More American Adults Use Cannabis As A Sleep Aid Than Choose Prescription Pills Or Alcohol To Fall Asleep, Poll Shows

About 16 percent of Americans aged 21 and older say they use cannabis as a sleep aid, according to a new industry-backed survey. That makes marijuana more popular for sleep than prescription sleep aids (12 percent) or alcohol (11 percent), but still not quite as common as using supplements (26 percent) or over-the-counter sleep aids (19 percent).

Overall, nearly 8 in 10 U.S. adults (79 percent) said something keeps them up at night, according to the new poll, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of cannabis the company Green Thumb Industries and its “incredibles” line of edibles. Fifty-eight percent, meanwhile, reported consuming at least one substance to help them sleep.

The survey included both “cannabis” and “CBD-only or CBD + melatonin products” as possible selections for participants, who could pick multiple responses. Sixteen percent said they inhale or ingest cannabis—which could refer either to marijuana or hemp products—while 10 percent said they used CBD either alone or with melatonin.

The online survey polled 2,019 U.S. adults ages 21 and older in early June 2024, and the results were released this month. It has a margin of error of ±2.5 percentage points.

Men were more likely than women to say they used cannabis (18 percent versus 15 percent, respectively) or CBD products (11 percent versus 8 percent) for sleep. Among women, people between ages 21 and 34 were most likely to use cannabis as a sleep aid, with older age groups considerably less likely. Among men, by contrast, the 35-to-44 age group was most likely to report using cannabis for sleep.

Lower-income people, with household incomes of below $50,000, were the most likely income level to report using cannabis for sleep (23 percent), with people in higher-income households reporting higher use of supplements and over-the-counter sleep aids.

Parents were also more likely than non-parents to use cannabis for sleep. Twenty percent of people with children in their household generally said they used marijuana for sleep compared to 14 percent of people without children. People who were parents of children under 18 also reported higher cannabis use rates for sleep (21 percent) compared to people who weren’t raising minor children.

Regionally, use of cannabis as a sleep aid was also more popular in the West (20 percent) and Northeast (19 percent) than the South (13 percent) or Midwest (14 percent).

For reference, separate survey data from polling giant Gallup last October found that 15 percent of U.S. adults said they currently “smoke marijuana.”

Another top-level finding of the new Green Thumb survey is that relaxation and sleep are the most common reasons that American adults report using cannabis-infused edibles. Among the 41 percent of respondents who said they consume infused edibles, 25 percent said it was to help them relax, and 21 percent said it was to help them sleep.

Other reasons included managing stress (17 percent), helping with pain (15 percent), having fun (11 percent), getting high (9 percent) and helping with creativity (2 percent).

“Sleeping well is essential for feeling your best,” Ben Kovler—founder, chairman and CEO of Green Thumb—said in a statement about the new survey. “More Americans are choosing cannabis for relaxation, sleep and overall well-being. Our Snoozzzeberry line is crafted with each of these aspects in mind because at incredibles, we know that when: You Snooze, You Win.”

**100% of Americans go to sleep**

**71% of them wish they slept better **

**Snoozzzeberry: You Snooze, You Win**

"More Americans are choosing cannabis for relaxation, sleep and overall well-being"

At Rise, Online, & DoorDash…$GTBIF $AGFY https://t.co/dCSoQbc0pT

— Ben Kovler (@Bkov9) January 17, 2025

The products, which include gummies and chocolate bars, are infused with cannbinoids such as THC and CBD as well as, in some cases, CBN and CBG.

Self-reports of better sleep quality through the use of cannabis and cannabinoid products have been common for years among various demographic groups.

Last year, for example, separate studies found that both older medical marijuana patients as well as people with fibromyalgia reported that cannabis improved their sleep.

A different study last year from the retirement group AARP found that marijuana use by older people in the U.S. has nearly doubled in the last three years, with better sleep as among the most frequently cited reasons.

Another industry-backed survey last year found that an oral CBD solution effectively treated mild to moderate anxiety, as well as associated depression and poor sleep quality, with no serious adverse events observed.

A study published last spring, meanwhile, found that using marijuana before sleep has minimal if any effect on a range of performance measures the next day, including simulated driving, cognitive and psychomotor function tasks, subjective effects and mood.

In 2023, a federally funded study found that people with anxiety experienced better quality sleep on days when they used marijuana compared to days when they used alcohol or nothing at all.

Separate studies in 2019, meanwhile, found that fewer people purchased over-the-counter (OTC) sleep medications when they had legal access to cannabis and that many adult-use consumers at the time said they used marijuana for the same reasons medical cannabis patients did: to help with pain and sleep.

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