Top countries in terms of annual cannabis use in 2020

Israel had the highest prevalence of cannabis use worldwide in 2020. Approximately 27 percent of the adult population had consumed cannabis during that year. This is significantly more than in any other country. In the United States (U.S.), the prevalence of cannabis use is about 17 percent.

Cannabis around the world

In Europe, Czechia had the highest prevalence of cannabis use among adults, with 11.1 percent of their adult population consuming cannabis. However, while many Europeans consume cannabis, only a very small share of the legal cannabis sales worldwide are generated in Europe. North America has by far the largest share of legal cannabis sales, accounting for nearly the entire market. Nonetheless, unlike in Canada, where cannabis has been fully legalized, the drug remains illegal at the federal level in the U.S. and is only legalized in certain states.

The legal status of cannabis in the United States

One of the U.S. states that legalized cannabis is California. The state of California, which is the most populous state in the U.S., now collects almost 1.3 billion U.S. dollars from taxes generated by the sales of recreational marijuana. This is more than twice as much as any other state collects. The support for legalizing marijuana among the adult U.S. population has changed significantly during the last half a century. While approximately 12 percent supported legalization in 1969, it is now more than two-thirds of the population. Cannabis is particularly popular among college students in the United States. The percentage of U.S. college students that used cannabis regularly, that is monthly or more frequently, was almost 40 percent in 2021.