How many Americans use cannabis? Gallup finds marijuana smoking at a record high as alcohol use continues to decline
America’s recreational habits are changing. Americans are consuming more cannabis than ever and becoming part of everyday life, alcohol is losing some ground, and pickleball is apparently still everywhere.
Gallup’s latest annual Consumption Habits poll finds 17% of U.S. adults say they smoke marijuana. This is tied with the highest percentage Gallup has recorded since it began asking Americans about marijuana use in 2013, when just 7% said they smoked the green plant.
Edibles are almost as popular. Fifteen percent of Americans say they consume marijuana in edible form, up from 12% in 2024 and 14% in 2022.
Those numbers shouldn’t be added together because plenty of people who eat cannabis also smoke it. But they do offer a glimpse at how marijuana has moved from the margins of American culture into the mainstream.
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Alcohol, however, remains the clear winner.
Gallup found 54% of American adults say they drink alcohol. This is considerably higher than either marijuana smoking or edible consumption, but the longer-term trend is moving in the opposite direction.
The percentage of Americans who say they drink has dropped from 62% in 2023 to 58% in 2024 and 54% in both 2025 and 2026. Gallup also found 51% of Americans believe having one or two alcoholic drinks every day is bad for a person’s health.
Marijuana use has been moving differently. The share of Americans who say they smoke cannabis has more than doubled since Gallup first asked the question.
So why are people using cannabis or alcohol? Gallup’s latest survey doesn’t ask Americans to identify their personal reasons for consuming either substance. This makes it difficult to attach a single motivation to the numbers.
For many people, however, both have become part of the ritual of unwinding, socializing or taking a break from a busy day. Alcohol has had generations to establish their role, from the after-work drink to the glass of wine with dinner. Cannabis is increasingly occupying some of the same cultural territory, particularly as legal access has expanded across the country.
There is also a generational component. Younger adults are considerably less likely than older Americans to drink alcohol, while marijuana use has become much more common among younger generations.
And then there is pickleball.
According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 24.3 million Americans played pickleball in 2025. This means the number of Americans who say they smoke marijuana is larger than the number of people counted as pickleball participants by the measure.
It is a particularly amusing comparison because pickleball has achieved something close to cultural ubiquity. You can barely attend a barbecue, visit a country club or walk past a converted tennis court without encountering someone carrying a paddle.
But there is an important statistical catch. The Association of Pickleball Professionals has estimated nearly 50 million American adults, or about 19% of the adult population, played pickleball at least once during a 12-month period.
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The broader number includes casual players. In other words, the person who played pickleball once last summer because a neighbor invited them counts.
So cannabis can claim the advantage over the 24.3 million figure, but not over the broader estimate of 50 million occasional players.
Still, the comparison makes for a revealing snapshot of American life. More than 40 million adults say they smoke marijuana, based on Gallup’s 17% figure, while tens of millions more consume it in edible form. At the same time, more than half of adults continue to drink alcohol.
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Another all-America pastime is baseball. Major League Baseball reported 71.4 million fans through its turnstiles in 2025, marking the third consecutive season with more than 70 million in attendance. The number isn’t directly comparable with Gallup’s cannabis figure because baseball attendance counts tickets, not unique individuals. A devoted fan who goes to 20 games contributes 20 visits to the attendance total.
Still, it is another interesting way to look at American leisure activities..
Millions of Americans are drinking. Millions are smoking or eating cannabis. Millions are playing pickleball. Millions more are sitting in baseball stadiums watching a game which may or may not be over by bedtime.
The bigger story isn’t one pastime is replacing another. It is simply Americans are getting more choices about how they spend their downtime. And apparently, there is still room for a cocktail, a cannabis gummy, a pickleball paddle and a baseball game — sometimes all in the same weekend.
