These findings are part of a national study conducted by Veriheal, the healthcare enterprise behind the nation’s largest medical marijuana application platform, in partnership with graduate research scholars from the London School of Economics, University of Southern California and University of Maryland; and the CREA Group, a business development and research firm dedicated to psychoactive drugs like cannabinoids, psychedelics, and entheogens.
Conducted between January 2020 and March 2021, the study investigated medical cannabis interest and adoption by desired effect across region, sex and age group, in relation to COVID-19 cases in America as reported by the official COVID-19 CDC data tracker.
“When we began investigating the relationship between medical cannabis use and COVID-19, our original hypothesis was that cannabis demand would increase with COVID-19 cases as people sought out physiological relief and ways to manage stress,” said Maha Haq, CEO of CREA and graduate student at University of Maryland’s School of Pharmacy.
The study’s findings also offer insight into medical cannabis as a cultural phenomenon, bolstering marketing initiatives over the past year, which have increasingly focused on branding and differentiating cannabis via its emotional impact rather than its physiological effects.
“It’s incredible to see Veriheal’s patient database being leveraged for insights on the complexities of medical cannabis use in America,” said Joshua Green, Veriheal’s co-founder and CEO.
Earlier this year, Veriheal announced a $20,000 Innovation in Cannabis scholarship to fund students pursuing degrees in the cannabis industry.
Veriheal was founded by Samuel Adetunji and Joshua Green in 2017 with a mission to become the go-to online destination for prospective medical cannabis patients looking to obtain an MMJ card and access educational resources.
The Veriheal platform fulfills this mission by connecting prospective patients with state-certified medical marijuana doctors online, to provide customized medical recommendations for people seeking a better quality of life through cannabis.