An analysis, “Changes in Self-Reported Cannabis Use in the United States from 1979 to 2022,” by Carnegie Mellon University of data from the U.S. government’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health, published yesterday in Addiction, the Society for the Study of Addiction, shows that daily marijuana use finally surpassed daily alcoholic consumption, sometime in 2022. They estimate that, in 2022, 17.7 million Americans had become daily users of marijuana, compared with 14.7 million daily consumers of alcohol. The author of the analysis, Jonathan Caulkin, said this was unprecedented, adding: “A good 40% of current cannabis users are using it daily or near daily, a pattern that is more associated with tobacco use than typical alcohol use.”
Prior to the past decade-plus drive to decriminalize and also legalize recreational marijuana use, daily pot use had dropped. As of 1992, it had receded to under 1 million Americans. Now, per-capita usage has grown 15 times over. While a portion of that surge may be the greater willingness to admit the habit, the actual surge is undeniable and massive.
