More Americans now Smoke Cannabis Than Tobacco. 

Although cannabis remains federally prohibited and is punishable with jail time in some states, tobacco is entirely legal.Cannabis and tobacco use has been steadily moving in this direction over the last few decades, as public health campaigns have taken aim at cigarettes whilst more states have legalised cannabis for medical or recreational use.

Data from a survey conducted in July records that 16 per cent of Americans admit to currently smoking cannabis, while just 11 per cent reported smoking a cigarette in the past week.

What's more, Gallup also asked for the first time this year whether people consume cannabis edibles, with 14 per cent saying they do. These results show that more people are smoking or eating cannabis than having smoked a cigarette in the past week.

Alcohol is still the most widely used recreational substance in the U.S. despite broad recognition that liquor has harmful effects. Forty-five per cent of respondents said they've drank alcohol in the past week, while 67 per cent said they use alcohol occasionally.

More than twice as many Americans think cannabis positively impacts users and society than those who would say the same about alcohol. This is consistent with the results of a separate poll conducted in March that revealed that more Americans think switching to cannabis and drinking less alcohol would be a good thing compared to those who believe substance substitution would be wrong.

"American adults are significantly more likely to use alcohol than either marijuana or cigarettes. While alcohol consumption has remained relatively constant over the decades, cigarette use is now less than a fourth of what it was in the 1950s. Americans' regular use of marijuana is modestly higher than cigarettes at this point, but the trend over recent decades in marijuana use is upward." -Gallup Analysis.

It seems that the future of cannabis use, although uncertain, will probably continue to increase. This is based on current usage trends and the spread of legalisation across U.S. states. You must also factor in the growing public support for legalisation and the awareness of an increasing number of people that cannabis is less harmful than they may have been led to believe.

Young people are also more likely to say they use cannabis than tobacco. Thirty per cent of those under 35 said that they smoke cannabis, while just eight per cent said that they had smoked a cigarette in the last week.

Cannabis legalisation seems to be a success, attracting more adult consumers in states with regulated medicinal and recreational markets. Arizona, Illinois and Massachusetts have seen months where the tax revenue from cannabis sales has outpaced those derived from alcohol purchases.