Gallup poll finds marijuana use has climbed higher than cigarettes

A recent Gallup poll, which was released in 16 August, has shown that more Americans are smoking marijuana than cigarettes for the first time ever. The poll also showed that the overall use of marijuana has reached a record high with usage jumping by a 3rd in one year.

Of all the Americans polled, 16% said they smoke marijuana while 11% said they smoke tobacco cigarettes. 50% of those polled also said they had tried marijuana at some point in their life, this is compared to only 4% who gave the same answer in 1969. In the 1969 poll, 40% of Americans said they had smoked cigarettes in the last week.

Smoking tobacco can often lead to lung cancer and is extremely addictive. According to the CDC, around 500,000 people die each year from smoke inhalation (this includes deaths from secondhand smoke).

The decline in adult smoking is often attributed to government-funded anti-smoking campaigns along with tobacco taxes and mandatory health warnings.

In 1985,’Minnesota became the first state to implement a large state funded tobacco control programme. This was, however, dismantled less than a decade later, despite studies finding it effective.

“Smoking cigarettes is clearly on the decline and is most likely to become even more of a rarity in the years ahead,” Gallup senior scientist Dr. Frank Newport said. “This reflects both public awareness of its negative effects and continuing government efforts at all levels to curtail its use.”

Americans’ views on the effects of marijuana are not as negative as those of cigarettes with 62% of adults aged between 18-34 and 53% of those aged between 35-54 saying that marijuana has positive effects on those who use it, according to another Gallup poll conducted in July. 49% of respondents said marijuana has a positive effect on society. Marijuana’s availability is improving as it is now legal in some form in 38 states.