Phenomenological exploration of young adults’ recreational cannabis use experiences and associated leisure meanings

Abstract

Societal normalization and decriminalization of cannabis use challenge its traditional characterizations as deviant leisure. This study investigated cannabis users’ understandings of their consumption in/as leisure by utilizing hermeneutic phenomenology based on 16 in-depth interviews with young adults living in the U.S. states with legalized recreational cannabis. Findings suggest that young adults view recreational cannabis use as leisure due to the related state of mind (e.g., experiencing flow, relaxation, meditative state), consumption time patterns (e.g., reserving use as a reward for free, post-obligations time), leisure activity characteristics (e.g., an intrinsic act of getting high, accompanying other leisure pursuits), and pleasure associated with use (e.g., enjoyment, humor, social facilitator, sensory enhancement). This study contributes novel insights regarding normative leisure meanings associated with cannabis, which can be leveraged strategically in public health and drug education efforts. These findings are timely during the societal transition from criminalization to normalization and commercialization trends concerning cannabis.

Keywords:

• Deviant leisure
• recreational cannabis use
• phenomenology
• cannabis legalization
• drug education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).