Two Out Of Three Marijuana Consumers Are Buying Less Cannabis Due To Inflation, Poll Finds

Two out of three marijuana consumers say they’ve had to make the decision to spend less money on cannabis because of broader inflation in the economy, according to a new poll shared exclusively with Marijuana Moment.

While many have measured the impact of inflation by looking at the rising costs of common commodities like eggs and gas, the survey from the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD offers another indicator.

Asked about their recent spending on marijuana products, about 66 percent of consumers said they’re spending less as the country continues to grapple with higher costs. Thirty-four percent of respondents said inflation isn’t affecting their cannabis spending.

It’s not clear if the belt-tightening is related to possible increases in the price of marijuana products themselves, general economic duress or some combination of the two.

“Our poll establishes that inflation is hitting cannabis consumers hard, which should come as no surprise,” Andrew Graham, head of communications at NuggMD, said. “Recent polling from Pew shows the share of U.S. adults who have concerns about healthcare affordability has increased by 10 percentage points compared to last year. And, last June, medical inflation began growing faster than overall inflation for the first time since 2021.”

“Across the board, rising costs are clearly making it harder for Americans to access the health and wellness care they need,” he said, adding that there’s a “straightforward way to reduce costs” for cannabis consumers.

“Congress should end IRS Code 280E, which causes cannabis businesses to pay an effective tax rate of up to 80 percent,” he said. “If lawmakers continue to punt on 280E, then the policy fix could involve shifting the cost burden away from the consumer by mandating insurance policies cover cannabis used to treat qualifying medical conditions under state-legal programs.”

The IRS code known as 280E prevents businesses that work with Schedule I and Schedule II drugs from taking federal tax deductions. Short of congressional action, stakeholders are hoping to see the issue resolved through an ongoing administrative process initiated under the Biden administration that would move cannabis to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

However, the process has been temporarily delayed. And certain GOP lawmakers are vying to preemptively maintain the IRS policy even if marijuana is ultimately rescheduled, with recent bill introductions in the House and Senate.

The poll from NuggMD involved interviews with 518 marijuana consumers from February 27 to March 2, with a +/-4.3 percentage point margin of error.

The results depart from the findings of an earlier NuggMD survey that was published in November. That poll found that a majority of Americans who use marijuana said they were spending more on cannabis than they were in 2023, and many expected to spend even more in 2025.

A separate survey from the financial resources company Bankrate and YouGov that was published last month also found that seven in 10 American marijuana consumers plan to spend either more on cannabis or about the same amount in 2025 compared to last year—and 62 percent report using cash amid ongoing industry barriers to financial services.

Meanwhile, another NuggMD poll from January found that more than half of marijuana consumers say they drink less alcohol, or none at all, after using cannabis.