[PRESS RELEASE] – WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 23, 2026 – New data released this week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that youth cannabis use has declined significantly following the implementation of adult-use markets.
According to the CDC data, past 30-day youth cannabis use nationwide has dropped by 44% between 2011 and 2025 – a period during which roughly half the country established legal adult-use markets.
The newest CDC data, along with state-issued data on youth cannabis use, is compiled in a new report on youth use and access in the age of legalization from the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). MPP’s full report and state-by-state data breakdowns are available here.
Of note, government data shows a significant decrease in teens’ cannabis use post-legalization in every state with regulated adult-use markets. For example, cannabis use by high school-aged teens is down by nearly 30% since legalization in Nevada, nearly 50% in Michigan, more than 50% in Massachusetts and nearly 60% in Arizona.
"It's simple economics,” MPP Executive Director Adam Smith said. “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 reduction in youth access has been confirmed by the National Institutes of Health’s Monitoring the Future Survey, which shows a greater than 30% decrease in the number of U.S. eighth and 10th graders reporting that marijuana is “easy” or “fairly easy” to obtain since states began legalizing cannabis for adults in 2012.
What’s more, the positive impact of legal markets grows over time. Washington and Colorado were the first two states to legalize adult use markets in 2012. Since then, according to the Colorado Healthy Kids Survey, high school use has dropped by 56% in the Centennial State. And the Washington State Healthy Youth Survey shows that since 2011, current cannabis use is down 62% among eighth graders, 73% among 10th graders, and 56% among high school seniors.
