{"id":83481,"date":"2025-09-23T07:30:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T15:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/09\/23\/teen-marijuana-use-in-germany-declined-following-recreational-legalization-government-study-shows\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T19:56:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T03:56:39","slug":"teen-marijuana-use-in-germany-declined-following-recreational-legalization-government-study-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/09\/23\/teen-marijuana-use-in-germany-declined-following-recreational-legalization-government-study-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen Marijuana Use In Germany Declined Following Recreational Legalization, Government Study Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A new study conducted by German federal health officials shows that rates of marijuana use declined among youth after the country legalized adult-use cannabis last year, contradicting one of the more common prohibitionist arguments against the reform.<\/p>\n

The Federal Institute for Public Health\u2019s Drug Affinity Study published on Tuesday examined marijuana use trends in 2025, finding that the rate of past-year cannabis consumption for youth aged 12-17 dipped from 6.7 percent to 6.1 percent since the prior survey in 2023. More regular consumption (at least ten times in the past year) also decreased from 1.3 percent to 1.1 percent.<\/p>\n

Among young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, the study showed a slight uptick in cannabis usage, with past-year consumption increasing from 23.3 percent to 25.6 percent between 2023 and 2025.<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s former health minister Karl Lauterbach, who spearheaded the government\u2019s legalization plan, said the results of the research \u201cconfirm what the goal of legalization was: through the debate about dangers for children and adolescents, their consumption does not increase or even decreases,\u201d according to a translation.<\/p>\n

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Die Studie w\u00fcrde best\u00e4tigen, was Ziel der Legalisierung war: durch die Debatte \u00fcber Gefahren bei Kindern und Jugendlichen steigt deren Konsum nicht an oder sinkt. Trotzdem m\u00fcssen die Ergebnisse noch best\u00e4tigt werden. Verbote schrecken junge Leute nicht ab https:\/\/t.co\/CSQF7HwseZ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Prof. Karl Lauterbach (@Karl_Lauterbach) September 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cNevertheless, the results still need to be confirmed,\u201d he said. \u201cBans do not deter young people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study is based on surveys of 7,001 adolescents and young adults from April to July of this year.<\/p>\n

It was April 2024 when Germany\u2019s legalization law took effect<\/a>, allowing adults to possess and grow certain amounts of cannabis and social clubs began to open, providing members with legal access to marijuana products<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur data show that consumption among adolescents has not increased. However, consumption has risen slightly among young adults, particularly among men between 18 and 25 years of age,\u201d Johannes Nie\u00dfen, acting director of the Federal Institute for Public Health, said<\/a> in a press release. \u201cWe must monitor this development very closely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lack of evidence that youth use increased post-legalization is consistent with pro-reform arguments. Advocates have long maintained that providing a regulatory framework for marijuana would mitigate underage access as more adults transition to the legal market.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., where cannabis is legal in some form in the majority of states but prohibited at the federal level, research has shown similar trends.<\/p>\n

For example, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) in July published data that showed youth cannabis consumption has remained stable amid the state legalization movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The agency also held a webinar in July in which a Johns Hopkins University researcher acknowledged that while\u00a0self-reported cannabis consumption by adults has risen as more states have legalized, use by youth has generally remained flat or fallen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A report from the advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), for example, found that\u00a0youth marijuana use declined in 19 out of 21 states that legalized adult-use marijuana<\/a>\u2014with teen cannabis consumption down an average of 35 percent in the earliest states to legalize. The report cited data from a series of national and state-level youth surveys, including the annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey, which is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).<\/p>\n

A Canadian government report separately found that daily or near-daily use rates by both adults and youth have held steady over the last six years after the country enacted legalization<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Back in Germany, following a pivotal national election earlier this year, political parties that were cooperating to form a new coalition government announced that they would be conducting an \u201copen-ended evaluation\u201d of the country\u2019s marijuana legalization law<\/a>\u2014meaning that at least for now, officials will allow the policy to stay in place.<\/p>\n

\u2014
\nMarijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills<\/a> in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters<\/a> pledging at least $25\/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don\u2019t miss any developments.<\/strong>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nLearn more about our marijuana bill tracker<\/a> and become a supporter on Patreon<\/a> to get access.
\n\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

In December, the federal minister for food and agriculture signed off on a plan to\u00a0allow for research-focused commercial marijuana pilot programs<\/a>\u00a0to test legal and regulated access to cannabis for consumers.<\/p>\n

At the local level, the city of Frankfurt late last year announced plans to move forward with a\u00a0five-year pilot program that would make cannabis products available to adults more broadly<\/a>\u00a0, with the city of Hanford also pursuing a similar plan. A number of other localities have also\u00a0\u00a0expressed interest<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0in conducting cannabis sales pilot projects.<\/p>\n

Despite widespread concern that results of February\u2019s election could spell doom for the legalization law, most Germans\u2014\u00a059 percent of eligible voters<\/a>\u00a0\u2014support allowing adults to purchase cannabis from licensed stores.<\/p>\n

For the previous three years Germans were polled on the issue, support sat at just under 50 percent. But as the country\u2019s marijuana law began being implemented last year, there was a spike in favor of the policy change.<\/p>\n

Notably, respondents who identified as CDU or CSU\u2014two of the three coalition parties behind the new agreement\u2014were the only political affiliations among which majorities of voters supported rolling back the reform law.<\/p>\n

German officials last year convened an international conference where leaders were invited to\u00a0share their experiences with legalizing and regulating marijuana<\/a>\u00a0, with a focus on public health and mitigating the illicit market.<\/p>\n

Representatives from Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Switzerland were invited by German Commissioner for Addiction and Drug Issues Burkhard Blienert to the meeting in Berlin.<\/p>\n

The countries that participated in the ministerial have varying cannabis policies. Malta, for example,\u00a0\u00a0became the first European country to enact cannabis legalization<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0in 2021. Luxembourg followed suit, with\u00a0\u00a0the reform officially taking effect in 2023<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Government officials from several countries, including the U.S., also met in Germany in 2023 to discuss international marijuana policy issues<\/a>\u00a0as the host nation worked to enact legalization.<\/p>\n

A group of German lawmakers, as well as Blienert, separately\u00a0\u00a0visited the US and toured California cannabis businesses<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0in 2022 to inform their country\u2019s approach to legalization.<\/p>\n

The visit came after top officials from Germany, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands\u00a0\u00a0held their first-of-its-kind meeting to discuss plans and challenges<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0associated with recreational marijuana legalization in 2022.<\/p>\n

The post Teen Marijuana Use In Germany Declined Following Recreational Legalization, Government Study Shows<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Teen Marijuana Use In Germany Declined Following Recreational Legalization, Government Study Shows<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new study conducted by German federal health officials shows that rates of marijuana use declined among youth after the country legalized adult-use cannabis last year, contradicting one of the more common prohibitionist arguments against the reform. The Federal Institute for Public Health\u2019s Drug Affinity Study published on Tuesday examinedContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":83482,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83483,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83481\/revisions\/83483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}