Cannabis use among Minnesota high school students fell by more than half between 2013 and 2025 despite the state adopting increasingly permissive cannabis policies during that period, according to a study published in Social Science & Medicine.
Researchers analyzed five waves of the Minnesota Student Survey involving ninth- and 11th-grade students. Between 45,180 and 75,551 students participated in each survey year.
The prevalence of past-month cannabis use declined from 12.7% in 2013 to 5% in 2025, with decreases observed across every demographic group examined, including groups based on sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, gender identity, race and ethnicity, and financial stability.
The study period coincided with major changes to Minnesota cannabis laws. The state legalized medical cannabis in 2014, permitted certain hemp-derived THC products for adults in 2022, and approved adult-use cannabis legalization in 2023.
The findings contradict concerns that reforming cannabis laws and expanding regulated access for adults would necessarily increase consumption among minors. The researchers noted that adolescent cannabis use has also declined nationally during a period when more states have adopted medical and adult-use legalization policies.
The authors did not conclude that legalization caused the decline, however. Instead, they pointed to broader changes in adolescent behavior, including less unstructured in-person socializing, more parental monitoring, increased screen time, and corresponding declines in alcohol use, nicotine use, and other risk-taking behaviors.
While cannabis use declined across all populations included in the study, marginalized youth generally remained more likely to report past-month use than their more socially privileged counterparts. Those disparities narrowed for many groups between 2013 and 2025, though.
Researchers had initially expected marginalized students to experience smaller reductions in cannabis use, resulting in widening disparities. Instead, some marginalized populations experienced larger declines than their comparison groups.
The authors suggested the remaining disparities may be connected to stress associated with racism, homophobia, bullying, poverty, and other forms of discrimination. They recommended that youth cannabis prevention efforts focus on health equity and reducing stigma rather than treating increasingly permissive cannabis policy as the primary driver of adolescent use.
The study, “Changing cannabis use among diverse adolescents over a 12-year period of policy change: Trends and disparities,” was supported by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health Cannabis Research Center. According to the authors, the funder had no role in the study’s design, analysis, or publication decision.
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