Despite more than a decade of expanding adult-use legalisation across the US, cannabis use among American teenagers has fallen to the lowest level since records began in 1991.
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows that 12.9% of high school students reported using cannabis during the previous 30 days in 2025.
That figure has fallen from 17% in 2023 and 23.1% in 2011, the year before Colorado and Washington became the first US states to vote to legalise cannabis for adult recreational use.
The latest figure represents a 44% fall in past-month cannabis use among high school students since 2011.
Lifetime cannabis use has also fallen considerably since legalisation began. In 2011, 39.9% of high school students said they had used cannabis at least once. By 2025, that figure had dropped to 25.5%.
The decline has occurred as legal access to cannabis for adults has spread across the country. Twenty-four states, three US territories and Washington DC now allow or regulate non-medical adult cannabis use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The figures add to evidence that the spread of legal adult cannabis markets has not been accompanied by an increase in use among young people, a risk often touted by those who argue for prohibition.
Research published in JAMA Pediatrics in 2024 analysed Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from almost 900,000 students across 47 states between 2011 and 2021. Researchers found no net increase in adolescent cannabis use following either recreational cannabis legalisation or the introduction of recreational retail sales.
A similar trend has been seen in Germany. As leafie previously reported, cannabis use among 12 to 17-year-olds fell from 6.7% in 2023 to 6.1% in 2025, following the introduction of the country’s Cannabis Act in April 2024. Regular use also declined from 1.3% to 1.1%. Among young adults aged 18 to 25.
Researchers from the 2004 JAMA study found no net increase in adolescent cannabis use following either recreational cannabis legalisation or the introduction of recreational retail sales.
Legalisation was instead associated with modest reductions in cannabis use. Each additional year that recreational cannabis had been legal was associated with an 8% increase in the odds that an adolescent reported no cannabis use, although some of the study’s other estimates were not statistically significant.
The researchers concluded that legalisation and greater regulation of cannabis markets had not encouraged adolescents to begin using cannabis. They did, however, find signs that teenagers who already used cannabis may consume it more frequently after retail sales begin.
A separate federal survey also supports the latest CDC findings.
Data from the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), found that past-month cannabis use among 12- to 17-year-olds fell from 6.1% in 2021 to 5% in 2025.
Past-year use among the same age group fell from 10.9% to 8.7% during that period.
While, the two surveys measure slightly different populations and use different methods, both point towards declining cannabis use among American teenagers as legal adult access increases.
