I don't have statistics. What I know is from personal experience. Since moving to California in 2002, I have never encountered someone smoking pot on the street, in a public place, or even at home. Most people I know in California think of pot as "cancer pain medication treatment". There is hardly anything new about pot. Everyone has developed a level of maturity -- even kids -- such that pot has a place. The next smoker I encounter will either be someone smoking tobacco or crystal. The prevalence of crystal meth is much greater than pot. If 20 crystal sticks (crystalettes) came in a box like cigarettes, it is my contention that the two would be used much the same way by those who develop a tolerance to crystal. Methamphetamine, in the purest form, is also a lot less dangerous than cigarettes. After all, methamphetamine is still prescribed for children as young as 6 years old. You wouldn't encourage a 6 year old to smoke tobacco. Would you? Without any doubt, a far greater percentage of the US general public today use illicit drugs medicinally rather than recreationally. Not only older people who turn to illiict drugs when they can't get medication from a physician, but also younger people whose experience with physicians has created iatrophobia (fear of physicians) which has become problematic in the US due to the lax care that so many physicians today provide.

I had heard that it was a high percentage, CA seems very liberal in that aspect. A lot of medicinal use, I think. High Times mentions CA a lot also. I went to the Cannibus Cup in Amsterdam 2 years in a row and a lot of the vendors, growers and seed companies were from California so I can definitely vouch for that.

can't back this up with any accurate statistics because half of these people are hiding and lie about it but i would guess around 25-40 percent if not more

Being a California girl, who's lived all around the state, even in the most pot-friendly areas, I'd say it's about 5% statewide. Really. About 1 in 20. People around the country get this idea that we're all potheads, bur remember: we elected Schwarzenegger as out governor,and we do have a couple of the most conservative counties (e.g. Orange county) in America.

We (Californians) live in a very, and increasingly progressive society and time. With this, has come a wide spread and growing notion that marijuana is not all the bad that it has been hyped up to be, further, many of its benefits continue to be uncovered. Living in Northern, Central, and Southern California through a variety of counties/cities has opened my eyes to the vast percentage of pot smokers of all different types. Of course, an exact percentage is an impossibility (and keep in mind these are people willing enough to "admit" their usage), but from personal experience, nearly half of the people I have met of all ages have the role of pot present in their lives (whether recreational, everyday, or medical). I don't feel that it is necessarily the "percentage" of people smoking cannabis in California that gives a feeling for pots acceptance. For many members of generations becoming more and more distant from what is considered the new era or youth, their ideology on pot has been etched into their brains to a degree (as with any other opinions or viewpoints) and is rendered, in many cases, unchangeable. Unfortunately, this gap between more and less progressive generations and people has also resulted in a gap between those for and against pot. Further, this seems to separate people into two broad sides: those seeing pot as any other drug, and those with more of an acceptance for it. If these groups are split 50/50 amongst California's population (as a rough estimate), already, we see a 50% maximum of pot smokers in the population. To answer your question about medical marijuana's contribution, with our states growing progressivism comes growing acceptance of marijuana and its medical purposes. I can speak first hand as well as for many friends of all ages and backgrounds, that the number of medical marijuana patients continues to skyrocket as more and more uses are recognized, and knowledge is more widespread of pots legal accessibility. Hope that helps, could go on forever about this.