In 2024, nearly ** percent of the population of the United States used cannabis within the past year. The graph shows the percentage of the population in the U.S. who consumed cannabis in the past year from 2002 to 2024.

In 2024, approximately 64.1 million people used marijuana in the past year. This statistic shows the number of people in the U.S. who have used marijuana in the past year from 2009 to 2024.

Current marijuana use among U.S. adults in 2023 was highest in Vermont, where around 26.67 percent of adults reported using marijuana within the past year. In recent years, a number of U.S. states, including Colorado and California, have legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational use. In 2023, around 133 million people in the United States reported that they had used marijuana at least once in their lifetime. Consumer behavior Starting around 2013, the majority of U.S. adults now say they are in favor of legalizing marijuana in the United States. The share of adults who were in favor of legalization has continued to increase over the years. As of 2021, about 68 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 and older were in favor of legalization. Legal sales of marijuana reached 16.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, and are expected to increase to around 37 billion dollars by the year 2026. COVID-19 impact on marijuana use The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns led to fears of an increase in substance abuse in many parts of the world. In March 2020, around 40 percent of millennials who used cannabis in the past year reported that they planned to increase their marijuana use during the COVID-19 pandemic. This rise in usage was reflected in sales early in the pandemic. In California for example, sales of marijuana on March 16, 2020 increased 159 percent compared to the same day in 2019.

Consuming population of cannabis and volume consumed of cannabis by age group and frequency of use, Canada, annual.

Number and percentage of people reporting cannabis use in the past three months by quarter, geography, gender, age, household population aged 15 years or older, Canada.

Total consumption of adult use cannabis in the United States reached *** thousand kilograms in 2020. Consumption volume is expected to increase to over ************* kilograms by 2025.

Spain had the highest prevalence of cannabis use among adults in Europe as of 2024, with 12.6 percent of its population consuming cannabis in the preceding twelve months. This was followed closely by France and Italy, with 10.8 percent of the population in each country using cannabis.Student use of cannabis in Italy As of 2022, over 40 percent of male students aged 19 years were users of cannabis, while 35 percent of female students of this age were also users. Among 15-year-olds, around ten percent of both boys and girls this age used cannabis.Other drug use in the EU Cannabis is by far the most used drug across the population of the European Union, with over 31 percent using it at some point in their lifetime. This is followed by cocaine, which 6.3 percent have used in their life, and then MDMA, with five percent of individuals having used.

Table 2. Marijuana Use in the Past Year, by Age Group and State: Percentages, Annual Averages Based on 2013 and 2014 NSDUHs

This table presents the 2008 to 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) estimates of past year marijuana use by those aged 12 or older by State and substate regions.

Canadians aged between 18 and 34 had the highest rate of cannabis consumption nationally as of 2021. More than 36 percent of survey respondents in this age group stated that they consumed cannabis of any form in the past 12 months. Those aged 65 or older had the lowest levels of consumption, with just over eight percent of respondents consuming cannabis in this time.

Age related opinions on legalization

Canada became only the second country worldwide to legalize the use of marijuana for recreational purposes in all provinces in October 2018. Unsurprisingly, most Canadians who approved of this legalization when surveyed in October 2018, were aged between 18 and 34. The highest rates of disapproval came from those aged 65 or over. Canadians aged 18 to 34 have also been the most active in the post-legalization cannabis market. For example, around 25 percent of this age group had visited a website that sells cannabis online and 17 percent had used cannabis in October 2018.

IntroductionCannabis consumption is known to immediately affect ocular and oculomotor function, however, cannabis consumption is also known to affect it for a prolonged period of time. The purpose of this study is to identify an eye tracking or pupillometry metric which is affected after recent cannabis consumption but is not confounded by cannabis consumption history or demographic variables.MethodsQuasi-experimental design. Participants who would consume inhalable cannabis (n = 159, mean age 31.0 years, 54% male) performed baseline neurobehavioral testing and eye-function assessments when they were sober. Eye function assessments included eye-tracking [gaze (point of visual focus), saccades (smooth movement)] and pupillometry. Participants then inhaled cannabis until they self-reported to be high and performed the same assessment again. Controls who were cannabis naïve or infrequent users (n = 30, mean age 32.6 years, 57% male) performed the same assessments without consuming cannabis in between.ResultsCannabis significantly affected several metrics of pupil dynamics and gaze. Pupil size variability was the most discriminant variable after cannabis consumption. This variable did not change in controls on repeat assessment (i.e., no learning effect), did not correlate with age, gender, race/ethnicity, or self-reported level of euphoria, but did correlate with THC concentration of cannabis inhaled.DiscussionA novel eye-tracking metric was identified that is affected by recent cannabis consumption and is not different from non-users at baseline. A future study that assesses pupil size variability at multiple intervals over several hours and quantifies cannabis metabolites in biofluids should be performed to identify when this variable normalizes after consumption and if it correlates with blood THC levels.

