More Americans now prefer legal cannabis to legal cigarettes for the first time in US history, surveys show.
According to an official CDC survey, about 59 percent of Americans support the legalization of marijuana for recreational or medical use.
At the same time, a recent Pew Research poll found that 57 percent of Americans also support a ban on tobacco products.
The upheaval is the result of decades of anti-tobacco campaigns coupled with a softening of attitudes toward marijuana.
It comes despite mounting evidence that cannabis poses many of the same health risks as cigarettes, plus a host of psychological problems.
Results from two polls suggest that support for legal cannabis in the US now exceeds that for cigarettes. The data is shown above
The above shows cannabis use in US states. Twenty-one states and DC have legalized it for recreational use in addition to medicinal use, with almost all of them now allowing its use for medicinal purposes.
However, there are signs that cannabis is finally hitting a wall after Oklahoma voters voted overwhelmingly from 62 to 38 percent yesterday to reject recreational weed.
Tobacco use in the United States has been declining since the 1960s, when evidence of an association with cancer first appeared.
At the time, about two in five Americans smoked cigarettes, now it’s only one in ten. But in the past decade, there has been a marijuana revolution in the US.
The number of marijuana smokers of all ages has more than doubled in the past decade to 16 percent. Among those under 30, it has risen to a record 45 percent.
Some 21 states and Washington DC have moved to lift bans on the drug, with Hawaii this week the latest to move a step closer to full legalization.
In younger adults, marijuana use is particularly risky because it can harm the developing brain by permanently altering its structure, leading to a loss of IQ. It has also been linked to higher rates of mental health problems such as depression.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) early 6,455 Americans whether they want all tobacco products to continue to be sold.
Results published last month showed that only 42.7 percent supported it, with the rest saying they were against.
Older adults were more likely to support sell-through than young people, but no age group averaged 50 percent or higher.
Cannabis use among those under 30 has now reached an all-time high, data shows. It’s rising in all age groups as more and more states drop restrictions on the drug
This compared to a survey of 5,098 Americans carried out by The Washington DC-based Pew Research Center poll.
It showed that an overwhelming 88 percent of respondents supported legalization in some way. Of these, 59 percent said it should be approved for both medical and recreational use.
Support was highest among the younger age groups – reaching 72 percent among those under 30 – but fell to less than half among those over 65.
Democratic voters were nearly twice as likely to support legalizing marijuana for recreational and medical use compared to Republicans.
In the latest action against the tobacco industry, California became the second state in the country to ban menthol cigarettes – behind only Massachusetts.
This type of cigarette is not as heavy for users, leading to deeper inhalations and, as a result, greater exposure to nicotine and other chemicals in a cigarette.
It is also argued that the pleasant taste of menthol cigarettes entices people who would not normally become smokers to make it a habit.
However, at the other end of the scale, restrictions on marijuana sales are still being rolled back.
This week, a bill passed in the Hawaii Senate that would allow residents to use marijuana recreationally and carry up to an ounce of the drug. It still needs to be approved by the governor.
But there are now signs that recreational marijuana is finally hitting a wall.
Yesterday Oklahoma rejected a bill to legalize the drug.
Anti-marijuana campaigner and former White House drug czar Kevin Sabet called the victory a victory for “public safety and sanity.”
“The industry cannot buy votes and take advantage of our children,” he said.
‘Despite being hugely spent [campaigners] worked tirelessly to educate voters about the unintended consequences of legalization, ranging from increased drunk driving incidents and work-related accidents to higher youth use rates.”
Also in November, North Dakota, South Dakota and Arkansas all voted to ban recreational marijuana.
It was three of the five states that took the drug to the polls at the time, with Maryland and Missouri being the last to support the measure.
Only Idaho, Kansas and Nebraska stand firm and keep cannabis illegal for both recreational and medicinal use.
But experts predict that in years to come, more states will reverse bans and the law could be repealed at the federal level.
The US cannabis market is already worth some $26.1 billion in sales and is on track to reach $44.5 billion by 2027, driven by huge profits in California, New York and New Jersey, according to research firm BDSA.