Cannabis is the most commonly used drug that is illegal under federal law in the United States: an estimated 64.2 million people aged 12 and older used it in 2024. (Even so, 41 states and the District of Columbia allow medical use, and 24 states and DC allow or regulate nonmedical use by adults.) Frequent use is linked to health effects including memory problems, cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, chronic psychotic disorders and cannabis use disorder.
Cannabis alone rarely causes a fatal overdose. But finding it in people who died of overdoses could point to groups at high risk of other harms, and help target prevention. How often it's found, and at what ages, hadn't been known.
The data
CDC's State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS) gathers unintentional and undetermined-intent overdose deaths from death certificates, medical examiner and coroner reports and postmortem toxicology — recording every drug detected, even those not judged to have caused the death. This analysis covered deaths from January 2021 to June 2025 in 31 states and the District of Columbia with toxicology reports.
Cannabis here means cannabinoids from the cannabis plant — such as cannabidiol, THC and tetrahydrocannabivarin — plus the drug dronabinol; synthetic cannabinoids were excluded.
What was found
| Overdose deaths | 209,166 |
| Cannabis detected | 43,880 (21.0%) — steady over time |
| Cannabis listed as a cause of death | 0.8% |
| Cannabis the only drug involved | nine deaths (0.004%) |
Among deaths with cannabis detected, most also involved illegally made fentanyls (73.5%) or stimulants such as cocaine or methamphetamine (60.4%).
By age
The share with cannabis detected fell as age rose.
| Age | Cannabis detected |
|---|---|
| 12–17 | 42.7% overall — 49.2% in 2021, down to 35.9% in 2024, up to 44.6% in January–June 2025. In this group, 88.6% of deaths with cannabis also involved fentanyls and 69.0% stimulants |
| 50 and older | 16.7% (13,076 deaths) — the lowest, though it rose slightly from 14.8% in 2021 to 18.1% in January–June 2025 |
Overdose deaths with cannabis detected, by age group, State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System, January 2021–June 2025. CDC
Which cannabinoids
Among deaths with cannabis detected, delta-9-THC was found in 73.1%, delta-8-THC in 1.1%, dronabinol in none, and another cannabis derivative (such as cannabidiol, cannabigerol or tetrahydrocannabivarin) in 0.1%; cannabis not identified as a specific cannabinoid — a marijuana metabolite, for example — was found in 26.6%. Standard screening can't tell delta-8 from delta-9 THC; that takes confirmatory testing.
What it means
- Deaths caused by cannabis are rare. Fewer than 1% listed it as a cause, and all but nine involved at least one other drug. Finding cannabis in an overdose death mostly signals polysubstance use.
- Adolescents stand out. Cannabis was found most often in 12- to 17-year-olds who died — even though this age group reports the lowest past-year cannabis use in the general population, and its use has been steady or slightly falling.
- Adults' use rose; detection didn't. Self-reported past-year use rose among adults 26 and older during 2021–2024, but detection in overdose deaths stayed fairly stable.
- It's probably undercounted. Because cannabinoids rarely cause death, they aren't always screened for or confirmed.
Youth cannabis use is a chance to intervene early — to prevent cannabis use disorder and address other substance use. Community-based programs such as CDC's Drug-Free Communities Support Program and Evidence-Based Strategies to Prevent Youth Substance Use (ENGAGE) could improve young people's health now and reduce substance use when they are adults.
Sources
Based on Tanz LJ, Quader ZS, Mattson CL, Vivolo-Kantor AM, "Notes from the Field: Cannabis Detection Among Overdose Deaths — United States, 2021–2025," MMWR volume 75, number 34, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.cdc.gov
1
0
0
0
Comments
