Freakonomics Radio

We have always been a nation of drinkers — but now there are more daily users of cannabis than alcohol. Considering alcohol’s harms, maybe that’s a good thing. But some people worry that the legalization of cannabis has outpaced the research. (Part one of a four-part series.) SOURCES:Jon Caulkins, professor of operations research and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University.Yasmin Hurd, director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai.Michael Siegel, professor of public health and community medicine at Tufts University.Tom Standage, deputy editor of The Economist.Ryan Stoa, associate professor of law at Louisiana State University. RESOURCES:"Cannabis Tops Alcohol as Americans’ Daily Drug of Choice," by Christina Caron (The New York Times, 2024)."Deaths from Excessive Alcohol Use — United States, 2016–2021," by Marissa B. Esser, Adam Sherk, Yong Liu, and Timothy S. Naimi (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2024)."Nixon Started the War on Drugs. Privately, He Said Pot Was ‘Not Particularly Dangerous,'"