Cannabis use among U.S. high school students has continued to decline, with newly reported 2025 federal survey data indicating that 12.9% of students used marijuana at least once during the previous 30 days.
The figure marks a notable drop from 17% in 2023 and continues a broader decline from 23.1% in 2011. CDC's 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey directly reported that 17% of high school students had used marijuana during the previous 30 days, while its 2011 survey recorded a rate of 23.1%.
What Does the Latest Teen Cannabis Data Show?
The national trend can be seen clearly across the three data points:
2011: 23.1%
2023: 17.0%
2025: 12.9%
The 2025 figure is also below the 14.7% reported in the 1991 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the first year in CDC's long-running national series.
The latest 12.9% figure was reported on September 22 based on newly released CDC data.
What Does the CDC Survey Measure?
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, or YRBS, is part of CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. It tracks health-related behaviors and experiences among high school students across the United States. CDC describes YRBSS as a national surveillance system designed to monitor changes in youth health behaviors over time.
For cannabis, the 2025 national questionnaire asks students how many times they used marijuana during the 30 days before the survey. The questionnaire also instructs respondents not to count CBD-only or hemp products that do not cause a high when used alone.
That distinction matters because the percentage represents current marijuana use during a specific 30-day period, rather than lifetime cannabis experimentation.
A Long-Term Decline in Youth Cannabis Use
The latest number adds to evidence of a substantial long-term change in cannabis use among high school students.
CDC historical data shows that current marijuana use among students has moved considerably over the past several decades. The national rate was 14.7% in 1991, rose during the 1990s, and was 23.1% in 2011 before declining in more recent survey years.
The decline from 17% in 2023 to the newly reported 12.9% in 2025 is particularly notable because it occurred within a two-year survey cycle.
Does the Data Explain Why Teen Cannabis Use Is Falling?
No single cause can be established from these numbers alone.
The YRBS is designed to measure behaviors and changes over time. It does not by itself determine why a trend occurred or prove that any individual policy, prevention program, access restriction, social change, or market development caused the decline.
That distinction is important when interpreting youth cannabis statistics. Changes in education, attitudes toward cannabis, parental involvement, access controls, enforcement, product preferences, and wider youth substance-use patterns could all be areas for researchers to examine.
Additional research would be needed to determine how much influence any individual factor has had.
Why the Trend Matters
Youth cannabis use remains an important area of research for public health agencies, educators, policymakers, families, and the regulated cannabis industry.
For the cannabis sector specifically, reliable youth-use data can provide useful context when discussions focus on responsible adult-use markets, age verification, prevention efforts, and keeping regulated cannabis products away from people who are underage.
The latest numbers provide an important data point: despite major changes in the U.S. cannabis landscape over the past decade, reported current cannabis use among high school students is substantially lower than it was in 2011.
What to Watch Next
Future CDC YRBS releases should provide additional detail on youth behavior trends and may help researchers examine differences by grade, demographic group, geography, and other characteristics.
Continued tracking will also be important for determining whether the 2025 decline represents a sustained long-term pattern.
Cannabis Insider Hub will continue monitoring federal cannabis research, market data, regulatory developments, and industry trends as new information becomes available.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System
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