Politics
Drug Treatment Admissions For Marijuana Are Highest In States Where It Remains Illegal, New Federal Report Shows (Op-Ed)
“Cannabis-related treatment admissions are largely driven by the criminal justice system.”
By Paul Armentano, NORML
While the mainstream media—The New York Times in particular—is sounding the alarm about a purported rise in the prevalence of problematic cannabis use, newly released federal data undercutting this narrative has largely gone unreported.
How Is Problematic Use Defined?
Problematic cannabis use, typically referred to as cannabis use disorder, is defined as a pattern of cannabis use behaviors leading to physical, social or occupational difficulties—but not necessarily addiction. People are defined as suffering from cannabis use disorder (CUD) if they meet two out of 11 possible criteria.
Notably, these diagnostic criteria have been revised on multiple occasions during the past four decades, making comparisons with previous years’ data murky at best.
Included among the current criteria are “withdrawal” and “tolerance”—two experiences that are typically associated with more habitual use. Importantly, no exceptions to these criteria are made for the tens of millions of patients who regularly consume cannabis for therapeutic purposes, almost all of whom are improperly classified under the current standards.
By contrast, patients taking opioids medically are not classified as suffering from ‘opioid use disorder,’ even if they meet both criteria.
Are more Americans consuming cannabis products? Yes. Surveys frequently show that a greater percentage of adults, but not more young people, are choosing cannabis products.
But does this mean that more people than ever are struggling to manage their cannabis consumption? Not necessarily.
Federal Data Tells A Different Story
Despite the purported increase in CUD, questions about its real-world significance are raised by the federal government’s own substance abuse treatment data.
According to report published last month by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the percentage of Americans seeking drug treatment for marijuana has declined steadily for the last half-decade—falling approximately 20 percent between 2020 and 2024.
By contrast, more than four times as many people are admitted to treatment annually for alcohol use disorder. (The latter finding, apparently, is not worthy of mainstream news coverage—especially from the New York Times, which recently lamented the fact that fewer Americans are socializing with alcohol.)
The Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) data further reveals that cannabis-related treatment admissions are largely driven by the criminal justice system. Specifically, cannabis-related drug treatment admissions are highest in jurisdictions where cannabis possession remains illegal and where marijuana-related arrests are most prevalent—namely Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, and Texas. (In 2025, police in those states made over 70,000 marijuana possession arrests—approximately 65 percent of the national total.)
Via SAMHSA.
In these jurisdictions, judges often offer defendants the choice of attending a substance abuse treatment program in lieu of fail time. This is the case regardless of whether the defendant exhibits signs of problematic cannabis use or not. By contrast, states where cannabis is legal and possession arrests are minimal, like Massachusetts and Washington, have among the lowest number of marijuana-related treatment admissions.
The Bottom Line
Of course, none of this is to say that cannabis cannot be misused or abused.
Marijuana is a mood-altering substance that has long been understood to possess some level of dependence liability. However, it’s similarly been understood that those who consume cannabis are far less likely to become dependent upon it as compared to those who consume either alcohol or tobacco. Further, the longer one waits prior to trying cannabis, the lower this risk becomes.
Like those latter substances, cannabis should be regulated and sold exclusively at licensed establishments to patrons of proper age. Public service campaigns should also be prominent educating consumers to its known risks while also discouraging abuse.
Such regulations and programs are now the norm in 24 U.S. states, and these policies are widely popular and successful. That’s because they keep marijuana out of the hands of young people while providing adults with safe, above-ground access to lab-tested products.
Regardless of the recent flurry of alarmist headlines, nothing in the latest federal data changes this reality.
Paul Armentano is the Deputy Director for NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
