In a development that will come as a surprise to basically no one, 24/7 Wall St. said Thursday that Oregon smokes the second most marijuana of any state in the United States. Guess who's No. 1?
Yeah, it's Colorado. Don't worry, guys. We'll get there.
To determine who smokes the most cannabis, 24/7 Wall St. looked at "the percentage of people 12 years and over who reported smoking marijuana in the past year" in surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, conducted in 2013 and 2014.
Those years might have something to do with the fact that Oregon isn't No. 1 yet. It's only been legal to sell cannabis in Oregon since Oct. 1, 2015.
24/7 Wall St. throws in a few other weed-related stats, like number of drug users, first-time marijuana users, use in the past month, perceptions of risk and maximum fines for possession.
About Oregon, they write that "nearly one in five people aged 12 and older in Oregon have used pot in the past year."
In Oregon, the perception of marijuana is also much less negative than it is elsewhere in the country: "Only 18.3 percent of state residents 12 years and older perceive a great risk in using marijuana once a month, far lower than the 27.8 percent nationwide share."
If you want proof that marijuana use is becoming more and more acceptable in Oregon, look no further than today's ruling in Eugene that Lane County was wrong to fire a 60-year-old prostate cancer survivor for his off-the-clock medical marijuana use.
Keep it up guys. Maybe next year we'll be No. 1.
-- Lizzy Acker
503-221-8052
lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker