Marijuana use disorder becomes addiction when the person cannot stop using the drug even though it interferes with many aspects of his or her life. Estimates of the number of people addicted to marijuana are controversial, in part because epidemiological studies of substance use often use dependence as a proxy for addiction even though it is possible to be dependent without being addicted. Those studies suggest that 9 percent of people who use marijuana will become dependent on it,23,24 rising to about 17 percent in those who start using young (in their teens).25,26



In 2014, 4.176 million people in the U.S. abused or were dependent on marijuana;3 138,000 voluntarily sought treatment for their marijuana use.27