More Americans Smoke Weed Than Ever, While Cigarettes Hit a Record Low

Cannabis just hit a milestone that would have been unthinkable a generation ago. More U.S. adults now smoke weed than at any point Gallup has ever measured, and cigarette smoking has fallen to an all-time low. The plant is winning the culture war one habit at a time.

Gallup published the new numbers on Monday, and they tell a clear story. Here's where things stand:

• 17% of American adults now smoke cannabis. That's more than double the 7% who said the same when Gallup first asked back in 2013.
• 15% of adults eat marijuana edibles.
• 11% smoked a tobacco cigarette in the past week, the lowest Gallup has ever recorded.
• 9% vaped nicotine in the past seven days, and just 4% used nicotine pouches.

Look at those top two lines next to each other. More Americans are now smoking weed than smoking cigarettes. That's a full reversal of how this country looked for most of the last century.

Who's using, and how

The habit skews toward a specific age band. Adults between 30 and 49 lead the pack, with 25% saying they smoke cannabis. The 18-to-29 crowd isn't far behind at 23%. There's also a gender split worth noting from their data. Men are more likely than women to smoke weed, but women are more likely to reach for an edible.

The catch: Americans are split on whether it's good for you

Now for the part the celebration headlines tend to skip. When Gallup asked how cannabis affects most people who use it, the country basically split down the middle. About 47% said the effect is positive. Another 46% said it's negative. So even as use climbs to record highs, nearly half of Americans still think weed does more harm than good.

The politics tell a similar cautionary tale. A separate Gallup poll last year found that a majority still support legalization, but that support slipped from the year before, and the drop was driven by Republicans souring on it. Overall backing for ending prohibition sat at 64%, down four points. Republican support fell 13 points to just 40%, the lowest that group has shown in a decade.

The trend lines still favor cannabis

Zoom out and the direction everything is heading is hard to miss. Federal survey data has already shown that more Americans use weed than smoke cigarettes, and that daily cannabis use now outpaces daily drinking and daily cigarette smoking. A study this month even found that people who drink THC beverages tend to cut back on alcohol.

And here's the number that quietly demolishes one of prohibition's favorite arguments. Teen use has actually gone down, not up, since states started legalizing. The 2025 federal survey found that 8.7% of kids aged 12 to 17 used cannabis in the past year. Back in 2011, before any state legalized recreational marijuana, that figure was 14.2%.

This article is based on reporting by Tom Angell for Marijuana Moment, drawing on polling from Gallup. Read the original coverage at marijuanamoment.net.

Our take

Let's enjoy this for a second, because it's a real moment in time. Cannabis passing cigarettes is a genuine public-health milestone. Anyone who spent years being told weed was the gateway to ruin gets to feel a little vindicated today. Even better is the teen number. Use among kids is down, not up, since legalization started. This torches the single scariest talking point prohibitionists have leaned on for decades. That deserves to be shouted from the rooftops. But don't get high on your own supply just yet. Buried under the record-high headline are two numbers this industry cannot afford to ignore.

Nearly half the country, 46%, still believes cannabis is bad for most people who use it. And Republican support for legalization just fell off a cliff, down 13 points in a year to its lowest level in ten years. Sit with that combination. Personal use is going up while political support is going the other way, especially on the right. Which happens to be the side currently holding power in Washington. That is not the setup for federal reform. That's the setup for a stall, let’s be real.

There’s a tension nobody in a celebratory mood wants to name. It’s that more people are smoking than ever. Yet, the legal industry is laying people off and watching sales slide in market after market. If usage is at an all-time high and legal operators are still struggling, that gap is the whole story. And a lot of it is walking straight past licensed shops to cheaper, untaxed, unregulated sellers. Record use is a great headline. It’s not the same as a healthy legal market, and it’s not the same as durable political support. The plant is winning the culture. The industry and the movement still have to win the rest. Follow FSOTD for new exclusive podcast episodes and more updates directly from the culture.