Cannabis users just want one kind of flower for Valentine's day

Who wants candy and flowers for Valentine’s Day? Possibly a lot of people, even if those go-to gifts aren’t the most imaginative choices.

Cannabis fans, on the other hand, would be happy to skip those traditional symbols of romance and affection. Their message to friends, crushes and partners: nothing says “I heart you” more than weed.

According to a new study from MariMed and the Harris Poll, 63% of cannafans would rather receive weed than boxes of chocolate or floral arrangements for the upcoming holiday.

Further, 72% said they plan to incorporate cannabis into their Valentine’s Day plans, with 53% leaning toward edibles—one of the fastest-growing categories—rather than flower or other popular weed formats.

The study, backed by the multi-state operator that recently unleashed a media frenzy around its 850-pound pot brownie, looks beyond the February flirtation celebration and dives into the broader sex lives of cannabis users.

Among the findings: weed consumers have more sex and enjoy it more than their non-using counterparts, with 50% saying they have sex several times or more each week, compared to 35% of non-users.

Nearly two-thirds, 63%, of cannabis users believe weed enhances their sex life and helps them get in the mood, while 51% say that cannabis is a natural aphrodisiac, with 30% thinking it’s more effective than chocolate or oysters.

The research wasn’t necessarily aimed at debunking myths, but it may work to change some old misconceptions, according to MariMed’s COO Tim Shaw.

“The survey was fun and on-brand, but we also think the results should help smash the lazy stoner stereotype, particularly the data that shows cannabis users have more sex in a week than non-cannabis consumers,” Shaw told Adweek.

“They are an active crowd, between the sheets and outside of them.”

The poll gathered responses from 2,000 adult consumers on behalf of MariMed’s hot-selling edibles brand Betty’s Eddies, specifically its Smashin’ Passion product, which is made with horny goat weed and other ingredients believed to be natural love drugs.

Romancing the stoner

Valentine’s Day seemed to be a good hook for the research, Shaw said, but MariMed execs were surprised to learn how significant the holiday actually is to cannabis consumers.

Because survey participants said they would rather get weed than other conventional gifts, “That tells us that the industry should take Valentine’s Day seriously as a marketing and sales holiday, right alongside 4/20,” Shaw said.

MariMed and other players in the space are increasingly latching onto mainstream holidays as cannabis breaks out of its endemic sales events like April 20 and Green Wednesday, the day before “Danksgiving.” The industry is fanning out further into any holiday on the annual calendar that might have a greeting card—or simply a long weekend—speaking to legacy buyers and the coveted canna-curious demo.

MariMed, along with many of its competitors, is also leaning into marketing messages based on product effects, which researcher BDSA has identified as a 2022 trend to watch. Previous talking points around indica and sativa strains haven’t been descriptive enough, according to the data firm, and consumers want more information on the functional benefits and the experience they’ll have with THC-infused drinks, tinctures, topicals and other goods.

“It’s clear consumers are equally interested in products that both give them their desired high as well as meet a specific need, be it better sleep or to get in the mood for sex,” Shaw said.

MariMed isn’t alone in studying the potent combination of weed and sex. Another cannabis brand, delivery platform Eaze, commissioned its own research for its State of Cannabis 2021 report, with 79% of survey participants saying they consume cannabis before sex.

Those findings were in line with a previous Eaze poll, taken during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020 in partnership with Playboy, which found that 75% of Americans paired sex and weed during the shelter-in-place months.

Eaze has called the area fertile ground for R&D—for instance, launching bespoke products geared specifically to intimacy, especially those targeted at women—and marketing partnerships, with potential crossover between cannabis and everyday CPG brands.