More Americans Now Use Pot than Alcohol - What this means for Wyoming

by Wyoming Liberty Group

The sound you just heard was that of near silence.

A national story went out without much notice recently, making some headlines, but if you weren't paying attention, it was easy to miss. And yet, it's a troubling story that we in Wyoming should all pay close attention to. Because it may be coming here soon.

The story is that the number of people in the United States who use marijuana virtually every day is now greater than the number of Americans who drink alcohol regularly.

This radical change happened not suddenly but over the past three decades as pro-pot forces first cracked open markets based on the illusion that marijuana is medicine. (It isn't). And then, with marijuana given the mantle of being more mainstream, the industry pushed forward in various states to make adult-use legal under the pretense that the mind-altering drug is "recreational." (It's not.)

Why is this relevant for us in the Cowboy State? Because those same pro-pot forces have been coming for Wyoming for years, seeking to get marijuana legalized here—so far, unsuccessfully.

But now, their argument is, well, everyone's doing it, so why not join the crowd?

In the latest survey of national data, nearly 18 million Americans said in 2022 that they use marijuana daily or near daily. That's a massive increase—1867 percent—since 1992. That also compares to nearly 15 million people who said in 2022 that they drink alcohol daily or near daily. The study defined daily or near daily users as those who use marijuana 21 or more days in the past month.

If you're counting, that's a lot of pot.

Jonathan Caulkins, the noted author of the study who researches marijuana policy at Carnegie Mellon University, noted that "cannabis use now appears to be on a fundamentally different scale than it was before legalization."

All of which is to say, marijuana is increasingly considered an accepted practice across much of America. But—let's be clear—that doesn't mean it's a good thing. If history is any guide, we know that what is commonly accepted is not necessarily a good thing. The evil of slavery, for one. Prohibiting women the right to vote, for another. But it's not just a matter of long-ago history. More recently, smoking cigarettes and using other tobacco products were a widely accepted practice in America; in fact, it wasn't that long ago that people smoked in the office.

Sometimes, it's a good thing to push against accepted practices, especially if they are based on faulty reasoning or an illusion—as is the case with the myth of "medical" marijuana or "recreational" marijuana.

We here in Wyoming have always understood the importance of being independent, to not accept the status quo, or to buy into the latest marketing mumbo jumbo. It's in our DNA and our Cowboy ethos.

But it's not just a feeling we're bridling against. We're also recoiling against the terrible facts brought about by the spread of marijuana in states that have legalized the mind-altering drug: A rise in car accidents involving people who are under the influence of pot. A huge increase in crime and the number of people rushing to emergency rooms as a result of marijuana. The awful jump in psychotic episodes where people using marijuana have harmed themselves or others.

It's not only the dramatic but the somewhat more subtle aspects of marijuana that has become a cause for concern in states that have legalized the drug: The persistent stench of pot—like that of a skunk—in downtowns and neighborhood communities. People wandering around in a drug-induced stupor. Teenagers who are using pot—and incrementally impacting their still-developing brains and cognitive abilities.

There is so much other fallout from the rise of marijuana, including opening the door to legalizing other drugs in America and fanning the flames of the worse drug crisis in American history, with a record number of overdose deaths due to fentanyl and other opioids.

Already, our neighbor just south of us—Colorado—has fallen prey to the legalization of marijuana since 2012. The result? That state is witnessing even more regular users of marijuana than the already high number nationally.

In Colorado, about 49 percent of adults said in 2022 that they use marijuana daily or near daily, according to the state Department of Public Health & Environment. Not surprisingly, the impact there has been hard to ignore, including a 46% increase in hospitalizations due to Cannabis Hyperemesis, a condition marked by cyclical vomiting, in the first five years after the state legalized recreational marijuana. A 148 percent increase in hospitalizations related to marijuana since legalization. A 586 percent increase in calls to poison control involving marijuana and children up to the age of 5 in the first seven years since Colorado legalized pot.

Is this what we want for Wyoming?