USA – Legalization did not increase cannabis use, but reduced alcohol consumption and surpassed it

Young Americans are using less cannabis today than they did in 2014, but for the first time on record, cannabis use has surpassed alcohol consumption in the United States. Legalization does not appear to have led to a progressive increase in cannabis use among young people (as was the case during prohibition) and may even be helping to reduce other problematic uses, such as alcohol or tobacco, according to some studies already published. In Canada, for example, cannabis is already being used in a pilot harm reduction program for alcohol abuse.

Studies and reports on substance use carried out by various institutions and public bodies in the USA have multiplied since the legalization of recreational cannabis, in the states of Colorado and Washington, in 2012. Two of them published recently point to trends that seem contradictory, but they may not be.

The results of the last National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), it indicates that, in the last decade, cannabis use has decreased by 18% among young Americans between the ages of 14 and 17. Of the young people surveyed in 2023, only 18,4% (43.6 million) reported having used “marijuana” at least once, while in 2022 it was 19,2%. Even so, it did not drop to the level of 2021, in which only 17,9% reported having used cannabis in the previous month. Cannabis, however, continues to be the most consumed illicit substance. According to the same survey, 21,8% (61,8 million people) of respondents of all ages responded that they had used cannabis in the last 12 months, with the most common methods of use being:

• Cannabis combustion/cigarettes (77% or 47,6 million people)
• Vaporization (38,3% or 23,7 million)
• Drinks and edibles (48,3% or 29,8 million)
• Dabs, waxes, Shatter or concentrates (16% or 9,9 million)
• Lotions, creams or skin patches (7,8% or 4.8 million)
• Drops, strips, tablets or oral or sublingual sprays (5,5% or 3,4 million)
• Capsules or tablets (3,3% or 2 million)
• Others (0,7% or 443 thousand people)

Many users reported “using it in more than one form in the past month or year,” the report further states.

Cannabis surpasses alcohol for the first time
Other study on reported consumption, carried out by Carnegie Mellon University and published in May of this year, says that, in 2022, around 17,7 million people will have used cannabis on a daily or almost daily basis; while frequent alcohol consumption was reported by 14,7 million consumers. This study analyzed 42 years of data collected in successive National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) in 27 reports, reported between 1979 and 2022 by a total of 1.641.041 consumers.

“(…) we believe that among younger generations who grow up with legal cannabis as an option, acceptance of cannabis will become more prevalent and an alternative to traditional options”

Considering that in 1992 only 900 Americans reported daily cannabis use – compared to 8,9 million heavy drinkers at the time – this represents an increase of around 1700% in cannabis use in 30 years. This increase may be due to a real increase in consumption, but also to the fact that, since legalisation, respondents have been freer to openly admit their cannabis use without fear of being judged or reprimanded.

According to statements made by Scott Fortune, analyst at Roth MKM to the CNBC news channel, “with indications that consumers are replacing recreational substances (alcohol, tobacco), we believe that among the younger generations who grow up with legal cannabis as an option, acceptance of cannabis will become more prevalent and an alternative to traditional options”.

Legalization has led to a reduction in alcohol consumption (a problem that costs the country billions of dollars a year) but has not led to an increase in cannabis use among young people.

On the other hand, we are beginning to realize that cannabis can be an effective support for reducing some consumption, particularly alcohol consumption, as various analyzes and studies carried out in recent years have shown.

This article de Amanda Reiman (Ph.D. in Social Work), a researcher at the University of Berkeley, who focused on the use of cannabis as a substitute for other drugs and published in the Harm Reduction Journal in 2009, reported that, of those surveyed in an anonymous data collection conducted by the Berkeley Patient's Group (BPG), 40% of respondents had used cannabis as a substitute for alcohol, 26% as a substitute for other illicit drugs, and 66% as a substitute for prescription drugs. The most common reasons for this choice were: fewer adverse effects (65%), better symptom control (57%), and less potential for withdrawal syndrome (34%) with cannabis.”

Out of curiosity, in the same article, the author also cited the conclusion of another article dated 1998 in which Rosalie Liccardo Pacula (Ph.D), researcher at the School of Business Economics at the University of San Diego, questioned whether the increase in alcohol taxes would lead to a reduction in the consumption of 'marijuana': “As the price of beer increased, the consumption of cannabis decreased”, highlights Reiman. “This may be due to the fact that the introduction of alcohol into adolescent environments increases the likelihood of the introduction of other substances into that environment; As soon as the presence of alcohol decreases, the presence of other substances also decreases.” Interesting information for the debate on whether or not cannabis is a “gateway drug”, the first drug on the rise in consumption.

A Health Canada, for its part, is currently running a pilot program to reduce harm from alcohol abuse. In the information and guidance leaflet for clinical and social workers, Health Canada explains the plant's potential for this purpose, its benefits, how to use it, possible adverse effects and who should not consume cannabis. We will discuss this program and other policies that the Canadian government is implementing in this regard in more detail shortly.

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Margarita Cardoso de Meneses

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Margarita has been a regular contributor to CannaReporter since its inception in 2017, having previously worked for other cannabis-focused media outlets such as Cáñamo magazine (Spain), CannaDouro Magazine (Portugal) and Cannapress. She was part of the original team for the Portuguese edition of Cânhamo in the early 2000s and was part of the organisation of the Global Marijuana March in Portugal between 2007 and 2009.

He recently published the book “Canábis | Cursed and Wonderful” (Ed. Oficina do Livro / LeYA, 2024), dedicated to spreading the history of the plant, its ancestral relationship with the Human Being as a raw material, entheogen and recreational drug, as well as the infinite potential it holds in medicinal, industrial and environmental terms.

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