According to recent research published in the journal Addiction, there are more daily marijuana users than daily alcohol users among Americans.
A recent YouGov survey supports these findings. The YouGov poll finds that there are fewer marijuana consumers than alcohol consumers in the U.S. overall: 48% of adult citizens have ever used marijuana to 84% for alcohol. And 17% use marijuana at least once a month, compared to 41% who use alcohol that often. However, 8% use marijuana daily, compared to only 5% who use alcohol daily.
Among U.S. adult citizens who ever consume alcohol, 36% think they’d be better off if they drank less often.
30% of U.S. adult citizens think they’d be better off if they consumed alcohol less often. Few (3%) think they’d be better off if they drank more frequently than they currently do while 41% think they’re better off consuming alcohol with the same frequency they do now. 18% are not sure.
10% of Americans think they’d be better off consuming marijuana more often than they currently do; about as many people (11%) think they’d be better off consuming it less frequently. 31% think they would be better off using it with the same frequency they do now and 36% are not sure.
Among the most frequent marijuana users — those who use it at least once a week — 29% think they’d be better off if they used it even more often, 16% think they'd be better off using less often, and 49% think they’re best off using it at the same frequency they do now.
Among people who use marijuana at least once a year but no more than a few times a month, 23% think they’d be better off if they used it more often, while 13% say they'd better off using it less often. 46% think they’re better off using it at the same frequency they do now.
Infrequent marijuana users — those who use it less often than once per year — are especially likely (32%) to say they’d be better off if they used it even less frequently. 10% think they’d be better off if they used it more frequently.
Few alcohol drinkers think they'd be better off drinking more often.
Among people who drink alcohol at least once a week, 36% think they’d be better off if they consumed alcohol less often, and only 4% more often; 50% think they’re best off drinking at their current rate.
Among people who drink at least once a year but no more frequently than a few times a month, 32% think they’d be better off if they drank less often and only 3% say they'd be better off if they drank more often. The largest share of this group (49%) thinks they’re better off using it at the same frequency they do now.
People who drink less than once a year are the most likely to say they would be better off if they drank even less, at 43% while 3% say they'd be better off drinking more often. 27% of this group believes they’d be better off drinking at about the same frequency they do now.
The majority of Americans (60%) think the use of marijuana should be legal in the U.S. Among people who have ever used marijuana, 79% think it should be legal.
A larger share of Americans (76%) say the consumption of alcohol should be legal in the U.S. 12% say it should not be legal. Among people who have ever consumed alcohol, 81% think consumption of alcohol should be legal.
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
Related:
- Most Americans believe marijuana is safer than alcohol and tobacco
- Most Americans have tried marijuana and 60% want it legalized
- Most wine drinkers don’t think they could tell the difference between a $10 bottle and a $100 one
- Can alcohol be good for you? Many Americans say yes
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: This YouGov poll was conducted online on June 7 - 10, 2024 among 1,116 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty (Matthew Micah Wright)
