Study: Teens are smoking less weed

A Monitoring the Future survey found that cannabis use among U.S. teenagers has reached historic lows.
The survey was conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
The annual Monitoring the Future survey measured cannabis, alcohol, nicotine and other illicit drug use among eighth-, 10th- and 12th-grade students across the country.
“Cannabis use remained stable for the younger grades, with 7.2% of eighth graders and 15.9% of 10th graders reporting cannabis use in the past 12 months. Cannabis use declined among 12th graders, with 25.8% reporting cannabis use in the past 12 months (compared to 29.0% in 2023). Of note, 5.6% of eighth graders, 11.6% of 10th graders, and 17.6% of 12th graders reported vaping cannabis within the past 12 months, reflecting a stable trend among all three grades,” the survey found.
Despite cannabis being recreationally legal in 24 states, cannabis use among teens has continued to stagger.
According to Monitoring the Future data, drug use among teens declined in 2020, most likely due to social distancing measures instilled by the pandemic. While experts expected this data to revert to pre-pandemic statistics, data revealed a different story.
“Many experts in the field had anticipated that drug use would resurge as the pandemic receded and social distancing restrictions were lifted. As it turns out, the declines have not only lasted but have dropped further,” said Richard Miech, the lead investigator for the study, in a press release.
According to the study, alcohol use among teens has been on the decline since the 1990s, while nicotine use surged around 2017, but began to decline during the pandemic steadily. However, lower rates of marijuana consumption are an unexpected change.
“In all three grades, the percentage who used marijuana in the past 12 months hovered within a tight window of just a few percentage points in the 20 years from 2000 to 2020. In 2021, the first year surveyed after the pandemic onset, substantial declines in marijuana use took place in all three grades.
“In 12th and 10th grades, these declines have since continued, and past 12-month use levels in 2024 were the lowest in the past three decades, at 26% and 16%, respectively. In eighth grade, the percentage in 2024 was 7%, the same for the past four years after dropping from a pre-pandemic level of 11% in 2020,” the press release said.
This historic shift in drug use, particularly cannabis, could quell fears that legalization of cannabis encourages use among teenagers. Monitoring the Future will continue to monitor drug use amongst teenagers, data that is essential to understanding the scope of how substance use begins during adolescence.