According to a new Gallup Poll released on August 16th, more Americans are smoking marijuana than tobacco. This poll also found that the overall usage of cannabis within the United States is at an all time high, jumping more than a third in one year.
Within the poll, pollsters asked multiple different participants of all backgrounds whether they smoked cigarettes or marijuana within the last week. 16% of those who answered said they have smoked marijuana within the last 7 days while only 12% said they have smoked tobacco in the same period. This poll shows a drastic decrease in cigarette consumption since the record high in the 50s where roughly 45% of adults claimed to have smoked cigarettes consistently.
This poll also set a record for Gallup, recording the highest amount of people saying they have smoked marijuana within the last week. According to Forbes, “the portion of those who said they smoked a tobacco cigarette in the previous week was the lowest recorded since the public opinion analytics company began keeping track of smokers in 1944. Nearly half (48%) of U.S. adults say they have tried marijuana at some time in their lives, up from only 4% in 1969, when Gallup first started surveying rates of lifetime marijuana use.” (Forbes, 2022).
Cannabis consumption is expected to rise consistently as more states within the US legalize the drug. With 38 states allowing some form of cannabis consumption and another 6 on the way, Gallup predicts larger percentages of Americans consuming cannabis regularly.
Multiple other statistics were gathered in the poll too including cannabis consumption rates at certain age groups. ~33% of those under 35 said they smoke marijuana while only 16% smoke cannabis between the ages of 35-55. Americans older than 55 smoke marijuana at roughly 8%.
Read the unedited Forbes article here.
