By a lot.
As for which other states made the cut, the answers aren't exactly shocking — but some interesting facts and figures determined their order.
The site awarded scores ranging from 1-100 using the following criteria:
• Marijuana users — percentage of people reporting marijuana use in the previous month (source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)Continue to find out who followed Colorado on the chart, with each listing featuring Estately data and excerpts from the site's text, with photos drawn from last year's Cannabis Cup Day 2 slide show. To see the original post, which also spotlights the least marijuana-friendly states, click here.
• Marijuana affordability — average cost of high quality and low quality marijuana (source: PriceofWeed.com)
• Interest in Marijuana-Cannabis-related Google searches (source: Google Trends)
• Legal status of marijuana — recreational, medicinal, decriminalized, illegal (source: Drug Policy Alliance)
• Publicly expressed interest in Marijuana — Facebook interest in marijuana-themed publications — High Times, Cannabis Now Magazine, 420 Magazine, Cannabis Culture, SKUNK Magazine (source: Facebook user data)
10. ARIZONA
Wow, look who just barely slipped into the top-ten, a state more famous for its putting greens than its leafy greens. Even though recreational marijuana isn’t legal here like it is in Alaska (12th place), it does have medical marijuana available....
Marijuana users per capita: 39
Cannabis-related Google searches: 42
Legal status: 66
Publicly expressed interest in marijuana: 51
Affordability: 63
Total score: 260
9. VERMONT
First off, let’s get something straight—Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is not an advocate of legal weed across America. The Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate does support the right of states to fully legalize it, but his personal support only extends to medical marijuana and the decriminalization of recreational marijuana....
Marijuana users per capita: 90
Cannabis-related Google searches: 47
Legal status: 66
Publicly expressed interest in marijuana: 20
Affordability: 41
Total score: 265
8. CALIFORNIA
Would California be ranked higher if local rapper/producer Dr. Dre hadn’t flip flopped when it came to his stance on marijuana use? No, that wasn’t factored into this at all. California only ranks eighth because it has yet to legalize marijuana (medical marijuana is legal though)....
Marijuana users per capita: 43
Cannabis-related Google searches: 47
Legal status: 66
Publicly expressed interest in marijuana: 38
Affordability: 79
Total score: 274
7. RHODE ISLAND
Rhode Island would no doubt be ranked higher if the state’s enthusiasm wasn’t diluted by its enthusiasm for any and all illegal drugs. Still, there’s nothing little about Little Rhody’s enthusiasm for big green—10.8% report smoking in the previous month....
Marijuana users per capita: 84
Cannabis-related Google searches: 53
Legal status: 66
Publicly expressed interest in marijuana: 35
Affordability: 51
Total score: 289
6. MICHIGAN
You have to go all the way back to 2011 to find a year when Michigan was ranked this much higher than Ohio, but that was in football, not weed (University of Michigan ranked 12th, Ohio State University was unranked). Michigan tops Ohio (20th) in these ranking because medical marijuana is legal, as opposed to just decriminalized like in Ohio...
Marijuana users per capita: 56
Cannabis-related Google searches: 60
Legal status: 66
Publicly expressed interest in marijuana: 45
Affordability: 64
Total score: 291
Continue to keep counting down the ten states that love marijuana the most.
5. MAINE
This is going to shock a lot of people in Vermont, but Maine’s passion for pot is higher than its granola-fed neighbor to the southwest. While recreational marijuana remains illegal, medical marijuana is available to residents, although at prices that make Oregonians shudder (17th cheapest in the country)....
Marijuana users per capita: 85
Cannabis-related Google searches: 58
Legal status: 66
Publicly expressed interest in marijuana: 32
Affordability: 54
Total score: 294
4. NEW MEXICO
New Mexico is famous for being the setting of the TV series Breaking Bad, but marijuana is thankfully far more popular than meth with local residents. Medical marijuana is legal in the state, the prices are tied for 5th cheapest with Idaho (where you’ll got to jail for possession), and 7.19% of local residents are prone to rolling doobies in a van down by the river (or just ingesting marijuana in some way)....
Marijuana users per capita: 46
Cannabis-related Google searches: 42
Legal status: 66
Publicly expressed interest in marijuana: 100
Affordability: 72
Total score: 326
3. OREGON
Perhaps the reason Oregon only ranks only 17th in cannabis-related Google searches is because the state’s marijuana knowledge is more nuanced, more rooted in the past (1960s). Marijuana is both legal and plentiful in Oregon, and it’s also home to the cheapest weed in the country....
Marijuana users per capita: 79
Cannabis-related Google searches: 36
Legal status: 100
Publicly expressed interest in marijuana: 38
Affordability: 100
Total score: 353
2. WASHINGTON
Along with Colorado, The Evergreen State was the first legalize marijuana, a trend that quickly expanded to both Oregon and Alaska. Marijuana prices are the second cheapest in the country here, and it has the fifth highest percentage of pot smokers (9.94%). Its cannabis-related Google searches are the second highest nationally, but it strangely has the tenth lowest expressed interest on Facebook....
Marijuana users per capita: 81
Cannabis-related Google searches: 79
Legal status: 100
Publicly expressed interest in marijuana: 21
Affordability: 89
Total score: 370
1. COLORADO
We’re going to skip the obligatory “Rocky Mountain high” pun and get right to why Colorado is the nation’s top oasis for marijuana lovers. Recreational weed is legal in Colorado, and it has the most cannabis-related Google searches, the highest percentage of residents who smoked in the past month (11.45%), second most expressed interest in various marijuana publications on Facebook, and it’s affordably priced—third cheapest marijuana prices in the country....
Marijuana users per capita: 100
Cannabis-related Google searches: 100
Legal status: 100
Publicly expressed interest in marijuana: 57
Affordability: 85
Total score: 441
