For the First Time in U.S. History, More Americans Use Marijuana Daily Than Smoke Cigarettes Daily; Marijuana Use Disorder Is Now the Nation’s Second-Largest Addiction
Washington, DC—For the first time in American history, more Americans use marijuana every day than smoke cigarettes every day. Newly released federal data show 21.4 million daily marijuana users compared with 19.9 million daily cigarette smokers – a milestone that means the marijuana industry has built a product that now out-performs Big Tobacco’s flagship. The same data reveal that marijuana use disorder has become the second-largest addiction in the country, and it is closing in fast on alcohol for the top spot.
The figures come from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Detailed Tables, released today. Nearly 19.3 million Americans now meet the clinical criteria for marijuana use disorder – behind only alcohol (25.7 million) and nearly five times the size of opioid addiction. And the gap with alcohol is narrowing quickly: since 2021, alcohol addiction has fallen by roughly 4 million people while marijuana addiction has grown by 2.6 million.
“Marijuana is on track to become America’s number one addiction, and Washington is looking the other way,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, President and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and a former advisor to three presidential administrations. “The addiction industry has engineered a product that out-addicts the cigarette – the deadliest consumer product in American history. More people now use marijuana every single day than smoke cigarettes every day, one in three users is hooked, and a generation of young people is being enrolled in a daily habit before their brains are finished developing. This is not the harmless plant the industry sold us. It is Big Tobacco 2.0, and the trend line points in one direction.”
The detailed tables document an addiction crisis that has been building in plain sight:
Daily use has exploded. The 21.4 million Americans who use marijuana daily is up nearly 4 million since 2021. Nearly half of all marijuana users now use the drug every single day – the usage pattern most associated with dependence and harm.
One in three users is addicted. One in three marijuana users now meets the clinical criteria for addiction. Among young adults ages 18–25, one in seven of the entire age group — users and non-users alike — meets the criteria for marijuana use disorder.
Teens who use are using far more heavily. Among teens who still use marijuana, daily use jumped roughly 50 percent in just two years. More than one in three current teen users now uses marijuana daily or almost daily.
Marijuana has overtaken cigarettes. Daily marijuana users (21.4 million) now outnumber daily cigarette smokers (19.9 million) for the first time on record – a reversal of the trend line that public health officials spent decades building against tobacco.
SAM also noted that none of these findings appear in the body of SAMHSA’s 157-page report. The daily-use comparison and the addiction rankings are buried in the appendix tables.
“The most important drug-use finding in a generation is sitting in an appendix table where almost no one will see it,” Sabet added. “Parents, lawmakers, and reporters deserve to know that daily marijuana use has surpassed daily smoking and that marijuana addiction is now second only to alcohol. We are going to make sure they do.”