More Americans Smoking Marijuana Than Tobacco

The use of cannabis in the United States is at an all-time high, with more Americans smoking marijuana than tobacco, according to a recent Gallup poll conducted from July 5 through July 26 and released on August 16.

Sixteen percent of those surveyed said that they smoke marijuana, up from 12 percent in a similar poll only one year ago.

By contrast, only 11 percent said that they had smoked a tobacco cigarette in the previous week in a separate poll published in July. That figure was down from a year ago when 16 percent said that they had smoked a cigarette in the past week and a significant decrease from the peak in the 1950s, when 45 percent of adults polled said that they were smokers.

The share of those who said they smoke marijuana was the highest since Gallup began asking the question in 2013, while the percentage 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 percent) of U.S. adults say they have tried marijuana at some time in their lives, up from only 4 percent in 1969, when Gallup first started surveying rates of lifetime marijuana use. The same year, 40 percent of Americans said that they had smoked a cigarette in the past week.

Despite the growing popularity of marijuana, Americans are split on the effect cannabis has on society. Half of those surveyed think marijuana has an overall negative effect, while 48 percent said that marijuana’s effect on society is positive in the most recent Gallup marijuana poll.

The Gallup poll surveyed 1,013 U.S. adults.