A majority of U.S. adults, 68%, think marijuana should be legal. Despite this, Americans are evenly split in their views about marijuana's effect on society, with 49% considering it positive and 50% negative.
These are some of the findings of a new Gallup Consumption survey, taken July 5-26.
Similar to recent years, nearly half of U.S. adults, 48%, report that they have tried marijuana, according to Gallup. The rate was 4% when Gallup first asked about it in 1969, rose to 24% by 1977, 33% in 1985, and had crossed the 40% threshold by 2015.
Far fewer Americans say they currently smoke marijuana than have tried it. The 16% now reporting smoking it is the highest Gallup has recorded, although not by a statistically significant margin over last year's 12%.
Current marijuana smokers tend to be young.
The highest users are adults 18 to 34, with 30% of this group saying they smoke marijuana and 22% consuming edibles. These figures drop to 16% each for adults 35 to 54 and 7% each for those 55 and older.
Men are more likely than women to say they have tried marijuana (53% to 42%), and 18% of men currently smoke marijuana compared to 14% of women.
Those with a college degree are about as likely as those with no college education to have ever tried it or to use it currently.
The Gallup Poll found 14% consume marijuana edibles. The vast majority of these people are also marijuana smokers, but not all marijuana smokers consume edibles — just over half, 57%, say they do. By contrast, 5% of marijuana nonsmokers consume them.
Younger adults are more likely than other age groups to think marijuana has a positive effect on society; 62% of adults aged 18-34 and 53% of those 35-54 say that. This contrasts with 37% of adults 55 and older who think it has a good effect on society.
Democrats and independents are more likely than older adults and Republicans to think marijuana is beneficial to society. Republicans are less likely to smoke or eat it, or to have ever tried it compared to Democrats and independents.
The majority of Democrats (60%) think marijuana's effects on society are positive, while the majority of Republicans think they are negative (64%), and independents are split at 49% each.
The majority of those who have never tried marijuana think its effects are negative.
Americans see marijuana far more positively than they do alcohol. Gallup finds 3 in 4 adults believe alcohol negatively affects society and 71% think it is harmful to drinkers.
Marijuana is considered a Schedule I controlled substance under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, putting federal law out of step with 38 states that have now legalized marijuana for medical purposes, including 19 that permit it for recreational use. The federal government still lists marijuana as a dangerous and addictive drug.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has introduced a bill aimed at lifting the federal prohibition on marijuana. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act would decriminalize marijuana on a federal level and permit states to set their own laws without fear of punishment from Washington.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.