A number of health experts think both marijuana and cigarette are injurious to health, but many college students in the United States do not agree with the experts. A new study released on Tuesday found that more US college students are smoking weed than students in last 35 years.

According to the study published in Monitoring the Future, it surveyed the drug use of about 1,500 college students and found that 5.9% of them use marijuana almost daily. While talking to USA Today College, Lloyd Johnston, the principal investigator of the study, said the figures are rising because people think marijuana is less harmful than cigarette, which is not correct.

In March this year, nonpartisan American think tank, Pew Research Center, conducted a survey and noted that more than 50% of Americans want government to legalize marijuana in the country. About 70% people in the survey believed that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol.

The study conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan found that the percentage of marijuana use once or more in the prior month rose from 17% in 2006 to about 21% in 2014. The use of marijuana the prior year rose to 34% in 2014 from 30% in 2006.

According to the study, use of ecstasy and cocaine has also increased among young adults. The study noted an increase from 2.7% in 2013 to 4.4% in 2014. Johnston said, “This could be due in part to ‘generational forgetting’ — or a younger generation not remembering, or not knowing about, any problematic issues associated with the drugs in the past”.