According to the collected data, an increasing proportion of cannabis users report daily or near-daily use, and these figures now surpass those of alcohol drinkers.
While alcohol is still consumed by more people in absolute terms, 2022 marked the first time that the intensive level of daily marijuana use exceeded highly frequent alcohol consumption.
Professor Jonathan P. Caulkins, a cannabis policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, conducted this study. Although the data comes from surveys, changes in self-reported cannabis use rates suggest that changes in actual use have been considerable. It is striking that frequent cannabis use is now more common than frequent alcohol use.
In 2022, it is estimated that 17.7 million people consumed marijuana daily or near-daily, compared to 14.7 million people who consumed alcohol daily or near-daily.
Additionally, the per capita rate of daily or near-daily marijuana use reported by consumers increased 15 times from 1992 to 2022. While many more people drink than use cannabis, frequent alcohol consumption is less common. In 2022, the average drinker reported having consumed alcohol on 4 to 5 days during the previous month, compared to cannabis use on 15 to 16 days during the same period.
These trends reflect changes in policies, with declines during periods of greater restriction and growth during periods of policy liberalization. While it cannot be stated with certainty whether policy drove changes in use or if both were manifestations of changes in underlying culture and attitudes, it is clear that cannabis use is now on a fundamentally different scale than it was before legalization.
Key Points:
- A recent study from Carnegie Mellon University found that daily or near-daily marijuana use now surpasses alcohol consumption in the United States.
- In 2022, 17.7 million people reported consuming marijuana daily or near-daily, compared to 14.7 million people who consumed alcohol with the same frequency.
- While more people drink alcohol overall, frequent alcohol consumption is less common than frequent marijuana use.
- The study found that trends in cannabis use correlate with changes in legalization policies over the past four decades.
- Researchers could not determine whether policy changes caused shifts in consumption or if both reflect broader cultural and attitudinal changes.
Additional Details:
- The study analyzed data from national surveys from 1979 to 2022.
- The research found that the per capita rate of daily or near-daily marijuana use reported by consumers increased 15 times between 1992 and 2022.
- The study’s authors note that while correlation does not imply causation, the findings suggest that marijuana use is on a “fundamentally different scale” than it was before legalization.
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