What topics does this cannabis study cover?

This study covers research on: Addiction.

Where was this research published?

Published in Addiction (Abingdon, England) on July 16, 2026.

Hair testing reveals hidden cannabis use in U.S. teens

Q: What did this research study find?

Among 15–16-year-olds, weighted *biochemical verification* estimated **7.1% cannabis use**, higher than the corresponding estimates for alcohol and nicotine reported in the study.

Weighted prevalence of biochemically verified substance use in healthy adolescents across the USA.

Addiction (Abingdon, England) • July 16, 2026 • Highly Relevant

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AI Summary

This nationwide longitudinal study compared adolescents’ self-reported substance use with biochemical verification from hair samples analyzed using LC/GC-MS-MS. The researchers found that agreement between the two methods increased as participants got older: for cannabis, concordance was less than 1% at ages 11–12 and reached 45% at ages 15–16. This suggests that self-reports may miss some substance use, particularly among younger adolescents.

After adjusting for differences in recruitment, missed visits, and hair testing, the estimated prevalence of biochemically detected use among 15–16-year-olds was 7.1% for cannabis, compared with 0.2% for alcohol and 4.7% for nicotine. The findings support combining toxicological testing with self-reported information when possible, especially in research and public-health efforts seeking a clearer picture of substance use among teenagers. The study does not evaluate health effects or establish why adolescents used these substances.

💡 Key Findings

Among 15–16-year-olds, weighted biochemical verification estimated 7.1% cannabis use, higher than the corresponding estimates for alcohol and nicotine reported in the study.

High

80%

Agreement between self-reported and hair-detected cannabis use increased with age, from less than 1% at ages 11–12 to 45% at ages 15–16.

High

80%

The authors conclude that combining toxicological testing with self-reports can improve identification of substance use among U.S. adolescents when testing is feasible.

High

85%

📄 Original Abstract

Adolescent substance use is a significant public health concern, though the scope of the problem is difficult to ascertain given reliance on self-reported substance use information. Recent, large cohort studies in adolescents and young adults suggest underreporting of substance use. Analyses here aimed to determine concordance between self-reported substance use and biochemical verification through hair samples and to estimate prevalence of the three most reported substances used by adolescents. Observational cohort longitudinal study design. Liquid chromatography and gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC or GC/MS-MS) were used to test hair samples for biochemically verified substance use, with results compared with self-reported substance use. Multi-step weighting methods estimated prevalence trends of cannabis, alcohol and nicotine use over time, adjusting for discrepancies in sample representation due to recruitment demography, missed visits and hair sample testing. Data came from the United States nationwide Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (n = 11 868; age 9-10 at baseline, age 15-16 at wave 6). Participants were followed annually, with data here from 2016 to 2024. Hair samples objectively detected at least several days of substance use in a subsample of participants (nsamples = 11 865; n = 6133 unique participants). Participants self-reported past 3-month substance use. Sociodemographic, individual and environmental-level factors were included in inverse propensity weights to estimate prevalence rates of cannabis, alcohol and nicotine use in teens. Concordance between self-report and toxicological data improved with age (for cannabis, ages 11-12 = <1%; ages 15-16 = 45%). Weighted estimates of biochemically verified substance use indicated 7.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 6.0-8.3] of 15-16 year olds engaged in biochemically detected cannabis use, 0.2% (95% CI = 0.1-0.4) used alcohol and 4.7% (95% CI = 3.7-6.0) used nicotine. In United States youth, the concordance between self-reported substance use patterns and biochemical verification improves with age. Biochemical verification reflects substantive cannabis and nicotine use by United States youth aged 15-16, supporting combining toxicological and self-report data to improve identification of substance use in youth when possible.

Paper Type

📄 Research

Publication

Journal: Addiction (Abingdon, England)
Published: July 16, 2026
PMID: 42464603
DOI: 10.1111/add.70548

Authors (15)

Natasha E Wade Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
Yajuan Si Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Susan F Tapert Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
Janosch Linkersdörfer Center for Multimodal Imaging & Genetics, J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Krista M Lisdahl Department of Psychology, Univeristy of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
+10 more authors