Washington may be one of only two states in the country that have legalized recreational marijuana use, but – at least according to the glimpse provided by the most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) -there are certainly stonier states to call home.
In a write-up for the Washington Post, Christopher Ingram breaks down the findings from the NSDUH, which uses 2011-2012 state-level statics to determine monthly drug use by age demographics. The numbers indicate that Rhode Island (of all places) had the highest percentage of monthly pot smokers over the age of 12, at 13 percent, while only 10.21 percent of Washington residents over the age of 12 got stoned on a monthly basis.
The NSDUH figures also suggest that 23.44 percent of Washington residents age 18 to 25 had smoked in the last month – which was above the national average of roughly 19 percent, but well below Vermont’s 33.18 percent. For comparison purposes, only 9.83 percent of Utah residents 18 to 25 reported smoking pot in the last month.
According to the Post’s analysis, “Nationally about 7 percent of Americans over age 12 have used marijuana in the past month. Western states tend to have the highest rate of usage, at 9 percent, followed by the Northeast. The South has the lowest overall rate at 5.83 percent.”