The Number Of Employees Working While High On Marijuana Increased During Covid-19 Lockdown

A recent AmericanMarijuana.org survey shows that 15% of remote workers have worked under the influence of cannabis during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. A majority of survey respondents cited stress relief as the reason for the indulgence, and only a slightly smaller percentage said cannabis increased creativity and productivity.

Researchers interviewed 1,001 remote employees (45.1% women, 54.5% men, and 0.4% nonbinary. Average age was 37.8 years) about their work habits and views on substance use in the virtual workplace.

Aditya Sachdeva, project manager for AmericanMarijuana.org, said the data revealed several noticeable demographic trends regarding employee cannabis use.

“Younger white-collar employees, especially those in their 20s, work from home while high the most,” Sachdeva said. “Gender and employment level differences are less distinct, however, age is much more telling, as is the difference between white-collar and blue-collar employees.”

Sachdeva noted that almost half of cannabis users thought that others in the virtual workplace were using cannabis at some point while on the job.

“Our research revealed that 42% of remote workers have suspected their boss or co-workers have been high during the workday,” said Sachdeva.

The results of the survey could have implications for the formulation of company policy regarding marijuana use.

“The research found that among those who consume marijuana during the workday, a large percentage of these workers cite benefits such as decreased stress, increased creativity, and increased productivity,” Sachdeva said. “These findings may challenge previous biases in the workplace and open up future discussions about the pros and cons of allowing employees to consume marijuana.”

Virtual workers also reported that they had used other drugs including nicotine, prescription drugs, and psychedelics while on the virtual job, although to a lesser extent than marijuana.

Full results of the survey are available online. The margin of error for the study based on the U.S. population of 94.3 million remote workers is 3% with a 95% confidence level, according to the researchers.