In a first, cannabis tops alcohol as Americans' daily drug of choice

For the first time on record, cannabis has outpaced alcohol as the daily drug of choice for Americans.

In 2022 there were 17.7 million people who reported using cannabis either every day or nearly every day, compared with 14.7 million who reported using alcohol with the same frequency, according to a study, published Wednesday in the journal Addiction that analyzed data from the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

While far more people drink than use cannabis, drinking frequently has become slightly less common than it was around 15 years ago, the study found. But the proportion of people in the US who use cannabis frequently has increased 15-fold in the three decades since 1992, when daily cannabis use hit a low point.

Cannabis legalization has also rapidly accelerated since the ’90s. The drug is now legal for recreational use in 24 states and Washington, DC, and for medical use in 38 states and DC.

The sharp increase in the prevalence of high-frequency cannabis use over the past three decades might partly be attributed to a growing acceptance of the drug, said Jonathan P. Caulkins, a professor of public policy at Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University. And because the survey data was self-reported, people may now feel more comfortable disclosing how often they use it.

Even so, “I don’t think that for most daily or near-daily users it is a health-promoting activity,” he added. “For some, it’s truly harmful.”

Several experts who were not involved in the research said the study’s findings were concerning. Those in favor of legalizing cannabis have argued that making the drug widely available would draw people away from the harms of alcohol, said Beatriz Carlini, a research associate professor in the psychiatry department of the University of Washington in Seattle.

But the study’s data, which shows only a slight decline in frequent alcohol use, suggests this has not been the case.

“It is disheartening,” she said.

Carlini and others noted that the concentrations of THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana, have increased dramatically over the years.

In 1995, the concentration of THC in cannabis samples seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration was about 4 per cent. By 2021, it was about 15 per cent. And now cannabis manufacturers are extracting THC to make oils, edibles, wax, sugar-size crystals and glass-like products called shatter with THC levels that can exceed 95 per cent.