In a significant shift in substance use trends, daily marijuana consumption has now outpaced daily alcohol drinking in the United States, according to a study published on Wednesday. This study, detailed in the journal Addiction, highlights the growing prevalence of marijuana use, particularly since 2008.

The research compared data from four distinct periods of U.S. marijuana policy: 1979, 1992, 2008, and 2022. These eras were chosen to reflect significant changes in marijuana legislation and societal attitudes. For instance, 1979 marked the end of the relatively permissive marijuana policies of the 1970s.

A notable low point for daily marijuana use was in 1992, during the conservative presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, which marked a shift towards stricter drug policies. The election of President Bill Clinton in 1992 began a trend towards more liberal marijuana policies, a shift that has continued to the present day.

Jonathan Caulkins, a cannabis policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University and author of the study, noted that the pattern of marijuana use today mirrors that of tobacco rather than alcohol. “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 explained.

The study reveals a dramatic increase in daily marijuana use from 1992 to 2022, with a 15-fold rise in the number of daily users. In 1992, daily alcohol drinkers outnumbered daily marijuana users by a ratio of 10 to 1, with 8.9 million daily drinkers compared to 0.9 million daily marijuana users. By 2022, the numbers had shifted to 14.7 million daily drinkers versus 17.7 million daily marijuana users.

This surge in marijuana use aligns with the relaxation of marijuana policies at the state level. Since 2012, 24 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana. Today, 54% of the U.S. population resides in states where marijuana is legal, although it remains illegal under federal law.

The data for this study was sourced from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, providing a comprehensive look at the changing landscape of substance use in the United States. As marijuana becomes more widely accepted and integrated into daily life, these trends suggest significant shifts in public health and policy implications.