Study: Cannabis Use by Teens Declined from 1999-2023  

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.