About one in 10 American adults report that they use marijuana frequently, regardless of whether they live in a state where the plant is legal or not. This means that state legislation does not significantly change consumption levels, according to s survey from Gallup released on Thursday.
These data raise a couple of questions: Are cannabis prohibitions and criminalization effective in reducing adult use? Has the war on drugs stopped the use of marijuana?
Related content: US Survey: 9 out of 10 people support some form of legal cannabis
“The narrow difference in cannabis use among residents of states where it is still illegal compared to states where it is legal shows that. its criminality does little to reduce its use among American adults“, he pointed out Gallup.
Having said that, Gallup wrote: “Concurrent with legal expansion, the percentage of American adults who report smoking marijuana has more than doubled in the past decade, going from 7 % in 2013 to 17% in 2023. In that same period, the percentage of those who stated that they tried it at least once has increased from 38% to 50%.
USA: Where is cannabis used the most?
Reports of habitual cannabis use vary across US Census regions, however the highest levels were in the Mid-Atlantic region. And while the Gallup survey concludes that cannabis use is comparable between legal and illegal states, it also found that the highest rates of use were seen in New York, New Jersey y Pennsylvania, the latter is the only one that maintains a consumption ban for adult use. Then there were the states of the north-east-central regions of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana y Ohio.
The lowest usage rates, 7%, are recorded in the south-central states, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi y Alabama. They are followed by states of North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas y Missouri.
Related content: USA: Cannabis Legalization has been very successful at the State level
In the Midwest region, where marijuana is banned in some states, 11% of adults continue to use cannabis regularly, again indicating a positive relationship between legitimacy and consumption patterns.
“These differences are statistically significant,” the study says, because they generally coincide with political identity.
Red vs. blue vs. green
Residents of red (Republican) states have slightly lower average consumption levels than those in blue (Democratic) states. 10% of Democrats and independents report regular marijuana use, but among Republicans the percentage drops to 6%.
Through To gasolinetranslated by El Planteo
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2024-04-19 22:20:13
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