A new study has revealed that for the first time in U.S. history, more Americans are using marijuana daily than are smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol. While some experts say that the steady rise in cannabis use is unlikely to last forever, others say that the upward trend line is a public health emergency that must be addressed urgently.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released data from the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health last week showing that about 21.4 million Americans use marijuana daily or almost every day. The figure overtook daily cigarette smokers (19.9 million) as well as those who consume alcohol daily (17.2 million). Overall, SAMHSA found that 43.8 million Americans used cannabis on a regular basis, while 36.1 million smoked cigarettes regularly.

The new figure exhibits a continued rise in the number of regular marijuana smokers in recent years, with SAMHSA recording a 21% surge in daily use from 2022 to 2025. The increase appears to be driven by young adults aged 18-25, who made up 8.4 million of the regular cannabis users.

The new government survey data comes as regulations surrounding the potent drug continue to be loosened. In April, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice reclassified medical cannabis products from Schedule I to Schedule III, moving them into the same category as Tylenol with codeine and anabolic steroids. In addition, the last decade has seen 24 states legalize the recreational use of marijuana and another 41 approve it for medicinal use.

The deregulation has come even as more and more data continues to surface showing the devastating health effects of the drug, which has seen an explosive spike in potency since the 1990s. Medical emergencies related to marijuana use have skyrocketed, with rates of addiction rising 30% in recent years. The effects of the drug on young people is particularly devastating, with a study from February showing that teens who use cannabis double their chances of suffering from serious psychotic disorders such as bipolar and schizophrenia by their 20s.

As alarming scientific data continues to emerge, observers are noting that the continued upswing in marijuana use is likely to be short lived. Charles Fain Lehman, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, pointed out in The Free Press Monday that “daily users accounted for about 80 percent of marijuana consumption,” noting that marijuana use does not have nearly the same broad reach as the number of Americans who regularly consume alcohol (43.8 million vs. 129.1 million). He further argues that the number of regular pot smokers is increasing at a tiny rate: “[O]ver the period from the first recreational legalization in 2012 to 2024, the share of people who identify as pot smokers rose all of 8 percentage points.”

Lehman goes on to argue that since the marijuana industry is geared toward appealing to the high-potency tolerance and preferences of heavy users, the drug is unlikely to achieve culture-wide acceptance. “If marijuana consumption remains concentrated among a minority of heavy users, its political future is likely to more closely resemble that of cigarettes rather than alcohol.”

Still, for experts like Smart Approaches to Marijuana President Kevin Sabet, the current data on cannabis use should be a public health wakeup call to government regulators and lawmakers.

“Marijuana is on track to become America’s number one addiction, and Washington is looking the other way,” he emphasized in a statement. “The addiction industry has engineered a product that out-addicts the cigarette — the deadliest consumer product in American history. More people now use marijuana every single day than smoke cigarettes every day, one in three users is hooked, and a generation of young people is being enrolled in a daily habit before their brains are finished developing. This is not the harmless plant the industry sold us. It is Big Tobacco 2.0, and the trend line points in one direction.”