CDC Survey Shows Legal Weed Dispensaries Have Helped Curb Teen Cannabis Use

The latest federal data offers encouraging news on the subject of marijuana use among high school students.

Despite the ongoing trend toward cannabis legalization, rates of both current and lifetime cannabis use among teenagers have been consistently decreasing, per Marijuana Moment.

About The Survey

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) found that among high school students who reported using alcohol, marijuana or prescription opioids, 35.1% reported using two or more substances.

However, the overall use of these substances has “decreased linearly” over the period from 2009-2021 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), according to the survey.

Of particular interest is the decline in high school cannabis use, which had been increasing from 2009 to 2013, prior to the opening of legal marijuana dispensaries. Since then, the trend has been on the decline, even as regulated retail sales of marijuana began in 2014.

According to survey data, 15.8 percent of high school students reported using marijuana at least once in the past 30 days in 2021, which is lower than the rates seen in 2009 and significantly lower than the record high in 2013. These findings contradict the commonly held argument that legalizing cannabis for adults would increase its use among teenagers.

The survey also revealed that fewer teens reported lifetime marijuana use, with a drop of nearly 10 percentage points from 2019 to 2021. Furthermore, the prevalence of current substance use was higher among females than males for alcohol, marijuana, binge drinking, and prescription opioid misuse.

This decline in teen drug use has encouraged health officials, who have suggested that tailored, evidence-based policies, programs, and practices can help reduce factors that contribute to risk for adolescent substance use while promoting factors that protect against risk.

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