Weed Is Now America’s Most Commonly Used Drug, and Experts are Raising Concerns

Marijuana use has been rising across the United States as more states allow medical or recreational sales and public attitudes continue to shift. A new national analysis found cannabis has now passed alcohol in one key measure: daily or near-daily use. Researchers and doctors say that milestone matters because frequent use carries different health risks than occasional use.

A new national milestone in daily use

A study published May 22, 2024, in the journal Addiction found that 17.7 million people in the U.S. reported using marijuana daily or near-daily in 2022, compared with 14.7 million who reported drinking alcohol that often. The analysis was led by Carnegie Mellon University researcher Jonathan Caulkins and used data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

The paper said daily or near-daily meant using a substance on 20 or more days in the past month. That measure is different from total use, where alcohol still remains more common overall across the U.S. In 2022, 61.4 million people reported using marijuana in the past year, according to the same analysis.

The researchers also found a steep long-term increase. In 1992, fewer than 1 million Americans reported using marijuana daily or near-daily, while nearly 8.9 million reported drinking alcohol that often, according to the study. By 2022, the cannabis figure had grown more than 15-fold.

What the shift means across the U.S.

The new figures describe a nationwide trend, not a single state or city, and the study does not break out a full local ranking for every market. What is confirmed is that the increase happened during a period when cannabis policy changed rapidly across the country. As of 2024, many states have legalized marijuana for medical use, recreational use, or both.

Researchers said the rise in frequent use does not mean marijuana is used by a majority of Americans. The same data showed daily or near-daily cannabis users made up a minority of the U.S. population in 2022. Still, the count of 17.7 million people means heavy use is no longer a small-edge behavior.

Public health experts have focused especially on young adults, high-potency products, and people who use cannabis very often. The study itself did not release a full breakdown of harms by state, age, or product type in the article summary, so those local effects are not yet fully detailed in this dataset.

Why experts are watching frequent marijuana use

Caulkins said in a Carnegie Mellon University statement that shifting state laws and attitudes have helped move marijuana use into the mainstream. The study also noted that legal changes since the 1990s coincided with large increases in access and lower perceived risk. Those broader trends help explain why frequent use rose so sharply over 30 years.

Doctors and researchers have raised concerns about the difference between occasional use and heavy use. Frequent marijuana use has been linked in prior research to cannabis use disorder, impaired memory and attention, and mental health risks for some users, especially adolescents and people with underlying conditions. Those concerns are part of why experts say the 17.7 million figure deserves attention.

For the public, the main takeaway is not that marijuana has surpassed alcohol in all forms of use. The study specifically measured daily or near-daily use in 2022, and alcohol remained more widely used overall. Researchers said the findings show how much cannabis habits have changed in the U.S., especially as legalization expands and stronger products remain widely available.