Past-year marijuana use held roughly steady nationally between 2022 and 2023, according to a new federal report published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Cannabis consumption among minors, meanwhile—defined as people 12 to 20 years of age—has fallen slightly, according to the new data.
And despite methodological changes in recent years that make comparisons difficult over time, youth use appears to have fallen significantly in the past decade, as dozens of states have legalized marijuana for adult or medical use. Notably, the percentage of young people aged 12 to 17 who’ve ever tried marijuana dropped 18 percent from 2014, when the first legal recreational cannabis sales in the U.S. launched, to 2023. Past-year and past-month rates among young people also declined during that time period.
Among adults of all ages, marijuana remains “the most commonly used illicit drug,” says the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which the government published on Tuesday. More than 1 in 5 Americans (21.8 percent) reported having used cannabis within the past 12 months. That’s compared to 22.0 percent in 2022.
The rate is roughly the same as for Americans reporting binge drinking within the past month (21.7
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