The federal government plans to change how it asks Americans about marijuana use in one of the nation’s largest annual drug-use surveys, replacing references to “smoking marijuana” with broader language intended to better account for vaping, edibles and other methods of consumption.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) outlined the changes in a Federal Register notice published today regarding the 2027 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
Several questions in the survey’s Risk/Availability module would be revised to ask respondents about “using” marijuana rather than “smoking” it.
“This wording change is intended to measure other ways of using marijuana that are common with youth, such as vaping or edibles,” the agency said.
The change is one of several planned updates to the 2027 survey, which SAMHSA says must be periodically revised to reflect changing substance-use and mental-health issues.
NSDUH surveys the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S. population ages 12 and older across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Its findings are widely used by researchers, policymakers, clinicians and federal agencies to track marijuana and other drug use nationally and among different age groups.
The survey already collects detailed information about different methods of marijuana consumption. Recent questionnaires have asked marijuana consumers whether they smoked, vaped, dabbed concentrates, ate or drank marijuana products, used drops or sprays, applied topical products, took pills or consumed marijuana in another way.
The proposed change would broaden questions in the separate Risk/Availability section that continue to specifically reference smoking.
SAMHSA is also planning several other changes for 2027, including reinstating questions about workplace drug and alcohol testing, adding questions about GLP-1 drugs and several mental-health medications, and revising questions concerning polysubstance use.
The agency estimates the 2027 survey will include 67,507 interviews, in addition to 297,529 household screenings.
SAMHSA is accepting public comments on the proposed 2027 survey changes through November 16.
