Marijuana Smokers Doubled in Three Years

A Gallup survey showed that the number of adult marijuana smokers has almost doubled in the last few years.

The interviews took place between the 13^th and 17^th of July, and the adult respondents were selected from every state across the US and the District of Columbia. The total number of participants in the survey was over 1,000.

While in 2013, only 7% of adults declared they smoked pot, the results of this year’s survey showed that the percentage rose to 13%.

Moreover, the percentage of Americans who tried marijuana at least once increase to 43%, while in 2013 it was only 38%.

At this moment, recreational marijuana is legal in Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Colorado and the District of Columbia, and medical marijuana is legal in half of the US states. Four other states will decide in November if they will approve medical marijuana laws.

The survey showed that pot consumption was influenced by religiousness and age. Therefore, one in five adults that have an age under 30 is a marijuana smoker, while in the other age groups the percentage remained to one in 10 people who were using cannabis.

The more interesting thing is that the number of young adults that have ever tried marijuana is lower than the number of seniors who did so. Between the ages of 30 and 64, almost half of the respondents declared they tried pot at least once, while only 38% of the people under the age of 30 said they tried to use cannabis.

The researchers still analyze if the difference in percentages is caused by the fact that attitudes towards pot had changed over the years, and young people are not that interested in marijuana. A second explanation depends strictly on the fact that older respondents had a longer time to try the drug, and it’s just a matter of numbers and time.

On the other hand, the respondents who said they went to church every week were less likely to smoke pot. Only 2% of churchgoers were using marijuana, while 14% of people who rarely attended church were currently pot smokers.

Another trend in marijuana use is one geographical. The adults in the western part of the US are more open to admitting they smoke cannabis on a regular basis, while the adults in the eastern and the southern US and those from the Midwest are not that readily declaring their habits.

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