This report examines the past-year prevalence of marijuana smoking among people ages 15–49 in the United States, by age and sex. Data came from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg/nsfg-2022-2023-puf.htm). The following 2022–2023 public-use files were merged for analysis:
- Female Respondent File: Public Use
- Male Respondent File: Public Use
The NSFG assessed marijuana use only in terms of smoking; it did not assess other methods of consumption, such as vaping or eating marijuana products. The variable POT12 asked how often respondents had smoked marijuana during the past 12 months. It was coded 1 = “Never,” while values 2–6 reflected frequencies ranging from “Once or twice during the year” to “About once a day or more.” Respondents were classified as having smoked marijuana in the past year if they reported doing so at least once or twice during that period (POT12 ≥ 2).
The analysis included 9,924 respondents: 4,363 men and 5,561 women. Unweighted sample sizes by age group were 1,426 ages 15–19, 1,057 ages 20–24, 1,420 ages 25–29, 1,777 ages 30–34, 1,670 ages 35–39, 1,420 ages 40–44, and 1,154 ages 45–49. Percentages shown in the chart were calculated using the NSFG sampling weights.
Across the entire sample, 26% had smoked marijuana in the last year. Marijuana smoking varied substantially with age. Among women, the percentage who smoked marijuana in the past year peaked at 38% among those ages 20–24 and then declined steadily with age. Among men, smoking remained near 40% from ages 20–34, peaking at 41% among those ages 30–34, before declining among older groups.
An unweighted factorial ANOVA found significant differences by age group, F(6, 9910) = 22.88, p < .001, and sex, F(1, 9910) = 44.82, p < .001. The age-group-by-sex interaction was also significant, F(6, 9910) = 3.28, p = .003, indicating that the association between age and marijuana smoking differed between men and women.
How do visitors to OpenPublicPolls compare to the national sample? Take the poll below, and then add your comment. This informal, self-selected poll is just for interest and is not part of the NSFG analysis.
No option for “Did not smoke in the past year” in the poll is odd, no?
Fixed. Thanks for pointing this out.
You would select “Never”
You never smoked in the last 12 months.
Why does this sample cap at 49?
You’d have to ask the CDC. That is the age limit in their data collection in this survey.
We don’t really use the term marijuana anymore. It’s cannabis. Marijuana has too many racist/biased connotations.
The poll should have an option between “once a week” and “once a day or more.”