In 2023, approximately 61.8 million people used marijuana in the past year. This statistic shows the number of people in the U.S. who have used marijuana in the past year from 2009 to 2023.

Current marijuana use among U.S. adults in 2022 was highest in Vermont, where around 34.37 percent of adults reported using marijuana within the past year. In recent years, a number of U.S. states, including Colorado and California, have legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational use. In 2022, around 132 million people in the United States reported that they had used marijuana at least once in their lifetime.

Consumer behavior Starting around 2013, the majority of U.S. adults now say they are in favor of legalizing marijuana in the United States. The share of adults who were in favor of legalization has continued to increase over the years. As of 2021, about 68 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 and older were in favor of legalization. Legal sales of marijuana reached 16.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, and are expected to increase to around 37 billion dollars by the year 2026.

COVID-19 impact on marijuana use The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns led to fears of an increase in substance abuse in many parts of the world. In March 2020, around 40 percent of millennials who used cannabis in the past year reported that they planned to increase their marijuana use during the COVID-19 pandemic. This rise in usage was reflected in sales early in the pandemic. In California for example, sales of marijuana on March 16, 2020 increased 159 percent compared to the same day in 2019.

Objective: Evolving patterns of nicotine and cannabis use by adolescents require new tools to understand the changing epidemiology of these substances. Here we describe the use of a novel epigenetic biomarker sensitive to both tobacco and cannabis smoke in a longitudinal sample of high-risk adolescents. We examine risk factors for positivity for this epigenetic biomarker in comparison to positivity for conventional serum biomarkers of nicotine and cannabis use.Method: Eastern Iowa 10th graders who had a friend or family member who smoked were eligible to participate in a longitudinal study over 10–12th grades. Subjects provided self-report data on nicotine, tobacco, and cannabis use patterns as well as blood samples that were used for serum cotinine and THC assays. DNA was prepared for analysis of methylation at the CpG cg05575921, a sensitive indicator of smoke exposure. Relationships between positivity for each these biomarkers and a variety of risk factors, including demographics, family and peer relationships, psychopathology, willingness to smoke, and perceptions of typical cigarette and cannabis users, were examined at the 10th (n = 442), 11th (n = 376), and 12th (n = 366) grade timepoints.Results: A increasing proportion of subjects were positive for cotinine (5–16%), THC (3–10%), and cg05575921 methylation (5–7%) across timepoints, with some overlap. Self-reported combusted tobacco and cannabis use was strongly correlated with all biomarkers, whereas cg05575921 methylation was not correlated with reported e-cigarette use. Dual users, defined as those positive for nicotine and THC in the 12th grade showed the greatest cumulative smoke exposure, indicated by cg05575921 methylation. Subjects reported more positive attitudes toward cannabis users than cigarette smokers, and willingness to smoke and positive perceptions of tobacco and cannabis smokers were significant risk factors for biomarker positivity across timepoints.Conclusion: We conclude that measurement of cg05575921 methylation in adolescents is a useful tool in detecting tobacco smoking in adolescents, and may be a novel tool for the detection of cannabis smoking and cannabis and tobacco co-use, though non-combusted forms of nicotine use do not appear to be detectable by this method.

This report contains results from the latest survey of secondary school pupils in England in years 7 to 11 (mostly aged 11 to 15), focusing on smoking, drinking and drug use. It covers a range of topics including prevalence, habits, attitudes, and wellbeing. In 2023 the survey was administered online for the first time, instead of paper-based surveys as in previous years. This move online also meant that completion of the survey could be managed through teacher-led sessions, rather than being conducted by external interviewers. The 2023 survey also introduced additional questions relating to pupils wellbeing. These included how often the pupil felt lonely, felt left out and that they had no-one to talk to. Results of analysis covering these questions have been presented within parts of the report and associated data tables. The report includes this summary report showing key findings, excel tables with more detailed outcomes, technical appendices and a data quality statement. An anonymised record level file of the underlying data on which users can carry out their own analysis will be made available via the UK Data Service in early 2025 (see link below).

Purpose: The goal of the current study is to analyze the substance use trends in Generation Z youth (in both middle and high school environments) and to determine if any correlation exists between substance use behaviors and demographic variables. Methods: Analysis is based on substance use data collected through the Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) from 2009 to 2017 and the 2016 US census data. Results: Our results suggest that substance use in Gen Z adolescents is mainly linked to alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, vaping, and narcotic prescription drugs. Alcohol is the most prevalent high-risk substance used by 12th grade students with 69.8% of students having consumed alcohol over their lifetime. Vaping is the next highly used substance with 28.9% of students in 12th grade having vaped 30 day prior to the survey. There is a significant correlation among adolescents between smoking cigarettes and using smokeless tobacco. A student using either alcohol, cigarettes or smokeless tobacco is highly likely to use the other two substances as well. Adolescents from counties with a high Caucasian population were at high risk for cigarette and smokeless tobacco use, while the opposite held true for counties with a high number of foreign-born persons or higher Asian or Hispanic populations. Higher median household incomes and higher adult education levels in a county were both protective factors against smokeless tobacco use. Conclusions: Results of the study suggest that students start experimenting with high-risk substance use in early grades and to combat the prevalence, we suggest the importance of educating adolescents of the dangers of drug use in early grades.

