Since December 1, 2013, one month before Colorado’s recreational pot shops opened for business, 12 of the 50 top origins for flights to Denver saw an increase of at least 25% in flight search traffic.
It seems that Minnesotans really want what Colorado has: legalized recreational marijuana. According to research by hopper.com, searches for flights from Minneapolis to Denver are up a whopping 58% during this time, second only to Nashville, Tennessee.
Legal Weed is the Only Explanation
The researchers tried to examine all factors which may have lead to the increase (ski season, football, etc.) but none of the data could account for such a large jump in the numbers. Patrick Surry, the chief data scientist at Hopper noted, “it doesn’t seem as though [the increased Denver traffic] is a seasonal thing. It doesn’t match the pattern of demand you see for ski vacations. People are planning ski vacations earlier.”
“…demand has been going up. It started at the same time the news cycle was going on about marijuana legalization,” Surry said. “It seems like a pretty good case could be made that weed is the real draw.”
Um, we’re pretty sure that they have drawn the correct conclusion.
