Marijuana use is on the rise, active use almost doubling in three years, and 43 percent of Americans have at least tried the drug, representing a steady increase from 4 percent in 1969, according to Gallup's Consumption Habits poll in mid-July. Gallup tweeted that at least 13 percent of adults are current users.
Five states will vote on whether to legalize recreational marijuana use in November, despite federal law prohibiting the drug.
Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon have already legalized it — the latter two since 2013 — and half of U.S. states have some variation of legal medicinal use on their books. An additional four states will have medicinal marijuana on this November's ballot.
Eric Levitz of New York magazine estimated 33 million Americans are active pot smokers, compared to 40 million of legal tobacco cigarettes, writing "it may not be long before there are more pot tokers than tobacco smokers."
"There may actually be some benefits to the increased prevalence of marijuana use," Levitz added. "If a significant number of new weed users are substituting cannabis for opioid painkillers or alcohol, then their new habits might represent a net win for public health: Some studies have linked the availability of legal marijuana with decreases in opiate overdoses and traffic fatalities."
Support for legalizing marijuana use has been fairly strong and Gallup reported in October 2015 that 58 percent of Americans backed the movement to legalize it.
Its use is most prevalent with men (12 percent) vs. women (7 percent) and young males 18 to 29 years old (19 percent), per the July 2016 survey. The survey results also reported that 14 percent of users said they rarely go to church, while only 2 percent said the went.
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