Students who have smoked marijuana are compared with non‐users on a variety of attitudinal and demographic characteristics. Approximately 36% of the sample of over 5,000 college students from a national survey report usage of the drug. The major demographic characteristics that separate users from non‐users are religious affiliation, region of the country, and sex. With respect to collegiate institutions, the selectivity of the institution, the students' academic aspirations, and grade‐point average all prove to play a significant role. Anti‐war activities and sentiments also prove highly significant. A Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA), which compares the relative contribution of each variable to drug usage, shows that anti‐war protest, religious affiliation, and sex are the most significant predictors of marijuana usage. A variety of mechanisms playing a possible role in fostering drug use are