I’ve seen a few threads on here about drug use and have been shocked at the huge number of members who smoke–or have in the past smoked–pot, and talk about it as if it’s an everyday thing.
Personally, I have never seen pot, don’t know what it smells like (I understand it’s got a very strong, distinctive smell) and don’t know any addicts, and all this talk makes me wonder whether I live in a bubble!
I’m interested to know what percentage of people (a) use marijuana regularly (b) have done so at any point in their lives. For the sake of argument, let’s say in the USA; I’ll leave the definition of “regularly” open, to fit whatever statistics are available.
(As far as I understand, this thread is allowed under the rules on discussing criminal activity. Apologies if it isn’t).
As a general rule, I assume that anybody who smokes probably smokes marijuana as well. I avoid any disparaging talk about it when in their presence. Actually, I’d be in favor of decriminalization because of the resources used to combat the use and the ineffectiveness of same.
I recently learned that two people who smoked that I never would have suspected were in fact users. I once had a neighbor who sold bricks openly out the front door. The other neighbor was a police officer who saw it all too. Her view was “not to fowl her own nest” by turning the man in. She is now the local DARE manager. So the police sometimes overlook it as well and there is an initiative in our city to legalize it beyond the medical, which is already legal.
Couldn’t find anything reliable for regular usage, but my WAG is in the neighborhood of 5% of the population smoking on a monthly basis, and <1% daily. TIME puts the answer to (b) at 42%.
Well, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has a chart on their website that, oddly, only has numbers from 1979-2001, but according to that, 42% of Americans admit to using an illegal drug at some point in their life, 12.6% admit to it in the past year, and 7.1% in the past month.
The numbers are highest in the 18-25 range, where the data says 55.6% admit to ever using, 31.9% in past year, and 18.8% in the past month.
The numbers from Statistics Canada usually suggest that ~15% of our population will have smoked marijuana during the surveyed year, and that 10% of users smoke it on a daily basis.
Of course, these numbers are more representative of how many people are comfortable declaring their use of an illegal substance on a government form than anything else.
A high percentage of people I know smoke weed. I have done it once or twice too, nothing particularly special. None of them are addicts though, and I don’t know anybody who is addicted to marajuana. I didn’t think that was even possible. Anyone have any kind of cite for that? Nobody I know needs to smoke, no withdrawal symptoms or anything when there’s no weed available.
That’s because marijuana isn’t physically addictive. It’s not like other drugs where you can get hooked and have to constantly “feed the need.” I’ve seen some people say it’s psychologically addictive, but so is anything that is fun and enjoyable to do, like eating chocolate cake. I know people who smoked daily for years and quit cold turkey one day and didn’t have the slightest problem or urge to smoke more. You couldn’t even do that with sodas or coffee.
But yeah, I think you do live somewhat in a bubble. Almost half the population has admitted to smoking it at some point (and those are just the people who admit it). It’s almost a guarantee that a few people you know smoke pot, perhaps occasionally in secret, but just don’t advertise it for a.) fear of losing friends or b.) fear of losing their job. The problem is, the stereotypical potheads are the ones who advertise their usage the most and then that’s why people get caught up on the pothead stereotype. Many successful people you’d never guess smoke do it regularly but they’re successful and don’t advertise their usage so it never occurs to you that they would partake in such an activity. Carl Sagan is a good example of such a person.
I’m sort of with the OP. Even in college, when I knew several pot smokers (I was even an RA one year), they seemed to be a small minority of all the people I knew. And since college, I don’t think I’ve encountered pot at all. I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to go about getting some if I wanted it.
I’m not surprised that around half of all people have tried it at least one time in their lives, but I’m surprised that anyone between the ages of 25 and 65 uses it.
Wouldn’t know off hand where to get it, but doubt it would be all that hard to find out.
I certainly recognize the smell, from college days particularly. Where I live it is not something I smell in the regular course of daily events. Can’t tell you the last time I noticed it, actually.
In my fifties. Never tried it. Wouldn’t know where to get any. Wouldn’t even know who to ask to find out, and there’s no way I’d embarrass myself by asking.
I once smelled something, and someone nearby said “yeah, that’s pot”. But I don’t even remember how many decades ago that was.
I’m in my mid-20s and pot is quite common in my social circle. I know plenty people in finance, marketing, engineering, non-profit, graduate/medical school, consulting, etc. that smoke. Of those that don’t partake, I don’t remember them ever making a big deal out of others smoking.
I am routinely surprised by how many people I find out smoke it or eat it; people who I would have never guessed. I don’t smoke it any more, but I have no problems with those who do. Here in Boulder, CO you can see [or smell] people smoking it all the time. Two municipalities have legalized it and more are on the way…
Semi-regular usage of MJ is common among computer science folks.
It is a curious turn that I, someone who considers himself to be an outlier in most categories, would be in the norm for this particular statistic.
ETA: Oh, and I am considered by most to be ‘middle-aged’.
I am The Offspring Of Hippies, so I grew up around it. My father smoked it on a daily basis till the day he died (of lung cancer - not necessarily related, because he smoked cigarettes heavily also.)
That said, I have smoked pot fewer than 10 times in my life, and not at all for over 12 years.
Most of the people I know will use it occasionally, and a few are heavy users. A friend of mine’s mom grows it industrially, so most of our mutual friends can get it wholesale.
I’m in my 50’s - Won’t say if I smoke or not. I never see it openly and I wouldn’t know where to go buy some if I wanted. I hear people say “I could probably find it easily enough” but if your a 54 year old white guy (as I am) then you are the type of person pot users would probably avoid. I think. Sometimes I smell it in crowds or even in traffic, wafting over from another car, but I haven’t seen anyone smoke it openly since my college days.
As a couple of people point out, the image some people have of pot smokers is the “hey, dude” pot-heads from movies (and college dorms). Those guys are smoking every day everybody knows it. I think a lot of use is done behind closed doors by normal people and it doesn’t affect their everyday lives enough for anyone to notice.