A survey finds that tobacco is out, and cannabis is in for US consumers
Every once in a while, in polls, there is a big change in the guard. That’s been happening recently when data on marijuana and tobacco use in the US were released. Two long-term trends finally collided. With the legality of cannabis booming, it’s starting to look like Americans are already taking tobacco out of the equation, preferring over and above what the green gold has to offer.
In August, for the first time in Gallup polling, more Americans (16%) said they had smoked marijuana, and only 11% had smoked a tobacco cigarette in the past week. Now, new research even indicates that more Americans favor legal marijuana over legal tobacco.
Findings such as these are undoubtedly considered a sea change in society as many will remember the era when smoking cigarettes everywhere was as common as drinking a soda. Meanwhile, it was unthinkable before that marijuana would become part of everyday social life. Now, there are even consumption lounges for people to meet and release some stress through cannabis.
According to reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 57% of American adults would support “a policy banning the sale of all tobacco products.” According to a survey conducted by Pew Research approximately five months ago, nearly 60% of respondents said cannabis should be legally allowed to be consumed both medicinally and recreationally.
Only 10% of the participating population believes that cannabis should not enter a regulated market. Results such as these are no longer surprising, as they reflect the growing public consensus that cannabis is safer than tobacco, as the latter substance is responsible for a large number of deaths year after year.