Cannabis use among U.S. teens has declined substantially even as adult-use legalization has expanded, challenging predictions that regulated markets would necessarily drive higher consumption among young people. Meanwhile, national data show cannabis use rising among adults 65 and older, while a recent New York City study highlights both the reasons seniors are using it and the potential risks that come with that shift.
For decades, one of the biggest fears surrounding cannabis legalization was that, if it became legal for adults, teenagers would consume more. But after more than a decade of regulated markets in the US, the latest numbers tell a story that strongly challenges this idea. Young people are using less weed than before, while cannabis use among older adults appears to be rising.
The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey show that just 12.9% of US high school students used cannabis in the past 30 days—the lowest level on record. In 2011, before Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize adult use, that figure stood at 23.1%. In other words, the rate fell by roughly 44%.
Similarly, the number of students who have ever tried cannabis dropped significantly: from 39.9% in 2011 to 25.5% in 2025. And this isn’t an isolated finding either. The 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 8.7% of people aged 12 to 17 had used cannabis in the past year, continuing the recent decline seen among adolescents.
The timing does not establish causality, but it is difficult to ignore. During those same years, adult-use legalization expanded across the US. That does not mean legalization directly caused the drop in youth consumption. However, the numbers do not support the simplest prediction made by opponents of legalization either: that more legal markets would necessarily lead to higher consumption among minors.
Marijuana Moment, which reported on the new federal data, also highlights previous research that reached similar conclusions.
Cannabis in the US: While Youth Use Drops, Older Adults Are Using More
Now, let’s flip the age pyramid.
A new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society surveyed 315 people aged 65 and older in New York City. 22.2% had used cannabis within the last year, 16.2% within the last month, and 11.1% within the past 24 hours.
Basically, one in ten had used it that recently.
And not everyone did so for the same reason. Among those who had used cannabis in the past year, 60% said they used it to get high; 55.7% to relieve tension; 52.9% to sleep; and 30% to cope with chronic pain.
The sample size is small, geographically limited, and not representative of all older US adults. However, the finding is part of a much broader trend. A national analysis published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2025 found that past-month cannabis use among Americans aged 65 and older increased from 4.8% in 2021 to 7% in 2023. The researchers point out that cannabis use in this age group has been rising for years.
Is Weed Undergoing a Generational Shift?
Not exactly. Or at least, the available evidence does not yet allow us to speak of a literal generational handover.
We are comparing different studies with distinct methodologies, populations, and measures of cannabis use. We are comparing different studies with distinct methodologies, populations, and measures of cannabis use. Nor is there evidence that young people are turning away from cannabis because older adults are using it more. These are two trends occurring simultaneously rather than two ends of a seesaw.
Yet, together, they tell an interesting story.
The image of the typical cannabis user in the US increasingly looks less like the teenage stereotype that dominated prohibitionist discourse for decades. Many of those who are now in their late 60s and 70s grew up alongside the counterculture, the War on Drugs, and decades of prohibition. Today, they are aging in a country where a large portion of the population has access to a legal market.
All of this raises new questions. Researchers note that increased use among older adults raises concerns about potential drug interactions, especially because older adults tend to take more prescription medications, as well as greater sensitivity to certain effects. In the In the New York study, a notable proportion—nearly one-third—of those who used cannabis in the past year also met the criteria for cannabis use disorder, with varying degrees of severity.
So, Are Young People Using Less Weed and Older Adults More?
Generally speaking, yes—there is evidence supporting both trends. But perhaps the most compelling takeaway is not who is “winning.” It is that after decades of prohibition, cultural change and legalisation, the generational map of American cannabis no longer looks like what we once imagined.
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