by 
(Worthy News) – A major new study shows that while alcohol is still overall more widely used than marijuana in the United States, the intense, near-daily, use of marijuana is now more common than the equivalent high-frequency usage of alcohol, the Associated Press reports. The study found that from 1992 to 2022, daily or near-daily use of marijuana surged 15-fold.
Conducted by Carnegie Mellon University, the study was published on Wednesday in the journal Addiction, AP reports. The research is based on 40 years of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
The study found that 2022 was the first year ever that high-frequency levels of marijuana usage became more common than comparative levels of drinking, AP reports. An estimated 17.7 million people used marijuana every day or nearly every day in 2022, compared to 14.7 million who drank daily or near-daily, the study found.
“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,” the study’s author, Jonathan Caulkins told AP.
According to the Associated Press Health and Science Department, the study findings reflect changes in marijuana regulation in the US. “Most states now allow medical or recreational marijuana, though it remains illegal at the federal level,” AP noted.