U.S. Marijuana Use Outpaces Alcohol

The study published Wednesday in the journal Society for the Study of Addiction notes that since 1992, the per capita rate of daily cannabis consumption in the country has increased nearly twentyfold.

“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,” said the study’s author, Jonathan Caulkins, a cannabis policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University.

By 2022, an estimated 17.7 million people reported using marijuana daily or near-daily compared to 14.7 million daily or near-daily drinkers, according to the study.

Caulkins acknowledged in the study that people may be more willing to report marijuana use as public acceptance grows, which could boost the increase.

The survey has been conducted annually since 1990 and four times before in 1979, 1982, 1985 and 1988.

Research shows that high-frequency users are more likely to become addicted to marijuana, said Dr. David Gorelick, a psychiatry professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

“High-frequency use also increases the risk of developing cannabis-associated psychosis,” a severe condition where a person loses touch with reality, Gorelick said.