Marijuana Use Statistics in the USA Since Legalization: A Complete Data Breakdown
Marijuana has gone from a federally banned substance to a state-regulated, tax-generating industry in just over a decade. Since Colorado and Washington opened the first legal recreational dispensaries in 2014, adult-use cannabis has spread to 24 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam, and the way Americans use it has changed just as fast as the laws.
Today, roughly 1 in 5 Americans age 12 and older uses marijuana in a given year; daily and near-daily use has overtaken daily drinking for the first time on record, and cannabis use disorder now affects nearly a third of past-year users. At the same time, teen use has fallen to some of the lowest levels ever recorded, even as adult use climbs.
At MindSpace Recovery Center in North Hollywood, our clinicians treat marijuana addiction as part of our broader substance use and dual diagnosis programs, and we regularly see how today’s high-potency products differ from the marijuana of a generation ago. The statistics below lay out what’s actually happened to marijuana use in America since legalization began, and what that means for people who use it.
These numbers describe two trends happening at once: legal marijuana has become mainstream among adults, while youth use has continued a long-term decline that predates and has continued through legalization.
Marijuana is the most widely used federally illegal drug in the country, and use has risen substantially over the past decade.
21.2% of people age 12 and older, or about 61.6 million Americans, used marijuana in the past year, according to the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
15.1% used it in the past month, up from 13.2% in 2021
Gallup’s separate tracking puts past-month use lower, around 15% of adults as of 2023-2024, up slightly from 14% in 2021-2022
Nearly half of Americans, about 45%, report having tried marijuana at some point in their lives
Past-year use has climbed from 19.0% in 2021 to 21.2% in 2025, and it has more than doubled since the early 2000s
Daily and Near-Daily Use Has Overtaken Daily Drinking
The more significant shift isn’t how many people have tried marijuana; it’s how many now use it constantly.
In 2022, for the first time on record, more Americans reported using cannabis daily or near-daily than reported drinking alcohol that often, according to research published in Addiction
An estimated 17.7 million people used cannabis daily or near-daily that year, compared with 14.7 million who drank at that frequency
This crossover coincides directly with the spread of legal, retail cannabis markets
This remains the most recent research specifically measuring use at this frequency; newer NSDUH releases confirm marijuana use overall has kept climbing among adults since
Use by Age Group
Young adults (18-25) have the highest use rates by far: about 35% used marijuana in the past year as of the most recent detailed breakdown, and roughly 24% used it in the past month
Adults 26 and older have seen the sharpest percentage increase since legalization, rising from 17.3% past-year use in 2021 to 21.7% (49.3 million people) as of 2024, and the 2025 NSDUH confirms this group drove essentially all of the national increase again that year
Adolescents (12-17) are the only age group where use has fallen, not risen, since large-scale legalization began
Cannabis Use Disorder Statistics
Higher use rates have come with a higher clinical burden. Marijuana can and does produce a diagnosable substance use disorder in a meaningful share of regular users.
Out of every 100 people who used marijuana in the past year, about 31 meet the clinical criteria for cannabis use disorder.
Meet the clinical criteria for cannabis use disorder
Cannabis use disorder affects 6.7% of all Americans age 12 and older, but the rate is far higher among young adults.
All ages 12+6.7%
Ages 18–2516.1%
Rates of substance use disorder involving marijuana climbed sharply in less than a decade.
1x
2015 baseline
3.7x
2024
Rates of marijuana-involved substance use disorder, indexed to 2015
Cannabis use disorder statistics
Measure
Value
Americans 12+ with cannabis use disorder
19.3 million, 6.7%
Share of past-year users meeting CUD criteria
31%
CUD prevalence, ages 18 to 25
16.1%
Growth in marijuana-involved SUD rate, 2015 to 2024
3.7 times higher
Cannabis use disorder often overlaps with other mental health conditions. In our own intake assessments at MindSpace, marijuana use frequently co-occurs with anxiety, social avoidance, and sleep disorders, which is one of the reasons integrated, dual diagnosis treatment tends to produce better outcomes than treating substance use alone.
Why Today’s Marijuana Isn’t What It Used to Be
One of the most consistent findings across the legalization era is that the marijuana available in legal (and illegal) markets today is far more potent than what was available a generation ago.
