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New CDC data shows remarkable decline in youth cannabis use post-legalization

Oct 01, 2026

CDC, youth use rates

New CDC data shows remarkable decline in youth cannabis use post-legalization

For decades, prohibitionists have insisted that arresting people for cannabis was necessary to keep it away from young people.

But after years of real-world experience with regulated cannabis markets, the data tell a very different story: teen cannabis use has fallen to historic lows in every state with a legal adult-use market, according to the latest reporting from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Not only have legalization states reduced cannabis-related arrests by an average of nearly 90%, but the states with the longest-standing legal markets have seen some of the largest declines in self-reported cannabis use by high schoolers:
  • 49% in Michigan since legalization in 2018 (MPP-led campaign)
  • 51% in Massachusetts since legalization in 2016 (MPP-led campaign)
  • 55% in Colorado since legalization in 2012 (MPP-led campaign)
  • 70% in California since legalization in 2016

In the years before states began adult-use legalization, when close to a million people were being arrested for cannabis every single year, reported teen cannabis access was at historic highs — nearly 40% of eighth graders and nearly 70% of tenth graders said cannabis was easy or fairly easy for them to obtain. 

Prohibition wasn’t keeping cannabis away from kids.

The evidence is becoming increasingly clear that the best way to keep cannabis away from kids and out of schools is to put illegal dealers out of business by placing tested and regulated cannabis behind the counter at licensed businesses that check ID.

With Americans in 26 states still living under the horrid reality of prohibition and criminalization, we need to act with urgency to change that reality and build the critical mass of support to finally end prohibition in every state — and at the federal level.