ResearchMental Health

Marijuana use among men hits new highs

Apr 22, 2026
Anders Knospe, Ben Smith
A group of men smoking a marijuana joint at the beach.

Introduction

Marijuana use among American adults has increased sharply in the past decade, as laws have become more liberal and social stigma has declined. While use has grown across the board, men remain the most likely to use, and the most frequent users. Men are also more (and increasingly) likely to meet the diagnostic criteria for Cannabis Use Disorder. At the same time, the profile of typical users has changed, with declining rates among teenagers and rising use among older adults.

Key takeaways

  • The share of men who use marijuana has risen sharply in the past decade. As of 2023, about 19% of men used marijuana in the past month. Earlier estimates were markedly lower, and with the exception of teenagers, use has risen across demographic groups.
  • Adult men aged 26-34 are the most likely to use marijuana in the United States: more than 1 in 4 have used marijuana in the past month.
  • 1 in 10 men use marijuana daily or near-daily. The share of men using daily is roughly equal to the share of men who drink alcohol daily or near-daily.
  • The longstanding gap between adolescent boys’ and girls’ marijuana use has largely disappeared. Across major youth surveys, girls now report rates similar to boys, and in some cases slightly higher.
  • Men are more likely than women to report symptoms of Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) across all age groups. Among men aged 18-26 who have smoked in the past month, 3 in 5 meet the diagnostic criteria for cannabis use disorder.

Trends in marijuana use

Marijuana use among American adults has grown substantially in the past decade. In 2013, 1 in 10 adult men reported using marijuana in the past month. Almost a decade later, past-month use has increased to 1 in 5—almost 24 million men. Women’s use has also risen, climbing to 14%.

Figure 1

Data note

Around 2020–2021, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shifted from primarily in-person interviewing to a mixed web/in-person design. Because responses differed by mode, recent estimates are not fully comparable with earlier ones, and it is difficult to know how much of the change across this break reflects real shifts in marijuana use versus changes in survey administration. We therefore interpret the exact magnitude of differences cautiously. Even so, much of the increase visible in our charts predates this methodological break, and recent estimates remain higher than earlier ones, especially among adults.

 

Recent estimates are higher across racial and ethnic groups than earlier estimates. Current past-month use is especially high among Black men (24%) and Native American men (40%).

The age profile of marijuana use has also shifted. Earlier estimates showed the highest rates among men aged 18–25. Today, men aged 26–34 are the most likely to report past-month marijuana use. With the notable exception of adolescents, men are more likely than women to use marijuana across age groups.

Figure 2

Marijuana use in adolescence

While marijuana use among men has risen, boys have bucked the trend. Across a number of surveys, we see that marijuana use among boys has fallen while use among girls has remained steady.

Figure 3

Data note

Measuring illicit substance use among minors is difficult. School-based surveys like Monitoring the Future (MTF) and the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) report higher marijuana use compared to household surveys like the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Despite these methodological differences, the finding is consistent across all three sources. We use MTF data in figure 3.

 

The decline in male adolescent use, and stagnation in female adolescent use, stands in contrast to significant increases among adult men and women. The reasons are unclear, though changes in access and broader declines in adolescent risk-taking may both play a role.

Overall, men are more likely than women to be past-month users across age groups. The greater contrast between men and women, however, is in intensity of use.

Frequent marijuana use

When looking at occasional users—those who use 1-5 days a month—men and women are equally represented. The gap between men and women is concentrated among frequent users: those who used marijuana on 20 or more days in the past month. About 1 in 10 men are frequent users, compared with 1 in 16 women.

Figure 4

Especially among men, near-daily marijuana use is the norm. Of men who used marijuana in the past month, more than half used 20 or more days. This contrasts significantly with alcohol, where near-daily drinkers are significantly outnumbered by a large number of less frequent drinkers: among men who drank in the past month, just 1 in 5 drank 20 or more days.

This difference between marijuana and alcohol use is now visible not just among users, but among men overall. As a result, the share of men who are near-daily marijuana users has now converged with the share that are near-daily drinkers.

Figure 5

Compared to male users overall, near-daily male users are less educated, more depressed, and more likely to report serious psychological distress. They do not differ significantly by race, age, or income.

Modes of marijuana use

Smoking remains the dominant method among marijuana users: more than 4 in 5 men who use in the past month reported smoking. But the broader picture shows a variety of methods, with roughly 1 in 3 men vaping and 1 in 3 taking edibles.

Figure 6

Methods of use look notably different among younger Americans. Among male marijuana users aged 18-25, more than half vaped. The rate is even higher among teens, with 3 in 5 teenage boy marijuana users vaping.

Cannabis Use Disorder

Another aspect of marijuana use is disordered behavior. The DSM-5 defines Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) as a pattern of marijuana use causing significant impairment or distress—including failed attempts to cut back, continued use despite negative consequences, and symptoms of tolerance or withdrawal.

Figure 7

Across all ages, men are more likely than women to meet the criteria for CUD, though this is not the same as having a CUD diagnosis. Adults aged 18-25 had the highest risk; among young men who used marijuana in the past month, 3 in 5 met CUD criteria.

Severity of CUD looks similar across men and women: just over half meet the criteria for mild CUD, about a quarter moderate, and one in six severe. Age is the more relevant factor: among teenage boys and young men aged 18-25 meeting CUD criteria, nearly 1 in 3 meet the criteria for severe disorder — three times the rate seen among men in their late thirties and forties.

Conclusion

As we have shown, marijuana use has increased significantly in the past decade, among men and women alike. Far from marginal, for many marijuana has become a routine part of adult male life. Across adulthood, men are more likely to use, more likely to use frequently, and more likely to display signs of disordered use, compared to women. There are signs, however, that this may be changing. While marijuana use has remained constant among young men and shrunk among boys, use has continued to grow among girls and young women.

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