The Cannabis Wellness Traveler Is Already Here

I came across some research recently that put a name to something I’ve been seeing for years on the farm.

Not a Cannabis Tourist

The cannabis wellness guest is already here. They’re checking into beautiful hotels, booking spa weekends, celebrating milestone birthdays — and they may never call themselves a cannabis tourist.

They’re not visiting a dispensary. They’re not choosing a destination because adult use is legal there. They might choose a low-dose beverage as part of an evening ritual, or a topical as part of an evening routine.

Their interest isn’t cannabis culture. It’s how they want to feel.

What the Numbers Say

In 2024, the University of Michigan asked more than 3,300 adults between the ages of 50 and 101 about cannabis. Twenty-one percent had used it in the past year. Their reasons tell the real story: 81 percent said relaxation, 68 percent said sleep, 63 percent said pain relief. Nearly three-quarters had tried edibles or beverages — the approachable stuff, not the strongest thing on the shelf.

To me, that sounds exactly like the guests I meet. Experienced enough to know what they don’t want. More interested in rest and predictability than potency. The returning 55-year-old. The professional unwinding without losing clarity. The person trading an evening glass of wine for something gentler.

They’re not looking for the strongest product. They’re looking for an experience they can understand, control, and trust.

Trust Is the Whole Game

That’s something the research keeps circling back to, and it matches everything I’ve learned in hospitality. A legal product isn’t automatically a comfortable experience. How something is described, the setting it’s offered in, whether a guest feels safe asking questions — all of that shapes whether someone wants to participate at all.

You don’t need to be an expert. Curiosity is enough. But you do need to feel at ease.

Why the Farm Visit Works

And honestly? That’s the whole reason the farm visit works the way it does.

Nobody stands next to a living cannabis plant, shakes the farmer’s hand, and hears how it was grown without understanding it a little better. It stops being a mystery in a package. It has a place, a farmer, and a story — and that makes it approachable in a way nothing else quite does.

The research doesn’t create this guest. They’ve been here all along, developing in plain sight. The question was never whether they exist. It’s whether the experience offered to them is worthy of their trust.

I’d like to think a walk through the garden is a good place to start.

If you would like to experience this side of Northern California personally, you can begin planning a private cannabis farm experience or review our frequently asked questions.