What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone asks you what country is best for getting high? Chances are you’d immediately shout “The Netherlands. This is largely due to the reputation of Amsterdam with its many coffee shops. But you might be surprised to learn that only 8% of the Dutch population smokes weed. Now that you know this interesting fact, the question naturally arises in which countries people actually smoke the most weed? We are going to look at how much weed people smoke per capita. So we’re not focusing on the total amount of weed smoked in a country, because then of course the larger countries will win. What we mainly want to know is which countries have the most blowers. Now, of course, there are methodological issues, as is often the case with a large study. Since weed is not legal everywhere in the world, we have to assume that these statistics are somewhat skewed. Still, you get a rough idea of the percentage of people who smoke pot in a given country.
Who likes weed the most?
In our statistics, we look at the annual amount of weed consumed by people aged 15-64. These people have smoked marijuana at least once in the past year. The statistics are from the World Drug Report[1] by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. They draw their information from a variety of sources, hopefully providing a fairly accurate picture of global marijuana use. This table reveals the ten countries in the world with the highest consumption of marijuana, and there are some surprises among them! Chile, in fact, leads the way; over a third of their population uses marijuana at least once a year. In second place (perhaps not surprisingly) we find Canada. But who would have thought that Papua New Guinea would come right after that, in third place? And the Netherlands doesn’t even appear in the list!
| Country | Per capita cannabis use in % |
| Chile | 34.8 |
| Canada | 32.7 |
| Papua New Guinea | 29.5 |
| Israel | 27.0 |
| Palau | 24.2 |
| Northern Marianas | 22.2 |
| Ghana | 21.5 |
| Guam | 18.4 |
| Iceland | 18.3 |
| United States | 16.2 |
A change in consumption methods
Previously, weed was exclusively smoked, for example in a joint or bong, or people made edibles from it. A few lucky people sometimes got their hands on hash, but mainly in rudimentary form. But today we are much more creative when it comes to different consumption methods, making it more accessible than ever before. Thanks to the rise of vaping, concentrates and dabbing, versatile solutions have emerged for people who don’t want to smoke. Not only that, but modern cultivation and extraction methods have made it easier for people to find products that meet their needs. For example, if you want a super-strong sativa, it’s possible. If you want a concentrate with lots of CBD, that’s also possible. The huge selection, including many high-quality products, means that a bag of mediocre weed has long since ceased to be the only option for people who want to get stoned.
Smoking weed worldwide
Contrary to what many people think, it is clear that the consumption of cannabis is not exclusively reserved for Western European and North American countries. People all over the world use weed and that use is of all times. It is likely that people are consuming more because of the wide variety of different products. As a result, the stigma on cannabis use has also disappeared in certain circles. And that’s good news, because if more people use cannabis openly, we can discover much more about the cannabis plant.
