With the recent California legalization of marijuana, weed has been discussed and glamorized more than ever in pop culture. The use of weed has been celebrated and mentioned everywhere from fashion and song lyrics to some of our favorite Netflix shows. This left me wondering: how many people have actually smoked weed in their lives, and is millennial usage higher than that of the country as a whole?
I conducted a volunteer-based, anonymous, online survey amongst 79 students on Doodle.com which asked participants to answer whether or not they’ve smoked weed in their lives (conducted October 12th, 2017). Out of the 80 participants, a shocking 57.5% answered “yes” and 42.5% answered “no,” meaning the majority had smoked weed at least once. To put these figures into perspective, a poll conducted by Gallup on July 19, 2017 reported a total of 45% of the country as a whole have used marijuana at least once, with 12% using it regularly. The sample group I surveyed had a higher number of those who have experimented with it than the nationwide survey conducted three months ago. Why is this?
The numbers I collected could possibly be higher than this survey due to a younger sample population, my location (marijuana will be completely legal here in California as of January 1, 2018,) and the fact that it was volunteer-based. However, as a millennial myself, I feel like the general open-mindedness and publicity related to marijuana has helped these numbers rise over the last few years. The recent legalization of marijuana may have helped whether its reputation as one of the most dangerous drugs in the world (it still ranked a category one drug amongst ecstasy LSD and heroin) even though a reported zero people have died from any sort of marijuana usage. Perhaps our generation is beginning to realize marijuana is safer than its fellow category-one drugs from an overdose standpoint, and is still safer than other drugs ranked below it.
According to Castle Medical, a reported 15,000 Americans die from prescription painkillers, depicted above, which can be ranked as either a schedule 2 or 3 drug.
But that still doesn’t answer the questions: Will these numbers continue to rise? And will more states/countries become open to the possibility of a 420-friendly future? Based off of current numbers, I think it’s safe to say the future is looking pretty green, and stoner culture will continue to play its part in the face of pop culture.
*all media courtesy of Photopin.com
*The opinions expressed above are solely my own and not representative of Her Campus.