Study Shows U.S. Adults Favor Marijuana and Psychedelics as Cigarette Use Declines

Depending on your age, you may remember when the Marlboro Man was considered the peak of masculinity and graced giant billboards across town. Or maybe you can recall when the first question you got asked at a sit-down restaurant was about smoking or non-smoking. At one point, cigarettes were nearly as common and socially acceptable as alcohol. They were advertised on billboards and the pages of glossy magazines and glamorized on television and in movies when the silver screen stars released a seductive puff.

Today, things are different, and a new study proves it. U.S. adults are increasingly turning their noses up at cigarettes and choosing to consume marijuana and psychedelics instead. What’s even more interesting is that it’s not just young people who are becoming most disinterested in cigarettes and turning to cannabis.

Cigarettes Are Out, and Cannabis Is In

Recently, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research found that more Americans are turning away from cigarettes in favor of cannabis and psychedelics. The study examines drug use behaviors in two age groups: adults aged 19 to 30 and those aged 35 to 50.

The study found that cannabis and psychedelics are increasing in popularity, noting rates at “historically high levels in 2023.” However, cigarette use remains at historically low levels in both adult groups. Interestingly, daily alcohol use among those in the 19 to 30 age group is also in a decade-long decline. The study also found binge drinking was also reaching all-time lows.

What do the numbers look like? For adults 19 to 30, 42 percent say they’ve consumed marijuana in the past year. Another 29 percent consumed cannabis in the past month. Only 10 percent of respondents claimed daily cannabis use. For the study, researchers defined daily use as using cannabis on 20 or more occasions in one month. Surprisingly, for adults in the 35 to 50 age group, 29 percent claimed they consumed marijuana within the past year. Another 19 percent said they had in the past month, and 8 percent said they consumed cannabis daily. The statistics represent a five and 10-year increase in consumption rates for both age groups.

The use of psychedelics, a controversial topic, is also up and continues a five-year increase. Study authors say, “Types of hallucinogens reported by participants included LSD, mescaline, peyote, shrooms or psilocybin, and PCP.”

Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse, said the following:

“We have seen that people at different stages of adulthood are trending toward the use of drugs like cannabis and psychedelics and away from tobacco cigarettes. These findings underscore the urgent need for rigorous research on the potential risks and benefits of cannabis and hallucinogens – especially as new products continue to emerge.”

Cigarettes: A Dying Breed

Since 1975, the Monitoring the Future study has annually surveyed substance use behaviors and attitudes. These studies provide more evidence that cigarette use is on a steep decline. In 2023, cigarette use among young adults was 18.8 percent. Monthly rates hovered at 8.8 percent, while daily use was only 3.6 percent.

The decline in cigarette use is primarily attributed to education and outreach efforts. Campaigns from BeTobacco-Free and the Truth Initiative mixed bombastic shock ads with educational campaigns to educate people, especially teens and young adults, about the negative consequences of cigarettes. Today, it is well documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations the detrimental health effects associated with smoking, like lung cancer, emphysema, COPD, stroke, heart disease, gum disease, and preterm birth. Nearly one in five deaths in the U.S. occurs due to cigarette smoking or secondhand smoke exposure.

A recent Gallup poll shows that although Americans’ views of the effects of marijuana have slightly worsened in the past two years, Americans still believe that marijuana is less harmful than cigarettes, chewing tobacco, “vaping,” and even alcohol.

While alcohol remains the most commonly and widely available drug, adults 19 to 30 report all-time lows in past-month drinking, daily drinking, and binge drinking. As the popularity of cannabis rises, other substances seem to be hitting the skids.

Why the Significant Shift in Attitude?

What’s the nature of the shift in attitude? The answer is complicated. Evidence suggesting there may be detrimental health effects associated with smoking tobacco cigarettes may have emerged as early as the 1920s. However, by 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General confirmed that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. In the decades that followed, more evidence showed the significant health effects linked to cigarettes and secondhand smoke.

There are potential benefits associated with nicotine, like the potential to improve cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients and improve the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s Disease; the negatives outweigh the possible benefits, such as cigarette smoking being the leading preventable cause of disease, death, and disability in the U.S. The educational campaigns outlining the adverse effects of smoking have done their intended job, it appears, decreasing smoking rates nationwide.

In contrast, researchers are still attempting to untangle the complex nature of the cannabis plant. Numerous studies suggest significant positive benefits to consuming the drug. However, there is still a lot about the plant and how it interacts with the human body and mind that researchers don’t understand. While the recreational legalization movement has taken much of the U.S. by storm and changed attitudes toward the drug, being classified as a Schedule I substance by the federal government has limited medical and scientific research.

Still, there are indications that marijuana may be a “safer” alternative to vices like cigarettes and even alcohol. More people than ever seem to be willing to give cannabis the benefit of the doubt, embracing its effects on the mind and body and leaving cigarettes where they belong, and that is in the past.

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