Who Is The Largest Demographic Of Cannabis Users In The U.S.?

Ask any millennial, and they will tell you that cannabis is very much in vogue. In fact, young marijuana users are one of the most well-represented demographic groups in the United States, with 18 to 29-year-olds being the largest group of current smokers. The most recent figures from a national survey conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported that approximately 9.5 percent of Americans use marijuana.

Describing this rapidly growing trend, the NIDA noted that more than 22 million Americans aged 12 or older had smoked marijuana within 30 days of the survey, while more than 14 million had used it within the last 12 months. The highest frequency of use was reported by those between 18 and 29, who were categorized as current marijuana users if they had smoked pot within the past month.

Similar findings have been published by other professional organizations, such as Quest Diagnostics, which published a study that found that almost half of all teenagers and young adults in America smoke marijuana regularly. This finding is no surprise since most states have recently legalized either medical or recreational use of cannabis to varying degrees. However, even though senior citizens are less likely to smoke recreational cannabis, they are more likely to become patients for medical purposes. In Oregon, for example, one of the first states to legalize recreational cannabis, people over 55 accounted for more than a third of all registered medical marijuana patients in 2018.