How Many Americans Smoke Weed? The Results are In!
The nationwide acceptance and use of cannabis in the United States are at an all-time high. This claim has been corroborated by the recently published results of the Gallup Survey.
Over the last twenty years, the cannabis culture in the country has changed drastically. It has gone from being a highly stigmatized plant and being banned in many states to a medically approved drug that has been decriminalized in several states. Marijuana has a large number of fans across the country, and the figure can only keep rising at this point.
Gallup Survey
The Gallup group decided to carry out this survey to get a picture of how much the country's culture has changed since cannabis became a widely-used product. Very few of the available statistics before this survey give recent numbers in the current cannabis use trend in the country.
The Gallup poll which was concluded recently shows that at least half of the United States population have tried cannabis. The poll also compared this figure to cigarette usage statistics. At least 15 percent of Americans smoke cigarettes and a high percentage of these users want to quit. 12 percent also said that they were regular users of cannabis.
This means that the rate of cannabis usage is almost, if not the same, as cigarette usage. An equal number of people who smoke cannabis also smoke cigarettes regularly.
Something Surprising
Who would have thought that the baby boomers and even the Generation Xers would be a part of the folks who now smoke cigarettes? Looking at the history of cannabis in the U.S, these folks are old enough to remember the point cannabis became unacceptable and cigarettes became the norm.
Back then, even TV shows and movies portrayed weeds as the bigger evil out of the two.
More statistics
About 50 percent of Americans above the age of 21 say they have tried cannabis according to the new survey. This means that the number has doubled what it was in 1977. To shed more light on this, cannabis usage statistics in America shows that 20 percent of American adults tried weed in 1977, in 1985 the number stood at 30 percent, and it was around 40 percent in 2015.
A new survey also shows categorically that cannabis users have been increasing since the late 1900s. However, it also clarifies that while new users have been trying the drug, the number of regular cannabis smokers has remained the same all through the years. Since the 1970s, 11-13 percent of American adults have admitted to being regular smokers of marijuana. The lowest figure was observed in 2013 when less than 8% of American adults said they regularly smoke cannabis.
These figures are on the same page as the recent Gallup polls. The published results of the poll show that about 68 percent of American Adults support the decriminalization and legalization of cannabis in their states. An independent survey carried out early this year disclosed that 70 percent of Americans were not morally averse to using cannabis.
The Younger American Generation are More Inclined To Smoke Weed
The polls show that cannabis use in the older generation, the traditionalist group especially, is low. Gallup classified people born before 1945 as traditionalists. This group is averse to cannabis use. Only 19 percent of the total traditionalists say they have tried smoking pot a few times in their seventy-plus years of living.
On the other hand, the other three generations after this group have tried cannabis several times, and make up a huge percentage of the total regular users of cannabis.
At least 50% of the baby boomers have tried cannabis at a point, 49% of Generation Xers and more than half of the Millennial population have tried cannabis.
According to Gallups report, there has been no noticeable increase in the percentage of Baby boomers and Generation Xers who have tried marijuana since the 1980s and 1990s. However, these figures have been used to replace the number lost to the death of older members of the traditionalist generation.
Generation Z was not included in the survey, because they are still quite young with the oldest members in the group being 24.
Regular users of cannabis
As expected the group that topped the regular smokers of cannabis were the youngest, the millennials. The percentage of traditionalists that use cannabis regularly peaked at 1 percent, the baby boomers came next at 9 percent. Generation Xers are the second-highest consumers of weed at 11 percent, while above 20 percent of Millenials smoke cannabis regularly.
The poll also differentiated cannabis users based on their genders, religion, and educational level.
Based on gender
More men smoke weed across the United States. Women are just starting to adopt cannabis. For now, 16 percent of American adults smoke marijuana compared to 9 percent of women that do the same.
Based on religious practices
Just 3 percent of Americans who go to their religious place of worship weekly smoke cannabis, while 6 percent of monthly attendees say they smoke cannabis.
Over 19 percent of Americans who rarely or never go for religious services say they smoke cannabis regularly.
Based on Political affiliations
Liberals smoke more cannabis.
Only 6 percent of conservatives admitted to being regular users of marijuana, on the other hand, about 22 percent of liberals admitted the same. This does not come as a surprise because liberals have always been more supportive of cannabis reforms.
Based on Educational level
According to the survey, the lesser the educational attainment, the more the rate of marijuana usage. 14 percent of American adults with bachelor's degrees, diplomas or less say they smoke cannabis; that number remained at 5 percent for individuals with a postgraduate degree.
Bottom Line
Smoking is most common among the younger generations, and it is expected that generation Z will increase the total tally when a new study is carried out.
The current statistics is the highest ever obtained to date.
The Gallup poll used to collate this data was conducted between July 6 and 21 of this year.
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