Average THC potency has climbed from about 3.5% in the early 1990s to 12-15% or higher today, according to NIDA’s potency monitoring program
Some dispensary flower tests above 25-30% THC, and concentrates used in vapes and dabs can exceed 70-90% THC
Higher national potency is directly linked to higher CUD risk: research shows the risk of developing cannabis use disorder rises substantially with each percentage-point increase in average THC potency
Edibles, vapes, and concentrates, virtually nonexistent in the pre-legalization market, now make up a large share of legal sales and carry their own risks around dosing and unintentional overconsumption
This potency shift matters clinically. Someone comparing their own past marijuana use, or a loved one’s, to what they remember from the 1990s or early 2000s is often not accounting for a product that is three to five times stronger.
Teen Marijuana Use Has Declined, Not Increased
This is one of the most consistently misunderstood statistics around legalization. Critics predicted that legal, retail marijuana would drive up teen use. That hasn’t happened.
<
17%
34%
8th grade
35%
44%
10th grade
23%
30%
12th grade
Lifetime use decline Past-year use decline
Teen cannabis use decline by grade, 2012 to 2025
Grade
Lifetime use decline
Past-year use decline
8th grade
17%
34%
10th grade
35%
44%
12th grade
23%
30%
Past-year marijuana use among 12- to 17-year-olds fell from 14.2% in 2011, the year before the first states legalized recreational cannabis, to 8.7% in 2025, according to the 2025 NSDUH
Past-month use among adolescents dropped from 6.1% in 2021 to 5.0% in 2025
Between 2012 and 2025, lifetime cannabis use fell 23% among 12th graders, 35% among 10th graders, and 17% among 8th graders, according to the Monitoring the Future survey
Past-year use over that same period fell 30% among 12th graders, 44% among 10th graders, and 34% among 8th graders
In 19 of 21 states with usable before-and-after data, teen marijuana use rates dropped following legalization, not rose
Researchers point to regulated retail markets, which require age verification, as one likely factor, along with the same broader decline in teen substance use across nearly every category, including alcohol and cigarettes, seen over the past 15 years.
Where Youth Risk Has Increased
Even with falling overall teen use rates, a few specific risks have grown:
Daily marijuana use now exceeds daily cigarette use among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, a reversal that first appeared around 2014-2017
Vaping has become a common mode of cannabis use among teens who do use it, raising exposure to higher-concentration products
An estimated 6.3% of teen drivers overall, and 24.5% of teen drivers who use marijuana, report driving under the influence of it
The Rise in Cannabis-Related Emergency Visits and Poisonings
While overall teen use has fallen, legalization has coincided with a sharp rise in accidental exposures and cannabis-related medical emergencies, particularly among young children.
Cases of edible cannabis ingestion among children under 6 rose 1,375% between 2017 and 2021, according to National Poison Data System figures reported by the American Academy of Pediatrics
Cannabis-involved emergency department visits among people under 25 rose nearly 50% in recent years, driven largely by high-potency, candy-like edible products, per the CDC’s MMWR report
In Colorado, ED visit rates for children ages 0-9 doubled when comparing the two years before legalization to the two years after
Nearly 9 in 10 pediatric edible-related poisoning events are attributed to inadvertent ingestion, most often a child getting into a product that wasn’t stored securely
These numbers reflect a market that scaled faster than household safety habits, or packaging regulations in some states, could keep up with.
Treatment Admissions: What the Data Actually Shows
One argument against legalization was that it would flood treatment systems with new cannabis patients. The national data tells a more complicated story.
Marijuana or hashish accounted for 9.3% of all substance use treatment admissions in 2023, the fifth most common primary substance behind alcohol (35.7%), methamphetamine (14.2%), heroin (13.3%), and other opiates/synthetics (13.2%), per the most recent Treatment Episode Data Set report
States where marijuana sales remained illegal have consistently shown higher per-capita treatment admission rates for cannabis than many legal-market states
Young adult cannabis use disorder treatment admissions actually declined between 2008 and 2017 even as past-month cannabis use rose nationally, according to a state-by-state analysis published in Addictive Behaviors
This doesn’t mean cannabis use disorder isn’t real or serious, the clinical prevalence data above shows it clearly is. It suggests that legal status and treatment-seeking behavior aren’t as tightly linked as early predictions assumed, and that a large share of people with CUD nationwide are still not accessing care regardless of their state’s laws.
The Economics of Legalization
Legal marijuana has also become a significant source of state revenue, which is part of why the policy landscape keeps shifting toward legalization rather than away from it.
