Do People Smoke More Pot Now That It’s Legal in So Many States?

Summary: Yes, people smoke more pot now that it’s legal in so many states for recreational use. However, the people who smoke more pot now that it’s legal might not be the people you expect.

Key Points:

• In 2012, the states of Washington and Colorado legalized recreational cannabis use for people over age 21.
• By the end of 2024, a total of 24 states legalized recreational cannabis use.
• Complete data is available for 2012-2019, and shows increases in some age groups, but not others.

Cannabis Legalization: A Nationwide Trend With Surprising Results

In March 2025, the Cannabis Research Center at The University of Minnesota published a report called “Cannabis Use Across the States in the Early Legalization Era” published a report on trends in cannabis use in the U.S. since 2012. Here’s how the researchers describe their work:

“Using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), this brief examines data on changing trends in the prevalence of self-reported cannabis use, focusing on differences across age subgroups, states, and by the legal status of cannabis across states.”

Since cannabis use has potential to lead to cannabis use disorder among all age groups, and cannabis use among adolescents can cause structural and functional changes in the brain which affect the reward system, memory, and cognition, it’s safe to say examining the consequences of cannabis legalization is an important public health issue that warrant in-depth understanding for everyone.

In light of the health risks of cannabis use, the research team asked the following questions, in addition to general questions about usage trends:

Are the states that have legalized cannabis for adult use solely responsible for the overall rise in use, or is the prevalence of cannabis use also increasing in states that have not legalized?

Is the prevalence of cannabis use increasing among both adults and underage youth despite these age-based limitations for legal sales?

And do the trends in cannabis use among adults and underage youth differ between legalization and non-legalization states?

In this report, the analysis of use trends starts with pooled data from 2012 and 2013 and ends with pooled data from 2018 and 2019, with all data retrieved from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Because of changes in the way the NSDUH collected data and asked questions after 2020, and due to interruptions associated with COVID, more recent data were not appropriate for accurate comparison.

Let’s take a look at what the researchers found.

Trends in Cannabis Use After Legalization

When we wonder if people smoke more pot now that it’s legal in so many states, most of us wonder about pot smoking among young people. That’s logical: adolescence is a time when many people experiment with drugs and alcohol, particularly cannabis. In addition, recent developments, such as vaping, edibles, and other forms of ingestion make consuming cannabis easier than it ever has been. However, the data we’re about to share are relatively surprising, because the increases in cannabis use appear in virtually every age group – except teens.

First, we’ll share the data on overall use for general age categories.

Yearly Increases Since Legalization, General Age Groups, Past 30-day Use

2012-2013:

• • Total: 7.4%
  • Age 12-20: 11.9%
  • Age 21+: 6.6%

2014-2015:

• • Total: 8.3%
  • Age 12-20: 11.8%
  • Age 21+: 7.8%

2016-2017:

• • Total: 9.2%
  • Age 12-20: 11.6%
  • Age 21+: 8.8%

2018-2019:

• • Total: 10.8%
  • Age 12-20: 12.1%
  • Age 21+: 10.6%

While use among people 12-20 was higher overall, it remained almost completely stable between 2012 and 2019, with a total increase of 1.7 percent. In contrast, use among adults 21+ increased by 60 percent between 2012 and 2019.

Now let’s look more closely at the changes in use by detailed age groups.

Overall Increases Since Legalization, Specific Age Groups, Past 30-Day Use

2012-2013:

Total 12+: 7.4%

• • 12-15: 3.6%
  • 16-17: 14.1%
  • 18-20: 21.0%
  • 21-25: 17.6%
  • 26-39: 10.2%
  • 40-64: 4.7%
  • 65+: 0.9%

2018-2019:

Total 12+: 10.8%

• • 12-15: 3.4%
  • 16-17: 14.1%
  • 18-20: 21.8%
  • 21-25: 23.0%
  • 26-39: 16.1%
  • 40-64: 8.6%
  • 65+: 3.0%

Here we see the trend repeating itself. Cannabis use among youth age groups remained relatively stable, increasing slightly. In contrast, use among all age groups 21 and over increased by around 4-6 percentage points per group. For example, among people 26-39, use increased by 58 percent, whereas for people age 16-17, use didn’t increase at all, but remained stable at 14.1 percent.

The Impact of Legalization at the State Level: Do People Smoke More Pot in the States Where It’s Legal Now?

The next set of data covers increases in cannabis use in states that did and did not legalize cannabis for recreational use. This data surprised us, as well.

Increases in States With and Without Legal Sales, Past 30-Day Use

With Legal Sales:

• • 2012-2013, age 12+: 10.1%
  • 2018-2019, age 12+: 15.1%

With Legal Sales, By General Youth/Adult Age Group:

• • 2012-2013:
    • 12-20: 14.6%
    • 21+: 9.3%
  • 2018-2019:
    • 12-20: 15.3%
    • 21+: 15.1%

Without Legal Sales:

• 2012-2013: 6.6%
• 2018-2019: 9.5%

Without Legal Sales, By General Youth/Adult Age Group:

• 2012-2013:
  • 12-20: 11%
  • 21+: 5.8%
• 2018-2019:
  • 12-20: 11%
  • 21+: 9.3%

The same trend appears. While overall use increased, that increase was driven entirely by people over age 21. Youth age groups held steady, with the largest increases appearing among adults in states with legal sales.

We’ll discuss these results below.

Cannabis Use in the U.S.: Legalization Not the Only Factor

People smoke pot more now that it’s legal in so many states – and the data proves it. However, the data above upends the stereotypical profile of someone who uses cannabis. While the 21-25 age group reported the most use, older age groups reported increases almost as large as the 21-25 age group.

Here are three salient points highlighted by the researchers:

1. The era of state legalization of recreational cannabis use has been marked by increased prevalence of use among adults.
2. Significant increases in past 30-day cannabis use appeared only in people 21 and older.
3. The fact that cannabis use prevalence didn’t increase among underage youth is encouraging.

We agree with that last point. It appears that youth, despite increased access, didn’t immediately increase their use is indeed encouraging. In this article, we didn’t address the legality issue when discussing use among teens for one simple reason: for teens, access has never been an issue, and teens motivated to try cannabis will find a way to try cannabis. The fact that cannabis use didn’t skyrocket among teens is a topic for another article.

We’ll close with more insight from the study authors:

“Together, these data and other evidence, such as the pre legalization trend of growing cannabis use prevalence, suggest that state-level legalization may not be the only factor in the trend of increasing cannabis use.”

What are those other factors?

When new research appears with credible data and an evidence-based explanation, we’ll report it here. For now, we’re optimistic, because most of the people who were teens at the time of the survey are now adults, and we hope their lack of enthusiasm for cannabis use has persisted into adulthood.