Minnesota Teen Cannabis Use Hits Record Low: What the 2025 Student Survey Found
When Minnesota legalized adult-use cannabis in 2023, critics warned that easier access would put marijuana in front of more teenagers. Two years later, the first major youth survey conducted since legalization tells a different story. According to data released by the Minnesota Department of Health on April 20, 2026, teen cannabis use is at its lowest point in more than a decade, with 96 percent of students reporting they had not used cannabis in the past month.
The figures come from the 2025 Minnesota Student Survey, one of the nation's longest-running youth health surveys. The results matter beyond Minnesota's borders because they offer the first data point from a state that legalized adult-use cannabis and then waited to measure what actually happened to youth consumption.
What the 2025 Minnesota Student Survey Found
The Minnesota Student Survey has tracked youth behavior every three years since the late 1980s. The 2025 edition was conducted anonymously between January and June, covering students in grades five, eight, nine, and eleven across the state. It is the first administration of the survey since the Minnesota Legislature passed adult-use cannabis legalization in May 2023.
The headline numbers are striking:
- 96 percent of students reported no cannabis use in the past month.
- 6.3 percent of eighth, ninth, and eleventh graders combined reported using cannabis in the past twelve months, down from 14.9 percent in 2013.
- That represents a 57.7 percent decline over twelve years, covering a period that includes both the rise of the medical program and the full legalization of adult-use cannabis.
The drop is not a one-year blip. It reflects a consistent downward trend across multiple survey cycles. Youth cannabis use has fallen in each successive survey since its 2013 peak, including the 2022 survey taken while the legalization debate was still ongoing, and now the 2025 survey taken in the market's first operational years.
The Perception Shift: More Students See Risk in Regular Use
Alongside the consumption data, the survey tracked how students feel about the risks of cannabis use. This is where the most encouraging trend may be hiding.
From 2013 to 2022, fewer and fewer students viewed weekly cannabis use as harmful. The normalization of cannabis in public conversation, combined with shifting adult attitudes, appeared to be softening teenagers' perception of risk. That trend reversed in 2025. More students now describe weekly cannabis use as moderately or greatly harmful than at any point in the previous three survey cycles, according to the MDH press release.
The reversal matters because perceived harm is one of the strongest predictors of whether an individual actually uses a substance. When young people see cannabis as risky, they are less likely to try it. The fact that both the usage rate and the perception of harmlessness are falling together suggests the trend is likely to hold.
What Health Officials Are Saying
Minnesota Commissioner of Health Dr. Brooke Cunningham acknowledged the positive direction while stressing that the work is not finished:
"Despite positive trends, the student survey indicates that some of our children are encountering cannabis at young ages. We need to talk to our children about cannabis before they encounter it because we know the potential harms that early use can bring to their developing brains, mental health and futures."
-- Dr. Brooke Cunningham, Minnesota Commissioner of Health, via MDH
The emphasis on early conversations reflects a core principle in adolescent substance-use prevention. Research consistently shows that youth who hear clear, age-appropriate messages about cannabis risks before they first encounter it are less likely to start using. The Minnesota approach is not abstinence-only messaging but structured education that grows with the child: poison prevention basics for younger children, then frank discussions of the law, brain development, and mental health risks as students approach high school.
MDH has published a guide, "How to Talk with Youth About Cannabis," and maintains the educational hub BeCannabisAware.org as a resource for parents, teachers, and coaches who want evidence-based conversation tools.
The Legalization Debate and What This Data Adds
The relationship between adult cannabis legalization and youth access has been one of the most contested questions in cannabis policy. Opponents of legalization have long argued that a regulated adult market sends a permissive message to teenagers and makes the drug easier to obtain. Proponents counter that a regulated market, by definition, excludes minors at the point of sale and replaces an unregulated black market where age-checking is nonexistent.
The Minnesota data is a single state's experience over a single survey cycle since legalization, and researchers caution against drawing sweeping conclusions from it. But the direction is consistent with what several other early-adopting states found when they went through the same measurement exercise. Colorado, Washington, and California each reported stable or declining youth use in the years following adult-use legalization, despite early predictions of the opposite.
