Seattle city attorney, others hope legalization changes perceptions of pot users

When legal pot went on sale Tuesday at Seattle’s first retail store, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes was among the first to buy a bag. A new survey says we shouldn’t be surprised that many pot users are accomplished professionals like Holmes.

“Some of the most successful people partake in cannabis,” says Jay Lindberg, co-founder of my420mate.com, an online and mobile dating platform for marijuana friendly singles. “Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, Morgan Freeman, even some of our nation’s presidents have said ‘Yes, I’ve smoked marijuana.'”

While Holmes was an outspoken supporter of I-502 and the legalization of marijuana, many other professionals in Washington and across the country have remained hesitant to reveal they’ve used marijuana.

Lindberg says one of the goals of his company is to change the stereotypes of cannabis users as merely hippies and stoners.

“That’s like saying that everybody who drinks beer is a drunk and sits on the stoop all day drinking. A lot of people appreciate a joint or an edible occasionally,” he says.

Lindberg says a big challenge has been finding any data that counters the common preconceptions of pot smokers. So the company commissioned a survey of its users, asking them to take a personality type test. And Lindberg says the results turn the stereotypes on their ears.

The study of 2,370 respondents found 84 percent of the marijuana users can be classified as extroverts, while 50-70 percent of the general population commonly meets the criteria.

“This is surprising because the stereotypical “stoner” is quiet, lazy, isolated, lonely and introverted. But, this is clearly not the case,” Lindberg says.

Perhaps more surprising, 17 percent of marijuana users can be classified as EITP personality types – which stands for Extravert, Intuition, Thinking and Perceiving – versus just 3 percent of the general population.

“Most of the people who took these surveys, they’re social by nature, they’re charming, they’re spontaneous, they’re adventurers, they’re not the kind of person that’s going to sit on the couch all day and play video games,” Lindberg says.

Admittedly, the study is far from scientific. But Lindberg hopes it helps further the conversation about marijuana users and encourage more people to openly discuss their marijuana use.

Holmes agrees, and calls Tuesday’s opening of retail pot shops a “historic” step in changing public perception and policy.

“It’s bringing it out of the shadows and it’s bringing it into the light of day. That’s why I’m here,” Holmes says as he purchased two grams of marijuana at the Seattle shop. “We have to kind of reset our collective psyche about this.”