Reconnecting Government With Youth examines the connection between young people in Canada and the federal government. The 2005 study examines issues affecting youth at the time as well as government responses, volunteering, post-secondary education and plans after high school, how government can communicate with youth as well as cigarette and marijuana use. The 2005 study's dataset consists of a sample of 2001 Canadians from across the country, aged 12-30, who participated through a nationwide telephone survey between May 18 and June 13, 2005. A subsequent online survey was held between June 10-14. Results from the online survey appear in some reports but are not included in the telephone raw dataset. Both datasets and their results are representative of the nation's regional, age, and gender composition for 12 to 30 year-olds in accordance with Census 2001 data. Some questions in the study are asked only to older age segments (e.g., 16-30 year age groups) due to the more difficult nature of relevance of some questions. This study consists of numeric data, aggregate statistical tables, stakeholder reports and presentations, as well as its questionnaire and its many drafts.

The number of medical marijuana patients in the U.S. according to estimates mid-2023 was highest in the State of Florida. Florida had approximately 832 thousand medical marijuana patients at that time. In that same year, Oklahoma and Maine had the highest percentages of medical marijuana patients.

Medical marijuana

There may be many positive effects of the medical marijuana industry including to patient health and to the economy. The projected medical marijuana market in the U.S. is expected to top 11 billion U.S. dollars in coming years. In a recent study among medical cannabis patients, the most commonly cited benefits of the drug were pain reduction and sleep. There are currently numerous research projects underway in the U.S. to determine the medical benefits and therapeutic uses of marijuana products as well as the potential impact of marijuana legalization on the U.S. economy.

Public opinion

Public opinion on the effects of marijuana and its ability to be used in patient care vary. However, it is clear that many U.S. adults support the legalization of marijuana in some form. A recent study indicated that the support for marijuana legalization has been increasing in recent history. Another study has shown that an overwhelming majority of participants felt that cannabis has valid medical uses. Despite current efforts at legalization and research underway, marijuana with over 0.3 percent of THC – for any use – is considered illegal under federal U.S. law.

Less than a quarter of the respondents to a widespread drug use survey in the Netherlands from 2021 admitted to having used cannabis products at least once in their lives. Furthermore, roughly five percent indicated that they had smoked a joint or eaten a special brownie (cannabis edible) in the last month. These figures do not exactly confirm the stereotype of the perpetually high Dutchie. In fact, a similar European study found that the Netherlands is not even the country with the highest cannabis usage in Europe. In Spain, France, and Italy, more than 10 percent of the adults used cannabis products in 2020.

Drug use trend

Cannabis usage in the Netherlands increased over time. An exploration of the results from previous editions of this survey reveals that in 2021, more people had used cannabis than in 1997. The peak year of cannabis usage in the Netherlands was 2015, when nearly nine percent of the respondents indicated having used cannabis in the preceding year.

The legality of cannabis in the Netherlands

Contrary to popular opinion, soft drugs such as cannabis are not legal in the Netherlands. Strictly speaking, the selling, use, and possession of cannabis are illegal, and users are subject to prosecution. However, the police in the Netherlands adopt a policy of tolerance towards recreational users. As such, individuals can carry up to 5 grams of cannabis, which they are able to buy from specified retailers knows as coffeeshops. These coffeeshops must abide by strict regulations. For instance, they may only hold 500 grams of cannabis at any given time. Coffeeshops are not only found in Amsterdam, but all over the Netherlands.

According to a survey on substance use in India between December 2017 and October 2018, the states with highest prevalence of cannabis use were Sikkim at 7.3 percent, followed by Nagaland at 4.7 percent and Odisha with 4.5 percent of users. Overall, only 1.2 percent of the population in the country was seen to be users of the drug and there is a higher prevalence of the use of bhang- a product made out of cannabis oil- compared to cannabis. Bhang can be legally bought from government operated shops in the country which might be one of the reasons for its higher use than pure cannabis.

As of 2022, the use of cannabis in the Netherlands varied by age and frequency. Over 45 percent of those aged between 25 and 29 years of age had used cannabis at some point in their life. Subsequently, over 43 percent of those aged between 20 and 24 years of age had used cannabis in the past year.

In 2022, the cannabis use among adults in Spain was highest among the youngest age group, with 23 percent of people aged 15 to 24 years reporting to have used cannabis in this period. The corresponding share for the age group from 25 to 34 years old was 15.9 percent. Cannabis consumption in Spain Spain ranked number four in 2022 with regard to the prevalence of cannabis use in Europe, with 10.6 percent of its population having consumed cannabis within the past twelve months. The most commonly used types of cannabis in Spain in 2024 were CBD and THC flowers and buds, each consumed by around five percent of the population. Cannabis Market Size The market size for CBD in Spain was estimated to be 119 million euros in 2022, whereas the market size of the cannabis for medical use was only four million euros. As for the market share, CBD captured 96 percent of the total cannabis market, while the rest was occupied by medically used cannabis. The market share of cannabis for medical use was much lower in Spain than other major European countries in 2022.