FILE - A man smokes marijuana in lower Manhattan outside the first legal dispensary for recreational marijuana in New York on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. Daily and near-daily marijuana use is now more common than similar levels of high-frequency drinking in the U.S., according to an analysis of survey data over four decades, according to research published Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in the journal Addiction. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

For the first time, the number of Americans who use marijuana just about every day has surpassed the number who drink that often, a shift some 40 years in the making as recreational pot use became more mainstream and legal in nearly half of U.S. states.

In 2022, an estimated 17.7 million people reported using marijuana daily or near-daily compared to 14.7 million daily or near-daily drinkers, according an analysis of national survey data. In 1992, when daily pot use hit a low point, less than 1 million people said they used marijuana nearly every day.

Alcohol is still more widely used, but 2022 was the first time this intensive level of marijuana use overtook daily and near-daily drinking, said the study’s author, Jonathan Caulkins, a cannabis policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University.

“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,” Caulkins said.

The research, based on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, was published Wednesday in the journal Addiction. The survey is a highly regarded source of self-reported estimates of tobacco, alcohol and drug use in the United States.

FILE - Marijuana plants are displayed at a shop in San Francisco, Monday, March 20, 2023. Daily and near-daily marijuana use is now more common than similar levels of high-frequency drinking in the U.S., according to an analysis of survey data over four decades, according to research published Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in the journal Addiction. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)ff

From 1992 to 2022, the per capita rate of reporting daily or near-daily marijuana use increased 15-fold. Caulkins acknowledged in the study that people may be more willing to report marijuana use as public acceptance grows, which could boost the increase.

Most states now allow medical or recreational marijuana, though it remains illegal at the federal level. In November, Florida voters will decide on a constitutional amendment allowing recreational cannabis, and the federal government is moving to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.

Research shows that high-frequency users are more likely to become addicted to marijuana, said Dr. David A. Gorelick, a psychiatry professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.

The number of daily users suggests that more people are at risk for developing problematic cannabis use or addiction, Gorelick said.

“High frequency use also increases the risk of developing cannabis-associated psychosis,” a severe condition where a person loses touch with reality, he said.

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By the Numbers

New research based on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, published Wednesday in the journal Addiction, compares Americans’ use of cannabis and alcohol over the past 40 years. Here are some of the findings and other notable numbers.

* An estimated 17.7 million people reported using marijuana daily or near-daily in 2022, up from less than 1 million in 1992.

* An estimated 14.7 million used used alcohol daily or near daily in 2022, up from about 9 million in 1992.

* 42% of people who say they’ve used marijuana in the past month say they do so daily or near daily.

* 11% of alcohol users drink daily or near daily.

* 62 million Americans, about 20% of the U.S. population ages 12 and older, reported using marijuana at least once in the past year, according to the survey.

* About 3 in 10 people who use cannabis have cannabis use disorder, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

* 177 million Americans reported that they drank in the past year.

* 29.5 million Americans had an alcohol use disorder as of 2022.

* Recreational marijuana is legal in 24 U.S. states.