National survey finds alcohol, cigarette, other substance use at low levels
Adults in the United States reported cannabis use at or near record highs in 2025, reflecting a years-long climb.
Nicotine vaping also remained high among young adults, according to the latest data from the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future Longitudinal Panel study, an annual examination of self-reported drug use in the U.S. among adults ages 19 to 65 supported by the National Institutes of Health.
“We have seen consistent trends in recent years with high levels of cannabis use, vaping and nicotine pouch use,” said Megan Patrick, research professor at U-M’s Institute for Social Research and principal investigator of the MTF Longitudinal Panel Study. “This year, we also saw increases in nonmedical use of prescription drugs, particularly sleeping medications, among young adults.”
The panel study showed that increased levels of cannabis, nicotine vaping and nicotine pouch use coincided with historically low rates of cigarette smoking and a decline in alcohol consumption, patterns seen in recent years.
“By far, alcohol remains the most commonly used substance among all adult age groups,” Patrick said. “However, changing patterns of cannabis and nicotine use illustrate the shifting landscape of substance use in the U.S. These are important behaviors to watch and priorities for public health.”
The study asked adults about their use of more than two dozen substances over different time periods, including the past 12 months and the past 30 days.
Among all adults, daily, past 30-day and past 12-month cannabis use and cannabis vaping remained at or near all-time highs. Adults in early midlife (35 to 50 years old) reported significantly higher rates of daily cannabis use than last year, increasing from 6.6% in 2024 to 8.5% in 2025.
Nicotine vaping held at or near all-time highs. For young adults, past 30-day nicotine vaping tripled and past 12-month nicotine vaping nearly doubled since 2017.
Reported use of nicotine pouches over the past 12 months among all adults more thandoubled since 2023, when the study first included questions about these products.
Falls to low levels
The prevalence of cigarette smoking among all adults remained relatively low. Rates of cigarette smoking over the past 30 days ranged from 8.3% of young adults to 10.6% of adults in late midlife (55 to 65 years old).
Among young adults, nearly all measures of drinking reached low levels, with past 12-month, past 30-day and high-intensity drinking (defined as drinking 10 or more drinks in a row) all holding steady.
The report identified a small but significant increase in the prevalence of heroin use over the past year in young adults, rising from 0.2% in 2024 to 0.6% in 2025, which is under the all-time high of 0.7% in 2013. Likewise, nonmedical use of sleeping medications in the past 12 months for the same age group significantly increased from 2.0% in 2024 to 3.0% the following year.
Another significant change, also among young adults, was a decrease in psychedelics use over the past year, from 8.9% in 2024 to 7.2% in 2025. This decline follows what has been an increasing trend over the last decade.
“An advantage of studies like MTF is the ability to identify subtle shifts and trends over time, noting areas where additional resources are needed to help us head off potential escalations in drug use down the road,” Patrick said.
To estimate drug prevalence levels among a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school graduates over the past 50 years, the MTF Longitudinal Panel Study has obtained data from more than 120,000 individuals who originally participated in the larger cross-sectional MTF survey as 12th graders. The panel surveys young adult participants every two years and midlife adult participants every five years.
Research reported in this release was supported by the National Institute On Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health, under Award Numbers R01DA001411 and R01DA016575. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
