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Ten years ago this November, Oregon became the fourth state to legalize recreational marijuana. If it feels like that watershed decision happened eons ago, blame the ensuing lightning-speed cultural shift: Over the past decade, the state has adjusted to a brand new economy, complete with proliferating dispensaries, odiferous disputes, and a lifestyle driven, in part, by the consumption of THC. 

The Results of Legalization 

Legalization had more or less the expected effect: Increasing numbers of Oregon adults began regularly using, and spending money on, marijuana. Oregon gained hundreds of recreational dispensaries. Sales grew from $14.4 million in 2016 to $1.2 billion at the market’s peak in 2021, though oversupply has put a considerable dent in those numbers in recent years.  

As THC consumption becomes quotidian in Oregon, so too have creative business ventures capitalizing on the weed boom and changing the way we consume THC: 

• PotMates and other local dispensaries deliver weed to customers’ doorsteps. 

• Local nail artist Nomsternailz offers cannabis-friendly mani-pedis in the form of CBD-infused spa treatments—or by letting clients freely partake in the comfort of their own home. 

• Yoga Shala invites students to get stoned in yoga class: “While in downward-facing dog, I wonder what kind of pizza would taste best dipped in applesauce,” Portland Monthly senior editor Rebecca Jacobson writes. 

• The Portlandia Experience guides visitors through Portland on weed-focused sight-seeing tours, featuring dispensaries and food carts. (Insert Homer Simpson Drooling GIF here.) 

Legalization had other, less expected side effects, too: Research from Oregon State University shows that not only did college students smoke more weed in states that had legalized it, but that they actually binge drank less than their peers in other states.  

How Oregon Consumes THC 

The simple act of consuming marijuana has also changed in the years since legalization—these aren’t your mom’s pot brownies. Here are Oregon’s preferred methods of THC consumption in order of popularity. 

• Flower: While vapes are quickly closing in, smokable buds still hold the crown for Oregon’s most popular consumable THC product. 

• Vape: With the rise of the e-cigarette has come the rise of the THC vape, a device that heats cannabis products without burning them. Research into the health effects of vaping, marijuana and otherwise, remains spotty. 

• Extract: A concentrate often consumed by dabbing—and rarely consumed by first-timers, thanks to the often complicated setup and high-THC results. 

• Edible: In 2022, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Board gave producers the go-ahead on more potent THC-infused snacks, like gummies and chocolate bars, lifting the lid from 50mg of THC per package and 5mg of THC per serving to 100mg of THC per package and 10mg of THC per serving. Cannabis website Leafly says of a 10–15mg THC dose: “New users may feel overwhelmed.” 

• Pre-Roll: A beginner-friendly, ready-made joint. 

• Tincture: Versatile cannabis extracts delivered in liquid form and consumed orally, sublingually, or topically. 

The Future of THC Consumption in Oregon 

Recreational marijuana sales fell below $1 billion in 2022, and even further in 2023. What does the decrease mean for the future of marijuana use in Oregon? Simply put, the state grew too much weed, and prices plummeted. As for what Axios calls “wavering demand”? Maybe our post-pandemic return to a less crisis-driven level of consumption has something to do with it. Or maybe Oregon has adjusted to this new normal at last.