Gallup Survey Reveals Growing Cannabis Acceptance

The latest Gallup survey has found that half of US citizens have tried cannabis at least once, representing a consistent rise over the past quarter-century. Usage is highest among adults aged 18 to 34. However, while concerns about cannabis acceptance having an impact on adult users are relatively low, some have concerns about its effect on teenagers and young adult regular users.

A recent Gallup survey has revealed that half of the US citizens (50%) said they had tried cannabis at least once in their life, setting a new record that has been consistently rising for the past quarter-century.

Although not significantly different from 49% and 48% in 2021 and 2022, the new figure is statistically higher than the 45% in the previous (2019) survey, when respondents claimed to have tried cannabis.

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Gallup Survey Reveals Record Shift in Attitudes

In response to a separate survey aiming to investigate current behavior, roughly one in six Americans (17%) claims they regularly “smoke cannabis.” This is also a new record in Gallup’s research since 2003, though similar to the 16% reported last year. These results come from Gallup’s annual survey on consumption habits conducted from July 3 to 27.

The proportion of Americans smoking cannabis has more than doubled since 2013, when Gallup first posed this question in its survey. At that time, 7% claimed they did.

According to the survey, between 1969 and 1977, the number of Americans using cannabis rose by 20 percentage points, from 4% to 24%. It increased another nine points to 33% by 1985 but then stalled below 40% until 2015, when it rose to 44%. It remained at that level until 2019 but then increased to 49% in 2021, where it roughly stands today.

Survey Finds Increased Support for Cannabis Legalization

During the same period, the Gallup survey recorded a significant increase in societal support in the US for the legalization of cannabis, which rose from 12% in 1969 to 68% currently.

Current Cannabis Use Highest Among Young Adults

In almost all age groups, regardless of gender and education, roughly half of adult Americans have experimented with cannabis, according to recent survey data (2022 and 2023).

As previously reported by Gallup, current usage is highest among adults aged 18 to 34. This group is more than three times as likely to use cannabis (29%) than adults aged 55 and older (9%).

Current usage among adults aged 35-54 (17%) matches the national average. Meanwhile, adults without higher education are about twice as likely to use cannabis than college graduates according to the survey.

Concerns About Cannabis Impact on Teens and Young Adults

Americans who partook in the survey tended to express a low level of concern regarding the impact of cannabis on adult users. Most say they are “not very” (32%) or “not at all concerned” (23%), while less than half say they are “very” (19%) or “somewhat concerned” (26%).

Americans, however, express concerns more frequently about the impact of cannabis on teenagers or young adults who are regular users. Three out of four Americans in the survey say they are very (40%) or somewhat concerned (35%).

As cannabis becomes increasingly accessible to Americans and legal in a growing number of states, its consumption also rises. Now half of the United States has tried it at least once in their life, while the other half claims they never did. The survey shows experimentation with cannabis in most subgroups is on par with the national average, but the current usage rate varies more – and is highest among young adults.

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(Featured image courtesy of Lukas via Pexels)

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