There are currently many shades of cannabis legalization around the U.S. Over 20 states have legalized adult use, and more than 10 are medical only. Leafwell, a company that helps people acquire medical cards, gauged interest in medical cannabis recently. They dove into Google data to identify which states are most interested in medical cannabis based on search queries.
The people of Florida searched for medical cannabis terms more than any other state. Next is Arkansas followed by Mississippi. Idaho has no interest, with an average of zero searches on the topic.
Leafwell examined Google search data for which states are searching for “medical marijuana” and then identified related search terms. All the identified search queries were combined and then measured against every 100,000 people in each state (according to the Census) to find a monthly average.
Floridians searched medical marijuana terms an average of 231 times per 100,000 residents monthly. In Arkansas the number was 159, with Mississippi averaging 113 monthly searches.
Mining data from only Google and not Bing, DuckDuckGo, and other search engines does limit these results. Additionally, searches for “medical marijuana” and “medical cannabis” may provide more information than was revealed by this examination.
Evenso, this study provides an intriguing look at interest in different regions, and the results only mark one side of the coin. In general, searches on the topic have increased rapidly in the last 30 days.
“Although recreational cannabis has been legalized in 23 states, it is crucial to ensure that the marijuana used for medical purposes is obtained under the guidance of a licensed physician and through reliable dispensaries. Obtaining a trustworthy medical marijuana card guarantees both safe and legal access to the therapeutic potential of cannabis,” Mitch Doucette, Ph.D., Director of Research at Leafwell said in a statement emailed to GreenState.
“This data offers a fascinating insight into the growing interest in marijuana for medical use in America. Google Trends recorded a 110% increase in searches for medical cannabis cards in the last 30 days alone,” Doucette added.
Interest in the plant is increasing in stages, just like legalization. Some people are starting to search for more information on medical cannabis, while others are walking into an adult-use dispensary for the very first time. Wherever people are in their cannabis journey, one thing is for certain: interest continues rising.