Do People Really Prefer Smoking Weed To Drinking Alcohol in 2021?

People drink for various motives. But according to Mulford and Miller, it boils down to two categories: “to drink to escape, avoid, or regulate unpleasant emotions”, or to “celebrate social occasions, and to have a good time with others.”

However, as cannabis grew in popularity over the past decade, more and more U.S. adults were reported to have smoked marijuana as of 2019.

How popular has cannabis turned this year? Were there more U.S. adults smoking weed now compared to drinking alcohol?

We recently surveyed 2,080 Americans to see:

• If people these days would prefer smoking weed over drinking alcohol.
• Their experiences when they or they are with stoned/drunk friends.
• Their willingness to drive when under the influence of alcohol or marijuana.

Most of our respondents were aged between 18-29 years old, representing 41.8% of the 2,080 survey takers, followed by 31% of respondents aged 30-49 years old.

There are more respondents aged 60 years old and older (10%) than respondents aged between 50-59 years old (7.2%).

Most of the survey participants (32%) are receiving a monthly salary between $0 – $2,499 while only 6.2% of them are receiving a monthly salary of $10,000 – $14,999.

10.8% were being paid over $15,000 while there are only 6.2% who are getting paid 10,000 – $14,999 monthly.

Does legalizing weed affects the general U.S. population’s preference between weed and alcoholic drinks, especially since the number of alcohol-induced deaths (excluding accidents and homicides) amounted to over 35,000 in 2017?

Smoke Weed

48.4% of people who were with their stoner friends have experienced both happy and sad experiences.

43% said they all experienced nothing but happy times when they’re with people who were stoned compared to only 4.6% who said they experienced nothing but bad experiences

Drink

71% of our survey participants experienced both happy and sad times when they’re with their drunk friends.

There are more people (17.8%) who had fun with their drunk friends than people (9.3%) who only   had bad experiences when they’re with drunk friends.

There are 15.8% more people who are honest enough to admit they can’t drive anymore when they’re drunk (71%) than people who would also admit they can’t drive when they’re high from smoking weed (55.2%).

But there are 44.8% of people who would still drive even after smoking weed than people who would drive after being under the influence of alcohol (26.6%).

To collect the data shown above, we surveyed 2,080 consumers in the United States who have consumed weeds and alcoholic drinks. Two attention-checker questions were included to ensure the participants are qualified to do the survey and did not mindlessly answer questions.

Because the survey relies on self-reporting, issues such as telescoping and exaggeration can influence responses. Please also note that this survey’s results do not reflect our opinions.

If you know someone who could benefit from our findings, feel free to share this project with them. The graphics and content are available for noncommercial reuse. All we ask is that you link back to this page so that readers get all the necessary information and our contributors receive proper credit.