About Us

CDC’s Marijuana and Public Health Activities

Our Role

To identify and address the public health impacts of marijuana use and improve our knowledge about the health effects of marijuana use.

Our Goals

• Increase the capacity of CDC and state and local jurisdictions to monitor use patterns and the public health effects of marijuana use through existing surveillance systems.
• Increase the capacity to identify, monitor, and evaluate effective public health and regulatory practices and policies to prevent marijuana-related harms.
• Support state and local efforts to create and disseminate evidence-based information describing the health effects of marijuana.

Our Work

Public Health Surveillance

CDC uses public health surveillance systems, including the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), to monitor trends in marijuana use and to assess related health effects. YRBS can monitor state trends in reported marijuana use among high school students, and NHANES can monitor national trends in reported marijuana use. CDC is developing capacity to use the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) beginning in 2017 to monitor state-level trends in marijuana use among adults and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Marijuana-Related Epidemiology Studies

CDC supports applied public health research to assess the relationship between marijuana use and health and social outcomes, including pregnancy outcomes, youth risk behaviors, drug-impaired driving, and occupational hazards. CDC, other federal agencies, several state agencies, and private-sector public health organizations are supporting the National Academy of Sciences to systematically review the scientific knowledge of marijuana use and potential health risks as well as its effectiveness for medical uses. See The Health Effects of Marijuana: An Evidence Review and Research Agenda.

State Public Health Capacity

CDC is supporting epidemiologic response and analytic capacity, and provides technical assistance to state public health programs. The agency is helping states consolidate lessons learned and disseminate best practices to prevent marijuana use among youth and address marijuana addiction. CDC is promoting the development of community-based and individual prevention interventions, including tool kits, targeted at prevention of marijuana-related harms, especially among vulnerable populations such as youth.

National Leadership and Partnership

CDC participates on the HHS Behavioral Health Coordinating Council and works with state and local public health and substance abuse agencies to strengthen the science base for medicinal marijuana use, preventing marijuana abuse, and related health outcomes.