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 …
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Author: Camila Berriex / High Times
