Cannabis use for both recreational and medical purposes continues to become more normalized within the United States, with growing public acceptance. New data from CivicScience, published last week, shows that cannabis acceptance continues to grow and now has majority support across most demographics.
Currently, 39% of U.S. adults use cannabis, excluding those who prefer not to answer. Most cannabis users consume at least once monthly, with 15% of adults reporting daily usage. The younger generation, particularly Gen Z adults aged 18-24, are the biggest users of cannabis, with almost 60% reporting monthly usage.
The term “cannabis” encompasses all cannabinoid products, including marijuana and non-psychoactive CBD oil.
While traditional smoking methods remain the most popular way to consume cannabis, edibles have consistently grown in popularity, overtaking vape pens as the second most popular method after Q1 2023.
Vaping has been trending downward, falling from 28% in late 2021 to 25% of cannabis users today. However, vaping remains the most popular method among younger adults, with 36% of Gen Z users stating that they are most likely to vape cannabis.
Support for the legalization and regulation of marijuana has reached a high point, with 64% of U.S. adults in favor of legalization/regulation as of April, marking the highest back-to-back monthly average seen in all of 2022.
Only 25% of the adult population opposes legalizing marijuana.
Support is highest in the Midwest and West with 65% in favor and only 24% against.
While medical marijuana use has gained traction in both legality and awareness in recent years, of individuals or households with access to medical marijuana, only 11% have an active medical marijuana card. While the majority of adults, 78%, report they are not interested in using medical marijuana, a saturation of over 10% is a huge boon for the cannabis industry as a whole.
While the trends for consumption methods continue to shift trends in how people choose to use cannabis, they do not appear to be detracting from the overall share of users. The majority of U.S. adults favor legalization and regulation, and more people are viewing marijuana favorably for medical use.
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