Study Examines Shifting Trends in Daily Cannabis and Alcohol Use for Adults in the US

A recently published study measured the habits of cannabis and alcohol use in adults over time. The study replicated and expanded on an article published earlier this year, which had found that for adults 18 and older, daily cannabis use was more prevalent than daily alcohol use in 2022. This new article examined data for 2023, focusing on differences in cannabis and alcohol use across various age periods of adulthood.

The current study, “Daily or near-daily cannabis and alcohol use by adults in the United States: A comparison across age groups,” was published in Addiction in December 2024. Research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism funded data collection, analysis, and manuscript preparation.

The researcher used data from the Monitoring the Future Panel Study, an annual report, for a total of 389,649 responses from 1988 to 2023, including responses from about 20,000 adults who were ages 19–65 in 2023. The responses came in the form of self-reported substance use. In this study, daily or near-daily (DND) use was defined as 20 or more occasions of substance use in the past 30 days, young adulthood was considered ages 19-30, early midlife was considered ages 35–50, and late midlife was ages 55-65.

Noteworthy trends included:

• Among young adults, DND cannabis use increased by more than 75%, over the past 10 years (2013 to 2023)
• Among early midlife adults, DND cannabis use increased by approximately 168% over 10 years
• Among young adults, DND alcohol use has decreased by approximately 35% over the past 10 years
• Among early midlife adults, DND alcohol use decreased by 20% over the past five years (2018–2013), with a one-year increase in 2020

Trends were not yet available for late midlife adults for DND cannabis and alcohol use, but the prevalence of cannabis use was 5.2% in 2023, and 11.4% for alcohol use in 2023.

Comparing the DND use of cannabis and alcohol by age group, findings included:

• Among young adults in 2013, cannabis use and alcohol use prevalence were not significantly different, but in 2023 cannabis use prevalence was 10.4% compared to 3.6% for alcohol
• Among early midlife adults in 2013, cannabis use prevalence was significantly lower than alcohol use prevalence, but in 2023, cannabis use prevalence was not significantly different than alcohol use prevalence.

The conclusion noted that people who engage in increased substance use are less likely to be a respondent over time. Ultimately, the researcher concluded that, “It is important to examine these trends by age to reveal nuanced patterns of change in cannabis and alcohol use in the population.” In particular, the conclusion explained, over the past 10 years, there has been a crossover of DND cannabis and alcohol use among young adults, and data from early midlife adults shows a convergence of use, and for late midlife adults, alcohol use remained significantly more prevalent than cannabis use.

Reference

1. Patrick, M. Daily or near-daily cannabis and alcohol use by adults in the United States: A comparison across age groups. Addiction. 2024. DOI: 10.1111/add.16748.]