmishes as well. Here is my short list:
Friend of the firm Andrew DeWeese filed a notable dormant commerce clause challenge to the federal prohibition of interstate marijuana sales. We are cheering him on.
Ballot Measure 119 was defeated in Oregon District Court. That measure required most Oregon cannabis businesses to enter into labor peace agreements with approved unions, in order to renew or obtain licensure. The miserable case is now on appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled against retailer applicants that didn’t want to pay their taxes, as a condition precedent to license renewal. No appeal was filed.
Cannabis receiverships continued apace, with the largest being the Tumalo Industries matter. The market remained soft, with the buyers once again Chalice insiders.
Federal developments
I should include a bit on President Trump’s Executive Order of December 18, directing marijuana rescheduling. We’ve covered it comprehensively already, but Oregon cannabis businesses should be pleased.
Depending on the path Pam Bondi chooses, and the measure of resistance, marijuana could go to Schedule III in 2026. If so, many of our clients will realize better margins overnight. These businesses could also see less competition from out-of-state hemp operators, due to the federal ban mentioned earlier.
Odds and ends
The hemp industry continued to limp along. We finally saw an increase in planted acreage, despite a dwindling number of farmers. Licensed “vendors” continued to pile into the ODA program, following the 2024 registration requirement.
We continue to struggle to fix and to complete cannabis industry transactions structured by brokers. At least one prominent broker in the Oregon cannabis space has no license whatsoever, and a few others continue to make messes. There are also competent brokers, to be sure—our advice is to never use legal agreements offered by brokers regardless.
OLCC appeared to be less punitive and to pivot back toward teaching compliance, particularly for smaller operators (including the labs). I’d like to think we had something to do with that approach, and I hope it sticks—but who knows in either case.
The Cannabis Industry Alliance of Oregon (CIAO) played a central role in 2025 legislative negotiations. CIAO successfully lobbied for producer transfer rights, trade sample expansions, and more realistic enforcement timelines for CBN compliance rules mentioned above.
Initiative Petition 39, which aimed to legalize cannabis cafes, was submitted in February but withdrawn last month, in the face of logistical issues.
Emerge Law Group, the Measure 91 law firm and first Oregon cannabis law boutique, announced it would wind down after a stellar 10-year run. Its remaining attorneys are joining Denver-based Vicente LLP.
More Americans Want To Quit Using Alcohol And Tobacco Than Marijuana In 2026, New Year's Resolution Poll Finds
It’s the season of New Year’s resolutions again, and Americans are apparently more inclined to quit or reduce their use of alcohol and tobacco than to abstain from marijuana, according to a new poll.
The survey from Censuswide, which was commissioned by Northerner.com, asked 1,003 U.S. adults about their resolutions for 2026. Among the 15 options, respondents were least inclined to curb their cannabis use.
Just 8 percent of Americans said they wanted to reduce or cease their marijuana consumption. By contrast, 10 percent said they wanted to limit alcohol use, 12 percent said the same about tobacco, and 16 percent wanted to limit their social media use.
The most common New Year’s resolution commitment was to improve physical health, at 35 percent.
Young people aged 21-24 were most likely (13 percent) to say they wanted to lower or quit their marijuana use, followed by those 25-34 (12 percent), 45-54 (5 percent), and 55+ (4 percent).
Men were twice as likely (12 percent) to say they wanted to cut out cannabis compared to women (6 percent). And among those who said they wanted to reduce marijuana use in 2026, 40 percent said they’ve tried and failed in the past.
Asked about the reasons they resolved to limit marijuana consumption, more than 50 percent said they feel it would “improve their independence and flexibility.” Forty-seven percent said they felt it would “make them feel more accomplished.” And 40 percent said they believe it “will help them lead a more active lifestyle and improve their mental and emotional well-being.”
The fact that fewer people intend to quit cannabis over alcohol and tobacco in the new year isn’t especially surprising. While half of Americans report that they’ve tried marijuana, it’s still not as commonly used as alcohol or tobacco. Public education campaigns have also proven effective at deterring some, particularly young people, from drinking or using tobacco products that are legal and regulated for adults at the federal level, unlike cannabis.