You’ve probably seen movies about stoners smoking pot and then loading up on junk food. But is it accurate? Well, according to new research, legalizing weed has created a spike in junk food sales.
The data behind “the munchies”
Earlier research linking smoking pot to junk food sales could have easily been flawed because it relied primarily on self-reported food intake.
But with states legalizing recreational marijuana in different years, it allowed researchers to look at retail data from over 2,000 counties across the country between the years of 2006 and 2016. They looked at the sales of chips, cookies and ice cream at drug, convenience, grocery and mass distribution stores before and after recreational marijuana was legalized.
Sure enough, after recreational marijuana was legalized, there was an increase in the sale of junk food. Specifically, there was a 5.3% increase in chip purchases, a 4.1% increase in cookie purchases and a 3.1% increase in ice cream purchases.
In the months following the legalization, the sales of chips and ice cream went down by cookie purchases stayed the same.
What the results mean
“These might seem like small numbers,” says one of the lead researchers, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Connecticut Michele Baggio, “but they’re statistically significant and economically significant as well.”
To be clear, Baggio says she is not saying she is for or against legalization of marijuana. This is only research. “I’m just interested in whether there are unintended consequences to the policy,” she says.
The authors of the study say they decided to research the link between marijuana and junk food because “it is rather important to understand not only the direct impact of cannabis use but also any unintended behavioral spillover effects.”
Obesity is already an epidemic in the United States, but knowing how even small changes in our eating habits can affect public health are important.
The results of the research were published in the journal Social Science Research Network.
