Marijuana has now taken the lead among Americans who say they either drink alcohol or use weed daily or near-daily Changing societal norms and relaxed laws around weed have spurred the trend However, overuse of marijuana can have ill effects, experts warn WEDNESDAY, May 22, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Reflecting changing times and legislation, Americans are now more apt to light up a joint or pop a weed gummy on a daily basis than they are to raise a glass of wine or beer, new research shows. Among folks who said they used either marijuana or alcohol each day, marijuana became the preferred choice as of 2022, according to study author . In terms of the sheer number of people who drink or use pot or alcohol at least occasionally, alcohol remains in the lead.
However, "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,” Caulkins told the . He's a cannabis policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa. The new study, published May 22 in the journal , was based on an analysis of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health which, among other behaviors, tracks tobacco, alcohol and drug use in the United States.
For years, alcohol topped marijuana as the substance of choice among "daily users." But in 2022, 17.7 million people told the survey they ingested marijuana on a daily or near-daily basis, compared to 14.
7 million who did so with alcohol. That's not overly surpr.
