Adult marijuana use increasing in US, two studies show

Some fundamentally good news for the American cannabis industry: Adult marijuana use is steadily increasing.

That’s according to findings from two different studies – the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and a report from the Public Health Institute.

The National Survey found that, in 2016:
  • Nearly 21% of U.S. residents between the ages of 18 and 25 used cannabis at least monthly.
  • Among adults 26-34, monthly consumers made up almost 15% of the general public.

Those numbers are the highest rates of marijuana use since 1985, The Washington Post reported.

According to Newsweek, the Public Health Institute’s study found that:

  • Cannabis consumption among women “almost doubled between 1984 and 2015, from 5.5% of adults to 10.6%.”
  • 14.7% more men have been using cannabis since 2000.
  • Overall, just under 13% of American adults have tried cannabis since 2015, which is up from 6.7% 10 years ago.

The takeaway seems to be that cannabis still has a long way to go before it’s realistically competing with alcohol as America’s drug of choice, but its overall popularity is on the rise.