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Half of Americans (50%) say they have tried marijuana at some time, a new high point for this behavior that has been inching up over the past quarter century. While essentially unchanged from the 49% and 48% readings in 2021 and 2022, respectively, the new figure is statistically higher than the 45% in 2017 and 2019 who said they had tried marijuana.
In answer to a separate question intended to measure current behavior, about one in six Americans (17%) say they “smoke marijuana.” This is also a new high in Gallup’s trend since 2003, albeit similar to the 16% recorded a year ago.
These findings are from Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits survey, conducted July 3-27.
The proportion of Americans who say they smoke marijuana has more than doubled since 2013, when Gallup first asked the question. That year, 7% said they did.
Gallup’s much longer trend on ever having tried marijuana shows that experimentation increased sharply in the first decade after the initial measure. Between 1969 and 1977, it jumped 20 percentage points, from 4% to 24%. It rose another nine points, to 33%, by 1985, but thereafter stalled at under 40% until 2015, when it ticked up to 44%. It remained at about that level through 2019 but then rose to 49% in 2021, roughly where it is today.
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