Editor's Note: This article was updated on Nov. 1, 2024, with Â鶹´«Ã½AV's latest data on Americans' self-reported marijuana smoking.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Fifteen percent of Americans report they smoke marijuana, according to combined Â鶹´«Ã½AV data from 2023 and 2024. While not statistically different from the average of 14% in 2021-2022, it is consistent with the upward trend in recent years.
The percentage of U.S. adults who report they smoke marijuana has more than doubled since 2013, when Â鶹´«Ã½AV first added the question to its annual Consumption Habits survey. That year, 7% said they smoke it.
Marijuana use varies significantly by gender, age and other respondent characteristics:
- Men (17%) are more likely than women (11%) to say they smoke marijuana.
- Adults aged 55 and older (10%) are less likely to report using marijuana than are middle-aged (18%) and young (19%) adults.
- Smoking marijuana is more common among adults without a college degree (17%) than it is among college graduates (11%).
- Democrats (23%) are more than twice as likely as Republicans (10%) to report using marijuana, with independents’ rate (14%) falling between them.
- Regionally, the highest rates of marijuana usage are in the West (19%), Midwest (16%) and East (16%). It is lower in the South, where 11% report using it.
What Percentage of Americans Have Ever Tried Marijuana?
Â鶹´«Ã½AV asks a separate half-sample of respondents in its annual Consumption Habits survey if they have ever tried marijuana. The combined data for 2023 and 2024 puts this figure at 47%.
Â鶹´«Ã½AV’s trend on ever having tried marijuana shows that experimentation increased sharply in the first decade after the initial measure in 1969. Between then and 1977, it jumped 20 percentage points, from 4% to 24%. It rose another nine points by 1985, to 33%, but after that stalled at under 40% until 2015, when it ticked up to 44%. It has since increased slightly but remains below 50%.
Do Americans Support the Legalization of Marijuana?
Â鶹´«Ã½AV has also recorded a significant increase in the U.S. public’s support for the legalization of marijuana over the past six decades, rising from 12% in 1969 to a high of 70% in 2023, before leveling off at 68% this year.
Â鶹´«Ã½AV measures Americans' use of marijuana and tobacco as part of its annual Consumption Habits poll, one of 12 surveys that make up the .
Explore Â鶹´«Ã½AV articles about marijuana on our "Marijuana" topics page.
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