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For decades, cannabis use in the United States was portrayed as a marginal practice, confined to underground culture and considered far less common than alcohol or tobacco use. The federal government’s latest data, however, paint a very different picture. 

According to the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), about 21.4 million Americans aged 12 and older used cannabis on a daily or near-daily basis. As reported by Marijuana Moment, that category includes people who used it on at least 20 of the 30 days preceding the survey.

That figure is higher than the 17.2 million people who reported drinking alcohol with the same frequency. It is also higher than the 17.5 million who used nicotine vapes on a daily or near-daily basis.

The cigarette figures require a brief methodological clarification. The survey counted 19.9 million people who smoked cigarettes every day in the previous month, a stricter measure than the one used for cannabis and alcohol. Even so, the broader picture is hard to ignore: frequent cannabis use is now a prominent feature of substance use in the United States. 

But while cannabis use is rising among adults, another trend is moving in the opposite direction. 

Adult Use Is Rising as Teen Use Falls 

The same federal survey found that 8.7% of people aged 12 to 17 used cannabis in the past year. In 2011, before the first US states legalized cannabis for nonmedical adult use, that proportion was 14.2%. In other words, the percentage of young people who used cannabis fell by nearly 40% over that 14-year period.

The decline is also evident in past-month use. According to Marijuana Moment, between 2021 and 2025, the percentage of adolescents who reported past-month cannabis use fell from 6.1% to 5%. In absolute numbers, that represents a drop from approximately 1.6 million to 1.3 million young people.

The results contrast with one of the most frequently repeated arguments made by opponents of regulation: that allowing legal access for adults would immediately increase use among minors.

That does not mean legalization is, by itself, the cause of the decline. Surveys can identify population-level trends, but they cannot establish causation. Still, the findings do indicate that the expansion of regulated markets has not been accompanied by the “explosive growth in teen use” that many had predicted.

In fact, previous studies conducted in the United States and Canada have reached similar conclusions. Various surveys have found that youth use remained stable or declined as legal reforms took effect, including after the opening of licensed retail stores.

For advocates of regulation, the data support the idea that a system with age verification, licensing, and traceability measures may protect minors more effectively than an illicit market with no mandatory checks. The debate is far from settled, however, and includes questions about education, prevention, and access to reliable information.

Cannabis in the US: From the Margins to the Mainstream

Among the general population, the increase is much more pronounced. In 2025, 21.2% of people aged 12 and older said they had used cannabis during the previous year. That amounts to about 61.6 million Americans.

In 2021, the proportion was 19%. Past-month use also increased, rising from 13.2% of the population, or about 37 million people, to 15.1%, equivalent to 43.8 million.

Young adults remain the group with the highest prevalence of cannabis use. Among people aged 18 to 25, 33.7% reported using cannabis during the previous year. Among adults aged 26 and older, the figure was 20.6%.

The survey also examines how people consume cannabis. Smoking remains the most common method, reported by 74.8% of cannabis users. It is followed by edibles and beverages at 49.2%, vaping at 39.2%, and concentrates such as wax or shatter at 14.5%.

Taken together, the figures point to a cultural shift that can no longer be explained solely by changes in the law. Cannabis remains restricted at the federal level, despite regulatory changes and the expansion of state programs, but its presence in everyday life is becoming increasingly visible.

Perhaps the most striking finding is not simply that millions of people use cannabis frequently, but that this growth is occurring alongside a sustained decline in cannabis use among adolescents. In other words, rising adult use does not appear to be pulling younger generations along with it.

The picture presented by the survey is more complex than the traditional binary between prohibition and unrestricted access. More adults are using cannabis, fewer teenagers are doing so, and the cannabis market, whether legal or illicit, has already become part of everyday life in the United States. The debate is no longer about whether widespread cannabis use exists, but about acknowledging that reality and deciding how to regulate something that has long since ceased to be exceptional. 

Cover photo created with AI.

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