Adult Marijuana Use Rates
Executive Summary
- 44.3% of all American adults have tried marijuana in their lifetime (National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2009).
- For the first time in 2009, there were over 100 million American adults who have tried marijuana in their lifetime.
- Over 25 million adults or 11.2% of all American adults used marijuana last year.
- Almost 15 million adults or 6.6% of all American adults used marijuana last month.
- The peak of American marijuana use was 1979, when 17.1% of adults used annually and 12.2% used monthly.
Adult Use of Marijuana from 1979-2009
Click chart for full-size version
How Many American Marijuana Consumers Are There?
There over 100 million adult Americans who have tried cannabis. That is a number that represents a very broad spectrum of cannabis user, from the guy in college who “experimented with marijuana a time or two -- and didn't like it -- and didn't inhale and never tried it again,” [1] to Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg.
Those 100 million include former cannabis consumers who gave it up and new cannabis consumers who have discovered its medical benefits. It includes the couple who like to relax on vacation with an anniversary spliff to the wake-and-bake dude who runs the comic book shop. The stereotypical movie “stoner” is the exception, not the rule. The “tie-dye and long hair” people see is just the visible tip of a demographic iceberg that looks a lot like America but stays hidden below the surface because cannabis is prohibited.
We like to look at the statistics for cannabis consumers (or “tokers” to abbreviate – see Cannabis Linguistics on page A) over the age of 18. Many government sources will cite survey numbers for ages 12 and older, but we advocate only for responsible use by adults and only supervised medical use for minors. Over 25 million US adults will consume cannabis this year and almost 15 million are monthly consumers. That represents 11.2% and 6.6% of all US adults, or, if you prefer, one out of nine American adults will consume cannabis this year and one out of sixteen will consume this month. There are over one million adults who will consume cannabis nearly daily, defined as those who consume 341 days or more per year (that works out to toking at least every day in a month except one or two.)
Marijuana Use Rates and Populations from 1979-2009
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Data mined from 1979-2009 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health.
| Year | Lifetime Users | Lifetime Pct | Annual Users | Annual Pct | Monthly Users | Monthly Pct |
| 1979 | 46,690,825 | 29.8% | 26,721,003 | 17.1% | 19,135,903 | 12.2% |
| 1982 | 51,330,810 | 31.3% | 27,375,920 | 16.7% | 17,930,731 | 10.9% |
| 1985 | 55,872,937 | 32.7% | 24,404,489 | 14.3% | 15,271,577 | 8.9% |
| 1988 | 62,231,724 | 34.9% | 18,553,908 | 10.4% | 10,320,096 | 5.8% |
| 1990 | 63,552,861 | 35.1% | 18,187,354 | 10.0% | 9,175,639 | 5.1% |
| 1991 | 64,758,540 | 35.4% | 17,207,872 | 9.4% | 8,847,005 | 4.8% |
| 1992 | 65,326,272 | 35.3% | 15,723,937 | 8.5% | 8,112,553 | 4.4% |
| 1993 | 67,441,358 | 36.3% | 16,437,142 | 8.8% | 7,948,869 | 4.3% |
| 1994 | 67,971,926 | 36.2% | 16,259,021 | 8.7% | 8,165,780 | 4.4% |
| 1995 | 61,938,903 | 32.7% | 14,609,440 | 7.7% | 8,014,396 | 4.2% |
| 1996 | 64,788,691 | 33.8% | 15,473,380 | 8.1% | 8,495,245 | 4.4% |
| 1997 | 66,855,623 | 34.5% | 15,889,913 | 8.2% | 8,992,690 | 4.6% |
| 1998 | 68,214,157 | 34.9% | 15,512,879 | 7.9% | 9,138,013 | 4.7% |
| 1999 | 71,911,060 | 36.3% | 15,796,848 | 8.0% | 8,782,850 | 4.4% |
| 2000 | 71,865,433 | 35.9% | 15,503,139 | 7.8% | 9,035,229 | 4.5% |
| 2001 | 78,682,167 | 38.9% | 17,503,397 | 8.7% | 10,232,923 | 5.1% |
| 2002 | 90,114,853 | 42.8% | 22,029,281 | 10.5% | 12,560,580 | 6.0% |
| 2003 | 91,500,802 | 43.0% | 21,781,924 | 10.2% | 12,783,365 | 6.0% |
| 2004 | 92,194,594 | 42.8% | 21,971,648 | 10.2% | 12,780,342 | 5.9% |
| 2005 | 92,940,465 | 42.7% | 22,073,461 | 10.1% | 12,829,112 | 5.9% |
| 2006 | 92,923,340 | 42.1% | 21,971,220 | 10.0% | 13,255,163 | 6.0% |
| 2007 | 95,905,735 | 43.1% | 21,992,859 | 9.9% | 12,715,897 | 5.7% |
| 2008 | 98,615,179 | 43.8% | 22,404,615 | 10.0% | 13,570,867 | 6.0% |
| 2009 | 100,760,270 | 44.3% | 25,369,687 | 11.2% | 14,988,933 | 6.6% |
Footnotes
[1] On Bill Clinton’s famous quote while campaigning for the presidency in 1992. Clinton, who once asked prosecutors what the definition of “is” is, may have parsed his words perfectly with his quote. Christopher Hitchens revealed in his memoir Hitch-22, in his remembrance of his time at Oxford with a young Bill Clinton, "He preferred, like many another marijuana enthusiasts, to take his dope in the form of large handfuls of cookies and brownies," said Hitchens. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/christopher-hitchens-bill_n_560696.html