Science & Health
Teen Marijuana Use Has Decreased In Every State That Has Legalized It For Adults, Contrary To Opponents’ Scare Tactics
Opponents of marijuana legalization often claim that it will entice more underage kids to use it, but teen cannabis consumption has decreased in every single state that has enacted the policy change, according to a new report.
The analysis from the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) tracks federal and state government survey data on youth cannabis use from the years before each state legalized marijuana for adults through the present. In every instance, fewer high school students are using cannabis today than they were before their state enacted legalization.
For example, Colorado and Washington State were the first states to legalize in 2012. Since then, according to the Colorado Healthy Kids Survey, high school student use of marijuana has decreased by more than half (56 percent). The Washington State Healthy Youth Survey similarly shows that cannabis use has declined 62 percent for 8th graders, 73 percent for 10th graders and and 56 percent for 12th graders.
In Massachusetts, where voters in November will consider a ballot initiative to roll back marijuana legalization, cannabis use by high school students has been cut in half (a 51 percent decrease) since the policy change was enacted a decade ago.
High school students’ marijuana use has also decreased nearly 60 percent in Arizona, almost 50 percent in Michigan and nearly 30 percent in Nevada since each of those states respectively enacted legalization.
“It’s simple economics,” MPP Executive Director Adam Smith said in a press release about the new analysis. “As consumers transition into a legal market, illicit operators start to go out of business. And illegal dealers are the ones who sell cannabis to kids. Licensed retailers have regulators to answer to, and everything to lose. They check ID every time.”
The advocacy group’s report also includes new national data released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that shows that the percentage of U.S. high school students who use marijuana is now at an all-time low—even as more states continue to legalize cannabis for adults.
The new federal data, released on Monday, shows that 12.9 percent of high school students currently consume cannabis, which is defined as having used it at least once in the past 30 days. That’s down from 23.1 percent in 2011—the year before the first U.S. states approved recreational marijuana legalization laws.
“More than a decade into states legalizing cannabis for adults the data is clear: Legalization does not increase youth cannabis use,” MPP’s report says. “Moving cannabis sales from streets and schools to adults-only stores has been accompanied by reduced access and use of cannabis by youth.”
The group pointed out that many state that have legalized cannabis earmark a portion of marijuana tax revenue to youth education and prevention efforts.
MPP’s report cites data from a number of national and state-level youth surveys, including the annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey, which is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
The latest version of MTF, released late last year, found that cannabis use among eighth, 10th and 12 graders “remained stable” even as mort states enacted legalization.
The results are consistent with those from another federal study, the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which was released in July. It showed that 8.7 percent of people between the ages of 12 and 17 used marijuana within the past year—down from 14.2 percent in 2011.
