Recent Poll Reveals that a Record Number of Adult Americans Have Tried Cannabis

A July Gallup Consumption Habits poll has found that 49% of US adults have tried marijuana, the highest number measured by the analytics company to date. The poll, which has measured consumption patterns for more than fifty years, has seen cannabis consumption rise steadily over the decades. Just 4% of US adults revealed that they had tried the drug in 1969.

Generational patterns can help to account for the increase in marijuana experimentation over the years. For example, older Americans born before 1945, whom Gallup refers to as “traditionalists”, are far less likely to have tried cannabis than individuals in other birth cohorts.

According to Gallup, approximately 51% of millennials have experimented with marijuana, 50% of baby boomers, and 49% of Generation Xers. Gallup believes the findings of this poll may mark an upper limit, and it seems “unlikely” this proportion will rise in future years. The cannabis experimentation habits of Gen Z will influence this trajectory.

A significantly smaller proportion– 12%—of the 1,007 US adults interviewed by Gallup said they “smoke marijuana” on a more regular basis. According to the company, this figure has held “steady in recent years.”

More men (16%) said they smoked cannabis than women (9%). Individuals who seldom or never attend religious services (19%) reported smoking at a higher rate than those who attend church frequently (3%). Political leanings were also linked to differences in cannabis use: 7% of Republicans and 6% of conservatives reported using cannabis. Democrats (15%) and liberals (22%) were far more likely to use the plant.