Americans consume weed more regularly than alcohol

Americans get high more often than they get drunk. A new study from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found that more Americans consume weed on a daily or near-daily basis than consume alcohol at the same rate.

In 2020, one million more people regularly consumed alcohol than marijuana. However, that changed in 2022, when 18 million people reported consuming weed daily or almost daily. Only 16 million Americans said the same about alcohol.

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This was the first time in decades that cannabis use overtook alcohol consumption. In fact, in 1992, only 1 million people reported using weed daily or nearly daily. That’s ten times less than daily or near-daily alcohol consumption in the same year.

According to the report, the increasing availability and legality of weed, as well as its lower cost, are the reasons for its increasing use.

The report calls on the government to enact a public health policy regarding weed. The goal is to minimize the harm to public health caused by marijuana through research and collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Congress and state legislatures.

“We want the federal government to take a leadership role in this area,” said Dr. Steven Teutsch, chairman of the committee behind the study, told PBS.