US Cannabis Industry and Marijuana Use Statistics

(15 April 2021) On January 1, 2014, establishments licensed by the state of Colorado began commercial sales of marijuana to the general public, which led cannabis industry stock values to skyrocket by about 200% from January to March 2014 as measured by the MJIC Marijuana Global Index.

Since then, 15 more states in the US have adopted the legal use of marijuana, with the New York becoming the 16th state and the nation’s second-largest legal marijuana market in March of this year. Moreover, on March 31, the Senate Majority Leader supported the initiative to legalize the market at the federal level.

Gallup Poll Social Survey responses over the past twenty years indicate that support for marijuana legalization has been growing steadily in the United States. The most recent survey, conducted in 2020, finds that 68% of US adults now support legalization. 

According to the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in Oregon, Colorado, Vermont, Maine, Alaska, Washington, Nevada, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and the District of Columbia more than 20% of the population aged 12+ years had regularly used cannabis in the previous year. Crime statistics from the FBI show that these states have slightly higher crime rates (measured as the number of crimes per 1000 population) than other states. 

As more states move towards the legalization of marijuana, the cannabis industry continues to grow rapidly. The MJIC Marijuana North American Index hit a two-year high in February 2021.