Underage Marijuana Use Awareness Campaign
Keeping Glen Cove SAFE: Underage Marijuana Use Awareness Campaign
The SAFE Glen Cove Coalition is concerned about youth marijuana use and its consequences.
Monitoring the Future (MTF) is one of the nation’s most relied upon scientific sources of valid information on trends in use of licit and illicit psychoactive drugs by U.S. adolescents, college students, young adults, and adults up to age 60. MTF is conducted each year by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.
The MTF survey is given annually to students in eighth, 10th, and 12th grades who self-report their substance use behaviors over various time periods, such as past 30 days, past 12 months, and lifetime. The survey also documents students’ perception of harm, disapproval of use, and perceived availability of drugs and has been doing so since 1975.
In 2023 7,584 12th grade students in 83 schools distributed throughout the US. Data collection took place in both public and private high schools. MTF used an electronic questionnaire format for the fifth consecutive year. Starting in 2021, students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades completed a web-based questionnaire on their own electronic devices during class time (which may have been at home if they were schooling remotely, for example as a result of the pandemic). In both 2019 and 2020 students also completed an electronic questionnaire that was connected to the internet, although they completed the survey on electronic tablets that MTF brought to schools. It is no longer necessary for MTF to bring tablets to schools because practically all schools now have internet access and almost all students have electronic devices to complete the MTF questionnaires. In rare cases when these resources are not available at a school, MTF brings electronic devices for students, as well as a mobile server to collect their survey responses.
The survey results divide neatly into the time periods before and after the onset of the pandemic. All surveys in 2020 were completed before March 15, when national social distancing policies were enacted, and data collection was halted due to pandemic concerns. Consequently, results from 2020 and previous years are pre-pandemic, while results from 2021 and afterwards took place after the onset of the pandemic and the associated national response. The COVID-19 pandemic is a historical event of particular interest for the 2023 results. From 2020 to 2021 MTF documented some of the largest one-year declines ever recorded by the survey across a wide variety of drugs from. It is possible that these decreases will hold for future years going forward, or, instead, drug prevalence levels may bounce back to where they were before the pandemic, as recorded by MTF with the 2020 results.
The percentage of youth who have used marijuana had not returned to pre-pandemic, 2020 levels by 2023.
Lifetime, past 12-month, and past 30-day use all dropped precipitously from 2020 (before the pandemic) to 2021 (during the pandemic), and have since remained at the new, lower levels.
The 2023 levels remain substantial, with the percentage of youth using marijuana in the last year at 29% in 12th grade, 18% in 10th grade, and 8% in 8th grade.
The lower prevalence levels in 2021 and afterwards mark the first substantial change in marijuana prevalence in more than a decade; previous to 2021 marijuana levels had hovered without any systematic trending for about a decade. Levels of annual marijuana use today are considerably lower than the historic highs observed in the late 1970s, when more than half of 12th graders had used marijuana in the past 12 months. This high point marked the pinnacle of a rise in marijuana use from relatively negligible levels before the 1960s.
Daily marijuana use, defined as use on 20 or more occasions in the past 30 days, increased slightly, but not significantly, in 2023. In all grades 2023 levels remained below those in 2020, when all surveys were collected before the start of the national social distancing policies on March 15, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The prevalence of using marijuana daily for a month or more during one’s lifetime is reported for 12th graders only. That prevalence was at 21% when first measured in 1982, declined sharply to just 8% by 1992, and rose back to 19% by 1997, followed by a long gradual decline to 12% by 2018, before leveling. It stood at 12% in 2023.
Medical Marijuana (Cannabis) Since 2017 the survey has included the question “Have you ever used ‘medical marijuana;’ that is, marijuana you used because a doctor told you to use it?” Prevalence has hovered between 1% and 4% in all years in all grades.
Delta-8 questions were added to the survey in 2023. Delta-8 is a substance derived from hemp. It contains THC-8, which is a chemical similar to the active ingredient THC-9 found in cannabis and reportedly produces a high that some have called “marijuana light.”
Regulation of delta-8 is currently under development; because it is derived from hemp, its use and sale is not covered by state, local, and federal laws that regulate cannabis. In 2023 we included a question that asks just about past 12-month use was added to the MTF survey. If it indicates substantial prevalence, then it motivates the addition of more questions on the substance in future years.
Prevalence was 11.4% among 12th grade students for past 12-month use. This prevalence level is considerable for a substance that has only recently come to market. For MTF 2024 has added more detailed questions on its use, as well as questions on where adolescents obtain it.
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): NIDA is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy, improve practice, and advance addiction science. For more information about NIDA and its programs, visit https://www.nida.nih.gov/.
Resources and Data
SAFE Glen Cove Coalition: Negative Consequences of Marijuana Use Fact Sheet
SAMHSA Advisory Cannabidiol (CBD): Potential Harms, Side Effects, and Unknowns
SAMHSA has issued a new advisory on “Cannabidiol (CBD) – Potential Harms, Side Effects, and Unknowns”. This advisory introduces readers to cannabidiol (CBD), how it is derived, and how it differs from delta-9 THC and other cannabinoids. The advisory focuses on the risks and harms of CBD, especially those sold over the counter. This advisory also clarifies common misconceptions about CBD, given its broad availability and marketing for several medical conditions despite limited evidence of efficacy. It is critical that the general public be made aware of the potential harms associated with CBD use, and parents, in particular, should be advised to not let their children use non-FDA-approved CBD products.
U.S. Department of Justice: Growing Up Drug Free-A Parent’s Guide to Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:Marijuana and Public Health
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration:Know the Risks of Marijuana
Partnership to End Addiction:Marijuana Facts and Resources
National Institute on Drug Abuse:Marijuana Drug Facts and Research
The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act
Smart Approaches to Marijuana: Lessons Learned from State Marijuana Legalization
The New York Office of Cannabis Management is a state agency established upon passage of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act to implement a regulatory framework for medical and adult-use cannabis in the state of New York. For more information please visit https://cannabis.ny.gov/.
“Cannabis Conversations” is a public education campaign that includes information on who can consume, where to consume, and how to consume safely and prevention messages for youth and adults can be found at OCM Cannabis Conversations
National Poison Data System: Study shows how adolescent cannabis use spiked by 245% between 2000 and 2020
Edible Marijuana Dangers: How Parents Can Prevent THC Poisoning (healthychildren.org)