Cannabis intoxication may increase the risk of motor vehicle crashes. However, reliable methods of assessing cannabis intoxication are limited. The presence of eyelid tremors is among the signs of cannabis use identified under the Drug Evaluation and Classification Program of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Our objectives were to assess the accuracy and replicability of identifying eyelid tremor as an indicator of recent cannabis smoking using a blinded, controlled study design. Adult subjects (N = 103) were recruited into three groups based on their cannabis use history: daily, occasional, and no current cannabis use. Participants’ closed eyelids were video recorded for 30 seconds by infrared videography goggles before and at a mean ± standard deviation time of 71.4 ± 4.6 minutes after the onset of a 15-minute interval of ad libitum cannabis flower smoking or vaping. Three observers with expertise in neuro-ophthalmology and medical toxicology were trained on exemplar videos of eyelids to reach a consensus on how to grade eyelid tremor. Without knowledge of subjects’ cannabis use history or time point (pre- or post-smoking), observers reviewed each video for eyelid tremor graded as absent, slight, moderate, or severe. During subsequent data analysis, this score was further dichotomized as a consensus score of absent (absent/slight) or present (moderate/severe). Kappa and intraclass correlation coefficient statistics demonstrated moderate agreement among the coders, which ranged from 0.44–0.45 and 0.58–0.61, respectively. There was no significant association between recent cannabis use and the observers’ consensus assessment that eyelid tremor was present, and cannabis users were less likely to have tremors (odds ratio: 0.75; 95 percent confidence interval: 0.25, 2.40). The assessment of eyelid tremor as an indicator of recent cannabis smoking had a sensitivity of 0.86, specificity of 0.18, and accuracy of 0.64. Eyelid tremor has fair sensitivity but poor specificity and accuracy for identification of recent cannabis use. Inter-rater reliability for assessment of eyelid tremor was moderate for the presence and degree of tremor. The weak association between recent cannabis use and eyelid tremor does not support its utility in identifying recent cannabis use. Videos were recorded at only one time point after cannabis use. Adherence to abstinence could not be strictly supervised. Due to regulatory restrictions, we were unable to control the cannabis product used or administer a fixed Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol dose. Participants were predominately non-Hispanic and White. In a cohort of participants with a range of cannabis use histories, acute cannabis smoking was not associated with the presence of eyelid tremor, regardless of cannabis use history, at 70 minutes post-smoking. Additional research is needed to identify the presence of eyelid tremor accurately, determine the relationship between cannabis dose and timeline in relation to last cannabis use to eyelid tremor, and determine how it should be, if at all, utilized for cannabis Drug Recognition Evaluator examinations.

This report presents State estimates for measures of past month marijuana use based on the combined 2010 and 2011 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUHs). Resuts are provided by age group.

Background: Whilst many studies have linked increased drug and cannabis exposure to adverse mental health (MH) outcomes their effects on whole populations and geotemporospatial relationships are not well understood.

Objectives: Determine: (1) if cannabis use is associated with major MH outcomes ascross space and time, (2) if such impacts are robust to multivariable adjustment and (3) if the relationship is causal.

Methods. Ecological cohort study of National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) geographically-linked substate-shapefiles 2010-2012 and 2014-2016 supplemented by five-year US American Community Survey. Drugs: cigarettes, alcohol abuse, last-month cannabis use and last-year cocaine use. MH: any mental illness, major depressive illness, serious mental illness and suicidal thinking. Data analysis: two-stage, geotemporospatial, robust generalized linear regression and causal inference methods in R.

Results: 410,138 NSDUH respondents. Average response rate 76.7%. When all drug exposure, ethnicity and income variables were combined in final geospatiotemporal models tobacco, alcohol cannabis exposure, and various ethnicities were significantly related to all four major mental health outcomes. Cannabis exposure alone was related to any mental illness (β-estimate= -3.315 (95%C.I. -4.04, -2.58, P<2.2x10-16), major depressive episode (β-estimate= -3.71 (-4.6, -2.82), P=3.0x10-16), serious mental illness (SMI, β-estimate= -3.063 (-4.05, -2.05), P=1.2x10-9), suicidal ideation (β-estimate= -3.01 (-3.87, -2.16), P=4.8x10-12) and with more significant interactions in each case (from β-estimate= 1.84 (1.30, 2.39), P=3.0x10-11). Geospatial modelling showed a monotonic upward trajectory of SMI which doubled (3.62% to 7.06%) as cannabis use increased. Extrapolated to whole populations cannabis decriminalization (4.26%, (4.18, 4.34%)), Prevalence Ratio (PR)=1.035(1.034-1.036), attributable fraction in the exposed (AFE)=3.28%(3.18-3.37%), P<10-300) and legalization (4.75% (4.65, 4.84%), PR=1.155 (1.153-1.158), AFE=12.91% (12.72-13.10%), P<10-300) were associated with increased SMI vs. illegal status (4.26+0.04%).

