A new NIH-funded study shows that marijuana use among young adults in the US is at an all-time high, outpacing regular cigarettes for the first time.
Marijuana use in the past year reported by young adults 19 to 30 years old increased significantly in 2021 compared to five and 10 years ago, reaching historic highs in this age group since 1988, according to the Monitoring the Future (MTF) panel study. The proportion of young adults who reported past-year marijuana use reached 43 per cent in 2021, a significant increase from 34 per cent five years ago and 29 per cent 10 years ago. Marijuana use in the past month was reported by 29 per cent of young adults in 2021, compared to 21 per cent in 2016 and 17 per cent in 2011. Daily marijuana use also significantly increased during these time periods, reported by 11 per cent of young adults in 2021, compared to 8 per cent in 2016 and 6 per cent in 2011.
Cigarette smoking among young adults has been declining steadily since 2004 and reached new historic lows in 2021. For example, cigarette use in the past 30 days decreased by more than half in the past decade. Among adults aged 35 to 50, 14.5 per cent smoked cigarettes in the past 12 months, with prevalence decreasing across age from 15.6 per cent at age 35 to 13.1 per cent at age 60.
Nicotine vaping in the past month increased significantly among young adults in 2021 despite levelling off in 2020 during the earlier part of the pandemic. The continued increase in 2021 reflects a general long-term upward trend: in 2021, nicotine vaping prevalence nearly tripled to 16 per cent compared to 6 per cent in 2017, when the behavior was first recorded.

Data for the 2021 survey were collected online from April 2021 through October 2021. Find the results here.