Minnesota added its own structural safeguards during the legalization process. Retailers must verify age at point of sale. Marketing restrictions limit cannabis advertising near schools and playgrounds. Packaging must be opaque and child-resistant. Whether these measures are a meaningful cause of the trend, or whether the trend reflects broader social factors independent of policy, is an open question that will require additional survey cycles to answer.
What the Survey Did Not Show
A few important caveats belong alongside the headline numbers.
The survey covers self-reported behavior collected anonymously, which introduces the possibility of underreporting. Adolescents may be less likely to report cannabis use in any survey, regardless of how it is administered, especially in a period when attitudes are rapidly shifting.
The survey also did not break out results by geography, income level, or race in the initial press release, though MDH typically provides more detailed breakdowns in the full report and fact sheet. Statewide averages can obscure significant variation at the community level. Commissioner Cunningham's note that "some of our children are encountering cannabis at young ages" hints at the problem: the aggregate trend is positive, but pockets of high youth use may still persist in specific communities or schools.
The 2025 survey was also the first since legalization. A single data point cannot confirm a sustained trend. The 2028 survey -- conducted after the market has been operational for several more years -- will be the more decisive test.
For Minnesota Dispensaries and the Adult Market
The survey results arrive at a moment when Minnesota's adult cannabis market is accelerating. Licensed retailers now number more than 148 across the state, with sales exceeding $64 million since recreational retail began in September 2025, according to Office of Cannabis Management data. The statewide dispensary directory reflects new openings nearly every week.
For the adult market, the youth survey data reduces one of the most persistent criticisms of legalization. Dispensaries and the OCM have both emphasized compliance with age verification as a core operational requirement. The declining youth use rate, if it holds, strengthens the argument that a regulated legal market does not function as a pipeline to minors.
Minnesota law requires all cannabis purchases to be made by individuals 21 and older with a valid government-issued ID. A summary of purchase limits, possession rules, and what is and is not legal under Minnesota's adult-use law is available in our Minnesota cannabis laws guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Minnesota Student Survey?
The Minnesota Student Survey is one of the nation's longest-running youth health surveys. The Minnesota Department of Health administers it every three years to students in grades five, eight, nine, and eleven. Responses are collected anonymously. The survey has been running since the late 1980s and tracks a wide range of health behaviors, including substance use, mental health, and physical activity. The 2025 administration was the first since Minnesota legalized adult-use cannabis in 2023.
How much has Minnesota teen cannabis use declined since 2013?
Self-reported past-twelve-month cannabis use among eighth, ninth, and eleventh graders fell from 14.9 percent in 2013 to 6.3 percent in 2025, a decline of 57.7 percent. In the same period, the share of students reporting no past-month use reached 96 percent.
Did cannabis legalization increase teen use in Minnesota?
The 2025 data does not show an increase following the 2023 legalization of adult-use cannabis in Minnesota. Youth use continued its twelve-year downward trend through the first survey cycle after legalization. Researchers caution that a single survey cycle is not enough to draw a firm conclusion, and that the 2028 survey will provide a more complete picture.
What age groups did the 2025 survey cover?
The survey collected data from students in grades five, eight, nine, and eleven. The headline past-twelve-month usage figure of 6.3 percent (down from 14.9 percent in 2013) is calculated from the combined responses of eighth, ninth, and eleventh graders.
What resources are available for parents talking to kids about cannabis?
Minnesota Department of Health publishes a guide titled "How to Talk with Youth About Cannabis" and maintains the educational hub BeCannabisAware.org, which provides age-appropriate conversation frameworks for parents, teachers, and coaches. MDH also publishes the full "Cannabis Use Among Youth" fact sheet with survey breakdowns by grade and topic.
Where can I find Minnesota's adult-use cannabis laws?
Our Minnesota cannabis laws guide summarizes what is legal, what is not, possession limits, DUI rules, and where you can and cannot consume. For licensed dispensaries near you, see the MN Cannabis Hub dispensary directory.