Conclusions: Data show all four indices of mental ill-health track cannabis exposure across space and time and are robust to multivariable adjustment for ethnicity, socioeconomics and other drug use. MH deteriorated with cannabis legalization. Cannabis use-MH data are consistent with causal relationships in the forward direction and include dose-response relationships. Together with similar international reports and numerous mechanistic studies preventative action to reduce cannabis use is indicated.

In 2023/24, **** percent of people in England and Wales aged between 16 and 59 had used cannabis at least once during their lifetime, compared with **** percent in 2001/02.

Data for cities, communities, and City of Los Angeles Council Districts were generated using a small area estimation method which combined the survey data with population benchmark data (2022 population estimates for Los Angeles County) and neighborhood characteristics data (e.g., U.S. Census Bureau, 2017-2021 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates). This indicator is based on self-report and includes adults who used any form of marijuana at least one time in the past month.Among federally prohibited drugs and substances, marijuana is the most commonly used. In early 2018, marijuana became legal for recreational sale and consumption in California. Using marijuana at any age can lead to negative health consequences, which include psychological conditions such as depression or anxiety; brain damage affecting memory, attention, and learning ability; lung and cardiovascular system damage; harm to developing fetuses or infants; and increased risk for motor vehicle crashes. Marijuana use has long been associated with the use of other substances, including alcohol, tobacco, and prescription and illicit narcotics. Cities and communities should take an active role in educating residents, particularly youth, pregnant persons, and other vulnerable groups, about the potential risks of marijuana use and adopt policies that regulate and ensure safe marijuana retail activity.For more information about the Community Health Profiles Data Initiative, please see the initiative homepage.

NWT Cannabis Use Profile (2018)

Cannabis use has been found to stimulate appetite and potentially promote weight gain via activation of the endocannabinoid system. Despite the fact that the onset of cannabis use is typically during adolescence, the association between adolescence cannabis use and long-term change in body weight is generally unknown. This study aims to examine the association between adolescence cannabis use and weight change to midlife, while accounting for the use of other substances. The study applied 20 to 22 years of follow-up data on 712 Danish adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years at baseline. Self-reported height and weight, cannabis, cigarette and alcohol use, socioeconomic status (SES) and physical activity levels were assessed in baseline surveys conducted in 1983 and 1985. The follow-up survey was conducted in 2005. In total 19.1% (n = 136) of adolescents reported having used/using cannabis. Weight gain between adolescence and midlife was not related to cannabis exposure during adolescence in either crude or adjusted models, and associations were not modified by baseline alcohol intake or smoking. However, cannabis use was significantly associated with cigarette smoking (p

The CBHSQ Report: Marijuana Use and Perceived Risk of Harm from Marijuana Use Varies within and across States

Background: Cannabis is the third most consumed drug worldwide. Thus, healthcare providers should be able to identify users who are in need for an intervention. This study aims to explore the relationship of acute, chronic, and early exposure (AE, CE, and EE) to cannabis with cognitive and behavioral harms (CBH), as a first step toward defining risky cannabis use criteria.Methods: Adults living in Spain who used cannabis at least once during the last year answered an online survey about cannabis use and health-related harms. Cannabis use was assessed in five dimensions: quantity on use days during the last 30 days (AE), frequency of use in the last month (AE), years of regular use (YRCU) (CE), age of first use (AOf) (EE), and age of onset of regular use (AOr) (EE). CBH indicators included validated instruments and custom-made items. Pearson correlations were calculated for continuous variables, and Student's t-tests for independent samples were calculated for categorical variables. Effect sizes were calculated for each of the five dimensions of use (Cohen's d or r Pearson correlation) and harm outcome. Classification and Regression Trees (CART) analyses were performed for those dependent variables (harms) significantly associated with at least two dimensions of cannabis use patterns. Lastly, logistic binary analyses were conducted for each harm outcome.Results: The mean age of participants was 26.2 years old [standard deviation (SD) 8.5]. Out of 2,124 respondents, 1,606 (75.6%) reported at least one harm outcome (mean 1.8 and SD 1.5). In our sample, using cannabis on 3 out of 4 days was associated with an 8-fold probability of scoring 4+ on the Severity Dependence Scale (OR 8.33, 95% CI 4.91–14.16, p <0.001), which is indicative of a cannabis use disorder. Also, a start of regular cannabis use before the age of 25 combined with using cannabis at least once per month was associated with a higher probability of risky alcohol use (OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.12–1.57, p = 0.001). Besides, a start of regular cannabis use before the age of 18 combined with a period of regular use of at least 7.5 years was associated with a higher probability of reporting a motor vehicle accident (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.41–2.32, p < 0.0001). Results were ambiguous regarding the role that age of first use and milligrams of THC per day of use might play regarding cannabis-related harms.Conclusions: The relationship among AE, CE, and EE with CBH indicators is a complex phenomenon that deserves further studies. The pattern of cannabis use should be carefully and widely evaluated—(not just including frequency but also other dimensions of pattern of use)—in research (preferably in longitudinal studies) to assess cannabis-related harms.