That most of the homeless survey respondents were here before legal weed is interesting in and of itself. But what about the homeless transplants who arrived in Colorado after legalization? Did those newcomers come to the Centennial State on a quest for ganja?

The short answer is no; the study found no significant difference in cannabis being a draw for homeless vs. non-homeless transplants. The report's authors note that a 14 percent difference — with homeless respondents more often citing marijuana as a motivation for moving to Colorado — was not a wide enough margin to qualify as statistically significant with a survey size of 507 participants. Both homeless and non-homeless respondents reported that marijuana ranked as their third most important motivation (behind “getting away from a problem” and moving for family). Below is the survey data:



Homeless respondents who had been in Colorado before legalization in 2012 listed marijuana as the sixth most important reason for staying in the state.

“What we've learned is that homeless individuals have been coming to Colorado since before legalization of marijuana, driven by a combination of push-and-pull factors. They are fleeing problems and coming here for family, jobs, friends,- and, in some cases, for legal marijuana," says Stan Hilkey, executive director of the Department of Public Safety.