Study: Cannabis Use by Teens Declined from 1999-2023
- The study published in Addictive Behaviors found a decrease in adolescent cannabis use from 1999 to 2023, with 30.1% of teens reporting ever using cannabis in 2023.
- Cannabis use among teens peaked in 1999 at 47.3%, and early-age cannabis use dropped from 11.5% in 1999 to 6.5% in 2023.
- Females reported higher cannabis use than males in 2003 and recently, with 33.4% vs. 27% in 2003 and 19.4% vs. 16.4% for recent use.
- The 2024 Monitoring the Future Survey also noted a decline in cannabis use among 12th graders but stable use among 8th and 10th graders.
A study published this month in the journal Addictive Behaviors found a decrease in cannabis consumption among adolescents from 1999 to 2023, with 30.1% of teens reporting ever using cannabis during 2023. The researchers from the University of Connecticut used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which analyzed more than 254,000 high schoolers from 1991 to 2023.
The researchers found that cannabis consumption among teens peaked in 1999 at 47.3%. In 1999 early-age cannabis use was measured by the CDC at 11.5% but fell to 6.5% in 2023.
While males have historically reported higher rates of cannabis consumption, the study found that females reported higher cannabis use in 2003 (33.4%) compared to their male counterparts (27%) and recent cannabis use (19.4% versus 16.4%).
The federally funded Monitoring the Future Survey, directed by the University of Michigan and supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, published in 2024, also found a decline in cannabis consumption among some adolescents. While that research determined that cannabis use remained stable in 2024 for the younger grades – 7.2% of eighth graders and 15.9% of 10th graders reported using cannabis in the past 12 months – cannabis use declined among 12th graders, with 25.8% of the cohort reporting cannabis use in the past 12 months, compared to 29% in 2023.