The National Institute on Drug Abuse’s 2020 Monitoring the Future study, which tracks substance use in adults ages 19-22 each year, found that marijuana use that year was at its highest level recorded since the 1980s.
In 2020, 44% of college students reported using marijuana in the last year, compared with 38% in 2015. Of that number 8% admit to daily or “heavy” usage. (Marijuana use on 20 or more days within a 30 day period is considered “daily” or “heavy” marijuana use.) As for young adults not enrolled in college, usage numbers stood at 43% which is the same level as recorded in 2018 and 2019.
Another study, published in January 2022 in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, found that the prevalence of cannabis use—not frequency—was actually down during the pandemic among a small sample size of college students. Researchers concluded that dependent vs. independent living was a major factor here, stating, “Living with parents appears to be protective against frequent cannabis use.”
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