Inc.
Gen-Z may be drinking less, but cannabis is slowly becoming its new workplace companion.
Why More Gen-Z Workers Are Using Cannabis During the Workday
Author: Bruce Crumley
When the Trump administration last week reclassified state-licensed medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug than it had been under previous statutes, businesses that produce and sell cannabis-based products hailed the development. Indeed, many of those entrepreneurs hope the move may become the first step toward eventual federal decriminalization, or even legalization of pot. But perhaps the loudest cheers to that news came from Gen-Zers, whose high-profile reputation for saying “no, thanks” to alcohol is offset by their more discreet “yes, please” affection for Maryjane—including while they’re on the job.
That pronounced fondness of people born between 1996 and 2012 for THC-packed gummy bears, beverages, or old-school reefers was fleshed out in a recent survey by online essay writing platform EduBirdie. Its poll of 2,000 Gen-Zers aged 21 to 29 found 67 percent of respondents reported using cannabis regularly, with nearly 30 percent saying they did so every day. That daily consumption appeared to indicate an overlap with work—something that responses elsewhere confirmed. Over a third, or 35 percent, of participants said they get high while doing their job from home, and another 17 percent copped to partaking in some kind of marijuana product at the office.
Cannabis and derivative goods are currently legal for recreational and medical use in 24 states, and authorized for specific patient treatments in 16 others. Despite that, most employers continue to frown upon, and frequently prohibit, workers’ using marijuana to alter their states while on the job. Perhaps for that reason, Gen-Z survey respondents tended to cast their consumption as being more therapeutic and beneficial to their activities and state of mind, rather than merely aiming to cop a buzz.
“For many Gen-Zers, the uses of cannabis are less recreational and more functional,” an EduBirdie report on the finding said. “(Fifty-three) percent say it relieves stress, 29 percent say it’s a creative aid, and 22 percent insist it improves their performance.”
Feigning a cigarette break while instead sparking up a doobie while on the clock, or furtively downing a “liquid weed” drink in the stairwell aren’t the only ways that use of cannabis has made inroads into Gen-Z’s formal activities. A quarter of survey participants said they’d gotten high before doing a job interview, and 27 percent said they’d indulged in weed before taking exams while they were students.
What’s driving that intake? On the one hand, Gen-Z’s well-known aversion to stress and anxiety may explain members’ wiliness to embrace the calming effects of cannabis—including during busy work hours. Meanwhile, the cohorts’ far lower use of alcohol than older generations may make pot a natural fallback option for members seeking a modestly altered condition.
That default mode may become even more frequent now that most states—and as of last week, even the Trump administration—regard and classify cannabis as less dangerous than they did before. That trend is either following or, conversely, influencing Gen-Zers’ view of pot. About 20 percent of survey respondents said ganja is considered more acceptable than alcohol in their social circle, an approval rating that more than doubles compared with tobacco.
“Alcohol may no longer be young people’s go-to vice,” the EduBirdie report notes. “(B)ut as ‘chug, chug, chug’ fades, ‘puff, puff, pass’ is taking its place.”
Yet even though well over half of Gen-Z survey participants refuted the notion that cannabis may act as a gateway to harder substances, some responses also suggested cohort members would be wise to keep their marijuana use under check.
First of all, nearly 30 percent of respondents said they spend between $50 and $100 each month on cannabis products, with another 21 percent dropping $200 on them. Those are pretty big outlays when the cost of essentials like rent, food, utilities, gas, and health insurance continues surging.
Second, there are also signs that many Gen-Zers are bolder about toking up than they are in telling others about the practice. Although 42 percent of survey respondents said they’re entirely open with others about their cannabis use, 13 percent admitted hiding it from intimates, while 22 percent keep it from co-workers and friends.
That reticence not only seems to indicate that attitudes toward increasing cannabis consumption by Gen-Zers are evolving at differing speeds among cohort members themselves. It also seems to reflect an enduring, potentially problematic gap between more progressive state laws and even federal classifications, and how workplaces react to employees doing their jobs under the influence of legalized or less stigmatized marijuana products.
“(F)or employers, it’s far more complicated,” said EduBirdie chief human resources officer Avery Morgan in comments emailed to Inc. “Cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, which means strict zero-tolerance rules remain in place for safety-sensitive jobs. However, there’s no simple way to measure if someone is high in the moment. Unlike alcohol, cannabis can stay in the body for weeks—so a positive test doesn’t prove impairment at work. This legal and practical gray area is exactly where Gen-Z has pushed boundaries—and where employers are struggling to keep up.”
Credits: TCA, LLC.