The percentage of respondents to a Gallup poll saying they smoked cannabis was at its highest point since Gallup started asking the question in 2013.
For the first time ever, more people in the US are smoking cannabis than tobacco cigarettes.
A new annual Gallup consumption survey conducted July 5-26, 2022 reported that 16% of Americans currently smoke cannabis, an increase from the 12% reported in a similar poll last year and the 7% reported in 2019. Forty-eight percent said they have tried cannabis over their lifetime. On the other hand, 11% of American said they smoke cigarettes. This number was lower than a year before when 16% of people surveyed said they had smoked a cigarette in the previous week. It also marked a substantial decline from the high in the 1950s when 45% of respondents reported being smokers.
The percentage of respondents who said they smoked cannabis was at its highest point since Gallup started asking the question in 2013, while the percentage of respondents who said they had smoked a tobacco cigarette in the previous week was at its lowest point since the company started tracking smokers in 1944.
Another Gallup poll in July found that 49% of Americans believe cannabis has a positive effect on society and 50% found it to be negative. However, 53% think cannabis has a positive effect on people who use it, with 45% thinking it has a negative effect. The poll also reported that 68% of Americans think cannabis should be legalized.
With nearly a third of adults under the age of 35 reporting that they smoke cannabis, young Americans are smoking cannabis at the highest rate. Only 10% of people aged 55 and older reported smoking cannabis, compared to 16% of those in the 35 to 54 age group who said they used cannabis. In comparison, only 8% of young adults reported smoking a tobacco cigarette in the week prior, compared to 10% of Americans aged 35 to 54 and 14% of older Americans.