Prevalence of Use

The use of marijuana as a medical treatment can be traced back to around 400 AD in what is now Romania. Eventually, the concept of medical marijuana traveled to America, and in 1996, California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana. Marijuana is often used medically to treat chronic pain, nausea, seizures, and other severe conditions such as Alzheimer's. Medical marijuana usually contains more CBD (Cannabidiol) than THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), as CBD has been shown to be a medical remedy for many conditions. Medicinal use is more widely accepted than recreational use; however, the use of marijuana as a treatment for a medical condition has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has approved only two specific cannabinoids, specifically cannabidiol and dronabinol.  

The recreational use of marijuana does not require a prescription and is often a source of leisure or relaxation for users. Recreational marijuana tends to contain a higher concentration of THC than CBD. THC is the ingredient in marijuana responsible for feelings of euphoria or "feeling high." Even though recreational marijuana is less popular and accepted than medicinal about 40% of Americans say they have used marijuana recreationally, and two-thirds want recreational marijuana to be federally legal.

The purpose of this section is to advise readers about pending legislation across both medical and recreational features. At present, 39 states (and Washington, D.C.) have legalized the use of marijuana for either medical use only or medical and recreational to varying degrees. In Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, and Georgia, only CBD that contains THC is legal, but the legal THC limits can be as low as 0.5%. Marijuana remains illegal in South Carolina, Kansas, Wyoming, and Idaho. 

In the United States, marijuana is the most used illegal drug, with about 18% (about 48.2 million) of Americans reporting having used it at least once in 2019.[1] Furthermore, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported in 2021, up to 18.7% (about 52.2 million) of people aged 12 or older have reported using cannabis in the last year, and 5.8% had cannabis use disorder.[2] In fact, the CDC estimated that 3 in 10 people who have used marijuana actually have marijuana use disorder. However, seeing as marijuana is not federally legal, and only legal in select states, a lot of marijuana use is consumed illegally. Additionally, especially in states where marijuana is still illegal, quality research is not available as there is no government funding or funding in general. Despite the lack of research, public opinion regarding marijuana has improved greatly over the years, but depending on age and party, a large portion of the United States still has a strong negative opinion on marijuana use and its legalization. 

[1]https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/data-statistics.htm#:~:text=Marijuana%20is%20the%20most%20commonly,at%20least%20once%20in%202019.&text=Recent%20research%20estimated%20that%20approximately,marijuana%20have%20marijuana%20use%20disorder.

[2]https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/what-scope-marijuana-use-in-united-states