Posted on 08/25/2026 1:03:04 PM PDT by Red Badger
Most people have tried it at least once. Smoking marijuana is a rite of passage almost as common as that first underage beer. Some grow out of it after high school or college. Others use it well into adulthood. There was also that first cigarette. You inhaled that first time and were pretty sure you were going to bring up a lung, but it was all about the "coolness" of it. Now, with the advent of legalized marijuana, a new poll shows that Americans have chosen what they want to light up.
On Monday, a new Gallup poll showed that an all-time high number of Americans say they smoke marijuana, yet an all-time low number of Americans are smoking cigarettes. The poll was conducted by phone by ReconMR from July 1-19, and randomly sampled 1,200 U.S. adults. In the survey, 17 percent of Americans said they use marijuana, a record matched from 2023. The number of Americans who said they smoke cigarettes was estimated to be around 11 percent. Other portions of the survey showed that 9 percent of those polled said they vape, and 4 percent use nicotine pouches. The number of people who smoke pot more than doubled from just 7 percent in 2013 to the current 17 percent.
The marijuana vs. cigarette numbers show the super-mixed message that has been sent over the last few decades. In the 50s and 60s, it was uncommon to see anyone not smoking. It was cool and glamorous, and just something people did. But in January of 1964, the Surgeon General came out with the first report on the dangers of smoking and health. Since that time, the number of people seen smoking not just in American life, but in movies and on television has dwindled to almost nothing. Try lighting up anywhere in public and see what happens.
However, the use of marijuana has skyrocketed in the past decade, rising an estimated 65.2 percent between 2015 and 2024. In that same time frame, 22 states legalized marijuana. Coincidence? Probably not. Some research also suggests that three in ten people who use marijuana suffer from cannabis use disorder, including cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, which causes repeated and severe episodes of nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain with long-term use. Use of marijuana during teenage years and young adulthood can also have negative effects on brain development in terms of attention, memory, and learning.
The survey gave a bit of an overview of other favorite vices of Americans as well. It showed that 49 percent of those surveyed were coffee drinkers, and 20 percent drink caffeinated soda daily. When it comes to diet, 5 percent said they are vegetarians, and just 2 percent are vegans. Legalized marijuana may also be contributing to the fact that Gen Z is consuming less alcohol than previous generations, although the survey showed that 54 percent of respondents said they drink alcohol.
With the average cost nationwide of a pack of cigarettes at $10.15 and the average cost of marijuana bought at a dispensary at $8.94, both depending on state taxes, it's easy to see where you get more bang for your buck.
Proponents of legalized marijuana will also tout revenue gained. But then there's that old saying: Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
“Social life and human interaction are ending because of new driving laws ending the inns and taverns, the cocktail parties, the long masculine and effective business lunch, the after work bonding parties, and the sexes mixing and dancing.”
Add even bowling alleys, etc. to this.
(((But Cannabis did NOT do that)))
Yes, our typical faddy and trendy way of over exaggerating and taking everything to an extreme (drunk driving, we may as well lynch people), that did play a role. Women getting the right to vote, later coming into the work force also played a HUGE role. Without women voting, sexist this may sound, the temperance movement would have never gotten a religious and even political foothold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_United_States_Prohibition_movement
Today, what has killed human interaction more than anything else: The Internet, social media, and smart phones.
—You can watch kids standing next to each other and texting instead of speaking.
—Almost 40% of all people that get married meet online and the workplace is the number one location people meet, which don't leave much room for anything else.
Gee, I think the question
“Have you smoked marijuana?”
is quite different from
“Have you smoked a cigarette in the past week?”
They’re counting all the people who smoked marijuana once or twice decades ago, which distorts the findings.
I didn’t mean in anyway that Cannabis caused it, I was pointing out the irony, the previous go,go,go of the Western man, being replaced by stoner culture from the ancient Cannabis area of the world.
I don’t believe this claim
It may not include nicotine vaping
I’ve seen a ton of articles about the decline of alcohol. Young people don’t go to bars. Young people don’t drink wine. Young people don’t drink beer. What has changed?? Such a mystery. So confusing. These articles never seem to find the mysterious cause.
But I have seen a small number of recent articles which spell it out: alcohol loses, cannabis is winning.
Yeah, this is from a survey. Sales tell otherwise.
And marijuana dispensaries are closing in increasing numbers.
And there’s the intent. To make us a nation of zombies. Plus there’s big money to be made
And there’s the intent. To make us a nation of zombies.
I use marijuana every morning. I mixed the oil into moisturizer for arthritis.
We smoke it with our kids when they visit. All it does is make me sleep really well but I also dose up with CBD every night. It kicks you into REM sleep.
And don’t forget Sargent Standanko.
“”””I’ve seen a ton of articles about the decline of alcohol. Young people don’t go to bars. Young people don’t drink wine. Young people don’t drink beer. What has changed?? Such a mystery. So confusing. These articles never seem to find the mysterious cause.””””
The alcohol laws made it impossible to drink, no parties, no bars and nightclubs, no office parties, no cocktail parties and drinks after dinner, no splitting a couple of bottles pf wine on a date, no beers or wine at the beach, no BBQs with beer and cocktails.
I watched cocktail party dinners of friends go from being pleasant and a great bonding and conversation experience well into the night, to everyone eating, tasting a glass of wine or a drink, and then heading home an hour after it was over, alcohol is the great mixer, the great social lubricant, the barrier breaker that leads to song, dance, and camaraderie, the great ice breaker.
Let me ask you this:
—What kills more people per year, Tylenol or weed?
—Define “psychological addiction” in a way that only includes weed and not EVERYTHING which people enjoy to do, and therefore want to do more of, like go to church?
—Define “Gateway drug” in a way so that a cheeseburger isn’t included?
I guarantee you, more heroin users and deaths have eaten a cheeseburger in their lifetime than folks that tried weed and then used heroin!
—Define “psychosis” in a way that doesn’t include booze?
The problem isn’t that people use an argument to support a position.
The problem is that people use things that are supposed to sound “scientific,” and thereby logical and authoritative, even though it isn’t. Sorry, I don’t “follow that science.”
“Do you take drugs Danny? Every day”.
Along those lines, I have also seen discussion about the big trend toward drive thru coffee shops. Once upon a time, students (who were too young to go to bars) would get coffee, and sit and chat. It was social. It was pleasant. Gathering with friends around some beverages was how people learned how to socialize.
But now that happens less with coffee. And young people stare at screens, unsure about how this odd “socializing” thing is supposed to happen. These people do not grow up ready for time at cocktail parties or bars. They just go home, stare at another screen, and eat an edible.
Super Covid masks for all!
I always felt in the 1960s that when that generation of pot smokers came to power they would begin to legalize dope. It looks like I was correct.
At the age of 80 I have NEVER tried anything like that as I have a great distrust of losing control in my body.
Cute! :)
This may explain the drop in the fertility rate.
I would like to invite them over for some free food and then serve them full size drinking glasses of my homemade Sangria that tastes so fresh, fruity, and enticing, and then watch to see them mix, maybe pull out the large size game of twister as the sun is going down and the tiki lanterns take over, maybe a little drunken Limbo dancing to break the ice.
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