| In its 2021 World Drug Report, the [[United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime]] estimated that 3.98 percent of the global population—roughly 200 million people—used cannabis in 2019.<ref name="UNODCWorld16">{{cite web |url=https://www.unodc.org/res/wdr2021/field/WDR21_Booklet_2.pdf |format=PDF |title=World Drug Report 2021: Global Overview of Drug Demand and Supply |author=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime |publisher=United Nations |isbn=9789210058032 |date=June 2021 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> Focusing in on the United States, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) estimated that in 2019 the country had 48.2 million past-year marijuana users.<ref name="SAMHSAResults16">{{cite web |url=https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt29394/NSDUHDetailedTabs2019/NSDUHDetailedTabs2019.pdf |format=PDF |title=Results from The 2019 National Survey on Drug Use And Health: Detailed Tables |author=Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration |editor=RTI International |page=38 |date=August 2020 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> It's not clear if that total includes legal medical marijuana users, which numbered roughly 2.1 million in May 2018 according to non-profit ProCon.org.<ref name="ProConNumber18">{{cite web |url=https://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/number-of-legal-medical-marijuana-patients/ |title=Number of Legal Medical Marijuana Patients (as of May 17, 2018) |publisher=ProCon.org |date=17 May 2018 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref> When compared to SAMHSA's estimate of 11.1 million users in 1997<ref name="RabkinDrug99">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvzBdlolKrQC&pg=PA16 |title=Drug Control: DEA's Strategies and Operations in the 1990s |author=Rabkin, N.J. |publisher=U.S. General Accounting Office |year=July 1999 |pages=172 |isbn=9780788184833}}</ref>, it becomes clear that reported marijuana use has increased in the United States over the past few decades, whether it's through legalization efforts or otherwise. Some have pointed to the expansion of medical marijuana laws acting as gateways for increased adolescent use; however, multiple studies have tried but failed to find such a cause and effect relationship.<ref name="HasinMedical15">{{cite journal |title=Medical marijuana laws and adolescent marijuana use in the USA from 1991 to 2014: Results from annual, repeated cross-sectional surveys |journal=The Lancet Psychiatry |author=Hasin, D.S.; Wall, M.; Keyes, K.M. et al. |volume=2 |issue=7 |pages=601–608 |year=2015 |doi=10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00217-5}}</ref><ref name="WallAdol11">{{cite journal |title=Adolescent Marijuana Use from 2002 to 2008: Higher in States with Medical Marijuana Laws, Cause Still Unclear |journal=Annals of Epidemiology |author=Wall, M.M.; Poh, E.; Cerdá, M. |volume=21 |issue=9 |pages=714–716 |year=2011 |doi=10.1016/j.annepidem.2011.06.001 |pmid=21820632 |pmc=PMC3358137}}</ref><ref name="HarperDoMed12">{{cite journal |title=Do Medical Marijuana Laws Increase Marijuana Use? Replication Study and Extension |journal=Annals of Epidemiology |author=Harper, S.; Strumpf, E.C.; Kaufman, J.S. |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=207–212 |year=2012 |doi=10.1016/j.annepidem.2011.12.002 |pmid=22285867}}</ref> Regardless, with 37 U.S. states and D.C. now having some type of legalization law on the books<ref name="BerkeMichigan18">{{cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/legal-marijuana-states-2018-1 |title=Marijuana legalization is sweeping the US. See every state where cannabis is legal |author=Berke, J.; Gal, S.; Lee, Y.J. |work=Business Insider |publisher=Insider, Inc |date=06 January 2021 |accessdate=07 July 2021}}</ref>, the number of marijuana users isn't likely to decrease any time soon in the U.S.
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