Teen Marijuana Use Does Not Increase Following Marijuana Policy Reforms
Study after study has concluded that marijuana policy reform is not linked to increased rates of marijuana use among teens. As National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora Volkow said at a March 23, 2022 Senate Health, Education Labor & Pensions Committee hearing, “in the United States, legalization by some states of marijuana has not been associated with an increase in adolescents’ marijuana use."
In July 2019, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a major report analyzing federal data from more than 1.4 million high school students.1 The researchers found no significant associations between the enactment of adult-use legalization laws and marijuana use or frequency of use among high school students. The study also looked at medical cannabis laws and concluded they had no impact on youth marijuana use. These findings were consistent with the results of a meta-analysis of 55 academic papers and multiple data sources published by the journal Current Addiction Reports in September 2018. Those researchers wrote that, “Liberal forms of medical cannabis regulation… have not to date increased rates of cannabis use among adolescents.”2
Released in February 2023, results from the most recent national survey of high schoolers conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that past 30-day use of cannabis among U.S. students in 2021 was the lowest rate since 1991.3
In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize marijuana for adult use. Both have conducted large-scale surveys involving tens of thousands of high school students in the years since. In each case, the results (see below) show an overall reduction in past 30-day marijuana use among teens. Research published in the journal Substance Abuse also suggests that legalization has not increased use among teens who were already using marijuana.
Available data suggests that regulating marijuana for adults’ use does not impact marijuana use among youth. Below are data tables for youth surveys comparing past 30-day marijuana use for teens before and after adult-use legalization laws passed in the more mature 10 legalization states — Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Vermont, and Michigan4. In five of the states, government surveys through 2019 indicate a slight decrease in teens’ marijuana use rates, while in the other half, surveys suggest a slight increase. In most cases, the changes were within the confidence intervals. Taken as a whole, rates were unchanged. Meanwhile, two nationwide surveys show a modest decrease in teen use since states began legalizing cannabis for adults.
Washington State Healthy Youth Survey (past 30-day use) — Law enacted in November 2012 5
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2021
8th grade
9.5%
9.4%
7.3%
6.4%
7.0%
2.8%
10th grade
20.0%
19.3%
18.1%
17.2%
17.9%
7.2%
12th grade
26.3%
26.7%
26.7%
26.4%
26.2%
15.9%
Colorado Healthy Kids Survey (past 30-day use) — Law enacted in November 2012 6
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019
2020
9th – 12th grade
22.0%
19.7%
21.2%
19.4%
20.6%
13.3%
Oregon Healthy Teens Survey (past 30-day use) — Law enacted in November 2014 7
2013
2015
2017
2019
2020
8th grade
9.7%
8.8%
6.7%
7.8%
3.3%
11th grade
20.9%
19.1%
20.9%
20.4%
13.5%
Alaska Youth Risk Behavior Survey (past 30-day use) — Law enacted in November 2014 8
2013
2015
2017
2019
9th – 12th grade
19.7%
19.0%
21.5%
21.5%
California Youth Risk Behavior Survey (past 30-day use) — Law enacted in November 2016 9
2015
2017
2019
9th – 12th grade
22.9%
21.8%
17.1%
Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey (past 30-day use) — Law enacted in November 2016 10
2015
2017
2019
9th – 12th grade
24.5%
24.1%
26.0%
Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey (past 30-day use) — Law enacted in November 2016 11
2015
2017
2019
9th – 12th grade
19.9%
18.8%
22.3%
Nevada Youth Risk Behavior Survey (past 30-day use) — Law enacted in November 2016 12
2015
2017
2019
9th – 12th grade
19.3%
17.9%
19.8%
Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey (past 30-day use) — Law enacted in January 2018 13
2017
2019
9th – 12th grade
23.5%
26.5%
Michigan Youth Risk Behavior Survey (past 30-day use) — Law enacted in November 2018 14
2017
2019
9th – 12th grade
23.7%
26.5%
National Survey on Drug Use and Health (past 30-day use, small sample size) 15
1 Association of Marijuana Legalization With Marijuana Use Among US High School Students, 1993-2019” September 2021 2 Leung, Janni, et al. “Has the Legalisation of Medical and Recreational Cannabis Use in the USA Affected the Prevalence of Cannabis Use and Cannabis Use Disorders?,” Current Addiction Reports, September 2018. 3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Data Summary and Trends Report,” February 2023, p. 22.; "Trends in the Prevalence of Marijuana, Cocaine, and Other Illegal Drug Use National YRBS: 1991—2019," CDC. The last, pre-COVID national figure on current teen cannabis use (21.7% in 2019) was slightly lower than the rate before any state legalized cannabis for adults’ use (23.1% in 2011). 4 Eleven additional states — Illinois, Montana, Arizona, Virginia, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Missouri, and Maryland — have legalized marijuana for adults since 2019 and do not yet have “after” data or after “after” data that is likely significantly impacted by COVID. 5 Accessed here: http://www.askhys.net/FactSheets Likely due to disruptions in education due to the coronavirus, the survey was not conducted in 2020. The next survey, the Healthy Youth Survey, will be administered in October 2021. 6 Accessed here: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/BirthDeathCertificates/Surveys/OregonHealthyTeens/Pages/index.aspx 7 Accessed here: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/results.htm 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Accessed here: https://pdas.samhsa.gov/saes/state (N/A is listed for pre-legalization years) 15 Accessed here: https://nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/Results.aspx?