Tobacco vs Marijuana – US choose the latter

A landmark poll in the US has revealed that for the first time, marijuana is more popular than tobacco.

The poll has been conducted by Gallop, an American analytics and research company based in Washington. In the poll, which has been released recently, figures show that 16 per cent of Americans said they smoked marijuana, compared to 11 per cent who had smoked tobacco in the past week.

When comparing a similar poll from 1969, it shows that at that time, just four per cent of Americans admitted they had even tried marijuana – compared to 48 per cent today.

But polling data from that same year revealed 40 per cent of Americans had smoked tobacco cigarettes in the past week – and that number was the lowest recorded by Gallup on that issue between 1944 and 1972.

Marjiuana and tobacco usage trends have been going in opposite directions for a few decades now. By 1985, nearly as many Americans said they had tried marijuana (33 per cent) as had smoked a cigarette in the past week (35 per cent).

Cigarette smoking has been declining ever since. By 2013, just 19 per cent of Americans were smoking cigarettes at least once a week.

The trend toward more marijuana smokers is driven by young people. The National Institutes of Health reported last week that more young adults used marijuana in 2021 than in any year prior.

Nearly a third (30 per cent) of adult respondents under the age of 35 admitted to Gallup this year that they smoke marijuana. That’s significantly higher than those aged 35-54 (16 per cent) or 55-plus (seven per cent).

And just eight per cent of adults under 35 are smoking cigarettes at least once a week. Slightly more adults aged 35-54 (10 per cent) or 55-plus (14 per cent) said they had.

Will we see the same trend happening in Malta? That is yet to be seen.

We are already seeing a change in mentality when it comes to Tobacco, with a number of clients asking for a tobacco substitute, such as RealLeaf, and to CBD as opposite to THC