Local expert disputes results included in a national survey
By Stefan Yablonski
A 2025 national survey found that regular marijuana use surpassed cigarette smoking in the United States, with 43.8 million adults using marijuana versus 36.1 million smoking cigarettes.
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 43.8 million Americans (aged 12 and up) used marijuana regularly, compared to 36.1 million Americans who smoked cigarettes.
Marijuana use was highest among adults 18 to 25 (8.4 million people), while cigarette use was highest among adults 26 and up (32.2 million people), the survey showed.
Smoking was the most common mode of marijuana use, followed by edibles, vaping, dabs, waxes and concentrates, the study found. In addition to cigarettes, 29.3 million Americans (aged 12 and up) reported regular nicotine vaping usage.
For Jennifer Faringer, Rochester area director of DePaul’s National Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence, the survey results are somewhat misleading.
“If you include cigarettes and nicotine vaping, which to me is one in the same, the numbers are a bit different,” said Faringer. “Nicotine vaping is far more addictive. The premises here is not exactly right because if you put the two together, that is a 27% compared to marijuana at 21%.”
“The bigger story here is that while these products continue to be high, marijuana is continuing to get higher, from19% to 21% this year,” she continued. “And to further confuse, a lot of people— I think it’s around 39% — use marijuana by vaping it. Then you get into the question: are they vaping marijuana straight or with nicotine? What are they really vaping?”
Faringer said the NSDUH survey doesn’t point to why marijuana use surpassed cigarette use in 2025. However, the findings come as more states legalize medical and recreational marijuana.
Forty-one states have legalized medical marijuana and 24 states have legalized recreational use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Medical and recreational marijuana are both legal in Washington, DC.
Despite marijuana’s growing popularity, the substance still hasn’t touched alcohol.
In 2025, 129.1 million Americans aged 12 and up drank alcohol, according to the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Of that figure, 44% were monthly binge drinkers.
For men, binge drinking is defined as five or more drinks on one day in the past 30 days. For women, binge drinking is four or more drinks on one day in the past 30 days.
“I think the big message here is that alcohol is still No. 1. It has been since I started in the field 35 years ago and that hasn’t changed. Tobacco has always been No. 2 with marijuana creeping up each year — and again that is no surprise with legalization, normalization and dispensaries in New York multiplying as we speak. Any time you increase access, you increase use,” Faringer said. “Especially for young people, but it is increasing across all ages. It’s everywhere and New York state approves it so it must be OK, right? I had people call me when it was legalized and say, ‘well New York approved it so it’s not addictive in New York, right?’ And, of course, the opposite is true it’s more potent, it is more addictive today.”
Leveling off any time soon?
“I wish I could say so. But not really, it’s going up and up. It’s going up astronomically,” Faringer said.
Around 60,000 Americans were interviewed for the annual survey, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
It provides a national snapshot of behavioral health in the United States based on self-reported responses from more than 60,000 people.
A key focus of the annual report is examining trends in substance use and mental health among the U.S. population from 2021-25.