Which Industries and Occupations Have the Highest Rates of Marijuana Use?

By ASAP Staff

What do the accommodation and food services, arts, entertainment and recreation, and construction industries have in common? They are the industries with the highest rate of marijuana use among their employees. On the other end of the marijuana use spectrum, the industry groups with the lowest prevalence were management of companies and enterprises, public administration, and utilities.

A new report conducted by researchers affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and published in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH), sheds new light on who is most likely to use marijuana by industry and occupation in the age of legalization.[i]

When viewed by occupation groups rather than collectively as industries, those with the highest marijuana-use prevalence were, “food preparation and serving related (21.9%); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (17.0%); and construction and extraction (15.5%).”

“The three occupation groups with the lowest prevalence were education, training, and library (5.7%); health care practitioners and technical (4.7%); and protective services (4.4%).”

Researchers limited responses to those from people who worked for wages, were self-employed or had been out of work for under a year, ultimately including data from 128,615 people in 15 states (Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee).

Furthermore, this report focuses attention on the impact of cannabis use on workplace safety. For instance, numerous studies have found that cannabis use can impact the mental and physical capabilities of the user, including thinking, attention, memory, emotion, decision-making, coordination, reaction time, and time perception, as well as cause dependence and affect brain development. All of these things could impact workplace safety and health. When employees operate heavy machinery, cannabis impairment could lead to accidents that result in property damage and physical harm to the user, co-workers, customers, and the general public.

The report included these insights:

• “Above-average prevalence of cannabis use in several industry and occupation groups that historically have high rates of injuries and fatalities, such as forestry and logging (15.8%); fishing, hunting, and trapping (16.1%); and construction of buildings (17.0%).
• “Despite mixed evidence for an association between cannabis and work-related injury in the literature, potential safety risks related to cannabis use are still a concern, especially for safety-sensitive occupations or tasks such as driving.
• “Approximately 3% of respondents… reported using cannabis daily or nearly daily.
• “Among those reporting cannabis use, participants largely fell into 1 of 2 categories: daily users (33.3%), or infrequent users who reported consuming only 1 to 5 days per month (40.0%).
• The study’s “results add to a growing body of literature suggesting that although the proportion of working people who use cannabis may not have shifted dramatically in the past 20 years, the intensity of use among those who consume cannabis may have increased substantially.”

The report suggests that employers and employees work together to achieve the primary goal of limiting the risk of injury while maintaining productivity by ensuring that workplace impairment resulting from cannabis use does not result in injuries. The report offers the following examples:

• Outline expectations around cannabis use in proximity to work generally,
• Establish a list of high-risk job tasks that should not be done at any level of impairment, or
• Establish a level of workplace trust and security so that workers can voluntarily opt out of performing certain tasks if they do not think they can do them safely.

Drug and alcohol testing is the cornerstone of a successful substance use policy. ASAP is ready to help you set up your workplace drug testing program.

[1] Prevalence of Cannabis Use Among US Workers in 15 States, 2016–2020. American Journal of Public Health. October 2024. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307788 

[2] Ibid.