States have collected more than $28.4 billion in cannabis tax revenue since Colorado and Washington launched the first adult-use markets in 2014, according to the Marijuana Policy Project
2025 alone generated roughly $4.5 billion, the highest single-year total on record
California, Illinois, Michigan, and Washington each generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually in cannabis tax revenue
States frequently direct this revenue toward education, public safety, and behavioral health and substance abuse treatment programs, the same systems that treat cannabis use disorder
Public Opinion Has Shifted Dramatically
Legalization has been followed, and in some ways driven, by one of the largest shifts in public opinion on any U.S. policy issue.
Support for legalizing marijuana has more than doubled since 2000
Some recent polling puts national support as high as 87%
Perceived risk of harm from regular marijuana use has fallen substantially since the early 2000s, even as THC potency has risen
This gap, rising acceptance alongside rising potency, is one of the more important dynamics for clinicians and families to understand. Many people using marijuana today are working from a risk assessment formed decades ago, based on a much weaker product.
What This Means If You’re Worried About Your Own Use
Legalization changed the legal status of marijuana. It didn’t change the biology of addiction. If any of the following sound familiar, it may be worth an honest look at your use:
You use marijuana daily or near-daily and have tried to cut back without success
You’ve noticed you need more product to get the same effect than you used to
Marijuana use is affecting your motivation, memory, sleep, or relationships
You’re using it to manage anxiety, stress, or sleep problems that haven’t actually improved
Loved ones have expressed concern about how often or how much you use
None of these on their own mean you have a diagnosable disorder, but they’re worth discussing with a professional, especially given how different today’s high-potency products are from what earlier generations were exposed to.
How We Gathered This Data
The statistics in this article come from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the federal government’s primary source of data on substance use in the United States, most recently its 2025 release. We also draw on peer-reviewed research published in the journal Addiction, data from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics on cannabis-related emergency visits, the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future survey for youth trends, and tax revenue figures from the Marijuana Policy Project. We link directly to the original source for each statistic above so you can verify the numbers yourself. Our clinical team reviews this content for accuracy, but these statistics are not a substitute for a personal clinical assessment. If you are concerned about your own marijuana use or a loved one’s, the numbers here are a starting point for that conversation, not a diagnosis.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has marijuana use gone up since legalization?
Yes, among adults. Past-year use rose from 19.0% in 2021 to 21.2% in 2025, and daily or near-daily use surpassed daily alcohol use for the first time on record in 2022. Adults 26 and older have driven nearly all of the increase.
Has teen marijuana use gone up since legalization?
No. Teen past-year use fell from 14.2% in 2011 to 8.7% in 2025, and long-term survey data shows consistent declines across 8th, 10th, and 12th graders since legalization began. Daily use among teens who do use it has increased even as overall use has fallen.
What percentage of marijuana users become addicted?
About 31% of past-year users meet the clinical criteria for cannabis use disorder, and the risk is significantly higher for people who started using higher-potency products or who began using in adolescence.
Is today’s marijuana stronger than it used to be?
Yes, substantially. Average THC potency has climbed from around 3.5% in the early 1990s to 12-15% or higher today, with many dispensary products and concentrates testing far above that.
Has legalization increased emergency room visits?
Yes, particularly for young children accidentally ingesting edible products. Poison control cases involving cannabis edibles in children under 6 rose more than 1,300% between 2017 and 2021.
Conclusion
The data on marijuana use since legalization doesn’t fit a simple narrative in either direction. Adult use, daily use, and cannabis use disorder have all risen substantially, driven in part by products that are far more potent than what existed before legalization. At the same time, teen use has fallen to historic lows, and treatment admission data hasn’t shown the surge that some predicted.
What’s clear is that marijuana use disorder is real, it affects roughly 1 in 3 regular users, and it doesn’t resolve on its own just because a product is legal and easy to buy. If your own use, or a loved one’s, has moved from occasional to daily, or from recreational to something that feels harder to control, that’s a clinical pattern worth addressing, not a personal failing.
MindSpace Recovery Center in North Hollywood offers dual diagnosis treatment for marijuana use disorder alongside the anxiety, sleep issues, or social withdrawal that often accompany it. Call (818) 528-4170 to talk through what level of care fits your situation.
Dr. Eric Chaghouri is a board-certified psychiatrist with over 14 years of experience treating addiction, mental health disorders, and the complex ways the two intersect. At MindSpace, he brings clinical precision and genuine compassion to every patient, because real recovery requires both.
