A new poll has found that exactly 50% of Americans have tried marijuana at some point in their life, a number that has continued to grow in recent decades as the push to decriminalize the substance has become more common.
The poll from Gallup showed that half of Americans have tried the drug for the first time in the poll’s history. In 2021 (49%) and 2022 (48%), the numbers weren’t far off, but the 50% mark is an increase from 2017 when 45% reported trying the substance.
The pollsters also looked to better understand the habits of Americans using marijuana, and the poll found that 17% say they “smoke marijuana,” which is also a new high in Gallup’s poll’s history. However, last year, the number was similar, coming in at 16%.
The number of Americans who smoke marijuana has more than doubled since 2013 when only 7% said they did. 2013 was the first time Gallup asked the question in its annual Consumption Habits survey.
When Gallup started asking Americans about their marijuana habits in 1969, only 4% said they had tried pot. In less than a decade, that number rose 20 percentage points to 24%. By 1985 that number was 33%.
However, it wasn’t until 2015 that the number finally broke 40%, when it hit 44%. It remained at that level until 2019 when it saw another boost at the turn of the decade.
Support for the legalization of weed has also grown with the number of people who have reported using the drug. In 1969 Gallup found that only 12% supported legalizing the substance, but today, that number sits at 68%.
When it comes to political parties, Democrats (57%) were most likely to have tried the substance, followed by independents (52%) and then Republicans (39%).
Age also plays a crucial factor in whether or not Americans have tried the substance, as 29% of those aged 18 to 34 had reported trying weed, while only 9% of those 55 and older did. For the middle group, 17% of adults aged 35-54 have tried pot.
The survey was conducted from July 3-27.
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