The people have spoken: Americans are now choosing weed over cigarettes.
According to the latest Gallup poll — one of the gold standards of public surveys — 16% of Americans said they toke cannabis on the regular.
Meanwhile, only 11% of Americans said they smoke cigarettes, a record low since Gallup began its consumption survey. In the mid-1950s, a whopping 45% of Americans said they smoked tobacco.
This year’s poll was also the first to ask participants if they consumed cannabis-infused edibles, as well. Weed edibles also beat out cigarettes, with 14% of respondents saying they preferred the likes of THC-laden gummies, drinks, and chocolates over cancer sticks.
However, one intoxicant beat all the others: Alcohol. According to the Gallup survey, 45% of Americans said they had a drink sometime within the past week, while 23% said they drink “occasionally.”
The rise in weed’s popularity should come as no surprise. In 2019, a Gallup poll predicted today’s recent findings, when Americans would begin consuming more cannabis than they do tobacco. That same year, a Nielsen study found three major US cities were already toking more pot than they were cigarettes: Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon.
So, what gives? In regard to cigarettes, the survey found that most Americans abstain from tobacco because of its negative effects on health, whereas people don’t perceive smoking cannabis to be as harmful.
Unfortunately, the number of alcohol drinkers ticked up slightly over the years. Gallup wrote that the average percentage of Americans who regularly drank is typically around 63%, though this year it hovered closer to 67%.
We’ll credit the uptick in getting drunk to, well, the entire past two years.
In the meantime, we at MERRY JANE await the day cannabis consumption surpasses both tobacco and alcohol use. With the continual mainstream acceptance of cannabis, we may live to see that day. (Especially if we don’t smoke cigarettes….)
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